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Steve Cooper let rip at referee Andy Madley and claimed his performance was ‘the last thing’ officials needed following a fortnight of controversy.
With Leicester 2-0 down at home to Chelsea, Madley did not award a spot-kick for a challenge by Wesley Fofana on Stephy Mavididi, and VAR opted not to overturn the call.
The Foxes were eventually given a stoppage-time penalty, converted by Jordan Ayew, but it was not enough to stave off defeat.
Madley was on VAR duty for Leicester’s 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace in September when Jean-Philippe Mateta was controversially awarded a goal that had initially been ruled out for offside.
Cooper referenced that and, though he did not mention David Coote by name, he said refereeing debates this weekend were bad news for Howard Webb, boss of officials’ body PGMOL.
Coote was suspended last week pending an investigation into a video which emerged in which the 42-year-old appeared to make disparaging remarks about former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
Asked if he was referring to the Coote situation, Cooper said: ‘I don’t want to go into one particular thing but it’s definitely been topical, hasn’t it – refereeing this season.
‘Everyone wants it to be at the level it should be at. International breaks give a chance to talk about other things and referees have been that. Unfortunately it will be the case when we talk about this game today.
‘We have had a tough season with this referee. I’d love to say more but I’ll end up sitting in the directors’ box. It’s the last thing the PGMOL needed this weekend. I felt a bit sorry for Howard Webb.
‘Against teams like Chelsea you have to capitalise on your moments and when they come you hope the game is refereed in the right way. The whole VAR debate goes on and they are causing problems for themselves.’
Leicester got lucky themselves, however, when Wilfred Ndidi and Boubakary Soumare were only booked for first-half chllenges that could easily have brought red cards.
Cooper added: ‘I didn’t see the incidents but I’m not saying we had all the bad luck. I did hear those moments added to the referee’s performance today.’
