Fulham head coach Marco Silva has heavily criticised the video assistant referee (VAR) after his side's 2-0 defeat at Chelsea, calling the decision to disallow a goal by teenager Josh King 'unbelievable'. King, 18, scored what would have been his first senior goal in the 21st minute, but the strike was ruled out after VAR Michael Salisbury instructed referee Rob Jones to review the pitchside monitor for a potential foul by Rodrigo Muniz on Trevoh Chalobah during the buildup.
Jones deemed that Muniz had fouled Chalobah, despite the Fulham striker being in possession of the ball when the incidental contact occurred. Silva expressed his frustration, stating: 'To disallow a goal like that is unbelievable. We have all the meetings with the people in charge; we try to see their direction. One of the main things was: 'VAR is not here to referee the game.' I would prefer to say nothing more as I will be punished. I want to be on the bench for the next game, I don't want to pay fines.'
The Portuguese manager also questioned the timing of Chelsea's opening goal, which came deep into added time. With a minimum of eight minutes indicated, Enzo Fernández delivered a corner for João Pedro to score in the ninth minute of stoppage time. Silva argued the half should have ended before the goal, saying: 'There were eight minutes of added time, they score in the ninth. He [the referee] has to stop the game, it's the rules.'
Silva further claimed that before Chelsea were awarded a penalty for Ryan Sessegnon's handball, several fouls on Fulham players were ignored by the same VAR officials. 'It's handball,' he acknowledged, 'but before that moment you can see easily two, three or four fouls for ourselves. There was a stamp on Alex Iwobi, handball by João Pedro, push on Joachim Andersen. They saw the penalty after three moments at least that they have to see for us.'
Fulham have now suffered multiple contentious VAR decisions early this season, including a Manchester United goal that stood despite a push in the build-up during their previous match. Silva's comments reflect growing discontent with officiating standards, though he stopped short of further criticism to avoid FA sanctions.
