Tottenham boss Igor Tudor criticised the officials’ “ridiculous” decision to allow Fulham’s opener in their 2-1 defeat at Craven Cottage, accusing Raul Jimenez of “cheating” in the build-up to Harry Wilson’s seventh-minute goal.
Jimenez appeared to have two hands on Radu Dragusin’s back as the pair challenged for the ball, but after a VAR check the goal stood, with officials ruling the contact “did not meet the threshold for a foul”.
The decision came a week after Spurs had a goal disallowed in their 4-1 loss to Arsenal when Gabriel went down under a similar push from Randal Kolo Muani. Tudor was incandescent after the Fulham game as his side slipped to a fourth straight Premier League defeat, increasing relegation concerns.
“Of course it was a foul. I think 99 out of 100 people said it was a foul. It’s so obvious,” Tudor said at his post-match press conference. “Sometimes the criteria don’t have consistency. Last week we had the same thing against Arsenal. It was the same situation before. We conceded the goal. They didn’t get the foul after they gave it – so, incredible.”
He added: “Sometimes they don’t understand it’s enough, even a small contact, it gives you an advantage to score the goal. We need to cancel this. It’s not about a normal duel, when he’s soft or not. When he pushes with his hands and don’t watch the ball, sometimes it’s just easy to get an advantage.”
Tudor called the decision “ridiculous” given the consequence: “It’s not a small foul in the middle of the pitch. It’s a goal after. There is a logic in that. The referee’s beautiful thing [is] to keep playing here. Let’s play strong duels. It’s fantastic. I like it. But there is a logic. If the goal is because he takes advantage, not thinking about football, he was not thinking about the ball. He (Jimenez) was thinking of how to cheat. So he cheated, the player was pushing, and they scored the goal. So it’s a logic. It’s cheating, and then there’s the foul.”
Fulham boss Marco Silva refused to be drawn on the opening goal but insisted his side deserved the win. “No, I will not make any comments on it. Of course it is their opinion and I have to respect it,” Silva said. “Of course the result, I believe the three points, (it’s) clear we deserve it. The score should be different with the amount of chances we created. Great performance from us.”
Tudor — who has lost his first two games in charge, becoming only the second Tottenham manager to do so — focused more on his team’s display than the officials. Spurs sit 16th in the table, four points above the relegation zone, but Tudor said he “did not want to speak about relegation” and instead criticised Tottenham’s running, quality and defending.
“It’s a complicated situation. A lot of problems. I cannot tell you nothing new. We need to find forces inside each of us. I said to the players. It’s always what you are going to do. What do you want to do with yourself? More personality. More wish to do before reacting. Plenty of things,” he said.
“We lack when we attack. We are lacking the quality to score the goal. We are lacking in the middle to run. We are lacking behind to stay there and suffer and not concede the goal. An amazing situation.”
Tudor explained the selection difficulties and the balance between quality and defensive stability: “One thing is that you have a complete team that you can choose. One situation is that you cannot choose because you need to choose the quality to score the goal. You need to have quality players to score the goal, otherwise you cannot defend all the time. But when you are in a bad moment, you put the players, but then you lack defending, running and winning the duels. So what to do? That’s the big question in the future. To choose what is right for this team. To find a formula, what we want to be, what we can be in this moment.”
He added: “So that’s very difficult to understand, because you get the quality, but also football is a sport of running and duels. I have a sensation that Fulham players always arrived before. Even with the brain, they arrived before us. They predict – we are always late.”
Spurs’ fixtures before the March international break:
Thursday: Crystal Palace (H) – Premier League, 8pm kick-off
March 10: Atletico Madrid (A) – Champions League last 16 first leg, 8pm kick-off
March 15: Liverpool (A) – Premier League, 4.30pm kick-off
March 18: Atletico Madrid (H) – Champions League last 16 second leg, 8pm kick-off
March 22: Nottingham Forest (H) – Premier League, 2.15pm kick-off