Patrick Vieira didn't hold back with his thoughts on the performance of the officials on Saturday as his Crystal Palace side lost 3-0 to Liverpool at Anfield.
Goals from Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Naby Keita decided the game for the Reds, who made the most of some poor defending from set-pieces by the Eagles to win the game.
On several occasions throughout the match, however, Vieira could be seen visibly frustrated with the decisions of referee Andy Madley, and at the end of the 90 minutes, he was seen remonstrating with him and his officials on the pitch.
One point of contention for Vieira was likely the decision from the officials not to book James Milner, who across the course of the match committed five fouls while filling in at right-back up against Wilfried Zaha.
Midfielder Thiago also went unpunished despite making a cynical, lunging foul on Jordan Ayew right in front of the manager's dugouts during the first half.
Palace also had calls for a penalty turned down after Kostas Tsimikas appeared to trip Christian Benteke in the box, leaving Vieira frustrated when he spoke to BBC Sport after the match.
"There were a couple of decisions from the referees that were against us," said the Frenchman.
"A football club like ourselves playing against the big clubs like that is always challenging. Today I don't believe it was the best game from the referee."
As a player with Arsenal, Vieira made several trips to Anfield and was asked about how difficult it is to play there. "Some things don't change. When you look at the stadium, the story of the football club, that's going to be challenging for every football club," the former midfielder said.
Vieira continued on this line when asked about the officials in his post-match press conference, adding: “When you are coming to places like Anfield a lot of the decisions will go their way, that's the way it is. I don’t know if that's the way it should be."
