Grant rues ref decisions

New Chelsea boss proud of players

Last updated: 23rd September 2007

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Grant: Happy with players

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Avram Grant felt referee Mike Dean's decisions affected his first game as Chelsea boss following the 2-0 defeat at Manchester United.

Dean sent off John Obi Mikel on 32 minutes for a challenge on Patrice Evra before allowing Carlos Tevez to score the opening goal in the third minute of injury-time at the end of the first half.

The referee then awarded a late penalty, which Louis Saha scored after a token tackle from Tal Ben Haim, and Grant believed Dean had an influential role in the outcome of the Old Trafford encounter.

"I didn't want to speak about this, but if you ask me, I need to think about it, there were too many strange things happened today," Grant told Sky Sports 1.

Naive

"The sending off was not, the referee says two minutes added time and they score after three minutes, and then the penalty.

"Maybe it's a coincidence, maybe I'm naive a little bit.

"His decisions affected the result. First, we needed to play in the first half 10 against 11, then they scored a goal after time, then the penalty, so it affected the result, even though I'm very happy for my guys."

Proud

Grant, who replaced Jose Mourinho as manager on Thursday, was pleased with his players' efforts and moved to dispel talk of any dressing room disharmony.

He added: "I can say only one thing. I'm very proud of what the players did this week, how they behaved, how they trained, how they behaved in the hotel.

"I'm very happy with the spirit. If we continue like this we will be okay."