‘Of course I get angry’ – Chelsea boss Potter hits back at Ferdinand, Cole over criticism

Graham Potter has hit back at Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole’s suggestion that the Chelsea boss should’ve got angry with VAR over the weekend.

Tomas Soucek handled the ball inside the penalty area from a Conor Gallagher shot in with the VAR failing to give a penalty.

Although Potter hinted that the VAR got the decision wrong but remained calm when reflecting on the match and the Soucek incident.

“I thought it was a good save,” smiled Blues boss Potter on Saturday. “You need your goalkeeper, sometimes, to get you the points.

“It hasn’t been given so there’s nothing for me to say. I’ve only seen it briefly. It looks like one of those ones that if it had been given I don’t think it would have been overturned. But it hasn’t been given, so I don’t know.

“It looks like a handball to me. I didn’t know Tomas could get down that easily and save like that. But it’s not for me to say about VAR. Sometimes they go for you and sometimes they don’t, you just have to accept that.”

But both Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole on BT Sport thought Potter .

Ferdinand said: “[Jose] Mourinho in years gone by at Chelsea would have been out there in the presser tomorrow and that would’ve been the story, the back page would’ve been Mourinho slams VAR and takes the focus off what happens on the pitch.”

Cole added: “You need to cause a bit of an uproar because it deflects from the bad elements of your performance but it puts it on VAR.”

But speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of their Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, Potter hit back.

Asked about criticism of his temperament, Potter replied: “I’m careful not to get into discussion through the media.

“Of course I get angry, I’m a human being, it’s just that I choose to conduct myself in the way I believe I should.

“The same media are talking about me being more angry and then running stories about referees at grassroots level. It’s an emotional thing but I have a responsibility to Chelsea, the game and myself to act in a certain way for me.