Marco Silva risks Premier League suspension with rant about Fulham referee

16 December 2023 , 18:42

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Marco Silva ranted about the referee after Newcastle beat Fulham 3-0 (Image: BBC Sport)

Fulham manager Marco Silva is likely to have landed himself in hot water with the FA after launching into a furious rant following his side’s defeat against Newcastle.

Newcastle picked up a comfortable 3-0 win at St James’ Park on Saturday afternoon thanks to second-half goals from Lewis Miley, Miguel Almiron and Dan Burn. But their dominance owed a lot to a 22nd-minute red card for Raul Jimenez. The Fulham striker was shown a straight red by referee Samuel Barrott following a VAR review after clattering into Newcastle midfielder Sean Longstaff.

Silva felt that Barrott had missed an earlier elbow by Newcastle defender Jamal Lascelles on Jimenez and accused the referee of being influenced by the atmosphere created by the 52,055 fans inside Newcastle’s home ground. “Disappointing afternoon,” he began. “It was probably the quiet game Newcastle needed after the midweek Champions League game. It wasn’t our fault, the quiet game in the end.

“Before the red card it was a clear elbow from [Jamal] Lascelles. He knew Raul was there. The elbow out. Until the 21st minute [in] all the moments, the referee didn’t give us one foul. For Newcastle, it was a free-kick every time.

"These types of games, the referee has to have the ability to handle the pressure because always with the home crowd. The Premier League should decide [upon] a referee with the experience and ability to handle pressure. This is the best example of a referee who doesn’t have the experience to handle the pressure. Any doubt, any foul, he didn’t give one. Even the elbow in the face of Raul.”

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Jimenez was initially shown a yellow card for jumping into Longstaff and catching him in the face with his backside. Barrott was then sent to the pitchside monitor by video assistant referee Michael Salisbury and then upgraded his yellow to a red.

Speaking specifically about Jimenez’s red card, Silva said: "He lost the momentum to go in but it's not something serious. He jumped into the player but you don’t see something serious, something wrong with the other player. A yellow is right. VAR is trying to find all these moments to give. To justify their job? I don’t know.

Raul Jimenez jumped into a challenge with Sean Longstaff

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“It’s clear he [Jimenez] lost the momentum. He should have done it in a different way. To go for a red card feels really strange. It was a strange afternoon for the referee. I went to speak with him [afterwards] but he almost ran to the dressing room. It’s what we’re facing right now.”

He added: "We did really well [at 11 v 11]. We’re in a very good moment. We came here to fight for three points. The start of the game showed that it was going to be a tough game for Newcastle. When you play with 10 the effort is huge. We had our moments. If Alex [Iwobi] had scored the game would have been different.

“Second half we started controlling really well. The first goal killed our belief a little bit. That’s normal with 10 men. Yellow cards. I had to take some players from the pitch because I thought there were going to be more red cards. Lack of experience – clear to me from the referee this afternoon.”

Felix Keith