VAR turning into a fine tuned offside machine is the worst thing that has happened to the game. Never mind in general. Joke.
Since this game is balls, I thought I’d post this: I’m sitting here with my beautiful 6-month girl while mommy is out of the house. The first thing she and I watched together, when she was just days old and we were still in the hospital, was the equally-balls opening week game against this same ManU team. Both games sucked but I’m smiling just thinking of it anyway. Not this this cheerful little anecdote will help any of you miserable bastards, but I thought I’d share anyway
Why Batsman? Why not Giroud? Simple questions - Frank really needs to answer. Giroud unlucky not to have his goal today - fractions offside. Why was the Zouma goal not given? Why do I hate Man U sooo much, even though they are really not very good at all anymore.
Harry Maguire said he straightened his leg out as he thought Michy Batshuayi was going to fall on him. The referees agreed with him because they knew that this was his intention. Okay. Sounds totally plausible.
I really hope that ref loses his ********ing job. Just shambolic. 2 massive ******** ups by VAR cost us.
I'm pissed...genuinely pissed about this result. Every damn home game we play well, create chances, and lose. I mean wtf.
So many things. I’m not one generally to blame the refs for losses, but it’s hard to see this game any other way. Maguire’s kick was a carbon copy of the Son incident (maybe worse)...and of course he gets a goal later. The missed push on Dave disallowing Zouma’s goal was inexplicable. You never know how a game would have played out if calls had gone a different way, but these were massive, obvious errors with huge impact on the outcome. VAR is killing my enjoyment of the game. I just can’t see the benefit. If you’re just trading one refs judgement for another’s, that’s not value-add. If you’re making calls that could ONLY be seen in super slow motion or in frame-by-frame analysis, then why even have the side judges? I would be sooooo happy if we went back to human refs and goal line technology. VAR is a solution in search of a problem. Regarding offsides, generally, I wish they’d change it to be more like the forward pass rule in the NFL: as long as any part of the player is even with the defender, then it’s on-side. This will result in more scoring and feels truer to the spirit of the law, which is to keep players from cherry picking the defenses. Giroud’s off-side call hurt (me) more than the other two combined. Can we agree Bats is over? I was joking before, but I’m serious now, he should be trying to miss from now on. That might actually put a couple shots on frame. Giroud was a handful as soon as he came on. Not only the classic header, but that flick to Kovacic created a real chance. One last thing. I’m a fan of the job Frank’s done. We’re still sitting in 4th despite a painfully green team and a host of injuries. I don’t agree with every call he makes, but overall, I think he’s done a hell of a job in his first season. That said, I don’t love his body language on the sidelines. Lots of pouty bench warming. Doesn’t seem to do a lot of in-game coaching. I get he’s frustrated, but it’s not a great look. Still think the future is bright.
I really don't have an issue with the Maguire call as I think it was a natural reaction to extend leg where Son lost his cool for that split second and snapped his foot up. I love Frank like we all do, but I think he has been a bit stubborn this season. There was no reason to cut bait with Giroud back in November when he did. I think Frank was 95% sure he would be sold so he wasn't worried. There have been several games since November where 20min of Giroud may have earned us an additional 5-6 points more than we currently have. Bats- I think mentally he has lost it and I could see several moments in the first half where his teammates were frustrated with him. The one I can recall clearly was Kovacic raising his hand when Bats didn't make a run. I can't remember if it was same play, but one time we had a counter attack on and it was setup perfectly for Bats to just take off at full speed for the through ball and he never got out of 2nd gear, to me it was a player hiding from the ball. He should have been off at halftime Not having a 100% Kante for this entire season is catching up We simply didn't have enough players on the field yesterday that know how to score. It's sad that we are counting on Willian/Pedro to have a moment of magic It's going to take everything we have to hang on to 4/5th I hope yesterday is the low point in the season. Just the way it all happened was maddening. Spurs stealing 3pts , Kante injured 10min into a game after a 2 week break, Bats being Bats, Martial scoring after he was the one that forced Christensen off the field, Mag scoring after potential card, two disallowed goals, United.
to me the Maguire kick is actually worse than the Son kick. he for sure extended his leg out, and could see exactly where it was going. Bats forward motion is actually stopped because of the kick. missing that on VAR is pretty inexcusable. it needs to be said though that with a real striker none of this would have mattered. Bats is a fine person, but he's just not a good enough striker for chelsea. i really liked his potential and his overall play when he arrived assuming he improved, but he just never has. if anything he's regressed. he had 3 opportunities that for me, a top striker would have scored. this wasn't like other games where we weren't creating anything, i actually thought we had good chances that went begging. upgrades to Pedro and Bats would have seen us score i think. and more than once. and yea, Giroud should be first choice or first sub depending on Tammy's fitness. and honestly at this point i think he should be given a chance to run a few games out in a row. i like Tammy a lot, but he's missed some sitters as well. and if Reece is playing, Giroud should be as well. especially if we aren't playing a counter attack. his flicks around the box and first time shots are exactly what the team is missing against parked defenses.
Seems the only person that doesn't see the value of Giroud is the manager... The pass that set Kovacic in on goal and the offsides goal are surely enough to wake Frank up Giroud needs at least 30min vs Spurs
yea i kind of see his reasoning. he's clearly trying his hardest to invest in the future, and give guys a chance. if Michy could show improvement, it makes sense to give him minutes because he's the better long term investment. but i'd like to think that Frank is now seeing the value of short term results and impact and that it will be needed. not to say he shouldn't have seen that lesson earlier, but it should really show the impact Giroud can have in the right situations. we'll see if last night was the final say in the matter.