Former Premier League referee Mike Dean has revealed his thoughts on Fulham's disallowed goal during their 2-0 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday afternoon. Marco Silva's Cottagers were unable to respond to goals from Joao Pedro and Enzo Fernandez at Stamford Bridge, but felt aggrieved when 18-year-old Josh King was denied a first senior goal to give the visitors the lead inside the opening 25 minutes.
The strike was chalked off as striker Rodrigo Muniz was penalised for standing on Trevor Chalobah while turning away from the defender on the halfway line. Immediately afterwards, Dean shared his thoughts on the controversial call.
Dean Reacts to VAR Controversy
Despite the fact that Dean is ordinarily pro-VAR in his thoughts on key decisions, he couldn't help but admit the decision was the wrong call and that the goal should've been allowed to stand.
Dean described the contact as an accident and claimed that the VAR should've stayed out of the play as he sympathised with a raging Marco Silva on the touchline.
"The VAR should just stay out of it, it is not clear and obvious error, but he did not have the nerve to stick with the on-field decision, he panicked, it is just not a foul at all. I do not know anybody who would say that was a foul," Dean initially said before adding to his comments at half-time.
"It's such a poor call. VAR just needs to stay out of it, it’s just a complete accident. When the referee goes to the screen he's just got to think 'if I was the VAR would I be sending the referee? I don't think he would. He needs to have some round things and stick with your onfield decision."
Marco Silva was also left furious by the amount of added time in the first period, which led to Joao Pedro opening the scoring nine minutes after the 45th minute passed. The injustice appeared to knock the stuffing out of the visitors, who have now gone three games without a win to start the Premier League season.