Mon 09 Sep 2007Normal One not granted best startSOCCER:Avram Grant, though bulkier and more
hangdog-looking, yesterday stepped into the shoes of Jose Mourinho
in one respect, attacking the referee Mike Dean. The 52-year-old
Israeli, whose coaching credentials from Israel are, Chelsea hope
to prove, equivalent to the Uefa pro-licence qualification demanded
by the Premier League, railed at the injustice of three incidents
which he said "affected the result" in the 2-0 defeat at Old
Trafford that marked the start of his career as Chelsea
manager."There were so many things - the sending-off, the fact they
signalled two minutes of extra-time and they scored after three,
and the penalty," he said, most angered by the controversial
dismissal of Mikel John Obi that reduced his visitors to 10 men for
almost an hour - a decision Chelsea have appealed to the Football
Association - and Louis Saha's penalty-winning "dive".