Manager Neil Warnock has again not mixed his words following the two all draw with West Bromwich Albion today.
With Palace having a comfortable two nil lead as we entered the second half, goalkeeper Julian Speroni took an elbow to the face from Albion centre half Craig Dawson and against our stoppers wishes, Warnock took him off because as he explained to Sky Sports after the game, the gaffer felt he had to take him off because he was receiving no protection from the referee on the day.
‘The physio said he’s okay and I said ‘no he’s not’. I’m the only guy that can protect him, not the physios. He got smashed, absolutely smashed. I don’t even think he knew he wanted to stay on. If officials can’t see a smash like that then I’ve got to protect my goalkeeper.’
Warnock goes on to say that he feels Albion would’ve thought they’d ‘got away with it once, we’ll do it again’ and for him he wasn’t willing to take the risk of Speroni taking another ‘smash’ like that.
‘It’s almost an assault. He comes from two or three yards away and smashes him in the face. I don’t understand why at least one of the officials can’t see that. That’s really going back in time to Bert Trautmann’s day!’
Another frustration for the manager was of course that with that happening at two nil up, we went on to concede two goals and only come away with a point and he knows that ‘smash’ was the turning point in the match, because it gave them a huge lift and our focus was shifted for a period with both disbelief and an obviously concern for Speroni.
It was a bad day all round for the officials as far as the gaffer is concerned because he also couldn’t believe how the foul on Wilfried Zaha in the penalty box was let go by the officials when he was fouled by the same player, who clearly he thinks should’ve left the field ahead of full time.
‘They’ve missed two great decisions for us which would have changed the whole game so I’m disappointed and deflated.’
And clearly extremely angry.
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