Andre Villas-Boas raps 'poor' match officials

Posted Wednesday, September 21, 2011 by The Sun

ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS made an official complaint to refs' chief Mike Riley after Chelsea's defeat to Manchester United.

Villas-Boas saw his side lose an entertaining encounter 3-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday.

But he was unhappy with United's opening two goals, scored by Chris Smalling and Nani, claiming they both should have been ruled out for offside.

And the Portuguese has confirmed he was less than impressed with referee Phil Dowd and his fellow match officials.

Villas-Boas said: "I'm very, very unhappy with a poor performance from the referees, which in the end had a decisive role in the result, and I don't take it very, very lightly.

"You expect the linesman to do his job.

"I already went further ahead with the situation by speaking to the correct people.

"We all feel very, very down when the referee had such an impact on the result."

Chelsea went into the break trailing the Premier League champions 3-0.

But they were given hope when Fernando Torres opened his account for the season with a classy finish after latching on to Nicolas Anelka's defence-splitting pass.

The Blues arguably bossed the second half only to be left kicking themselves when Torres managed to miss an open goal after rounding David de Gea.

Villas-Boas refused to point the finger at the Spaniard for the glaring miss but will rest him for tomorrow night's Carling Cup clash with Fulham at Stamford Bridge.

He added: "It's not a question about an individual player. I'm very, very happy with how the team responded at Old Trafford.

"Everybody is strong and with the correct frame of mind."

Villas-Boas has announced Josh McEachran, Romelu Lukaku, Oriol Romeu and Ryan Bertrand will start against the Cottagers, while Didier Drogba is set to lead the line after recovering from concussion.