Steve Cooper: Referee performance in Chelsea match was ‘last thing PGMOL needed’

Leicester boss Steve Cooper said referee Andy Madley’s performance in his side’s 2-1 defeat by Chelsea was “the last thing the PGMOL needed”.

It was the first Premier League fixture since David Coote was suspended following videos emerging of him appearing to make highly derogatory remarks about Liverpool and their former head coach Jurgen Klopp.

Cooper was furious with Madley’s performance, specifically the decision not to award his side a penalty in the 84th minute when Stephy Mavididi went down under a challenge from Wesley Fofana, with VAR backing his call.

Leicester did get a penalty deep into stoppage time, which Jordan Ayew scored, but even that came after there was an original incorrect call for offside.

Cooper, who saw his side go 2-0 down to goals from Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Maresca, pointed to previous problems with Madley this season and said he felt sorry for Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) boss Howard Webb.

“When you play against teams like Chelsea, it’s about capitalising on your moments and hoping that the game is refereed in the right way, there is some of it on us,” Cooper said.

“We have had a tough season with the referee this year. This is the last thing the PGMOL needed this weekend, it’s not just a performance like that, but it being the first game as well.

“I felt a bit sorry for Howard (Webb). That’s how it is.

“It’s definitely topical, everyone wants it to be at the level it should be at. When international breaks give the chance to talk about things. That will be the case again.”

Madley was the VAR that awarded a controversial goal to Crystal Palace against Leicester earlier in the season and he also booked Cooper during the 5-2 Carabao Cup defeat at Manchester United last month.

Asked whether there would be an issue with Madley refereeing his side’s games in the future, Cooper replied: “I shouldn’t get into that. I’d love to answer that to be honest but I’d be sat in the directors’ box.

“It’s an interesting season with him, sometimes it can go like that.”

Cooper’s unhappiness with the officials distracted attention away from a poor performance where they were outplayed as Enzo Maresca enjoyed a winning return to the King Power Stadium.

An early goal from Jackson was added to by Fernandez after the break as Chelsea moved up to third.

Cole Palmer played 90 minutes having pulled out of international duty with England due to a knock.

England captain Harry Kane was vocal in his disappointment at a spate of withdrawals but Maresca insists Palmer came under no pressure from the club to skip last week’s Nations League games.

“Absolutely not,” he said.

“I am not thinking about what Harry Kane has said.

“My reaction is that we finished the game 10 minutes ago, we won 2-1 and there are not any comments, not any reaction, we just finished the game 10 minutes ago.”