Chelsea vs United Fallout: Complaint Lodged Against Referee

Referee Mark Clattenburg shows Fernando Torres the red card.

CORRECTION: According to Sky Sports, the referee audio is not recorded.  I had read on another article that it was. (--BrandonLBC)

Let me say a couple of things in the interest of full disclosure.  First, I am a Chelsea fan.  My grandfather spent time in London throughout his life, and for whatever reason, came home loving Chelsea, though unfortunately he passed away before what we shall term as the "Abramovich Era."  So Blue was in my blood when I kicked my first ball in AYSO in the early 80s.  Of course, I sucked at soccer, and went to play baseball instead, but I digress.  Let me just say, I try not to be a homer on this blog, but it's damn hard right now.

Second, while I am guilty of highlighting various high profile officiating debacles, especially in Major League Soccer, I really try to shy away from jumping on the "referee cost us the game" bandwagon.  Referees don't put the ball in the back of the net.  They don't make saves in front of goal.  Again, it's hard to take that tact after watching this game today.

Here's my take: On the first red card to Ivanovic, I don't know if it was a great call, but Ivanovic certainly put Clattenburg in position to have to decide, so I can't really blame him there.  The second yellow to Torres was a complete and utter farce in my view.  Now I understand that diving is largely a subjective call by the referee, so it isn't technically an incorrect call.  However, when you choose to effect that match in that manner, issuing a second yellow or red card for something that's not even a foul, like dissent or diving, I think that's just incompetent.  My views are my own.  The same thing happened to Freddy Adu earlier this year in MLS, and the decision was just as shaky.  It looked to me, from the replay, that Evans did make just a little contact with Torres.  Not to mention you can just fall over when you're playing a sport, like, say soccer.  It's not always a dive.  That's why I'm totally against the "red card for diving" crowd.

Javier Hernandez's goal was offside.  Period, end of story.  Arteta's goal for Arsenal was offside.  The EPL is starting to have some MLS sized credibility issues with their refs and linesmen, though it's hard to fault the center official for a blown offside call.

Chelsea does deserve some of the blame.  The own goal by David Luiz certainly didn't help, and they were down 0-2 at home within 13 minutes.  They deserve some credit too.   They did an amazing job fighting back, and probably would have gotten the point if it weren't for that offside goal.

As the dust cleared after the match, word came out that Chelsea FC had filed a complaint with the Football Association against referee Clattenburg.  However, the complaint, lodged with the FA match delegate, is not about the calls, but alleges that he used inappropriate language toward two different Chelsea players during the match.  The FA had no immediate comment.

Is this just Chelsea's way of lashing out at Clattenburg, or is there something to this?  Referees wear microphones and the audio is recorded, so we'll see I guess.  However, it is interesting to note that Clattenburg has already been appointed to officiate at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.