Blues boss: Why did Dean take so long to admit error? I GOT IT WRONG AT THE BRIDGE
THOMAS TUCHEL has hit out at Sportsmail columnist Mike Dean for taking so long to admit he made the mistake which cost Chelsea victory against Tottenham on Sunday. Dean was VAR for Chelsea’s clash with their London rivals, which ended in a 2-2 draw after Harry Kane’s stoppage-time equaliser.
Kane scored seconds after Cristian Romero pulled Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella’s hair, an incident Dean deemed not worthy of a pitchside review by referee Anthony Taylor. Dean used his column to hold his hands up and Tuchel said: ‘I struggle to be impressed because it is Friday now and I would not take that amount of time if I did a mistake.
‘It’s so clear and obvious, I cannot understand how a referee cannot make the right decision. It will not change stuff unfortunately but it is more than just a bad decision. ‘We can discuss endlessly but it is a new level of mistake and for such an obvious and clear mistake with such an enormous consequence it was very, very hard to accept. ‘What I cannot understand is how it takes a grown man from Sunday to
Friday to admit this.’ Tuchel believes explanations from officials should come far sooner.
He added: ‘Maybe they could explain the decisions on the field to everybody, to make it more transparent and clear. There’s obviously still work to do.’ Tuchel also slammed a string of decisions made by Taylor and suggested it ‘may be better’ if he did not referee Chelsea again.
The German’s comments are being looked at by the FA, while Chelsea are awaiting the findings of a new independent panel set up to review referees’ decisions.