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We expected drama as the Premier League returned after an international break and we got what we came for with a few crackers. One of the talking points this weekend were some of the refereeing decisions in the Cardiff v Chelsea game that ended 1-2 in favour of the visiting Blues. Neil Warnock was fuming as he slammed refereeing decisions, claiming that poor refereeing was the reason that Cardiff were denied any points from the game.
After a drab first half, the home side, sneaked a lead early against top-four hopefuls Chelsea through a stellar strike by Camarasa. What followed were a few perplexing refereeing decisions that didn't go their way. Most notably a potential penalty that was denied to them when Rudiger dragged Sean Morrison to the ground and another one where once again the German defender who was the last man, brought down Kenneth Zohore and was only given a red card for the challenge since Kepa got to the ball before the foul was committed.
The one decision that enraged the Cardiff boss the most was Azpilicueta's offside position as he turned in the first goal of the eventual two that Chelsea would score to beat the Bluebirds. The linesman seemed to have been impeded in his view by Willian and didn't make the call.
An enraged Neil Warnock in his post-match press conference said, "We worked three weeks for this but to get let down by decisions… no major decisions went for us."
In the same presser, he would also add, "If I was a Burnley or a Brighton fan, they will be absolutely loving it today. It’s not our fault an official can’t see that, it is the most obvious offside I have ever seen or the most certain penalty I have ever seen. It’s the best league in the world but the worst officials. They don’t understand what is at stake. They shouldn’t make mistakes at this level."
Looking at those decisions it seems that Warnock's assessments and calls for VAR seem justified and correct.
However, lets put this in context and rewind to a similar controversial decision given Cardiff's way against relegation rivals Brighton earlier this season, it shines a different light on the Cardiff boss.
On that occasion, when probed for a response to Chris Hughton's anger against Sol Bamba's offside winner against his side, Warnock said, "My wife doesn't read tea leaves but she told me that my luck would change last Thursday so I will have to get her a drink."
Following his goal in that game, Sol Bamba celebrated by taking off his shirt and wasn't booked for it, yet Neil Warnock had little or nothing to say about that.
Sometimes, football can be a truly bitter pill to swallow, and Neil Warnock has just had a taste of it.
