Mike Dean admits he regrets decision he made in Cucurella hair-pull incident

Mike Dean, who was the VAR in charge of Chelsea vs Tottenham on Sunday, has admitted that he should have asked Anthony Taylor to re-watch the Marc Cucurella hair-pulling incident.

In the build-up to the corner kick that Harry Kane scored Tottenham’s equaliser from, replays showed Cristian Romero had pulled Cucurella down to the ground by his hair.

The incident has created quite a bit of controversy, with Thomas Tuchel being in no doubt after the game that Romero should have been sent off and Tottenham’s second goal should not have stood (Football.London).

However, the Spurs centre-back will not face any retrospective punishment, given that the VAR had judged the incident not to be violent conduct during the game (Simon Stone).

Dean has now admitted that he made a mistake by not deeming Romero’s actions to be violent conduct and that he should have asked Taylor to re-watch the incident on the touchline monitor to make his own assessment.

Dean told The Daily Mail: “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 the field always has the final say.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Even the most die-hard Spurs fan will not deny that what Romero did was violent conduct and worthy of a red card. On the back of the coverage that the incident has received, officials will now be keeping a close eye on the 24-year-old. So, the Argentine has to be careful not to be involved in any such incidents in the future.

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