Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi was sent off in the tunnel for declaring ‘the level of refereeing in the Premier League is very bad’ and the Italian feels he ‘wasted time’ meeting the PGMOL.
The Premier League has seen several remarkably basic errors with VAR over the last week alone, one of which involved Brighton’s goal against Crystal Palace disallowed because the lines for offside were drawn on the wrong player.
So following this afternoon’s home defeat to Fulham, De Zerbi let loose on referee Darren England and received a red card in the tunnel.
“Because I told the referee that this week we had a meeting with his boss [Howard Webb] and I lost time and lost time in my work and my job because I think the level of refereeing in the Premier League is very bad. To progress we have to be with a different attitude,” De Zerbi told the media.
“The referee today wasn’t in a good attitude. But it’s not a problem, I didn’t say any bad words but I told him my opinion.”
De Zerbi is only just starting to give interviews in English and the wording here suggests that by ‘lost time’ he meant ‘wasted my time’ with the meeting.
“I lost time. I lost time in my work to prepare my team. It was the last time I will have a meeting.
“I’m not frustrated but it’s my opinion about the referee. When I speak about referees I speak about in terms of attitude. He was not very clear in his attitude. I don’t want to explain more but I wanted to explain my red card.”
De Zerbi will receive a one-match touchline ban for the red card and it remains to be seen if that will be extended following these comments.
“I can’t have one opponent saying a bad word, and I won’t repeat this word, and the referee doesn’t have the personality to keep in control of the game. But one time I lost time with this meeting but it will never happen again. I am not in England to fool around with these meetings.”
It comes just days after Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri blasted English referee Craig Pawson for his officiating in the Conference League play-off with CFR Cluj.