Tottenham interim head coach Igor Tudor has slammed Fulham striker Raul Jimenez for ‘cheating’ in the build-up to Fulham’s first goal in the 2-1 loss at Craven Cottage on Sunday.
The Cottagers condemned Spurs to their 10th match without a win in the Premier League, with Harry Wilson and Alex Iwobi cancelling out a Richarlison strike to put the visitors within a shot of picking up some much-needed points.
But it was instead another loss, with the North London club remaining four points off the relegation places with 10 games to go.
In the build-up to Fulham’s opener, a ball clipped into the box flew over Radu Dragusin’s head, before Jimenez took it down and kept the attack alive, eventually leading to Wilson’s strike.
But the Romanian defender was adamant that he had been pushed in the back as he attempted to head the ball clear, which replays confirmed.
However, Craig Pawson and VAR opted not to instruct referee Thomas Bramall to change his decision, despite a much softer push on Gabriel resulting in a Tottenham goal being ruled out in the North London derby last week.
Tudor was understandably furious at the decision and vented his frustration at full-time.
He said: “This is ridiculous to not give the foul, because the consequence is too big. It’s not a small foul in the middle of the pitch, it’s a goal after. So, there is a logic in that, so the referee, beautiful thing to keep playing here, let’s play strong, duel, it’s fantastic, I like it.
“But there is a logic, if the goal is, because he take advantage, not thinking about football, he was not thinking about the ball, he was thinking how to cheat. So, he cheated the player with pushing and they scored the goal. So, it’s a logic, it’s a cheating and there’s the foul.
“It’s not the thing of duel and they want that here is a football is more, you know, tough and we like the duels, it’s nothing with that. So, there was no logic in this decision and logic is above everything, after come other things.”
The Croatian head coach did not stop there, though. After expressing his anger at the referee, he turned his attention to the players.
“The situation was complicated because we know how many players (are out). Now the players are coming back.
“One thing is when you have a complete team then you can choose. One situation is when you cannot choose, you know, 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 and 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 of what we want to be and what we can be in this moment. That’s very difficult to understand, that’s the thing.
“To understand because you have the quality, but also football is a sport of running and duels. I have a sensation that Fulham players always running and even with the brain. They arrive before us, they predict and we are always late on everything. That’s the problem.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: 101greatgoals.com
