Absolutely Ridiculous Ref Makes SAF Loses Faith

Furious Sir Alex Ferguson is facing another FA rap after he took another swipe at a referee, this time Martin Atkinson, in Manchester United's narrow defeat to Chelsea.

He claimed Atkinson was in an absolutely ridiculous position at the game's decisive free-kick and that the referee's decisions which lead to Nicolas Anelka's (not John Terry) winner are the kind which lead managers and players to lose faith in refereeing.

Sir Alex disputed the foul given against Darren Fletcher, who appeared to win the ball in a challenge with Ashley Cole and was then mystified that Didier Drogba was not penalised for tugging back Wes Brown as Frank Lampard's delivery veered into the box.

Brown ended up grounded with Drogba in front of Edwin Van Der Sar, dangling a leg as the loose ball flicked on by Terry and Anelka, nestled in the corner to give Chelsea a 1-0 victory. That the goal stood left United's players incensed, with Wayne Rooney booked for his protest and Van Der Sar, Ryan Giggs and Anderson all pursuing the referee to complain.

Rooney appeared to mouth "12 men, 12 men" into a television camera as he departed the turf at the final whistle.

Sir Alex angrily said, "Clearly Darren has won the ball. He never touched Cole who has jumped up in the air. Then Drogba pulled Brown to the ground for the goal."

"The referee's position for the free kick was absolutely ridiculous. He can't see anything. He's got a Chelsea player (Joe Cole) standing right in front of him and he doesn't even move."

"It was a bad decision, but what can you do? There's nothing we can do about it. You lose faith in referees sometimes, that's the way the players are talking in the dressing room. It was a bad one."

However, Sir Alex also admitted United should have taken more advantage to convert dominant possession into goals.

"We didn't win today. We did play well and were by far the better team, but Chelsea have gone five points clear and if we had won we'd have gone top."

"That goal should not have been allowed, but we dominated the game and had some chances to win the match. We had great opportunities in terms of the football we played to get to the edge of the box, and some good chances in and around the box. But we should be finishing it off."

"We only have ourselves to blame in that respect. Sometimes you need a bit of a break, and we never got the break we needed."

Be that as it may, Sir Alex insisted United are by no means out of the title race and that the Reds have the qualities to bounce back from adversity.

"That was Manchester United we saw today. We've got a great squad and today was a reminder that we're a very good team."

"We've been criticised recently by a lot of people, but that won't deter us. We've got a cause now, a great cause - we want to win this league. And the lead isn't unassailable, that's for sure."