Chelsea and Tottenham squared off and shared points at Stamford Bridge in a cracking Premier League encounter this past weekend.
At the center of it all was Anthony Taylor.
Not often are referees thrown into the spotlight for the whole game, but that was the case for the wrong reasons on Sunday. Chelsea fans and players alike were left fuming and calling out the 43-year-old official for a number of wrong calls and blatant decisions in the 2-2 draw. Even head coach Thomas Tuchel felt compelled to share his opinion.
“Since when can players be pulled by their hair?” Tuchel fumed during his post-match interview. “Since when is that? If he does not see it, I don’t blame him. I didn’t see it but we have people at VAR who check this and then you see it and then what? How can this not be a free-kick and how can it not be a red card? How? This does not even have to do with the referee in this case. If he does not see something, that’s why we have people to check if there is a decisive error going on.”
What Happened?
It all started when Taylor chose not to call for a Rodrigo Bentacur foul on Kai Havertz. The ball trickled to Pierre Emile Højbjerg who stroked home an equalizer for the Lilywhites after Kalidou Koulibaly had hammered home the opener with a sumptuous strike.
That was not all, as then came the hair-pulling incident involving Cristian Romero and Blues new boy Marc Cucurella. The Argentine clearly held his opponent’s flowing manes in the build-up to the Harry Kane goal that tied things up at the death. It was a sorry sight, and Chelsea fans were not happy.
Taylor proceeded to send off both Tuchel and Conte following a hand-shake altercation that sparked a melee in the dugout when he called for time.
In the hours since the saga, a Chelsea fan has created an online petition to ban Taylor from officiating games involving the club. Given the enormous population of Chelsea supporters and soccer fans alike, it comes as no surprise that the petition is just hours away from reaching its goal of 150,000 signatures in favor of banning Taylor.
Chelsea fans certainly want to get rid of Anthony Taylor. The ball is now in the FA’s court.
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