Stoke boss Mark Hughes claims Michael Oliver's decision to award a penalty against Ryan Shawcross during the Potters' 2-1 victory over Swansea at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday is due to "ridiculous" levels of media attention.
Wilfried Bony netted from 12 yards after referee Michael Oliver deemed the striker was hauled over by Shawcross nine minutes from the interval, but a spot-kick from Charlie Adam and a header from Jon Walters secured three Premier League points for the hosts.
"You see those sort of incidents left, right and centre at every level really -- they occur five or six times a game," he told the club's official website.
"There has been coverage of Ryan inside his own box every time we have been on television which I find ridiculous to be quite honest.
"They are trying to highlight the fact that he impedes players, but he is doing absolutely no different to any other defender in the Premier League.
"Referees have a hard job, I understand that, but it is a little concerning that he is being targeted in the manner that he is being."
The victory over the Swans leaves Stoke in 10th place, and Hughes believes the club deserve their position after a strong start to the season.
"I'm really pleased with the result and the performance to be perfectly honest," Hughes said. "We are up into the top ten now which is a position that we probably feel our performances have warranted for the best part of the season so far.
"We were up against a good side today, who we all know like to get the ball down on the ground and pick you off with clever little balls through the middle.
"We had to be really alert defensively to deal with that, and whilst we initially had a few problems with getting to grips with them early on I thought we were far better following the break.
"We had to address one or two things at half-time, and following that I thought we were in total control of the game and looked the more likely to take the game away from them."