Jose Mourinho Refuses To Blame Mark Clattenburg
Chelsea FC boss Jose Mourinho has refused to blame referee Mark Clattenburg for John Terry’s red card
Chelsea FC managed to register their first win of the 2015/16 Premier League campaign on Sunday afternoon, scraping past West Brom 3-2. The reason why they scraped by is because John Terry was sent off to reduce the Blues to 10 men. Jose Mourinho, however, refused to criticise referee Mark Clattenburg’s decision.
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Terry’s dismissal came in the 53rd minute after he brought down Baggies new-boy Salomon Rondon. Rondon was fed a delightful ball from the left flank, leaving him in a foot race with John Terry for the next touch. Perhaps in the knowledge that he wasn’t going to win it, the Chelsea captain tugged at the striker’s shoulder, sending him to the ground on the edge of the box. Clattenburg subsequently produced a red card to send Terry packing.
Mourinho, perhaps frustrated by previous censures, refused to be drawn on the matter.
"I prefer to speak about us. To speak about the sending off I have to speak about many other things in the game – some you can see, others we can see, so many things."
It was undoubtedly a contentious decision. Given that he simply did not have the pace, Terry knew he would have to be crafty if he was to prevent Rondon from taking on Thibaut Courtois one-on-one. However, the contact between the pair was minimal and thus the decision to give the foul was debatable, let alone the red card.
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Having said that, once such as decision was given, the referee had no choice but to send Terry off. He was clearly the last man and thus the rulebook/FA dictate that he must be head for an early bath. The red card was a red card as a consequence of the foul being given, but the foul was the controversial bit.
Courtois, meanwhile, must shoulder some of the blame as well. When the pass was first played, the goalkeeper could have come out to meet it. If he had, replays indicated that he would have done so comfortably. His decision to stay in the box left Terry in a serious spot, and frankly you cannot fault the defender for his actions. It is just fortunate that only the one goal was conceded following the dismissal and that Chelsea managed to see out the game.
Mourinho also shared this relief, and was in fact pleased with how the Blues played.
"We deserved it. It was difficult but we deserved it…I’m happy we controlled the game well, and I’m happy with the spirit because the players really wanted to win."
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Chelsea did look very good until Terry’s red. There were a few hiccups including conceding a subsequently-saved penalty, but overall the Blues looked more dangerous going forward than they have done this season. Much of this is credit to Pedro, who opened the scoring on his Chelsea debut, and the boss seemed certain that he would become one of the Premier League’s foreign imports who doesn’t flop.
"He’s a very good player. There is always a question mark because of how many top players come to England and don’t perform immediately.We have examples in our club and there are lots of examples at other clubs, so it’s very nice for him to come and straight away perform the way he did."
This is true. Many high-profile, supposedly world-class players arrive with much fanfare in England but flatter to deceive. I just like to think that a certain pair of names sprung to Mourinho’s mind when he referenced ‘our club’: Radamel Falcao and Juan Cuadrado.
Falcao has failed to show form any different to that of the Manchester United version, and the Blues will be stuck with him until the season’s end. With regard to Cuadrado, though, that is not the case. In fact, Chelsea are reportedly close to getting rid of him with a loan to Juventus on the table. Merely six months after his arrival at Stamford Bridge, that is some turnover.
Returning to the matter at hand, Mourinho has avoided any prospect of receiving a touchline ban by keeping his mouth shut. More importantly, Chelsea have registered their first win and the season is now truly under way.
All quotes taken from chelseafc.com.
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