wow, announcer talking about this game could decide conte's future at the club. have to say, from what i've seen, if conte gets the axe, it's on the players, not the manager. famous line by pep, the managers job is to get the players up to the final third, after that its on the players.
not the pedro cards mind you, he dove on the first and the tackle was definitely a yellow. some of other decisions have been insane.
I agree, diving has to be removed from the game, but another thing that has to go is not every time that a player goes down is it a ********ing dive. Pedro went down, and did not look or ask for a PK, how is that a dive ffs. Morata has contact, feels an arm, goes down, and gets a booking? Not a booking at all. Such a joke.
Because he went down without contact. It does not matter that he didn't appeal to the ref for a penalty with further action. It's a clear dive.
That's not a clear dive in my eyes. You've ever ran full speed, had a keeper come sliding out and lose your footing? That happens all the time, just because its in the box does not mean its a dive. Not once did he look or appeal for a PK.
also when there IS a penalty (the willian one) overturn the decision. don't worry about the ref being wrong or trying to stick behind them, that's counter to the entire idea of review.
well diving IS hard because often you expect contact and it doesn't come. what happens then? if a player gets up right away knowing there wasn't contact?
It might have been a bit soft but it would have been fair because the guy was grabbing at him. IOW it was a foul that WOULD have been called outside the box. The problem was he threw himself on the floor and made an absolute meal of it.
hazard, as freaking cool as you like, puts the winning penalty in. frankly i am SO glad chelsea went through after that farcical game. that could have been a huge downer for the club with the way that went down. and still is, except with a positive outcome. i'm seeing an incredibly frustrated team right now, but not one that is completely gone. chance creation is still there, ideas are still there. just can't get any breaks and losing the last touch every time.
What's the old saying about, 'If you win the final, nobody remembers the semi'??? Something like that.
but again, that shouldn't matter either. a foul is a foul. clearly Morata had him beat and was past him and the player was grabbing at him. shouldn't matter how he went down, that's subjective. clearly the point you make still stands because refs are humans, but it SHOULDN'T matter. but still, it's the willian one that has me pulling my hair out. nor would i ever argue that pedro's two yellows were correct.
The problem is that Morata does sometimes just flop on the ground when he feels even the tiniest bit of contact, even when he's also pushing the other fella, (so is doing exactly the same thing, effectively). He's a bit like captain starfish who used to do the same thing. If it hadn't been for the VAR I wouldn't mind but, as you say, WTF is the POINT of it if they don't use the damn thing??? I'm still not sure about this VAR malarkey myself. Certainly, if players are going to go around flopping all over the pitch in the vague hope they might get away with one, it's going to be a disaster.
Morata has become visibly more and more frustrated the last few games and it just boiled over for that red. Agree, from above, the team is frustrated. All that matters is they went thru, but today was great opportunity for a 3-0 or 4-0 win and get some positive vibes in team. I hate diving and glad they are giving cards for dives, but I also think VAR should work the other way when a player is wrongly carded for simulation and there was significant contact Team selection for Brighton is going to be interesting!
yea, Morata has clearly been getting more frustrated and today wasn't the first time he's gone to ground super easy. that's definitely been a feature recently.
Well I did not stay for extra time and I am glad I missed the farce, I am glad we managed to crawl across the line in the end. I should have known it was going to be a difficult night when someone decided to jump under a train at Earls Court causing absolute chaos before and after the game.
Drogba used to go down super easy, as well. But he also provided wonder strikes and pure magic. Costa had his own brand of antics. He went down, but he could also handle defenders, which Morata has not proven he can do at all.