Ramblings of a Red Fan

Sir Alex Ferguson accused referee Martin Atkinson's decisions of 'changing the game' after Manchester United lost 2-1 at Chelsea.

United suffered just a second Premier League defeat of the season at Stamford Bridge after Wayne Rooney's opener was cancelled out by David Luiz and Frank Lampard's penalty.

However, Ferguson was unhappy that Chelsea defender Luiz was not shown a second yellow card for a trip on Rooney just two minutes before Lampard scored the winner.

The spot-kick came after Chris Smalling felled Yuri Zhirkov and Ferguson was disappointed with Atkinson's handling of an end-to-end contest.

"I think that we defended badly on the first goal, that was a bad one to lose, but the penalty kick was so soft," Ferguson told Sky Sports.

"We played very well and I thought it was a great performance by us, we didn't deserve that and that's three years in a row that referees' decisions have changed the game."

Incredible

Regarding Luiz escaping a red card, Ferguson said: "It's incredible. Even before that, he's done Chicharito off the ball, he's done him late and there's nothing done and the referee's in front of it.

"Then he does Rooney, it's clear as day and he's six yards from it, but he doesn't do anything - that changes the game.

"You're talking about what changed the game in the second half and these decisions changed the game, and he's going to be refereeing every week."

United also had captain Nemanja Vidic sent off late on for a second booking following a foul on Ramires, but Ferguson did not have a view of that incident.

He said: "To be honest, I didn't see what happened as it was away in the corner. I'll have to look at that again."

The result leaves Chelsea 12 points behind United in the title race with a game in hand and Ferguson was asked whether the holders are still in contention.

The United boss replied: "With decisions like tonight, it can change anything. They got a lot of decisions tonight and that surprised me in a major game like that, I'm surprised."

From Sky Sports