"Is hair pulling allowed?" - Chelsea star Thiago Silva slams referee Anthony Taylor for not seeing clear foul on Instagram
Chelsea defender Thiago Silva has slammed Anthony Taylor following the referee's decision not to give a clear foul during the Blues' 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
During the dying embers of a tense affair between the two sides on August 14, Spurs won a series of corner.
Tottenham's Christian Romero was seen pulling Blues new signing Marc Cucurella to the ground by his hair.
Despite this, neither Anthony Taylor nor VAR intervened, with Spurs going on to score from a resulting corner through a Harry Kane header to make it 2-2.
Blues boss Thomas Tuchel was furious as both the German tactician and Tottenham manager Antonio Conte clashed following the final whistle.
Silva appears to be angered by the referee's lack of action, writing on his Instagram story:
"Haven't you seen this? No way. Is hair pulling allowed?"
Thiago Silva’s Instagram story this morning.
Translates to “Haven’t you seen this?”, “No way”, and “Can you pull hair out?”
#AnthonyTaylorOut https://t.co/XemcM0oUQl
The two London rivals played out one of the fiercest Premier League matches of recent times with duels both on and off the pitch.
Chelsea's new centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly gave the Stamford Bridge side the lead in the first-half.
Pierre-Emile Hojberg grabbed an equalizer in the second-half.
This followed another controversial decision from Anthony Taylor to not give a foul when Kai Havertz was aggresively tackled by Rodrigo Bentancur.
Tuchel's side went 2-1 ahead in the 77th minute through Reece James' strike but Kane pulled back a dramatic equalizer right at the death.
Chelsea fans sign petition to have Anthony Taylor not referee any more games
Chelsea fans are just as irked by referee Anthony Taylor as Silva and his team appear to be.
So much so, supporters have started a change.org petition to have the referee no longer officiate any of the club's games.
The petition currently stands at 90,000 signings with a goal of 150,000.
Some of Taylor's decisions that have been scrutinized in the past are listed alongside his performance in Chelsea's 2-2 draw with Tottenham.
TUCHEL VS CONTE: ROUND TWO!!! 🤬🤬 https://t.co/XhWuOU4fwD
Tuchel was furious with the referee's performance in the game and responded to a reporter who asked if Taylor should no longer officiate his side, (via SkySports):
"Maybe it would be better."
He continued,
"But honestly, we also have VAR to help make the right decisions. Since when can players be pulled at their hair? Since when is that? And if he does not see it, I don't blame him.
"I didn't see it, but we have people at VAR who check this and then you see it and then how can this not be a free-kick and how can it not be a red card? How?"