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Chelsea news: Ex-Fifa official slams stars 'crying wolf' as new Cesar Azpilicueta footage analysed
Keith Hackett has insisted referees should clamp down on players “crying wolf” with head injuries after Chelsea star Cesar Azpilicueta was accused of doing just that.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Fifa and Premier League referee claimed it is the responsibility of officials to “err on the side of safety” where head injuries are concerned.
As seen on Amazon Prime Video‘s coverage of Chelsea’s home win over Bournemouth on 27 December (1:19:30), Azpilicueta went down with a head injury as the away side turned up the pressure in search of a goal.
Commentators on the match remarked that the Blues defender may have used his “experience” by going down as he did, while the defender came in for more criticism on social media.
Azpilicueta returned to the game and went on to play 37 minutes in total after replacing the injured Reece James early in the second half.
Chelsea won the game 2-0 but slipped to a 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest on Sunday (1 January) and now sit in ninth place.
Hackett told Football Insider’s Ewan Kingsbury: “I think calling for the stretcher to take them off immediately would stamp this kind of thing out.
“Referees have got to err on the side of safety, and if a player goes down holding their head – they’ve got to react immediately and stop the game.
“It’s a sad state of play where players are attempting to deceive the referee by crying wolf like this.
“Crying wolf like that is a dangerous thing to do when we’re talking about head injuries.”
In other news, Football Insider updates as Chelsea line up £60million move for Premier League star.