Tuesday 24 February 2015 14:13, UK
Burnley manager Sean Dyche has suggested Ashley Barnes' controversial tackle on Chelsea's Nemanja Matic was an unavoidable accident.
The 25-year-old striker's challenge in Saturday's Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge prompted an angry reaction from Matic that earned the Serbia midfielder a red card.
However, Dyche is adamant that the incident was a result of the 'pendulum motion' of a pass and highlighted the lack of reaction from the Chelsea dugout at the time.
The Clarets boss said: "No one reacts. Live time, no one reacts apart from Matic. My point is about live time - live speed. The referee has a chance. No one reacts.
"When the camera pans back to Jose Mourinho and his assistant, they're calmly talking about what they should do.
"After the event, with hindsight and camera views and slow-motion, now it's been called a criminal tackle and the like. I find that hard to adjust to when live at that moment, 15,000 people and expert staff and most of the players on the football pitch - it's rare there's not a reaction in the stadium.
I don't know the biomechanics. I'm not an expert. But I'd say that once you're in that pendulum motion of playing a pass, it's very difficult to stop your leg going through the ball and rising.
"After the event, with slow-motion, of course it looks an ugly challenge but the ball is made contact with and the motion of the player is at high speed, the pendulum motion of the player.
"I don't know the biomechanics. I'm not an expert. But I'd say that once you're in that pendulum motion of playing a pass, it's very difficult to stop your leg going through the ball and rising.
"We all know it doesn't look a pleasant challenge but, at live speed, these are expert people who've been in the game a long time who don't even flinch at that moment. It's a real tough one.
"I find it hard that the manager is using very strong phrases about that moment when he didn't have any reaction at all at the live moment. I find that one hard to accept. Things often look different afterwards with all the technology you've got."
Dyche also addressed two first-half incidents which Chelsea boss Mourinho said should have resulted in penalties for his side.
The Burnley manager conceded that an apparent Michael Kightly handball in the box would “usually” have been penalised.
But he thinks a possible Jason Shackell push on Diego Costa was not so clear-cut.
"Jason Shackell definitely gets a mild hand on him,” said Dyche. “Is that enough for him to go down? It's a real debating point.
"That's a close one. The first one usually gets given but that one is a real tough one for referees.
Jason Shackell definitely gets a mild hand on him. Is that enough for him to go down? It's a real debating point.
"He (Costa) is off balance anyway, he gets a slight nudge and he goes down.
"I'm not remotely saying he went down easily or is trying to simulate. I just mean it's a mild contact, which inevitably means he ends up on the floor.
"I think that's a tough one, particularly when you consider the referee's actual angle to see that incident."
Chelsea were also aggrieved that Burnley were not reduced to 10 men after half an hour when Barnes jumped into Ivanovic, felling the Blues defender, but escaped sanction.
However, Dyche said: “He bundles into the player, it's fair to say, but I can't imagine that to be deemed anything more than, at most, a yellow card.
“Worst-case scenario in my opinion would be a yellow, almost impossible to be a red.”
