Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas denies influencing referees
Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas denied accusations of his attempts of trying to influence referees after he complained to Mike Riley following the Blues’ 3-1 loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday. This was not only the Portuguese manager’s
first defeat as Chelsea manager but also his first in a league game in over 17 months, having had an unbeaten record while in charge at FC Porto.
Manchester United took the lead early on, scoring two goals before the Blues had a chance to respond. However, replays show that the first two goals by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 striker
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fernando-Torres-c13707 scored a consolation goal, the Red Devils went on to win the fixture 3-1.
The Blues’ boss admitted he had contacted the referees’ chief, Mike Riley, regarding the incidents during the match but revealed he had not tried to influence any decisions for future matches. Apart from the two offside goals, Manchester United were awarded
a rather soft penalty, which http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wayne-Rooney-c36736 happened to miss, was also on Villas-Boas’ agenda while speaking to Riley.
Villas-Boas said while speaking to reporters:
“I would never do that.
The game should be human, with as many emotions as possible, and I think that the referees have a major part to play.”
The former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Porto-c39186 manager revealed that while he had been in discussion with Riley, he had not asked for Phil Dowd, the referee during the Manchester United match, to be removed from the upcoming Chelsea matches. While Villas-Boas partially blamed Dowd
for the unfavourable result, many others blamed Chelsea’s defence, which seemed vulnerable at time.
However, Villas-Boas did not feel it was his defence that had conceded the two goals but rather the referee, who had failed to do his job. The Portuguese manager revealed that a similar incident had taken place against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light
where the Black Cats had been given a goal which had been offside. Villas-Boas was adamant his organization of the team did not need to be changed since he did not prepare for mistakes the referee was going to make.
He revealed:
“I cannot lose my time organising my defensive set plays for the referee to make a mistake like that - I'm sorry.
You organise a team to defend a set play, to be coherent, to hold the line, and then there is a person who does not do his http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Job-c18684.”
Villas-Boas revealed:
“We had an incident like this against Sunderland the other day - offside not given.
So it's not a question of organisation, it's not a question of defensive fragilities. It's a question of a mistake that you pay the penalty for.”
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