Sir Alex Ferguson Lambasts Key Decision As Manchester United Lose At Chelsea

By Owen Watson

Sir Alex Ferguson was furious with the match official as Manchester United slipped to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.

"Well clearly Darren Fletcher has won the ball," Ferguson told Sky Sports.

"Ashley Cole's never touched it. He's jumped up in the air, and then Drogba's pulled Brown to the ground in the goal."

The Manchester United boss couldn't hide his indignation with Martin Atkinson's positioning at the set piece.

"The referee's position to make a decision there was absolutely ridiculous. The position he was in, he can't see it! He has got a Chelsea player standing right in front of him, doesn't even move.

"That was a bad decision, it was, really."

A dejected Ferguson admitted that instances like this make him and his squad question the ability of the officials.

"Anyway, what can you do? Nothing we can do about it, you lose faith in the referee sometimes – that's the way the players are talking in there and it was a bad one.

"That goal shouldn't have been allowed," reiterated Ferguson.

The Manchester United boss felt that his side had the chances to win the game and was pleased with the performance, if not the result.

"We've dominated the game, we've had great chances to win the match and that's our fault," he explained.

"We've had great opportunities in terms of the football we've played to get to the edge of the box and some really good chances in and around the box.

"We should have finished that off, we've only ourselves to blame in that respect but you do need a break and we never got the break that we needed."

"We did play well and we were the far better team," said the United boss.

Ferguson admitted that he was displeased with the effect the result had on his side's league position, and rued what could have been.

"The fact that Chelsea are five points clear of us, the Liverpool result didn't affect our position in the league, that affects our position in the sense that if we would have won we would have gone top today," he concluded.