Marco Silva put the focus on what he said was an error from the video assistant referee, insisting Chelsea’s Malo Gusto should have been sent off in the 38th minute and suggesting it would have altered the course of an eventual 1-0 defeat for his Fulham team.
Gusto crashed into Willian’s shin with the score at 0-0, having missed the ball with his attempted tackle and the referee, Anthony Taylor, showed him a yellow card. Silva waited for the VAR, Michael Salisbury, to suggest Taylor should reconsider but the original decision would be allowed to stand.
Silva said: “The mistake from the VAR in my opinion, in our opinion … you understand the conversation I had with the fourth official. It’s a clear red card in that situation.
“It’s difficult for Anthony Taylor to see if it’s red card or not – he decided yellow card and we have to be fair for him because in the moment it’s really quick for him to see that it was such a dangerous tackle from Malo Gusto.
“But after that has to come the decision from the VAR to overturn the decision. So far in the Premier League, in 10 moments nine are red cards and this afternoon wasn’t – it was a mistake from the VAR. It would have had a huge impact on the game. The game is going to be completely different.”
Silva was asked whether the VAR had reviewed Taylor’s decision because there was no notification to that effect on the Stamford Bridge big screen. “Good question,” he said. “I don’t know. Normally they put it on the screen for the fans to know they are VAR checking or not. This afternoon we didn’t see that.”
The Chelsea manager, Mauricio Pochettino, appeared to agree with Silva that Gusto should have been sent off. “If I was in his place, I want to tell you it was a red card,” he said. “I understand. Sometimes it’s for you, sometimes it’s against and this type of situation … the view of the referee is different. What I can say is they gave a yellow card. Good for us.”
The game was won by Cole Palmer’s penalty in added time at the end of the first half, after Issa Diop had fouled Raheem Sterling. It was another mixed performance from Chelsea, Pochettino happy with how his team defended and some of their attacking play in the second half but less so with their first-half game. “The first half wasn’t the first half that we planned … something happened before the game that I cannot explain,” he said. “I think that affected the team a little bit.”
Pushed to elaborate, Pochettino shut down. “No, no, nothing, sorry,” he said. “It’s nothing big. Small details that sometimes affect the team. You need to know that something affected the performance but it’s not important for you or our fans to know.”
Pochettino added: “We played really good football for 30 minutes [in the second half] and should score another goal and kill the game. When the game is open like this and you don’t kill it, always in the last minutes.
“We concede a few actions, set pieces and wide free-kicks and Fulham have good potential in these situations.
“We defended well and it was good for us to suffer a bit at the end. This type of game will make us grow and build confidence in the way we are working.”
