West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce admits he sought protection for his players during defeat at Everton.
After a couple of meaty challenges from James McCarthy - who provoked an all-out melee after going over the top on Morgan Amalfitano - and Steven Naismith Allardyce, whose sides down the years have been accused of being over-physical, claimed they asked Clattenburg for greater protection.
"I think they were yellow cards. Naismith's challenge on Mark Noble was probably the worst of all and because there wasn't a furore it went unnoticed," he said.
"Noble ended up coming up off injured because of that. They showed a certain degree of physicality and we had to ask the referee to protect us and I don't think he did that too well.
"It is a part of the game we accept but the most frustrating thing is our controllables.
"We have been very good this year at converting chances with very good delivery in the final third but our finishing was not good enough and because of that we have ended up losing and a referee's decision has contributed to it."
