Trevor Sinclair says it’s ‘impossible to believe’ VAR official Mike Dean missed Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella haircut in Tottenham draw

The Premier League must find referees who take the game seriously, talkSPORT have said.

Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella was pulled to the ground by the hair in the penalty area by Tottenham’s Cristian Romero as Spurs attacked for a corner on Sunday – but neither referee Anthony Taylor nor VAR official Mike Dean punished Romero.

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Tottenham’s Harry Kane then headed home from the resulting corner to make it 2-2 – much to the fury of Blues boss Thomas Tuchel, who was then sent off after a fight with Antonio Conte.

Video assistant referee Dean has since admitted he was wrong not to advise his on-field referee Taylor to watch a replay of the incident.

“I couldn’t award a free kick as a VAR, but I could recommend Taylor go to the referees’ review area to consider a possible red card,” Dean wrote in his Daily Mail column.

“During the few seconds I had to watch Romero pull Cucurella’s hair, I did not consider it a violent act. I have since studied the footage, spoken to other referees and, upon reflection, I should have had Taylor visit his pitchside monitor to take a look for himself.

But for talkSPORT co-host and former Premier League star Trevor Sinclair, Dean’s reasoning for dismissing the incident doesn’t make sense.

“Listen, a lot of the fans had a dig, especially the Spurs fans saying ‘get your hair cut’ and everything,” Sinclair said during Friday’s talkSPORT breakfast.

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“The amount of work Chelsea put into the build-up to this game, I thought they were absolutely superb that day. They were miles better than Tottenham.

“And then for it to come down to what I thought was a dangerous game – it was definitely a foul at least, the ball was in play – and then for Mike Dean to then say ‘I wouldn’t recommend Anthony Taylor to watch the screen’ because he missed it, I find that impossible to believe.

“Tens of thousands of people watched this on TV and said ‘what’s going on over there? It’s a foul’.

Sinclair went on to say that officials’ lack of accountability after making mistakes, as well as the level of division referees, are real issues in the game.

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And while Dean will not be punished for his mistake, Sinclair says it will have affected Chelsea’s opening form.

“Now Mike Dean, it’s his only job is to watch any points that happen in the area that the referee might have missed, and he missed it. And it cost Chelsea two points.

“And actually – Thomas Tuchel wouldn’t have been sent off if he won that game 2-1 – so it also cost Thomas Tuchel a red card.

“He [Dean] can’t take that back, there’s no accountability, ‘he’s [Tuchel] going to miss a weekend and so ‘. I think you have to bring in people who can do the job properly and take it seriously.