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Villas-Boas slams 'poor refs'

London - Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas revealed on Tuesday he had made a complaint to the head of the Premier League referees body following the performance of officials in the defeat to Manchester United.

Villas-Boas was left fuming on Sunday after Manchester United took a 2-0 lead to goals which replays suggested could have been disallowed for offside.

The Chelsea manager told reporters he has lodged a complaint with referees chief Mike Riley since the match, eventually won 3-1 by United.

"Very, very unhappy with a poor performance from the referees, which in the end had a decisive role in the result, and I don't take it very, very lightly," Villas-Boas said. "You expect the linesman to do his job.

"I already went further ahead with the situation by speaking to the correct people.

"We all feel very, very down when the referee had such an impact on the result."

Villas-Boas meanwhile brushed off questions about the form of Fernando Torres, who missed one glaring opportunity to make the score 3-2, a blunder which has been described as one of the worst misses in Premier League history.

"It's not a question about an individual player," he said.

"I'm very, very happy with how the team responded. Everybody is strong and with the correct frame of mind."

Villas-Boas was speaking ahead of Wednesday's League Cup meeting with Fulham, a game which will see the Blues field several of their up-and-coming youngsters.

The Chelsea manager confirmed Josh McEachran, Romelu Lukaku, Oriol Romeu and Ryan Bertrand would all start.

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