Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock said that he is extremely unhappy with the refereeing decisions in the recent 2-2 draw with West Brom. Crystal Palace looked set to take three points and return to winning ways after they were leading 2-0 against the club from Midlands. West Brom, however, came back into the match in spectacular fashion after managing their first goal in the 51st minute through former Everton striker Victor Anichebe. Berahino, who has been a sensational hit so far in the Premier League, managed to convert an injury time penalty to give his team a brilliant point.

This was the second consecutive 2-2 draw for Alan Irvine’s team after they managed a similar score against Manchester United last week. However, he will have no reasons to complain after his team produced a stunning response to the opposition. The fact that this match was at home also helped West Brom to some extent. For Crystal Palace, this was yet another disappointing result after they had lost to Chelsea last week. They were hoping to comeback to form with three points, which looked almost certain going into the half-time break. Former Fulham defender Hangeland and Jedinak scored the goals for the Londoners the first half.

“I’m the only guy that can protect him, not the physios. He got smashed, absolutely smashed. I don’t even think he knew he wanted to stay on. If officials can’t see a smash like that then I’ve got to protect my goalkeeper. [West Brom will] think ‘we’ve got away with it once, we’ll do it again’. I’m not prepared to let Julian take two smashes like that. It’s almost an assault. He comes from two or three yards away and smashes him in the face. I don’t understand why at least one of the officials can’t see that,” said Warnock.

Jose Mourinho’s mentor Louis van Gaal has had a tough start to life at Manchester United, as he still searching for his first victory despite having played four matches. The Dutchman is still regarded with a lot of respect by Mourinho, who worked with him at several clubs previously before becoming a manager. The two famously came up against each other in the 2010 Champions League final in which the student managed to put one over his teacher. Mourinho is yet to face Van Gaal since the Dutchman came to United.

The Portuguese, though, that he is confident that Van Gaal will be able to turn things around at Old Trafford. Manchester United ended up being as one of the highest spenders of all-time in a transfer window after managing to splash more than £ 150 million on players like Angel di Maria and Radamel Falcao. As a result, the squad has been substantially strengthened in several areas of the pitch, although some pundits say that United have brought in more attacking players than defensive minded individuals.

The defence has been a major issue for Van Gaal in the opening two matches, as he has seen his team keep only one clean sheet during this period. Mourinho, who often enjoys good starts, says that Van Gaal is more than experienced to deal with the situation.

“He is one of the best managers in the world so I think he is a man with great experience for the job. Manchester United is a big team [and] he is a big manager so I think they will do well together. It’s a direction we tried to establish since the beginning of last season, but our squad now is different. We have different qualities now in our players. Are we going to lose matches? Obviously, yes, but in this moment we are getting results and we are enjoying our style of play,” said Mourinho.

Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea team suffered a disappointment in the final pre-season friendly match against Werder Bremen after losing the match 3-0. The blues conceded two penalties in the 90 minutes, while they also allowed the opposition to score a soft goal. After the match, the Portuguese boss was extremely disappointed with the refereeing, as he felt that the two penalties were extremely soft as well. The first penalty was awarded for handball by John Terry, while Nathan Ake’s tackle in the second half lead to the second penalty. However, both these decisions could be 50-50 and Mourinho felt that it was unlikely that it went against his team.

Mourinho is looking to win his first major title in two years. He finished his last season at Real Madrid without a major trophy and this was followed by another trophyless campaign at Chelsea last season. Speaking before the match, he said that he has come close to winning titles during this period. He also appeared to lose this famed control during the press conference when suggested repeatedly that he has not won titles in the last two seasons. Chelsea will be looking to put this defeat behind them, as the start of the Premier League comes closer. The blues will be taking on Burnley in the opening match of the season.

“I learned nothing from this game. Our expectations are not fulfilled because when we decided to have this match here in Bremen we thought about an evolution in difficulty. We were expecting a fast game a competitive game but we come here and the referee thought this was a circus for Bremen fans – for them to have fun – and he killed the match. This game for us would have been perfect. The opponent is perfect for is to compete today but we couldn’t play,” said Mourinho.