The latest edition of the Battle of the Bridge was more the Battle of the Dugouts on Sunday but the suggestion that Antonio Conte should be banned for his late red card is baffling.
Both the Italian and his opposite number Thomas Tuchel are men of passion and that was evident throughout the Premier League derby at Stamford Bridge as the heat rose on and off the pitch on Sunday afternoon. However, in the crunch moment that brought both men red cards from referee Anthony Taylor as things reached boiling point, only one of them appeared to be the agitator.
Conte attempted to shake hands quickly after the final whistle on his way to applaud the away fans and move on from the whole encounter. It was a cursory offering of the hand before walking past, but that did not meet Tuchel's expectations and he gripped the Spurs head coach's hand tightly, refusing to let him go and in doing so yanked him back towards him with the motion.
READ MORE: Every word Antonio Conte said on red card, Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea and changing Spurs' tactics
A stunned Conte looked down at his grasped hand, the video footage clearly showing Tuchel's fingers clasped around it, before both men went face to face with the German's cap pressing against his counterpart's head. The Chelsea man pointed two fingers towards his own eyes, telling the Italian to look at him if they are to shake hands.
There's a certain irony that had Conte not even offered his hand there would have been no post-match trouble and the Italian suggested as much after the game.
In terms of physical contact there was no pushing or shoving from either man other than Tuchel gripping Conte's hand and not letting it go as chaos descended around them. Both were quickly swept away by their respective players, coaches and security staff with Conte's minders being Harry Kane, then Yves Bissouma and team manager Allan Dixon while Matt Doherty held back Jorginho from getting involved with him.
Spurs will surely appeal Conte's straight red card for the incident because in that moment he did nothing wrong other than shout at Tuchel to let his hand go. Conte admitted he shouted aggressively at his Chelsea counterpart but there was nothing physical to his response.
"The referee showed me a red card but he didn't understand the dynamic of what happened, but it's ok I have to accept, but I repeat this is not a big problem. It's not important. The problem is between me and the other coach, not for the others," said Conte afterwards in his press conference.
"Honestly I don't want to come back again but for sure there is a video to understand what happened. For sure I am not passive. If I see aggressivity, then my answer is with aggressivity but I repeat this is not a problem. The most important thing is the game was a great game with two teams where there is a big rivalry."
After the red cards there were further scuffles with the furious Conte barging past Mateo Kovacic to get off the pitch and in the tunnel afterwards there is understood to have been more heated confrontations between both sides.
After a long wait for the post-match press conferences it was Tuchel who came out first and one journalist quipped as they placed their dictaphone on the table in front of him: "I was going to shake your hand but....."
That brought a laugh from the German who then lifted his shirt sleeve to bare his right bicep before he explained his side of events.
"I just compared it to two players who had a fight on the field, but nothing happens and nobody gets injured. Then the players, if you have hard tackle, a fair tackle, and you don’t go later and apologise, it’s no need, it’s Premier League football," he said. "The two managers got involved today because both of us were fighting for our teams. That was it. Nobody got insulted, nobody got hurt. We didn’t have a fist fight. So for me it is not a big deal. It was part of it today and it heated up, but nothing bad. Today it was part of the game."
Both the Chelsea and Spurs head coaches are very similar in their touchline demeanours, both livewires in the dugout and there was the amusingly hypocritical sight at one point of Conte screaming maniacally at his Tottenham players in the first half to 'calm down'.
In the other dugout so angry was Tuchel with the decisions being made that he had a minder of sorts on the Chelsea coaching staff who kept hauling him away from the fourth official after every foul given or not given because his screams were so vociferous.
The goal celebrations from both managers midway through the second half summed up the passion but perhaps also the pettiness of the duo. Conte wildly celebrated Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's 68th minute goal by hugging his coaching staff before roaring and pumping his fists to his left with Tuchel taking exception to him doing so in the Chelsea bench's direction.
There are some indications that the Italian was in fact celebrating at the travelling Tottenham fans in the far corner behind the Blues' bench, but as an angry Tuchel approached Conte it certainly looked as if the fist pumping continued in his direction and both men received yellow cards after they clashed.
There was then a certain irony in Eric Dier being the one to go over to calm the situation as one of the key players who was at the centre of the Battle of the Bridge back in 2016.
Tuchel had already been enraged by what he saw as a foul from Rodrigo Bentancur on Kai Havertz in the build-up to the Dane's goal, although replays did appear to show the Uruguayan getting the merest of touches on the ball, while the Chelsea boss also felt Richarlison was in an offside position for the strike and in doing so was blocking Edouard Mendy's sightline.
So when Reece James put Chelsea back in front on 77 minutes, Tuchel went off sprinting down the touchline in exaggerated fashion past Conte to celebrate the goal.
That would hours later prompt a late night Instagram Story post from Conte with a photo of that moment, saying: "Lucky I didn't see you....making you trip over would have been well deserved." The post was followed by three emojis of laughing faces but it perhaps was not the wisest of social media posts with an appeal of his red card no doubt likely.
Conte might have even suggested that, having already been on a yellow card, Tuchel's sprinting out of his technical area and down the pitch might have earned the German a second booking by the letter of the law.
Tuchel was more focused on the referee after the game and that will not go down well with the governing body in the days ahead as they look to apportion blame. It was put to him by one reporter that some of the Chelsea fans believe Taylor has made a series of bad decisions against the club in the past.
"I don’t think that [just] some of the fans think that. I can assure you that the whole dressing room, every single person thinks that. I cannot understand how the first goal is not offside and I cannot understand since when players can, pull other people’s hair and stay on the pitch and attack in the last corner," he said. "This for me is without any explanation and I don’t want to accept it. I have no words for it. I am curious what the explanation is for that but both goals should not stand and then it’s a fair result. We were brilliant and we deserved to win."
When asked whether the players were worried about Taylor refereeing Chelsea matches in the future, the German replied: "Yes, of course.
"You know the players they know what’s going on and they’re on the pitch and they know it and again it is like this."
He added: "Maybe that would be better [if Taylor did not referee a Chelsea game again]. Maybe it would be better but we also have VAR to help make the right decisions. Since when can players be pulled by their hair? Since when is that? If he does not see it I don’t blame him. I didn’t see it but we have people at VAR who check this and then you see it and then what? How can this not be a free-kick and how can it not be a red card? How? This does not even have to do with the referee in this case. If he does not see something that’s why we have people to check if there is a decisive error going on."
When it was put to Tuchel that he will not be in the dugout when Chelsea travel to Leeds next Sunday, he exclaimed: "So, good. I cannot coach but the referee cannot whistle the next game. Good."
As is often his way, Conte refused to criticise the referee - although admittedly most of the contended decisions did go Spurs' way - and he appeared to offer a rebuke for Tuchel's words.
"You know very well I never, never spoke about the referees' decisions. Never, never and I continue to do this. When I see the others have this type of behaviour, it makes me a bit angry but at the same time everyone tries to do what they want, you understand? I don't want to comment on the referee but I never make a comment about the referee in England," he said.
As it stands both head coaches will miss their next matches. If it is a touchline ban rather than a stadium one then Conte will be allowed to travel with the squad for next Saturday's game against Wolves, hold team talks before the match and at half-time, but then will have to sit in the stands at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to watch the game.
However, Spurs will surely appeal that late straight red card following the final whistle. Had it been another pair of yellow cards for the duo following this second clash then Tottenham would not have been able to appeal and would probably have lost if they could. However, a straight red card for trying to get your hand removed from another person's grip while shouting at them to do so would not seem to be punishable by dismissal.
One thing is for sure and it's that Conte is passionate about what he is doing at Tottenham and despite his side's poor performance on the day - although Hugo Lloris was strangely rarely tested - he watched his team grab a point they were nowhere near taking last season and his character and spirit has clearly been imbued to his squad.
"You have to show every time passion because the result can be positive or negative but I think the passion is very important. In every job that people do. You have to love your job, you have to love your work and to show the passion," he said. "If the people understand this and the fans see this it's good, it's good and you can take big achievement if you have big passion in your job."
There will be plenty more to come on the pitch and off of it for Spurs with Conte at the helm and all eyes will be on him and Tuchel when the sides meet again at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on February 25, 2023.
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