Thomas Tuchel saw positives and negatives in Kalidou Koulibaly's home debut after the defender scored in Chelsea's 2-2 draw with Tottenham on Sunday.
The Senegal international, who arrived from Napoli for £34million in July, netted the opening goal with a ferocious volley to spark jubilant scenes at Stamford Bridge. Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg equalised for the visitors before Reece James gave the Blues the lead for the second time.
The Blues looked to be cruising to victory, but, in additional time, Harry Kane nodded home an Ivan Perisic corner to snatch a point. The second equaliser was a controversial one due to an incident involving Tottenham defender Cristian Romero seconds earlier.
During the corner before the one Kane scored from, Romero was seen tugging the hair of Marc Cucurella in the box. Despite video assistant Mike Dean looking into the incident for a possible red card for violent conduct, Romero escaped without punishment. Had VAR ruled it worthy of a red card, Chelsea would have been given a free kick and the second, fateful corner would not have happened.
Despite the contentious leveller, Koulibaly looked impressive in West London and opened the scoring with a brilliant volley after being left completely unmarked during a first-half corner. He has earned plenty of plaudits from Chelsea fans for his performance.
Asked how pleased he was with his new centre-back's performance, Tuchel told Chelsea TV: "I was happy with everybody and Kali had some difficult and dangerous moments in the beginning, in the build-up, because I think the pitch was a bit dry. But after that, in general, he’s a top, top player and you see it."
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Reflecting on his side suffering a late sucker punch, the German added: "Yes, but it happens. It happens during the life a football coach and a team. In football, and as players, you sometimes get caught in the last minute and we will hopefully have it in the season that we will steal some points and be decisive. This can happen.
"But it can’t happen when we have VAR at this kind of level. It can’t happen that goals are allowed that are simply irregular goals. This is the frustration and it’s unacceptable.
"I think we know what we did, the players know the input they put into the game mentally and physically. We were so sharp, fully on, and played a brilliant match. What a step up for us from the first game against Everton. I’m disappointed for the players that they don’t get the reward. It’s actually down to incredible decisions."
