Sir Alex Ferguson criticised the match officials after Manchester United's 2-1 defeat by Chelsea, which put Carlo Ancelotti's side two points clear at the top of the table. Joe Cole put the visitors ahead but it was Didier Drogba's goal 11 minutes from time that angered Ferguson, with replays showing the striker was offside.
"What I can't understand is the linesman's directly in front of it. He has no one near him and he gets it wrong," Ferguson said. "A game of that magnitude, you really need quality officials and we didn't get them on Saturday. It was a poor, poor performance."
The referee Mike Dean has been in the spotlight this week after Blackburn's Martin Olsson admitted he deliberately went down in the area at Burnley because of Dean's reputation for giving penalties. United had two penalty appeals turned down today while Chelsea looked to have a good shout when Gary Neville barged Nicolas Anelka.
Asked whether Dean had been affected by the comments, Ferguson said: "I don't know about that but when I saw Mike Dean I did worry, I must admit."
Chelsea lead United by two points with five games to go, and Ferguson said they are firm favourites. "Five games left, they're two points ahead and four goals better than us – they're in the driving seat," he said. "Chelsea are favourites now, there's no question. I'm certain we'll respond but we could win the next five games and not win it."
While United had a Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich in midweek, Chelsea were able to prepare solely for this game following their elimination by Internazionale in the last round. Both managers felt that proved a crucial factor.
"The first half we looked leggy, it took us too long to get going and Chelsea were by far the better team," Ferguson said. "The second half we did well, we were unfortunate not to get something from the game. We dominated it in the second period but we just didn't get there."
"What I can't understand is the linesman's directly in front of it. He has no one near him and he gets it wrong," Ferguson said. "A game of that magnitude, you really need quality officials and we didn't get them on Saturday. It was a poor, poor performance."
The referee Mike Dean has been in the spotlight this week after Blackburn's Martin Olsson admitted he deliberately went down in the area at Burnley because of Dean's reputation for giving penalties. United had two penalty appeals turned down today while Chelsea looked to have a good shout when Gary Neville barged Nicolas Anelka.
Asked whether Dean had been affected by the comments, Ferguson said: "I don't know about that but when I saw Mike Dean I did worry, I must admit."
Chelsea lead United by two points with five games to go, and Ferguson said they are firm favourites. "Five games left, they're two points ahead and four goals better than us – they're in the driving seat," he said. "Chelsea are favourites now, there's no question. I'm certain we'll respond but we could win the next five games and not win it."
While United had a Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich in midweek, Chelsea were able to prepare solely for this game following their elimination by Internazionale in the last round. Both managers felt that proved a crucial factor.
"The first half we looked leggy, it took us too long to get going and Chelsea were by far the better team," Ferguson said. "The second half we did well, we were unfortunate not to get something from the game. We dominated it in the second period but we just didn't get there."
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