Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Mark Jones

Mateo Kovacic insult overheard as Thomas Tuchel points finger at "rusty" Chelsea star

Chelsea's Mateo Kovacic wasn't best pleased with referee David Coote as the Blues collapsed to an embarrassing 5-2 defeat to West Bromwich Albion.

Having taken the lead through a close range strike from Christian Pulisic, the Blues were reduced to 10 men just two minutes later when Thiago Silva picked up his second booking of the match.

Matheus Pereira then struck twice in first half injury-time to send Sam Allardyce's side in at the break ahead, with Callum Robinson and Mbaye Diagne making it 4-1 by the midway point of the second period.

Mason Mount pulled one back for Chelsea, before Robinson grabbed his second late on.

Midfielder Kovacic was booked for a foul on Robinson in the second half as Chelsea tried to get back into the game, and as he received his card from referee Coote he could clearly be seen calling the official the "worst ref ever" as he tried to suspend his disbelief.

Tuchel was angry with his side's defending (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Blues boss Thomas Tuchel was a little more measured in his analysis, and focused on the errors that led to Silva picking up his two yellow cards within the first half hour of the game.

On both occasions just before the bookings, it was midfielder Jorginho who gave the ball away which led to West Brom attacks.

"I didn’t see the red card, I saw the two big mistakes in our own half before the yellow cards," said Tuchel.

"That is not typical for us, we were rusty.

"We made easy mistakes and were punished. It was totally our fault.

"We did big mistakes before the two yellow cards. There were too many easy ball losses."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.