Hodgson has no problems with referees

West Brom manager Roy Hodgson has defended the standard of refereeing in the Premier League, claiming the officials are among the best in Europe.

Top-flight referees have come under much criticism in recent weeks, with Wigan boss Roberto Martinez and QPR manager Mark Hughes both voicing their concern over the quality of match officiating after suffering from bad decisions.

Hodgson believes that the poor decisions are unfairly highlighted by the vast amount of replays that are offered by television coverage.

“I think the referee standard is probably the best in Europe. We’ve got no complaints at all,” he said.

“Our games have been refereed very well. I never go into games worrying about the refereeing. I only concern myself with the team’s performance.

“Of course, the ref will make a mistake now and again, especially when you judge the situation 100 times with slo-mo cameras.

“Once upon a time, the referee reffed the game and even in televised games, errors weren’t magnified. What has changed is the trial by TV which refs have had to learn to live with.

“Once they had trial by fans, who would boo them off the field if they felt they didn’t do a good job, and now they have trial by TV and every decision is analysed so much.

“Quite often, we only complain about a decision when we have watched the replay 15 times in slow motion. We don’t complain at the time because we don’t know if there was a mistake or not.”

Hodgson added: “Football by its nature after every match will bring a complaint from one manager or another, that his team has been robbed, and that’s been going on since I can remember.

“But I would be the last one to suggest it’s due to incompetence. Refs do make mistakes but you see players making them as well.”