Source: Daily_Mail
'Stupid' El-Hadji Diouf blasted by Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce
Marching orders: Referee Howard Webb shows El-Hadji Diouf the red card[LNB]El-Hadji Diouf has been branded 'stupid' by his manager Sam Allardyce after his sending off at Aston Villa. [LNB]Blackburn boss Allardyce also blasted Howard Webb, accusing the referee of sending Diouf off despite not seeing the incident, in which the Blackburn forward lunged at Habib Beye.[LNB]Diouf's reaction to the decision could also land him in hot water. The Senegal forward argued about the decision, taken three minutes before half-time, before eventually trudging off. [LNB]He had been barracked by the Villa Park crowd during Saturday's 3-1 defeat and took more stick as he walked off the pitch. Diouf then raised his arms to the home support, sarcastically acknowledging their taunts. As he walked into the tunnel, he raised a fist to them.[LNB]Allardyce said: 'It is a silly thing Dioufy has done because he put himself in that position where the referee can make a decision. [LNB]'He is the most stupid one of the lot because he shouldn't have done that.[LNB]'It was in an area where the player is going nowhere, which makes it even more annoying. That is the way it goes sometimes and he will be suspended for three games, which is not what we want.'[LNB]'We will always debate at the end of the day,' added Allardyce, discussing whether the decision to send off Diouf was right. [LNB]'They can hide behind their rules that it is a two-footed challenge but you have to be absolutely certain that is the case and I don't think Howard Webb absolutely certain - in fact, I know he wasn't from the position he was in.[LNB]'He will have to battle with himself about that, won't he? He has to be the one that wakes up in the morning and thinks, "Did I really see Dioufy do what I said he did?" and the answer to that is he didn't. Whether he will say that is another matter.[LNB] Too little too late: Diouf offers his apologies to Habib Beye for the crunching challenge that led to a red card[LNB]'Dioufy was in our plans for Tuesday (for the Carling Cup semi-final against Villa). He has been a very important player for us. [LNB]'He has been out of the side in recent weeks because his form has not been as good as we would have liked, but he came on as a sub against Sunderland and got us a point.[LNB]'He was playing ok in the first half but just a rash moment unfortunately. I'm not so sure it is a straight red but there was no need to do it. [LNB]'If the assistant has made the decision then, yes, you could say fair enough but, from where Howard was, there was no way he could see it. [LNB]'You have to be 100 per cent sure if you are giving a red and he can't be 100 per cent sure and the assistant referee didn't make the decision because I asked him at half-time.'[LNB]Speaking about Blackburn's performance generally, Allardyce added: 'I will give them great credit for the way they played in the second half but we spoiled that by giving away a silly penalty at the end and that was a shame because it was a really, really good recovery from us under the circumstances.[LNB]'All the damage was done in the first half. We gave ourselves such an uphill battle we couldn't get back to where we wanted to be. It was a disaster for us - miss a penalty (by David Dunn), go 2-0 down and get a player sent off.'[LNB]
