Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said he was happy to take a “fair tackle” from Tottenham boss Antonio Conte after both were shown red cards for clashing twice during a heated 2-2 on Sunday.
Conte’s overexuberant celebrations of Spurs’ first equalizer resulted in the two coaches being booked for squaring up.
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Tuchel then responded by running down the touchline in celebration when Chelsea retouched the lead through Reece James 13 minutes from time.
But Harry Kane’s 96th minute equalizer meant Conte had the last laugh. Tuchel was not happy at the Italian for not making eye contact during a handshake at full-time, which sparked another melee between both sets of coaches and players.
“It was hot from the temperature and hot between the benches and hot on the field and hot between the spectators,” said Tuchel with temperatures soaring above 30 degrees Celsius in the English capital.
“There’s no hard feelings. I feel like it was a fair tackle from him and a fair tackle from me.
“We did not insult each other, we did not hit each other, we were fighting for our teams and from my side there’s absolutely no hard feelings. I’m surprised that we both got a red card for that.”
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Tuchel’s ire was instead directed towards the officials as both Tottenham’s goals could have been disallowed.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s strike was allowed to stand despite a potential foul on Kai Havertz in the build-up and Richarlison standing in an offside position when the Dane’s shot was hit.
Before the corner leading to Kane’s equalizer, Spurs defender Sergio Romero also escaped a red card for dragging Marc Cucurella to the ground by his hair.
“It was a clear foul on Kai Havertz. Ok, the situation goes on and on and on, then it is a clear offside,” added Tuchel.
“Since when can you pull hair on the football field? It’s ridiculous.
“That’s the only frustration. I’m the happiest coach on earth because we played a fantastic match.”
Conte batted away several questions about his tete-a-tete with Tuchel, but admitted a gap between the sides remains despite Spurs’ improvement.
Chelsea won all four meetings between the sides last season, three of them after Conte took charge in November.
“In my opinion it is better to talk about the game,” said Conte.
“Chelsea showed to be a really good team, but compared to last season we did a bit better.
“The difference is clear. This team won the Champions League two years ago, last year won the Club World Cup, got to the final of the FA Cup and Carabao (League) Cup.
“There is a difference between Chelsea and Tottenham but we are here to reduce this gap. Last season we lost three times, this time we drew so it’s a little step forward.”
Harry Kane snatched a 96th minute equalizer to salvage a 2-2 draw for Tottenham from a feisty London derby against Chelsea.
Both managers Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel were sent-off after the full-time whistle for their second physical altercation of the match.
Chelsea looked set to get a new era at Stamford Bridge off to the best possible start as they twice led through Kalidou Koulibaly and Reece James.
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Ben Davies (R) celebrates with Ivan Perisic (C) after Harry Kane scores their late equaliser. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP)Source: AFP
Tottenham were well off the level required if they are to live up to hopes of challenging Manchester City and Liverpool for the title, but showed the newfound character instilled by Conte to fight back for a point.
The Italian and Tuchel were both booked in the aftermath of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s first equaliser.
Tempers then flared again during a handshake after Kane hesitated in with virtually the last action of the game.
“It is the Premier League and why we love it. It is emotional coaches on the sidelines,” said Tuchel.
“I think it (the red card) was not necessary. But a lot of things were not necessary today so it is another poor decision from the referee.
“It’s emotional. You like it. We don’t need comments now. It was heated up and heated up.
“I thought when you shake hands you look into each other’s eyes. Antonio (Conte) had other ideas.”
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Antonio Conte (R) and Thomas Tuchel (L) shake hands then clash. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP)Source: AFPThe game finished 2-2. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP)Source: AFP
Tottenham have still only won once at Stamford Bridge in 32 years in the league, but Conte will be delighted to escape with a share of the spoils against his former club.
“There is a difference between Chelsea and Tottenham but we are here to reduce this gap,” said the Italian. “Last season we lost three times, this time we drew so it’s a little step forward.”
New Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly was welcomed by a huge banner from the Chelsea support and saw an early return on the near £170 million ($206 million) investment in the transfer market since he sanctioned a £2.5 billion takeover to buy the club from Roman Abramovich .
Despite the drastic changes in the boardroom, on the field it was like the old times under Abramovich as Chelsea outthought, outplayed and outmuscled Spurs for the first 45 minutes.
Two of their new signings combined for the opening goal as it was from Marc Cucurella’s corner that Koulibaly found space to volley home.
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Conte again resisted the temptation to start any of his six new signings, but it was not until the introduction of Richarlison just before the hour mark and a switch of formation that Tottenham began to threaten.
Kane had a glorious chance to level when he uncharacteristically dragged wide with only Edouard Mendy to beat.
Spurs did level 22 minutes from time in controversial fashion to light the spark between the two managers.
Kai Havertz looked to be clearly fouled by Rodrigo Bentancur before Tottenham broke forward and the ball eventually fell to Hojbjerg to fire low and hard past Mendy.
Tuchel reacted furiously to the decision and Conte’s overzealous celebration. The German fought fire with fire as he sprinted down the touchline to celebrate when James thrashed home Raheem Sterling’s pass to restore Chelsea’s lead 13 minutes from time.
However, Kane had the final say as he flicked in Ivan Perisic’s corner deep into added time.
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Earlier, Nottingham Forest celebrated their first home game in the Premier League for 23 years by beating West Ham 1-0.
The two-time European champions have made 14 new signings in a bid to maintain their top-flight status and two of those making their home debuts were the heroes as Taiwo Awoniyi scored the only goal and Dean Henderson saved Declan Rice’s penalty.
Forest had fortune on their side as the Hammers also had a first-half goal controversially ruled out and hit the underside of the crossbar twice after the break through Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma.
But that mattered little to a capacity 30,000 crowd at the City Ground, who roared the home side over the line.
West Ham have now lost both their opening two games of the season, but in stark contrast to a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City last weekend, they should have taken at least a point back to London.
Taiwo Awoniyi of Notts Forest celebrates scoring the first goal (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Benrahma’s cool finish from Rice’s pass was ruled out after a VAR review for a foul by Michail Antonio as he blocked off Moussa Niakhate.
On top of nearly £100 million in transfer fees, Forest have splashed out a reported £200,000-a-week to secure Jesse Lingard on a one-year deal.
Lingard had been long linked with a return to West Ham after a successful loan spell in the 2020/21 season.
And he played a part in the winner as his shot was blocked by Ben Johnson but rebounded in off Awoniyi’s knee.
Bar a Brennan Johnson goal that was ruled out by VAR for offside, it was the visitors who had all the best chances after the break.
Fornals smashed an effort of the bar seconds into the second period before Benrahma did likewise from a nearly inch-perfect free-kick.
Rice had the best chance of all from the spot after Scott McKenna handled Tomas Soucek’s effort.
However, Henderson made himself an instant hero by diving low to his right to save the penalty.
More desperate defending was needed by Neco Williams to clear Kurt Zouma’s header off the line late on, but Forest held out for a famous win
Manchester United legend Gary Neville says his former team hit “a new low” during its embarrassing loss to Brentford before unleashing on the club’s owners for a hands-off approach that has created a “toxic” environment.
Erik ten Hag’s bad start as Manchester United manager descended into an embarrassment on Sunday morning (AEST) as a 4-0 thrashing by Brentford left the Red Devils bottom of the Premier League for the first time in 30 years.
United have now conceded four goals or more seven times in the Premier League since the start of last season.
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Brentford, who only ended a 74-year absence from English football’s top flight with promotion to the Premier League in August 2021, punished a series of errors to score four times in the first 35 minutes to spark joyous scenes at their west London ground.
United fell behind in woeful fashion when goalkeeper David de Gea somehow let a Josh Dasilva shot slip through his grasp before Mathias Jensen struck as the visitors failed to play out from the back. Ben Mee then exposed United’s frailty from set-pieces for his first Brentford goal and Bryan Mbuemo rounded off a stunning counter-attack 10 minutes before half-time.
David De Gea of Manchester United acknowledges fans following the defeat in the Premier League. Picture: Catherine IvilleSource: Getty Images
De Gea took the extraordinary step of voluntarily fronting the media post-game to take responsibility for the loss, telling Sky Sports: “I think I cost three points to my team today to be honest. It was a poor performance from myself… It was a horrible day.”
But ten Hag said he was the “main responsibility” for a humiliating loss.
The jubilant home support taunted Ten Hag with chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning”. But the Dutch coach has inherited a rabble rather than being the root cause as United lost a seventh consecutive away league match for the first time since 1936.
“We all have seen the game. I think Brentford were more hungry and we conceded goals to individual mistakes,” said Ten Hag.
“You can have a good plan but that puts the plan in the bin.”
Liverpool legend Jamie Redknapp pointed to stats from the game that showed Brentford covered 109.4km during the match compared to Manchester United’s 95.6km
“That for me is just not good enough by any stretch of the imagination,” Redknapp told Sky Sports.
Manchester United’s striker Cristiano Ronaldo reacts as Brentford players celebrate. Picture: Ian KingtonSource: AFP
“You’re not always good, you can’t always play great – but you can always run around. That is so damning for that Manchester United team – I don’t care who the manager is, I don’t care who the owners are, that has got nothing to do with it. That is running for the shirt.
“That is a disgrace from their point of view. If you’re the manager and you go into the dressing room and you show them that, I would be so embarrassed a footballer
“From the players that started and finished that game, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more abject performance from a club that I would regard as one of the biggest in the world to play like that.
“I just don’t think they showed they cared.”
Neville said Manchester United players had now come under three different managers “they don’t work as hard as the teams they’re playing against”.
“How long have we been saying in football ‘hard work will beat talent when talent doesn’t work hard’? That Manchester United team don’t run hard enough, they don’t run fast enough,” Neville told Sky Sports.
Manchester United’s manager Erik ten Hag. Picture: Ian KingtonSource: AFP
“They are absolutely drained of all confidence, they’re struggling badly – and they have been now for 12 months.
“Today was a new low. It seems that continually Manchester United can surpass their previous lows – and when is the lowest low going to come? Because the reality of it is this is really, really bad.”
United were last crowned champions of England in the 2012/13 season in manager Alex Ferguson’s final campaign before retirement.
The arrival of £57 million ($69 million) centre-back Lisandro Martinez from Ajax has done little to shore up United’s leaky defense and questions will be asked of why Ten Hag has left Raphael Varane on the bench in favor of the Argentine and the out -of-sorts Harry Maguire.
While Ten Hag was keen to bolster his squad, he was adamant the team he sat out at Brentford was far better than this result indicated.
“It is clear we need players but I don’t want to think about that at this moment,” he said.
“The good players we had should have been better. I hoped for a better start, but still I have to believe because I have seen good things but the two games from now are disappointing.”
Former England full-back Neville – a longstanding critic of the Glazer family, the club’s US-based owners – slammed the hierarchy at Old Trafford for failing to give Ten Hag adequate support.
United fans are fuming. Picture: Catherine IvilleSource: Getty Images
“Manchester United have known for eight to 10 months they needed to rebuild the squad for the summer,” said Neville, now to Sky pundit.
“To not get the players in early, the quality of the players, the number of players that Erik ten Hag needed to be able to start the season, is baffling and difficult to forgive.”
Neville said the only money spent by Manchester United on players was from cash generated or borrowed “through its incredible fan base and a great commercial operation”.
“There’s a family over there in America who are just literally letting their employees take all the hits for them – and that is unforgivable,” Neville said.
“Joel Glazer has got to get on a plane… get over to Manchester and he’s got to start to divert the issues away from the club and tell everybody what the hell this plan is with the football club. What is he doing?
“You can look at the players all you like, but there are that many big things that need to be put right first, they’ve got to show up and basically face the music. Now’s the time. You can’t keep hanging over in Tampa and thinking that nothing’s going to come back to you.
Manchester United’s defender Harry Maguire. Picture: Ian KingtonSource: AFP
“These owners since Sir Alex Ferguson have proven in 10 years they cannot manage a forward-thinking football club. It’s been overtaken in every single department and it’s painful and it’s woeful.
“At this moment in time, there has been a toxic culture and atmosphere created at the club over a 10-year period without its leader, Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill, who were propping the club up whilst the family sat there in America glorifying the fact that they were part of it. We’re now seeing what has happened without Sir Alex Ferguson, without David Gill, without leadership. We’re now seeing what’s happening and it’s a mess.
“It cannot continue to go on.”
United host Liverpool, who beat their historic rivals 5-0 and 4-0 last season, in their next game on August 22.
