Chelsea had 2 strikers and 2 Wingers on at that point and Pulisic was playing underneath that line. There were more than a few opportunities that they had to play through Pulisic, but either played the ball out wide or shot from distance. I thought he had a good game. Drew a penalty, a red card, and started the sequence that resulted in the other red card. 7.5/10 from me. Something I’m realizing about Pulisic is he’s the type of player that defenders feel they have to foul to stop a large portion of the time. This is a huge asset, and is a presence only a handful of attackers in the world have.
Wow...what an entertaining game. Ajax has stones...didn't change the way they played much even being down two players. Tough to dislike that team. Puli played reasonably well. Directly responsible for two Chelsea goals. Thought he was gassed at the end. Maybe time for him to come off the bench as a super sub for a game or two.
It was interesting watching the reactions to the handball incidents. On the first one , (where the Ajax guy was sent off), it was either 'It was definitely a handball' or 'it definitely wasn't a handball', depending on which side the fella supported. On the second, (where the goal was chalked off), the thinking was completely reversed Footie fans... dontchajustluvus
That second Chelski goal was offside. Blind was given a second yellow while he was fouled before that happened, the penalty with red for Veldman was dodgy.
Whether right or wrong, can anyone imagine a ref making a call of 2 red cards and a PK in one sequence against the home team? That would take major stones.
Three teams on 7 points each. Imagine Valencia goes out now because of that stoppage-time equalizer they conceded in Lille...
Chelsea will be no match for Valencia. Their coach will watch this match and conclude Chelsea is the easy meat and a must to take the three points from. Ajax simply is two classes above Chelsea and to advance Valencia must take all three from Chelsea, as they've seen that mission against Ajax is going to be a lot tougher. Chelsea also has a bunch of guys running around who have no clue where the goal is, judging from their number of shots compared to the ones on target: I guess those shots on target include the penalties
By the current rules both were handling, but going by the old rules I'd say neither were. Did Veltman get the red for the penalty, or for arguing? If for the penalty, that's real harsh.
I agreed with you. That's a LOT of shots for just 2 goals scored (not counting PKs). Lamp needs to spend some extra time on shots accuracy in training.
Correct. Rules are rules. Goal given, and goal taken because of same rule. I say it's more than FAIR.
I thought it looked like it might be offside as well, but not sure how you can blame the center ref for that one. Linesperson and VAR should have sorted that. Blind fully deserved his second yellow - not sure what you mean there. I wasn't sure if the yellow for Veldman was for the handball or dissent. If the ref saw it as deliberate handball, it's a yellow - but agree that on evidence that seemed harsh.
https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/2019-2020-uefa-referee-discussion-rs.2104167/page-22 So reading the ref's discussion of this, they do think Pulisic fouled Blind and perhaps the play should have been stopped there. If he played advantage and then saw that tackle, would he bring it back and not give a yellow? I can see a number of refs giving the yellow there regardless. They also think the yellow was for handling - punishable handling (for a PK) is always a yellow in UEFA. I do think it's a fair point that a better ref probably wouldn't have tossed them both but not sure I disagree strongly with either yellow even if I don't like the second one. If it was my team, I'd probably be losing my mind.
After Puli was dispossessed by thelegal shoulderpush by Blind, Puli kicked the leg of Blind that made him loose the ball and get out of balance and Blind tried to correct that by the tackle that went wrong. The ref let Chelsea play on despite the by Blind made foul, but that is only allowed if the ball is going into a direct scoring opportunity, which it wasnot as Chelsea's player had two Ajax players in front of him and he was about 2-3 meters out of the box. That ref's second error lead to the shot coming from behind a player fast and hit the arm Veltman wasnot able to turn quick enough out of the shot range. Two fatal ref errors and two red cards and an illegal penalty. This ref is either corrupt or vastly incompetent.
Two red cards in a single play after giving advantage is something you seldom see. IMO, Ajax was jobbed. Also, that PK call was lamentable.
I really don't see that. When you run someone over, be careful to avoid their legs as they fly toward the ground. He initiated a ton of contact and was really out of control while doing it. Maybe it was a legal challenge - I didn't think so live but see the argument on replay - but he was not a victim on that play.
That is something I dislike about the game in Europe: it seems the 50/50 calls almost always go to the wealthier club, which I doubt is a coincidence. In the end, the same 7-8 clubs dominate the continent because one way or another, they get a bit of a hand to make it as far as possible. Also, there were plenty of reports about the high-level corruption going on to give the World Cup to Russia within UEFA, yet those reports got squashed and silenced right away. At least in the Americas we follow through with the investigations, even if it makes us look worse in the end. I rather follow through with an investigation than dismiss it just to keep a "good image," as they're wont to do over there.
The same Valencia who doesn't have a win against a team in the top half of La Liga all season and are 13th in the table? Yes, a juggernaut they seem to be. By far their best win of the year is against Chelsea, and it's not close.
Well, that was my point. Either that sort of incident is handball or it isn't but, whichever it is, it doesn't make any difference to the match result. The only slightly questionable aspect is the 2nd yellow and the sending off but that doesn't alter the score, does it.