Mike Dean, who was the VAR for the Chelsea vs Spurs match, has admitted an error. He accepted full responsibility for not referring Taylor to the monitor at pitch-side, And admitted that not suggesting he view the footage for potential violent conduct was the wrong decision.
Mike Dean wrote in a newspaper column for Mail+, “I’ll start with the first equaliser for Tottenham by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. The question was whether Richarlison was interfering from an offside position. When Hojbjerg’s shot was struck, Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy had a view of the ball for me. His line of vision wasn’t clearly blocked, so it was onside and 1-1.
“As for the second goal by Harry Kane, I asked referee Anthony Taylor to wait while I looked at the incident involving Tottenham’s Cristian Romero and Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella. I could not award a free-kick as VAR, but I could recommend to Taylor that he visit the referee review area to consider a possible red card. In the few seconds I had to study Romero pulling Cucurella’s hair, I didn’t deem it a violent act.
“I’ve since studied the footage, spoken to other referees and, upon reflection, I should have asked Taylor to visit his pitch-side monitor to take a look for himself. The referee on field always has the final say. It goes to show that no matter how experienced you are, and I’ve spent more than two decades. As a Premier League official, you are always learning.
“It’s disappointing for me as this was one incident in an otherwise very good weekend from our officials. Decisions are debated – that’s the life of a referee. There were some perfectly officiated games elsewhere, like Liverpool against Crystal Palace. On Monday night which capped a great weekend of Premier League football.”
