Tuchel frustrated with officiating during Southampton win

Thomas Tuchel claimed he has “zero understanding” of some refereeing decisions in the Premier League after Chelsea defeated Southampton 3-1 on Saturday.

The reigning European champions took the lead through Trevoh Chalobah’s second top-flight strike at Stamford Bridge with just his second shot.

James Ward-Prowse then became the fourth player to score and be sent off in the Premier League for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men, who were downed by late goals from Timo Werner and Ben Chilwell.

However, it could have been a much different game if Werner’s first-half strike had not been ruled out for Cesar Azpilicueta’s apparent foul on Kyle Walker-Peters, and Tuchel vented his frustrations after the match.

“Everybody tells me we will go back to English football, not whistle soft touches,” Tuchel said to Sky Sports on Werner’s disallowed goal.

“We are here in London, it’s raining, it’s an intensive match and it’s not even after the situation [that the goal is scored].

“There’s a chance and a second chance, there’s a shot and a cross and then we score from the second cross – how is this the decisive action for the goal?

“In this situation, I have absolutely zero understanding of how you can take the goal away.”

Deserved his goal today. pic.twitter.com/JXKtvzkoR1

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) October 2, 2021

Chelsea have scored the most first-half goals in the top flight this term (seven), though they had to rely on two late strikes to seal the three points.

Despite the frustrations surrounding VAR and officiating, Tuchel was pleased for Werner, who shone alongside Romelu Lukaku up top.

“In the end he [Werner] was he was where he needs to be,” Tuchel said at his post-match news conference.

“When you have a ball from Ross [Barkley], the cross from Azpi [Azpilicueta], you need to be there as a striker.”