Scott Parker spoke for many when he delivered his damning verdict on VAR. His Fulham team fought back valiantly to score what looked like a legitimate second equaliser only for VAR to identify a handball in the sequence and erase Josh Maja’s goal.
Parker accepted the legitimacy of the referee’s decision given the way the rules are framed. It is the principal of the intervention that he believes is corrupting football at its core. “I understand why the goal wasn’t given but I don’t agree with it,” he said. “Common sense has been lost. We are trying to make the game so pure and sterile, trying to control every single moment.
“What do we want to see as fans? Goals and excitement. VAR is killing every bit of that. You are losing the raw emotion of the game that we absolutely love. It’s a shame. My opinion hasn’t changed. I always knew that it would have damning effects. We played against a fantastic team and a top club with arguably the best top three in the division. If you didn’t know that you would not have guessed who was better team. We should have got something out of the game.”
Jose Mourinho was happy enough with the let-off. On this occasion it was not for him to wring his hands in anguish. “You just have to accept the interpretation of the official. Sometimes they go for you, sometimes against,” he said. Spurs bossed the first half and fashioned the clear chances in the second, but Mourinho was wide of the mark to claim the points were deserved.
He was, however, right to be pleased with the contribution of Dele Alli, who was instrumental in the goal on his first start since the opening day of the season. “Dele was good. The position he was in for the goal was fundamental playing as second striker. Same with Gareth [Bale] while they were fit enough to carry on. This is what I want in the matches to come.”
Spurs went for the giddy front four of Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son, Bale and Alli. The latter received the full wraparound embrace from Kane before kick-off, endorsing his return from exile. Watching Alli insinuate his way through the gaps in the Fulham defences made you wonder what point Mourinho was making by marginalising him for so long.
The breakthrough, back-heeling Son’s low cross as if taking a turn on the dancefloor, would have come straight from the Alli playbook had it not rolled over the defender’s boot, taking the goal credit with it. The pass that began the move from Bale should not go unremarked. Alli made the run, Bale saw him early, transferring the ball at lethal speed. Out to Son it went first time to be driven back from the byline and converted.
Fulham came into this game on a nice, little run of just one defeat in eight. The problem has been chiselling victories. Only two in that sequence. The ball does not get to the feet of Ruben Loftus-Cheek or Ademola Lookman with anything like the frequency that might make a difference. And against teams stacked with stellar goods it’s a problem. Harrison Reed and Mario Lemina ran themselves dizzy in the first half but were never picking up the same man.
The Spurs ronda had the ball increasingly on a string, but the half closed with Fulham demonstrating why the occupy a spot in the bottom-three, Mario Lamina scooping a rare shot at goal over the timber after a sharp counter down the right. It seemed the move was a point of departure for what was to come. Fulham fairly rocketed into the second half. Had the teams changed shirts at half-time?
Hugo Lloris clipped a header from Anderson on to the bar. From the resulting corner Tosin Adarabioyo climbed highest to force a second save from the keeper. Loftus-Cheek blazed high and wide. Fulham hit a post and then Maja’s moment came and went when VAR pinned a handball to Lemina.
With 25 minutes remaining Mourinho yanked Fulham’s first-half tormentors Alli and Bale for Lucas Moura and Moussa Sissoko. Resolve not embroidery was the demand for Spurs now. Kane missed a straightforward chance, his second of the match, to double Spurs’ lead in the last ten minutes. It didn’t matter. Spurs held on for a second consecutive victory. Not the bullish takedown of Burnley. But knowing Mourinho as we do, there was obvious joy in that.
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3e6JkER
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