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Assistant Referee Mike Dean says he should have recommended referee Anthony
Taylor to review Cristian Romero’s hair pull on Marc Cucurella for a
possible red card in Tottenham’s 2-2 draw at Chelsea.
Dean, who was the VAR for the controversial game at Stamford Bridge, decided
against any punishment for Romero at the time.
Spurs striker Harry Kane nodded in from the resulting corner for a
stoppage-time leveller to deny Chelsea victory and spark ugly touchline
clashes between the rival benches.
In his Daily Mail column, Dean admitted: "No referee wants to be driving
home from a game knowing they should have made a different call. Sometimes
in hindsight, you realise you could have acted differently.
"For the second goal by Harry Kane, I asked referee Anthony Taylor to wait
while I looked at the incident involving Tottenham's Cristian Romero and
Chelsea's Marc Cucurella.
"I could not award a free-kick as VAR, but I could recommend to Taylor that
he visit the referee review area to consider a possible red card. In the few
seconds I had to study Romero pulling Cucurella's hair, I didn't deem it a
violent act.
"I've since studied the footage, spoken to other referees and, upon
reflection, I should have asked Taylor to visit his pitch-side monitor to
take a look for himself. The referee on field always has the final say.
"It goes to show that no matter how experienced you are, and I've spent more
than two decades as a Premier League official, you are always learning.
"It's disappointing for me as this was one incident in an otherwise very
good weekend from our officials."
Tottenham's first equaliser was also controversial with Chelsea claiming
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's goal should have been disallowed for offside with
Richarlison in goalkeeper Edouard Mendy's line of sight.
Blues boss Thomas Tuchel was also enraged that a foul was not given for a
tackle by Rodrigo Bentancur on Kai Havertz in the build-up to the equaliser.
But Dean believes he was correct to allow the Danish midfielder's goal to
stand.
He said: "With the first equaliser for Tottenham by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
This one was relatively straightforward. I can't go back 44 seconds to look
at Rodrigo Bentancur's potential foul on Kai Havertz. It is outside the
attacking phase of play - the Tottenham player got a toe to the ball anyway
- so that wasn't a factor in whether Hojbjerg's goal should stand.
"The question was whether Richarlison was interfering from an offside
position. When Hojbjerg's shot was struck, Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy
had a view of the ball for me. His line of vision wasn't clearly blocked, so
it was onside and 1-1."
Dean will not be in charge of VAR for the next round of Premier League
fixtures after being given the weekend off following the controversial
events at Chelsea.
The 54-year-old retired from on-field refereeing at the end of last season
but has remained involved with the Premier League as a VAR.
Cucurella: Romero hair pull is clear, it's
a referee and VAR error
Chelsea defender Cucurella says Romero's hair pull on him was "clear" as day
- and branded the decision not to punish the Tottenham defender as a
"referee and VAR error".
"For me it is too clear in the game, on the pitch," Cucurella told a press
conference when asked about the incident. "I didn't see it on the TV, the
video. I think it's very clear, but this is one error of the referee or VAR.
"Sometimes the referees have good decisions, sometimes not. This is not my
problem. Maybe we need to work harder to not concede this goal in the last
minute.
"I saw [VAR] checking for a red card in the stadium. For me it is clear. In
this moment, I don't know what happened."
Cucurella also joked that his hair is fine and he will never consider
changing his style - and added there were no hard feelings towards Tottenham
defender Romero.
"I have no problem with him," the Spaniard added. "It's just one action of
the game but maybe it was important because it changed the final result.
"For me it's no problem. Before the game I spoke with him [Romero]. I have
no problem. It's only one action in the game. Maybe an important action
because it changes the final result. We have another opportunity [to beat
Spurs]."
Romero to avoid retrospective action for
hair pull
Romero will not face retrospective action for the incident late in the game
on Sunday - as pulling a player's hair is not considered an offence in
football's laws.
Retrospective action can only be given when both the match and video
officials fail to spot an incident on the pitch in real time and do not
mention it in their post-match report.
Had referee Taylor spotted the incident in real time, then the correct
course of action would have been a free-kick to Chelsea, leaving Spurs
unable to score from that specific attack.
Unlike rugby, football laws do not specifically mention hair-pulling. The
officials must decide whether the extent of the hair pulling is forceful
enough to be considered violent conduct.
If it is not, then it would probably be considered unsporting behaviour and
result in a yellow card.
Conte: Myself and Tuchel must accept FA
punishment for red cards
Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte has said he and Chelsea counterpart
Thomas Tuchel "must accept" any punishment doled out by the Football
Association following their fiery clash - but the Italian is expecting to
avoid a touchline ban.
Conte remains hopeful that he will be in the dugout for Tottenham's visit of
Wolves on Saturday despite being sent off at the end of a fiery London derby
against his former club last weekend.
He and Tuchel argued as Conte celebrated Tottenham's first equaliser in the
2-2 draw, then clashed again at full-time.
The two managers were hit with an FA charge on Monday and have until
Thursday evening to either accept or appeal.
Conte seemed to hint he would accept the charge when asked about it earlier
on Thursday: "I see that the FA made us, both coaches, a more soft charge,
no? And we have to accept.
"We have to accept and have respect for every decision. But I think
sometimes this type of situation can happen. It's not the first time, it
won't be the last time that two coaches are not in the right way or do not
agree.
"But the most important thing is we have to move on, to have respect for
each other. And for me, the situation finishes there."
Unlike when a player is sent off, Conte and Tuchel will not necessarily
receive a ban - even if they accept their respective charges.
When asked if was expecting to be on the touchline against Wolves, Conte
replied that he was confident he will escape a ban: "I hope so. I think that
it's right.
"It's right to stay in my place. Then I repeat for sure after this type of
situation you can learn a lot but at the same time I think that for many
situations I was really good to keep calm and don't have an excessive
reaction in the situation."
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