Manager Roberto De Zerbi said referee Jared Gillett was “not calm” during Tottenham’s 1-1 draw with Leeds United and believes match officials are feeling the pressure following the VAR controversy at West Ham.
Matthijs Tell’s superb opener at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was canceled out by Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s penalty, denying Spurs a chance to take a four-goal lead over 18th-placed West Ham.
Leeds were awarded a penalty after VAR advised Gillett to check the monitor for Tell’s high boot as he attempted to clear the ball with an overhead kick, which was caught in the head by Ethan Ampadu.
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Watch for free: Highlights of the Premier League match between Spurs and Leeds.
After a lengthy field check, Gillett overturned the initial decision and awarded Leeds a penalty.
Spurs then made their own penalty appeal in the 103rd minute when James Maddison went down in the area after making contact with Lucas Nmeka, but a VAR check cleared the incident and Gillett’s on-field ruling of no penalty stood.
The controversy over match refereeing comes just over 24 hours after West Ham had a second-half equalizer against Arsenal canceled due to a foul on David Raya by striker Pablo inside the area.
Asked about his decision-making by match officials during the match, De Zerbi said: “I don’t think they were calm today. They were probably struggling under the pressure of yesterday’s game against Arsenal.”
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Dominic Calvert-Lewin converts a penalty awarded by VAR to draw Leeds and Spurs level in the Premier League
“Yes, we struggled with the pressure today. We didn’t play with passion for the ball, we were too enthusiastic, but the referee wasn’t calm today either.
“I don’t understand the controversy about VAR yesterday because it wasn’t 100 per cent, 200 per cent, it was a 200 per cent foul.”
Kara: De Zerbi will be furious with Tell, but we must keep him to ourselves.
Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher feels there will be no need to trouble the young forward due to the attacking ability De Zerbi has already shown to his new head coach, which could be crucial in their fight for survival.
Tell was at the heart of Spurs’ good performance in the first half against Leeds, but had a nightmare after half-time when he scored a stunning opener and then received a penalty.
Carragher said of the penalty: “It was a crazy decision on Tell’s part. Sometimes I think we were in a situation as players where we couldn’t see the opposition player coming in.”
“But he’s trying to make a decision, and you look at him, you look at him. So he made a decision, but as soon as he knows there’s someone there, he has to change it.
“He still has time. He has to change his mind. At first I thought I wasn’t seeing him, but he was. Really, really poor decision.”
“We’re talking about a young offensive player who made two stupid decisions in this game.
“De Zerbi will be furious, but he must remember that he is a young attacking player who is making a big difference to Spurs at the moment.
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Tell scores a screamer to put Spurs ahead against Leeds in the Premier League
“He came off the bench against Wolves and took the corner kick and scored the winning goal, he scored the second goal against Villa and then he scored tonight.
“He needs him because they don’t have any injured players but they do have players there and we’ve seen that in the last few games.
“It would be crazy, but the other side did some good things as well. They showed everything that was good about Spurs in the first half and then he scored in the second half.
“That’s the art of management, and De Zerbi knows it better than I do.”
