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Steve Cooper's Leicester City 'kicked lumps out of Chelsea' as VAR hammered for missed red card
A damning verdict has been delivered on Steve Cooper’s last game as Leicester City manager with his players accused of trying to “kick lumps out of Chelsea”.
The Foxes lost the game 2-1, and Cooper chose to use his post-match press conference to criticise referee Andy Madley for failing to award the hosts a penalty for a Wesley Fofana challenge on Stephy Mavididi while ignoring a nasty foul by Wilfred Ndidi on Cole Palmer that could have warranted a red card.
He was fired 24 hours later by a Leicester City hierarchy increasingly fearful of seeing their club relegated for a second season in three, but now the conduct of his team has been questioned while VAR has also been given another kicking.
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Former Premier League referee Jeff Winter told Grosvenor Casinos: “After the international break, I’m sure PGMOL and their officials were hoping for a controversy-free weekend. But in the very first game - Leicester v Chelsea - I was pulling my hair out.
“People often say referees are inconsistent, making different decisions from game to game, but now VAR is becoming inconsistent too. Sometimes it seems they’re re-refereeing the game. In other cases, they’re not getting involved at all. In one match, something is deemed a red card; in another, it’s not.”
Referring specifically to Leicester vs Chelsea, Winter added: “Even though the manager is no longer in charge, his comments reflect the frustration of a man under pressure. The commentator during Match of the Day even described one of the challenges as being “from yesteryear,” and it really felt like I was watching football from the ’60s or ’70s. Leicester seemed to set their stall out to kick lumps out of Chelsea.
“The first challenge by Ndidi on Cole Palmer—how that wasn’t a red card, I’ll never know. Referees, commentators, and everyone else are getting confused by the jargon around things like 'excessive force' or other technicalities.
“Ndidi had no chance of getting the ball. When I was refereeing, we were taught to outlaw these dangerous challenges from behind. This wasn’t a mistimed tackle; there was no challenge to be made. He went right through the back of Palmer, caught him, and didn’t slip or misjudge the timing.
“I’ll always defend a referee who might not have had the best view of an incident due to players blocking his sightline. But VAR? They sat there and watched the replay, just like you and I did. It was a horrendous challenge. It ticks all the boxes for a red card.
“Andy Madley was the on-field referee, but it was Paul Tierney in VAR. Tierney is an experienced referee, so I don’t understand how he missed this. It will be interesting to see how PGMOL explains it.
“That incident had me fuming, and it was only 20 minutes into the weekend’s football. There was another challenge in the same game, one described by the commentator as a “challenge from yesteryear.” The player jumped in and was fortunate his timing was slightly off by a split second, or that could’ve been another red card.”
