Igor Tudor: Tottenham boss criticises 'ridiculous' opener in Fulham loss as he accuses Raul Jimenez of 'cheating'
Tottenham boss Igor Tudor has criticised the officials' "ridiculous" decision to allow Fulham's opener in their 2-1 loss at Craven Cottage as he accused Raul Jimenez of "cheating" for Harry Wilson's goal.
Jimenez had two hands in Radu Dragusin's back as the pair challenged for the ball in the build-up to Wilson's seventh-minute opener.
But after a VAR check, the goal stood with the officials deeming the contact "did not meet the threshold for a foul".
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The decision came a week on from Spurs having a goal disallowed in their 4-1 defeat to Arsenal after Gunners defender Gabriel went down under a similar push in the back from Randal Kolo Muani, which would have levelled the game at 2-2.
The call in west London left Tudor fuming as his side slipped to a fourth consecutive Premier League defeat to deepen their relegation fears.
He said of Fulham's opener at his post-match press conference: "Of course it was a foul. I think 99 out of 100 people said it was a foul. It's so obvious.
"Sometimes the criteria don't have consistency. Last week we had the same thing against Arsenal. It was the same situation before. We conceded the goal. They didn't get the foul after they gave it - so, incredible."
He added: "Sometimes they don't understand it's enough, even a small contact, it gives you an advantage to score the goal. We need to cancel this.
"It's not about a normal duel, when he's soft or not. When he pushes with his hands and don't watch the ball, sometimes it's just easy to get an advantage.
"It's ridiculous not to give the foul because the consequence is too big. It's not a small foul in the middle of the pitch. It's a goal after. There is a logic in that.
"The referee's beautiful thing [is] to keep playing here. Let's play strong duels. It's fantastic. I like it. But there is a logic. If the goal is because he takes advantage, not thinking about football, he was not thinking about the ball. He (Jimenez) was thinking of how to cheat.
"So he cheated, the player was pushing, and they scored the goal. So it's a logic. It's cheating, and then there's the foul. It's not the thing of duels, and that here football is more tough, and we like the duels. There's nothing with that. So there was no logic in this decision. Logic is above everything. After come other things."
Tudor questions lack of running and fight in Fulham loss
Tudor has endured a torrid start to life at Spurs as he became just the second Tottenham manager to lose his first two games in charge.
The loss in west London leaves Spurs 16th in the table and just four points above the drop, but Tudor "did not want to speak about relegation".
Instead, the Croatian was focused on criticising his side's lack of running, quality and defending.
He said: "It's a complicated situation. A lot of problems. I cannot tell you nothing new. We need to find forces inside each of us. I said to the players. It's always what you are going to do. What do you want to do with yourself? More personality. More wish to do before reacting. Plenty of things.
"We lack when we attack. We are lacking the quality to score the goal. We are lacking in the middle to run. We are lacking behind to stay there and suffer and not concede the goal. An amazing situation."
He added: "The situation was complicated because we know how many players are coming back. One thing is that you have a complete team that you can choose. One situation is that you cannot choose because you need to choose the quality to score the goal. You need to have quality players to score the goal, otherwise you cannot defend all the time.
"But when you are in a bad moment, you put the players, but then you lack defending, running and winning the duels. So what to do? That's the big question in the future. To choose what is right for this team. To find a formula, what we want to be, what we can be in this moment.
"So that's very difficult to understand, because you get the quality, but also football is a sport of running and duels. I have a sensation that Fulham players always arrived before. Even with the brain, they arrived before us. They predict - we are always late."
Spurs' games before March international break
Thursday: Crystal Palace (H) - Premier League, 8pm kick-off
March 10: Atletico Madrid (A) - Champions League last 16 first leg, kick-off 8pm
March 15: Liverpool (A) - Premier League, 4.30pm kick-off, live on Sky Sports
March 18: Atletico Madrid (H) - Champions League last 16 second leg, kick-off 8pm
