England's Football Association (FA) is investigating Thomas Tuchel’s comments after the Chelsea manager slammed referee Anthony Taylor for his decisions in Sunday’s fractious 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
Tuchel accused Taylor and the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) of making wrong decisions which ultimately helped Spurs come away from Stamford Bridge with a point as tempers flared and both he and his counterpart Antonio Conte saw red.
At his post-match news conference, Tuchel rued the “huge misinterpretation of situations” and said it “would be better” if Taylor was no longer involved in officiating Chelsea’s matches.
Tuchel said he felt that Kai Havertz had been fouled in the build-up to Tottenham’s first equaliser and that Richarlison was offside and blocking the view of 'keeper Edouard Mendy.
He added that new signing Marc Cucurella had had his hair pulled by Tottenham centre back Cristian Romero shortly before Harry Kane's dramatic leveller. “Pull someone else's hair, stay on the pitch and attack the last corner. This is for me without any explanation and I don’t want to accept it,” Tuchel told reporters. “Both goals should not stand and it’s a fair result because we were brilliant, deserved to win. This is my point of view.”
An online petition calling for Taylor to not be handed Chelsea games in the future was launched by fans shortly after the match and it has already received more than 100,000 signatures. When asked about it after the game, Tuchel said: “Maybe it would be better.”
“But honestly, we also have VAR to help make the right decision,” Tuchel added. “If he does not see it, I do not blame him. I didn't see it.
“But we have people at VAR who check this. Then you see it and how can this not be a free kick and a red card? This doesn’t even have to do with the referee in this case.
“Huge, huge misinterpretation of situations. I’m happy to let the game go, but let it go in every direction please and not like this. I don’t even know if I will get punished for my sentences now.”
When it was pointed out to him that he would most likely miss Chelsea’s next league game at Leeds United on August 21, Tuchel said: “So ... good. I cannot coach, but the referee can whistle the next game.”
While both Tuchel and Conte were involved in a heated exchange after the fulltime whistle, the two managers were relatively calm after the game and said they had no hard feelings. Conte, a former Chelsea manager, even took a cheeky dig at Tuchel on Instagram, saying he was glad he did not see the German celebrating the second goal by running down the touchline as “making you trip over would have been well deserved”.
