Tottenham manager Igor Tudor did not hold back in his criticism of the officiating team after Sunday's 1-2 defeat to Marco Silva's Fulham. The coach deemed the decision to validate the opening goal of the match "ridiculous" and accused Raúl Jiménez, the former Benfica striker, of "cheating" in the play.
The controversy erupted just seven minutes in when Jiménez used both hands on Radu Dragusin's back in the challenge that preceded Harry Wilson's goal. After a VAR review, the officiating team determined that the contact "did not meet the threshold for a foul," and the goal was allowed to stand.
In the press conference, the Croatian coach was unequivocal: "Of course it was a foul. I think 99 out of 100 people would say it was a foul. It's so obvious." Tudor lamented the lack of consistency in officiating and recalled an incident in the previous week's 1-4 home defeat to Arsenal. "Last week, the same thing happened. It was the same situation. We conceded the goal. They didn't call the foul after they had given it. It's unbelievable."
"It's ridiculous not to call the foul because the consequence is too great. It's not a small foul in midfield. It's a foul that is followed by a goal. There's a logic to this," Tudor stated, before addressing Jiménez directly: "He wasn't thinking about the ball. He was thinking about how to cheat. And he cheated, he pushed, and they scored a goal. It's a matter of logic. It's cheating, and therefore it's a foul. It has nothing to do with duels or football being tougher here. There was no logic in this decision."
Meanwhile, Fulham manager Marco Silva declined to comment on the incident. "I'm not going to make any comments about that. Of course, it's their opinion and I have to respect it," said the Portuguese coach, who felt the victory was deserved: "I believe the three points are clearly merited. The result should have been different given the number of chances we created. It was a great performance from us."