07 November 2023 , 08:19
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Mark Clattenburg believes referee Michael Oliver and VAR official John Brooks got most decisions correct during Chelsea's chaotic 4-1 win at Tottenham on Monday night.
Spurs opened the scoring through Dejan Kulusevski's deflected strike before FIVE goals were disallowed. Chelsea got back on level terms when Cristian Romero was sent off for recklessly lunging into Enzo Fernandez, with Cole Palmer scoring the resulting penalty.
Destiny Udogie joined Romero in the changing room after the break after receiving a second yellow card, although he was fortunate to avoid a straight red card earlier in the game. Nicolas Jackson made use of Chelsea's two-man advantage by scoring a hat-trick.
Clattenburg has reviewed the match in his column for the Daily Mail and has sympathised with Oliver and Brooks, insisting "they were tested to their limits with what happened". The ex-referee believes there were five big decisions made in the game.
The first was Udogie's shocking two-footed tackle on Raheem Sterling, which resulted in just a booking. Clattenburg believes Brooks should've told Oliver to show a red card because "it is precisely this type of challenge which needs outlawing in football".
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Although Clattenburg was critical of his colleagues there, he insists they got the other calls right - including the decision NOT to send Romero off for kicking out at Levi Colwill. Clattenburg thinks this was "pure petulance" from Romero but not violent conduct.
Romero did see red moments later for his challenge on Fernandez. Clattenburg believes Oliver and Brooks were right to send Romero off at the second attempt because he "flew into a challenge and took a huge risk, even though he clearly won the ball".
Udogie was eventually sent off in the second half for "wiping out Sterling" with a "rash" challenge. Clattenburg thinks this was "one of the easiest decisions of the night".
Reece James was also in danger of being sent off after catching Udogie with his forearm earlier in the game. Clattenburg believes the Chelsea skipper avoided serious punishment because he was "using his arm to jump, not to endanger".
Chelsea's 4-1 win against Tottenham was as chaotic as they come (Getty Images)What did you make of Monday night's game? Let us know in the comments below!
Although Clattenburg was happy with the standard of refereeing on Monday night, Ange Postecoglou wasn't. The Spurs boss complained about the use of VAR. "Decisions are decisions: you either accept it or you don't," he told Sky Sports after the game.
"Some of it is self-inflicted, (but) if we are going to go out and complain about bad decisions every week what will happen is what happened today: a forensic study of every decision.
"I think that's the way the game is going. I don't like it - I could be a lone voice as I'm told that's the way forward. With VAR intervention it just felt like a lot of standing around. At some point, we have to accept the referee's decision.
"This constant erosion of referees' authority, this is what the game is going to get: they will not have any authority, it is going to get diminished and we are going to be in the control of someone a few miles away watching a TV screen."