Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca says his players should not be embarrassed by criticism that they go down easily to try and influence decisions after claiming the club received a written apology from the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) for not being awarded a penalty this month.
While Maresca did not name the match where the incident took place, it is believed he was referring to the 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace on January 4.
Chelsea were leading 1-0 at the time when Tyrick Mitchell challenged Pedro Neto inside the penalty area. Referee Tim Robinson did not award a spot kick and video assistant referee (VAR) Paul Tierney did not recommend an on-field review.
Sources at the PGMOL, the body responsible for referees in English football, deny there has been any form of apology or acknowledgement sent to Stamford Bridge.
Ex-referees Mike Dean and Keith Hackett were among those to publicly criticise the decision and Maresca alleged the club have since been contacted by the governing body.
He said: “Two or three games ago I remember they didn’t whistle for a penalty and then we got a mail apologising, that it should have been a penalty. But we don’t need apologies.”
Maresca has become increasingly frustrated with a number of decisions he feels have gone against his side of late.
Bournemouth attacking midfielder David Brooks was only shown a yellow card by referee Robert Jones for an off-the-ball challenge on Marc Cucurella during the 2-2 draw last Tuesday, where he appeared to pull the Chelsea defender’s hair.
Jones initially did not show Brooks any card at all and made the rare call to book Brooks after being sent to the monitor to look at it again by the VAR.
Neto (in the 2-1 loss to Fulham) and Cucurella have been criticised for the manner in which they have gone down recently looking to get decisions.
When asked if the club should be embarrassed at some of their behaviour and need to act differently, Maresca replied: “No, not at all. The other day for me against Bournemouth it was a red card. We are not going to change a thing.
“So the club, us, we are not embarrassed about this. Someone has to be embarrassed about this kind of thing but not us. I love my players, all of them.”
Chelsea take on Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday night knowing a win will lift them back into the top four.
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