Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole unhappy with Chelsea manager Graham Potter's handling of controversy in 1-1 draw against West Ham
Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole have slammed Chelsea manager Graham Potter for his remarks after his team's 1-1 Premier League away draw against West Ham United on Saturday (February 11).
The Blues registered their third consecutive Premier League stalemate during their London derby against the struggling David Moyes' side at the weekend. After Joao Felix scored his first goal for his new outfit in the 16th minute, Emerson Palmieri equalized just 12 minutes later.
After the Blues were denied a penalty from an alleged Tomas Soucek handball in the 89th minute of the London derby, Potter told BT Sport:
"These are the things you need to go in your favor and at the moment, they are not. That's life. There is nothing to complain about."
PGMOL view is that Soucek's arm was going to ground to break his fall and, therefore, is not a handball offence and not a Chelsea penalty.
#WHUCHE https://t.co/lvZcy5Gdap
Speaking on BT Sport, Ferdinand stated that the Chelsea boss should have tried to make the handball incident a headline-grabber. He said:
"It comes with experience. Look at Pep Guardiola or [Jurgen] Klopp or [Jose] Mourinho in years gone by at Chelsea... Mourinho would have been out there in the presser and that would've been the story. The back page would've been like 'Mourinho slams VAR' and that would have taken the focus off what happened on the pitch."
Ferdinand, who lifted 14 trophies with Manchester United, added:
"There were some bits that you could improve on with Chelsea but that would not have been the focus, it probably will be now. The influx of new players, the money spent... but he could have negated all of that by controlling the narrative in that presser after the game."
Chelsea continue their WORST away record in the Premier League since 2015. 📉 https://t.co/AaRI4cbNCl
Joe Cole opines on Chelsea boss Graham Potter's 'inexperience' after recent hiccup
Speaking on BT Sport, Cole said that Graham Potter could have done with a more seasoned backroom staff member by his side. He said:
"If he had someone in his staff who has been at that level and managed at that level... you need to cause a bit of an uproar because it does two things. It helps in deflecting from the bad elements of your performance and instead, it puts it on VAR. It cost them a chance of winning the game there through no fault of their own."
Cole, a three-time Premier League winner, continued:
"You can dissect the performance on Monday morning but if I was advising him now, I'd say come out and make a thing of it. Make the Chelsea fans think that you're hard done by, instead of feeling why didn't we beat West Ham. That's a little bit of inexperience there."