Grant wants more protection
19 Dec 2007 - 07:16:54
-
- Grant wants more protection
Chelsea manager Avram Grant wants his players to receive more protection from referees after seeing John Terry ruled out for six weeks with a foot injury.
The Blues and England captain fractured three bones in his right foot after a tackle from Arsenal's Emmanuel Eboue during Sunday's 1-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium.
Eboue received only a yellow card for his challenge and Grant has called for greater protection from officials.
"I would say, first, I don't think it's easy to be a referee these days," he said.
"The game is a lot quicker and a lot more aggressive. I won't complain about the referees. I did that once, against Manchester United.
"But, also, I see the main discussion in the last two months is that if Chelsea sent three players or four players to the referee to complain about a decision.
"This is wrong. The main issue is to protect the game and to protect the players from bad injury. That has to be the main discussion.
"On Sunday look which players ran more up to the referee? Ours or theirs? It's part of the game. I don't think it's that important.
"The major problem in terms of discussion in the last few months has been that. That's the wrong message.
"The right message would be how we can better protect the players. There were bad fouls - that foul on John Terry.
"That's the most important thing."