Football
ESPN staff 9y

Leicester boss Nigel Pearson blasts 'arrogant' referee after Tottenham loss

Leicester City boss Nigel Pearson has branded referee Mike Dean "one of the most arrogant men I have met" after Tottenham were awarded a contentious penalty during their 4-3 victory at White Hart Lane on Saturday.

Wes Morgan equalised five minutes after the interval, but match official Dean then controversially adjudged David Nugent to have fouled Danny Rose for a penalty which Kane converted to put Spurs 3-2 up.

Jeffrey Schlupp scored an own goal five minutes from time before Nugent's injury-time goal set up a tense finale in north London, but Leicester could not find a late equaliser.

Pearson vented his fury at Dean after the game, with the loss leaving Leicester six points adrift of Premier League safety with just nine games remaining.

"The arrogance of the man [Dean] at times is frightening," the BBC reports him as saying. "I find it difficult to accept that we have to deal with yet another contentious decision that has not gone our way.

"What I will say about our players is they gave everything and I'm sure Spurs must be relieved. It remains a very frustrating season for us because of the level of performance and yet we are just not getting over the line with results.

"It is two players colliding [for the penalty]. I just find it bizarre and that's the nicest thing I can say. I feel at the moment that we continue to be short changed.

"I'm not suggesting that is deliberate but we can't be on receiving end of so many poor decisions.

"What is the point in talking to him [Dean]? He is one of the most arrogant men I have met."

The Leicester coach told his club's official website following the game: "It's a very disappointing result for us because I think we deserved more. I don't think we deserved to be on the receiving end of a defeat today.

"To be 2-0 down after 13 minutes and really stretch one of the top sides away from home all the way to the end is a measure of the commitment that the players have shown today. To a man I thought they were really excellent in terms of how they went about trying to win the game.

"Yes we made mistakes, but we didn't deserve to be 2-0 down. The first one was a sloppy goal. Both of the opening goals had an element of misfortune in the sense that the first ball isn't a great ball, it's a lucky bounce and the second one got a huge deflection.

"At that point things didn't look great, but the players showed throughout the game that they're capable of causing teams problems and I thought the front three were excellent in how they went about that. We got better as the game went on."

Despite the Foxes sitting bottom of the table, Pearson has called on his side to show the same passion they displayed at White Hart Lane to try to stay in the top flight.

He added: "We've got to make sure that the level of commitment and desire that we showed today is there in every game between now and the end of the season."

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