Manchester United News 24/7Writer: Zae 
Date:Sunday September 23 2007
Time: 7:39PM
UK time is: 12:12:57
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Fergie: Ref Did Not Decide The Game
Sir Alex believes United's performance against Chelsea was worth a victory though he conceded Mike Dean might have got one or two things wrong.
The boss hailed his side's display, hinting it might have been a win without the dismissal of John Obi Mikel.
"In the first half hour we played as well as we have all season in terms of the penetration of our play, the movement and our passing," he told Sky Sports.
"We could have been two or three up early on. Petr Cech made a great save from Wayne Rooney right at the start and we were dominant at that point. We should have had a penalty kick in the first half, I think the camera`s clearly show that.
"I`ve seen the sending off and it was maybe a bit harsh, but there was intent there. It could have hurt the boy but a lot of referees would have let it go. When you see Joe Cole`s tackle in the second half on Cristiano Ronaldo, that should have been a straight red card. It was right down the achilles which is happening repeatedly to Cristiano. He got a yellow card, but it should have been red. I think the referee was perhaps balancing it out.
"I think the real turning point was the goal just before half time. It was a real blow to Chelsea. At that point we had complete control of the match.
'The foul on Louis Saha for the penalty was a bit harsh, but I think that cancels out the one we should have got in the first half."
But he defended the referee, as he usually does when we win...
"In tight games like that, the referee has to make big decisions quickly. He can get it wrong. But I don`t think it affected the result of the match," said Sir Alex. "I think we were the better team. Our football in the early parts of the match was outstanding.
"In a way we got some of our confidence back today. There was style and tempo to our play. I was delighted with that. Tevez and Rooney are getting more games and Saha is coming back. We are looking more like ourselves."
He could have simply said: look at the scoreboard, everything else is just needless chit-chat.
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Your Comments
Im sorry SAF, but the red card obviously changed the game. To say it didnt is daft.
Adilson
He would say that wouldn't he.
alphieblues
even before the red card i feel we was in charge so you was getting people up front big deal it dont mean nothing if you dont create chances. Im pretty sure chelsea didnt have a shot on target
rooneyisgod
they didnt rooneyisgod, they wee awful, for all the referring descisons chelsea were crap and we fully deserved our win
united4life
You did deserve a win but you cant deny they were dubious calls. Mikels red card was not one, just a yellow. You scored 3/4 way through the 3rd minute of stopage time when there was only supposed to be 2 and there had been no stoppages in stoppage time. And Saha clearly dived for the penalty. Though you did deserve a penalty when Joe Cole took down Evra. Thats 4 big gamechanging calls the he screwed up.
gunnerkid107
saha didnt dive m8. there was contact on the leg and with the extended arm and like u said evra deserved another penalty. Joe cole deserved a couple of reds with the yellow cards he should have picked up, but no one seems to say anything about that....SAF did in his interview and i think he is spot on
alexpant
He made three definitely wrong calls: failed to award the penalty for Joe Cole's offense, should have given only a yellow to Mikel but should have sent off Joe Cole later. It's true that the dismissal had the biggest impact but two of his three major mistakes actually favoured Chelsea...
midlothian99
unbelivable midlot, favoured chelsea? i am amazed at the level of ignorance you show
makelele
chelsea are a poor team and a dirty team and they deserve everything they get. they deserved to get beat and they were well and truley humped by united
rk1888
makelele, your ignorance is beyond comprehension. Please bother to read my whole comment: I state that the dismissal had the biggest influence on the outcome of the game but the other two mistakes were against United. I did not say the ref favoured Chelsea overall, I tried to argue that he's incompetent (which is actually worse because you can't predict what he'll do)
midlothian99
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