Chelsea José Mourinho fumes at ref Phil Dowd and says Eden Hazard is unprotected. José Mourinho, centre, acknowledged Chelseas defensive deficiences in the 5-3 defeat by Tottenham. José Mourinho has broadened his complaints that Chelsea are victims of a conspiracy by claiming Eden Hazard could eventually be driven from the Premier League because the Belgian is unprotected by referees from opponents who “kick and kick him”. The Portuguese’s side were stunned 5-3 by Tottenham Hotspur, only the second time in a 14-year managerial career one of his teams has shipped five goals, to lose their points advantage at the top of the table and remain at the summit only on alphabetical order from Manchester City. That has left them with only one win in five away games but, while he acknowledged defensive deficiencies, Mourinho reserved his complaints over the non-award of a penalty for Jan Vertonghen’s handball when his team had actually led 1-0. His criticism of the referee Phil Dowd’s performance included a suggestion he was “40 yards” off the pace when Federico Fazio challenged Hazard late on, a tackle the Belgian subsequently acknowledged had been legitimate and did not prompt sanction. Yet his frustration merely mirrored that from after the draw at Southampton on Sunday when Cesc Fàbregas had been booked for simulation having been clipped by Matt Targett in the penalty area. “In the 20 league matches we have played we have been the most offensive team, the team with more creative players in attacking areas,” he said, “and we have had two penalties in those games. “If people are in love with football in this country then they must be in love with Eden Hazard. But the way, match to match, he’s being punished by opponents and not protected by referees … maybe one day we won’t have Eden Hazard. It’s one, two, three, four, five, 10 aggressive fouls against him. They kick and kick and kick, and the kid resists. He’s a very honest guy in the way he plays but that’s another problem.” Chelsea were badly exposed by a fine Tottenham forward line led superbly by Harry Kane and could yet find their centre-half, Gary Cahill, sanctioned retrospectively for appearing to kick the grounded England Under-21 international in the back and on the calf in front of the dug-outs. “I didn’t see that, but was it [in the back], and not like [Raheem] Sterling in the face?” asked Mourinho, although the manager was perplexed Vertonghen’s handball back when the contest had remained tight had not merited a spot-kick. “I could go in two directions and say we made some defensive mistakes and that every rebound and deflected shot they had went in. We conceded five goals, which is something out of our context. But I can go in another direction and say what we all know, which is, with the result 1-0, one clear action could make it 2-0. Normally, at 2-0, the result would be completely different and the history of the game would be different. “I’m more shocked with other things than us conceding five goals. That can happen. But where I am shocked is that, in three days, we’ve had two incredible decisions that punished us in a very hard way. Two matches where we’ve come away with one point when two crucial decisions would give us six points. There are things in the game that are becoming predictable. After that there is an action on Eden Hazard which, honest as always, he tells me in his opinion was not a foul or a red card. So that is good, in spite the fact Mr Dowd was too slow to follow that ball. He was 40 yards away but made the right decision. The decision he was 10m away he couldn’t make.” That criticism of Dowd , whom Sir Alex Ferguson had infamously claimed was not fit enough to stay up with the game after booking five Manchester United players in a draw with Arsenal in April 2013, was made in a television interview, with the manager tempering his observations upon arriving at the main post-match media conference. “It is difficult for him and difficult for everyone because Fàbregas put the ball into space, Hazard attacked the space. But I knew that in case of doubt, and that situation was doubtful, it would go against us. “That’s the kind of situation we accept. The first one, in the first half, which is clear … like the one against Southampton, which was also clear. They’re the ones that are difficult to accept. But managers and players, we win and lose. And Mr Dowd didn’t lose. We didn’t lose because of the group of players. Against Newcastle we had Matic suspended but Mikel played a very good game. We lost because we were unlucky and Newcastle were lucky. Mr Atkinson had a completely clean performance. It’s the kind of game you lose. Today is a different story and against Southampton it’s again a similar story. But there is nothing we can do.”
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 08:50:01 +0000
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