Benitez Questions Howard Webb's "Mistakes"
By Tyne-Talk
February 2 2013
Chelsea manager Rafa Benitez has slammed referee Howard Webb for making "too many mistakes" in todays game against Newcastle United. Benitez' main arguement is that Newcastle captain Fabricio Coloccini should have been sent off for the kick in the face he inflicted on former team-mate Demba Ba. Ba, who left the field of play with a broken nose ended up missing out on 50 minutes of the game after being replaced by Fernando Torres.
Benitez said after the game;
"There were too many mistakes. I could see a red card that was not shown for Fabricio Coloccini. We had a chance and Demba Ba received a broken nose, it is bleeding. It's simple, if it was in the middle of the pitch, you bring it back and give the foul."
In another interview he told reporters;
"If the players show the character that they showed in the second half, it means something is right. If we cannot control these games, it is something we have to improve.
With some players: David Luiz, [Eden] Hazard, [John] Obi Mikel and Victor Moses coming back that gives us more options and maybe we can have fresh legs on the pitch.
When we are in form and doing well, we can beat anyone. We are doing a good job in terms of what you can see on the pitch so we're doing well. The team has great team spirit and I'm confident that the team will finish in the top three.
I felt the reaction of the team in the second half was fantastic, We scored great goals, we had more chances but we made the mistake to allow them to play on the counterattack.
We have to improve, but we couldn't change the situation of Demba Ba. It was a penalty and a red card for me. In the middle of the park it's just carry on, go back, free kick. In the penalty area it's carry on, go back, penalty and red card.
It changed the game, we lost a player to a broken nose. It's something to consider. In other circumstances, everyone would be talking about this."
Chelsea also had a penalty appeal in the final minute of the game when Frank Lampard claimed handball in the box. Howard Webb however dismissed his appeals and allowed the game to continue.
Not sure what Benitez is getting at by suggesting that the Ba broken nose incident would be a talking point in any other game. Surely if he is suggesting that Howard Webb failed to take action against Fabricio Coloccini, because it was Ba's first appearance back at St James Park, he could find himself in hot water with the FA.
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A very blinkered individual is Benitez, so many decisions went there way as per normal. It was 2 people going for the ball nothing more than that and an unfortunate result of the clash (unlike the studs up on Jonas). Chelsea didn't turn up in the first half and could've been out of sight but for a good day by Petr Cech, they played for about 20 minutes only so didn't deserve a point. we were fantastic especially the 2 new boys, from front to back everyone played their part, this could be the biggest result of the season which really turns it around.If the situation was reversed we'd be absolutely furious that we didn't get a penalty.
Ramires the same - if Colocinni had been sent off then the arguement would have been that it should have been 10 v 10 agreed
10 v 10 would have been fair.
And Cisse should probably have been sent off.
Luckily for us the Howard Webb had a bad game.
Cisse though was also lucky - I am suprised that didn't feature in the postmatch comments
SorryAs for the penalty at the end it clearly hits saylor in the nads!
chelsea players were getting away with murder during the match and cisse deserved to get booked but why did cole get involved!
rafas comments just sound like those of a nervous man
And as for Ba, that's simply a geordie welcome back