Heavy-handed and inconsistent referee nearly cost England their Euros campaign

Referee Halil Umut Meler was so poor and it could easily have cost England victory. The aim of Uefa referees chief Roberto Rossetti is to deliver a tournament where match officials deliver consistent and accurate decision-making in each game. We have witnessed some very good performances to date with, of course, the odd VAR controversy.

Sadly Umut Meler, from Turkey, set off by brandishing three yellow cards in the first 13 minutes, leaving me with the impression that there was a raised risk that a second yellow and red would follow. Marc Guehi was booked in the third minute, being penalised for a foul having been sold short by a poor pass by Kieran Trippier. Kobbie Mainoo was next to receive a yellow card, after treading on Ondrej Duda. A first Slovakian then entered the book, with former Watford player Juraj Kucka punished. A fourth was added on 17 minutes, with Jude Bellingham penalised for a late lunge on Lukas Haraslin.

Meler was attacked after officiating a Super Lig match between MKE Ankaragucu and Caykur Rizespor, and taken to hospital.

I wrote ahead of this championship that Meler was a strict enforcer of the law and demonstrated courage when he was officiating.

But his performance on Sunday became so inconsistent and he failed to issue the appropriate sanction of a yellow card for some later reckless challenges in the game. It, sadly, was not a performance of the standard expected at this level.

If he had been consistent, this would potentially have resulted in some reds aimed in the Slovakia direction. But his inconsistency meant he punished players in the early stages, only to let reckless challenges later in the game go.

There was no feeling for the game. At this level, you would expect a better performance from a match official. There were many reckless challenges that went unpunished. And if you are going to start the game with yellow cards so quickly, then you leave yourself exposed to having to issue second bookings. The fact this did not happen shows how inconsistent this referee is.

The incident which hurt Trippier was a foul and there were other reckless challenges in the second half that were not punished with a card. That does not reflect well on the referee, and leaves players unclear over his tolerance level. His tolerance level sets off at zero and then he relaxed it in the second half, allowing too much. It was a mess.