Paul Merson fumes at Mike Dean after new Cucurella hair pull incident at Chelsea

Mike Dean was put under pressure after Marc Cucurella had his hair pulled in a déjà vu moment for Chelsea at Southampton as Paul Merson fumed at the former referee.

In the Blues’ 5-1 victory against the Saints at St Marys Stadium tonight (4 December) Jack Stephens was shown a straight red after a VAR review, with ex-PGMOL chief Keith Hackett exclusively told Football Insider was the correct decision.

The incident occurred when Cucurella took his place to mark the Saints captain for a corner, only to have his hair aggressively pulled by the defender.

Dean agreed it had to be a red card, leading to Chelsea fan Merson to demand answers. It was a scenario reminiscent of an incident three years ago against Tottenham Hotspur when Christian Romero was the aggressor.

On that occasion Anthony Taylor did not issue a red card, and Dean was the VAR official and didn’t call for a review, with Clinton Morrison forcing the ex-ref to admit he’d been wrong previously.

Dean said live on Sky Sports Soccer Special (8.09pm): “Unfortunately, I was involved in one of these incidents about three years ago where I think Romero pulled Cucurella’s hair.”

“Tottenham game,” interjected Merson, “2-2, Stamford Bridge.” Although Merson is known playing for Arsenal, he actively voices his support for Chelsea on social media.

Dean continued: “He’s [Stephens] clearly done it, he’s got to be sent off. It’s his second red card of the season, it has to be a sending off, it can’t not be.”

Merson replied: “But how comes Cucurella’s [other] one wasn’t?”

Clinton Morrison leapt in: “Because Mike got it wrong.”

“Cus I got it wrong,” Dean admitted.

Chelsea winners from VAR and referees learning from mistakes

Enzo Maresca made seven changes to the team that dispatched top-four rivals Aston Villa, which had pundits beaming.

Goals from Christopher Nkunku, Axel Disasi, Noni Madueke, Cole Palmer, and Jadon Sancho ensured they silenced any pre-match doubts with a dominant performance.

PGMOL has faced unprecedented criticism this season, whether justified or not. Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, former FIFA and Premier League referee Hackett stressed that the organisation “has a duty of care towards [David] Coote” following his recent exposure to social media backlash.

The VAR’s intervention during the Cucurella incident undoubtedly drew from lessons learnt after a similar incorrect decision three years ago.

In this case, it was VAR that spotted the foul, as referee Tony Harrington missed the initial challenge. This demonstrates that officials today are more open to learning from prior errors and accepting accountability for their mistakes.

Dean, speaking last year about the major error, admitted he failed to intervene. This was to avoid causing Anthony Taylor unnecessary “grief” [Telegraph].

“I said to Anthony afterwards: ‘I just didn’t want to send you to the screen after what had happened in the game.’

“…Because he’s a mate as well as a referee. didn’t want him to face more grief than he’d already endured.”

In other news, ‘Ashley Cole is back at Chelsea’ – fans react as clip re-analysed.

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