Marco Silva was left furious on Saturday after Fulham had a goal disallowed against Chelsea in their Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge.
The Cottagers thought they'd gone ahead when Josh King rifled a precise effort past Robert Sanchez to spark wild celebrations in the away end.
Yet the goal was disallowed after a VAR review, with referee Rob Jones penalising Rodrigo Muniz for a foul on Trevoh Chalobah.
Jones, speaking to the crowd, explained his decision by saying: “After review, Fulham number nine commits a careless challenge, stands on the foot of the Chelsea defender, therefore we disallow the goal and we restart with a Chelsea free kick. There would be no further action.”
Marco Silva waited for referee Rob Jones at half-time after a controversial VAR call.
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Fulham were seething, with Silva animated on the bench as he protested to the fourth official.
To compound his anger, Chelsea went ahead just before the interval with Joao Pedro heading home from a corner.
Silva was frustrated that the goal was allowed to stand, having come in the ninth minute of stoppage time - when eight were initially signalled.
And the former Watford and Everton boss decided to storm onto the field to confront Jones, with his temper threatening to boil over.
The referee kept his cool, however.
He told Silva to head down the tunnel, with the Fulham boss reluctantly agreeing. The Portuguese shook his head as he walked away, while also turning round to make the odd comment in Jones' direction.
Discussing the decision to disallow King's effort, meanwhile, TNT Sports pundit Joe Cole expressed a belief the Fulham star was unlucky.
He said: "To sanitise football like that the kid, the 18-year-old Fulham lad has run away to the halfway line celebrating after scoring his first goal in the Premier League.
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Josh King thought he'd given Fulham the lead in their Premier League clash with Chelsea | REUTERS"To take it off him for that? Like I say, it’s not a tickling contest. I don’t like this nitpicking.
"He stood on Chalobah’s ankle and there was contact, I can understand the rules of the game.
"It wasn’t a careless challenge, it was just two professional footballers going in for a challenge and there was a bit of contact.
"I don’t like it in football when you’re chalking off goals for that. It makes it too santised."
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Rob Jones angered Fulham with his decision to disallow Josh King's goal against Chelsea
|REUTERS
Other pundits were in agreement.
Former Hull star Curtis Jones, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, said: “I'm fuming and I'm a defender and usually I'm on the side of the defender.
“Trevoh Chalobah has gone for a tackle that was never in his favour.
"Rodrigo Muniz takes the ball and accidentally steps on his foot.
Marco Silva couldn't hide his fury during Fulham's Premier League clash with Chelsea
|REUTERS
"I don't know how that's a foul, never mind taking off the goal. It’s ridiculous.”
And Jamie Carragher, writing on X, fumed: "VAR has had a shocking start to the season."