Thomas Tuchel admits even he ‘was surprised’ by Kane’s goal being disallowed

Thomas Tuchel has admitted he was surprised when Harry Kane’s first-half goal against Chelsea was chalked off.

Antonio Conte decided to set his side up ultra-defensively for the clash at Stamford Bridge, with Spurs lining up with a back four of Eric Dier, Davinson Sanchez, Japhet Tanganga and Ben Davies, while Matt Doherty and Ryan Sessegnon played as wingers.

Things went according to pan plan for the Italian in the first half as Tottenham restricted the home side to just a few chances.

Harry Kane then seemingly gave Conte’s men the lead in the 41st minute but referee Paul Tierney blew his whistle, penalising the Tottenham striker for a foul on Thiago Silva.

Replays showed that Kane had a hand on Silva’s back but some pundits, like Gary Neville, claimed Silva was quite lucky to have the foul called in his favour (Gary Neville Podcast).

The decision proved costly for Spurs as Chelsea scored two quickfire goals at the start of the second half to put the result beyond the North Londoners.

Conte was fuming at the disallowed Kane goal, labelling the decision as ‘incredible’ (Sky Sports).

Tuchel insisted that he did not see the incident but admitted he was surprised at the goal being chalked off.

When asked about Tottenham’s disallowed goal, the Chelsea boss told Sky Sports: “I didn’t see it, actually. I thought it was a goal and then I was surprised, but I did not see it.”

This comes as Conte reacted in disbelief to the disallowed goal, stating (Sky Sports): “In the first half the referee disallowed a goal, I was very clear with him in a polite way, but to see this type of goal disallowed in England was incredible. Maybe in Italy it was 50-50, but in England it was incredible.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Whether there was enough contact to get push Silva to the ground is quite subjective. VAR was certainly not going to overturn the decision once Tierney blew for a foul.

I do not believe the decision was as clear-cut as Conte and some Spurs fans on social media are making it out to be. I would have been disappointed had a foul not been called if Lukaku did the same thing to Sanchez or Dier in the other end of the pitch.

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