It is now 13 months since Ryan Babel posted his famous picture of Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt on Twitter. Even before that time, England’s foremost referee had been labelled “Sir Alex Ferguson’s 12 man” after a string of decisions deemed favourable to the current Premier League champions.

Webb is often put forward for the biggest games in English football, he also officiated the World Cup final and in his defence has made some high-profile mistakes in games that haven’t involved Manchester United.

(E.g. Everton’s penalty at Sunderland earlier this season and the unpunished kung-fu assault from Nigel de Jong on Xabi Alonso.)

On Sunday, it was very much deja vu for Webb as his award of two penalties for Manchester United at Chelsea came under scrutiny from all and sundry.

Incredibly, after the game, Webb was criticised by both managers. Sir Alex Ferguson wondered how Gary Cahill got away with what looked to be a last man foul on Danny Welbeck whilst AVB voiced the concerns of all Chelsea fans by highlighting the second penalty decision as “very, very dubious.”

The first penalty was awarded just eight minutes after Chelsea had taken a 3-0 lead. It was given for a Daniel Sturridge foul on Patrice Evra.

This was very much a forward’s tackle in the box and of all the decisions during a cracking match, has been almost free of controversy.

The same cannot be said for the second penalty, just 11 minutes later. Branislav Ivanovic was the offending Chelsea defender for bringing down Danny Welbeck. The Serbian was hugely unlucky and much like Adam Johnson for Manchester City’s penalty against Fulham, it looks like the Manchester United striker holds his leg out, waiting for the impact.

Of course, it is fair to say that Webb did not have as big an impact on the game as has been claimed. United surely deserved a point for attacking throughout and Chelsea were very much the architects of their own downfall, sitting back when 3-0 up.

Nevertheless, Webb’s decisions will likely be talked about for some time, so have your say in our poll and comments below.

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