Liam Rosenior accused referee Paul Tierney of “not focusing on his job” following a bizarre pre-match incident that saw Chelsea lose at home to Newcastle. The Blues, who are aiming to qualify for next season’s Champions League, suffered a blow when they were eliminated from the First League after Anthony Gordon’s first-half tap-in at Stamford Bridge, under the guidance of an English head coach. And before kick-off, Tierney bizarrely disrupted Chelsea’s huddle in the center circle.
Chelsea’s squad has started to gather in a circle around the spot in recent weeks. But Tierney chose to stand by the ball and refused to get in their way. This led to farcical scenes in which players crowded around match officials while they talked about their team. And Rosenior was visibly upset after his team’s defeat, pointing out that he felt Tierney missed a clear penalty for his team when Cole Palmer went down in the area following a challenge from Nick Woltemade. He said: “It’s disappointing. There’s more focus and emphasis on things that don’t matter. I’m going to say that loud and clear. I want to protect the players. I respect the game.”
“My players made the decision that they wanted to be around the ball, respect the ball and show unity and leadership. It wasn’t my decision. It was a decision between the leadership and the team. We did nothing disrespectful to the opponent in that huddle.”
“I had a meeting with the referee and my assistant came in and the first thing he said was about our huddle. He mentioned the time I complained about Arsenal being in our own half. It wasn’t the goalkeeper coach who was in our half. People were in Arsenal in that game and I said what I said.”
“We’re not being disrespectful to our opponents. If Paul had focused more on his job of making the right decisions, he would have been given a penalty today. I don’t think anyone in this room can say that Woltemade won’t kick Cole Palmer down in the box. So let’s focus on what’s important. Showing team unity is not as important as making the right decisions on the pitch.”
Rosenior said he would like to discuss the issue with PGMOL, the body that governs refereeing standards. “I didn’t talk to Paul or his officials today. I didn’t think it was the right thing to do today. But I will talk to PGMOL. I’m just talking to the referee and trying to understand why something like that happened today,” added the 41-year-old.
“The rulebook said it was about timing. Timing can get you anywhere you want. I just want to find a solution to this problem, because in reality we are talking about things that are not as important as what is happening on the pitch.”
Commenting on Chelsea’s second straight defeat this week, with a 5-2 loss to PSG, Rosenior continued: “I’m not saying everything was wrong. For the first 15 to 20 minutes, anyone who was watching the game could tell which way the game was headed. “We were in control, we took the lead, we created chances and moments, and that goal gave Newcastle the energy they needed to finish the game the way they wanted.”
“For me, it’s two aspects. The first is that we lacked a little bit of mental freshness in the last third. The combinations, or the right decisions, or the little qualities of the moment. The second is that we definitely need to stay.”
“If we don’t score, the other team doesn’t score either. What was disappointing for me today was that we couldn’t get a clean sheet while Newcastle didn’t produce too many goals to be honest. We gave them a goal but that’s something we really, really need to resolve in order to improve in the future.”
“Mistakes happen. They didn’t have anything. They didn’t have anything in the game and we gave them a goal. It was a really difficult day and a frustrating day because we didn’t get the result we wanted. But I still think there was consistency in our performance.”
