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| November 08, 2006 | Wednesday | Shawwal 15, 1427 |
‘Referees are robbing Chelsea’
LONDON, Nov 7: Chelsea's England defender Ashley Cole has accused referees of robbing the Premier League champions after Sunday's stormy 2-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.
Cole was incensed that a strike by team mate Didier Drogba was disallowed by referee Graham Poll in the loss at White Hart Lane and said it was only the latest goal to be denied his team.
“Once again we scored a goal that was fine and I've seen it on TV,” Cole was quoted as saying in British newspapers on Tuesday. “And once again the referee has robbed us.
“I didn't realise until I came to Chelsea how much the referees are, I'm not saying against Chelsea, but there was nothing wrong with that goal. Even if John Terry was involved with something he was nowhere near the ball.”
Cole, who joined the west London club from rivals Arsenal on the Aug 31 transfer deadline, also took issue with two yellow cards, saying:”
He booked me and Claude Makelele for not standing 10 yards back at a free kick.
“We were more than 10 yards back and then (Tottenham's) Jermain Defoe does the same thing and he does nothing. It's just inconsistent.
“When I was at Arsenal and we started to win things, the referees started to question our discipline and give us yellow cards and now I have come to Chelsea and it's exactly the same.
“If you're going to have a referee like that then you know it's not worth playing the game because you know you're going to get a hard time.”
Cole, whose comments are unlikely to go down well with the Football Association, also said Poll was influenced by last week's Champions League draw in Barcelona.
Asked if the game in Spain during which six Chelsea players were booked had played a part in Sunday's refereeing, Cole said:
“Yeah, of course it did.
“The referee's watched it and he's had an opinion and I think he's just taken it on himself to prove a point to everyone.”
Cole also had sympathy for skipper Terry, who was given a red card on Sunday for two bookable offences.
“I feel sorry for John because it's his first one for Chelsea and he didn't deserve it,” he said.
“Everyone can see he didn't deserve it but when Poll is giving out cards like that, it's not fair.”
Chelsea's defeat left them three points behind leaders Manchester United in the title race.—Reuters
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