Thiago Silva has hit out at Craig Pawson's decision not to award Chelsea a penalty in the last minute of their Premier League clash against West Ham on Saturday. With the score at 1-1 Conor Gallagher hit a left-footed shot that was blocked by Thomas Soucek's hand but no spot-kick was given.
Chelsea's players surrounded Pawson immediately, demanding a penalty be given after Soucek appeared to push it away with an outstretched hand whilst falling to the ground. The VAR check was completed quickly though and Pawson wasn't sent to the monitor either.
It angered many Chelsea fans who felt robbed at not managing to take more from the game having put the ball in the net three times in the first half, two ruled out for offside. Soucek himself thought he'd scored a late winner after Kepa Arrizabalaga's save but that was also chalked off.
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Understandably Graham Potter took aim at the decision afterwards, declaring, "I thought it was a good save so you need your goalkeeper sometimes to get you the points," in a tongue in cheek manor." The boss refused to blast the officials though. Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole held less back.
"No wonder the Chelsea players are going bananas there," Ferdinand said. "I would be going crazy. He [Soucek] gets down really well to his left, what a save that is. I can’t believe that has not been given. It is unbelievable, it is lucky."
Cole added: "The crucial thing for me is the distance he is from Gallagher. If he is right next to him, two yards away, you can argue no penalty. But when you are that far away, you get a split second and he knows what he is doing. It is a penalty."
As for BT Sport refereeing pundit Peter Walton, he also took side with the Blues, explaining, "The law is clear, the VAR clearly thinks the arm is in a natural position and that he is going down to break his fall.
"If you analyse it in slow motion, you can see the ball is past his knee and then his arm is there. For me, I think it is a deliberate act and am disappointed the VAR didn’t give the referee the opportunity to go and have a second look at it. Football, I think, as a community, would want that given as a penalty. As a former Premier League referee I think that was the wrong decision today."
And now Thiago Silva has made his stance very clear. The Brazilian was hoping to celebrate signing a new one-year contract at Stamford Bridge but couldn't get the three points. He took to social media after the game, posting an image of the incident with two puzzled face emojis and one of a person covering their eyes.
The Blues Twitter team were also clearly unhappy with the decision, or lack of, and posted "Soucek makes a great save from Conor Gallagher" before also replying to a post about the best goalkeepers in the world with the name Thomas Soucek.
The result leaves Chelsea with just two wins in their last 13 league games and a trip to struggling Southampton up next with the small task of Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.
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