Thomas Tuchel risks FA charge after jokey referee comments | OneFootball

Chelsea managed to beat Brentford on Saturday, despite being largely outplayed by their opposition, and despite the game being refereed by Anthony Taylor.

The official has given a few dodgy shouts against Chelsea in the last few seasons, and is getting quite the reputation among the fanbase as a ref you want to avoid.

Thomas Tuchel has already had a couple of run ins with Taylor, and his comments before the game – while light hearted – referenced the issues his side had had with that particular official recently.

“Do we need a top referee? Yes. Do we need good decisions from VAR or maybe no decisions from VAR? Yes. Do we need a little bit of luck? Yes. And, hopefully, we can turn things around with Anthony Taylor,” Tuchel joked ahead of the game this weekend in quotes picked up by the Evening Standard.

It was all very light hearted, but FA Rule E3.1 state that managers shouldn’t talk about referees at all.

It will be down to those in charge whether they throw the book at Tuchel here – given he’s not insinuating anything bad, we assume it will just be a warning at most – but it’s a reminder that match officials are a protected species, and with good reason.