Chelsea’s manager Enzo Maresca has come forward with a complaint against the referee who took charge of the Liverpool-Chelsea Premier League match on Sunday.
The officiating in England’s top flight has been suspect for a very long time. It has been riddled with inconsistencies, poor judgement and apologies from the PGMOL after major goofs that have ended up costing many teams. There seems to be a story every matchday and Maresca believes he is one of the latest victims.
The Blues were in hot form prior to their Anfield visit but at the end of 90 minutes, they were on the losing end. They showed up to play and almost took the game from the hosts, but in the end, the home crowd and the home team drowned them, leading to them losing 2 – 1 and three points.
Maresca has stated his belief that the match could have gone differently if a few calls were given in their favour while claiming that the referee, John Brooks, allowed the Anfield crowd to influence his decision making in the game.
“I didn’t see anything in terms of decisions from the referee. The only thing I can say that sometimes in this stadium some decisions are for the noise of the crowd,” he said on Sky Sports “The only thing I can say is the referee is there to make decisions. Sometimes they are right, sometimes they are wrong. Sometimes it is because of the noise [of the crowd], but overall I think they did OK.”
He also spoke on his team’s performance, echoing Arne Slot’s sentiments post-match where he stated that the game was a great one for neutrals to witness. Maresca said: “We don’t like to lose or drop points, but I really liked the performance. We deserved something more but the performance was good.
“We controlled most of the game. We had chances, we had possession. We don’t like to lose, but if we have to choose this is the way. The team was brave on and off the ball.
“I don’t think this game defines where we are. We prepared in the best way, it worked quite well. You have to take chances, but overall I am very happy with the players.”
Chelsea are next in action against Panathinaikos in the UEFA Europa Conference League on Thursday; a game they will be travelling to Greece for, before they return to England for more Premier League action on Sunday against Newcastle United.
