Just now, sonic90 said:

Actually I would pick Willian given his current form but he wasn't available. If Pedro didn't get injured he would have continued to be our main threat for the last few minutes unlike CHO who just recycled the ball sideways and back.

If he had started instead of Mason, who is incredibly average as a wide man, maybe things would have been different.

Mason started the game for his pressing ability. Pedro is like a headless chicken when pressing and CHO presses only when he's in the mood. 

As a tactic, we weren't as offensive as we should be

2 minutes ago, Deino said:

Mason started the game for his pressing ability. Pedro is like a headless chicken when pressing and CHO presses only when he's in the mood. 

As a tactic, we weren't as offensive as we should be

Fair enough, the high press did rattle them enough for us to score. But we couldn't keep up the pressing and were pegged back for so much of the match, Pedro should have come on much sooner, but then again there's the pesky rule of having to make 3 subs at once or whatever.

6 minutes ago, sonic90 said:

Fair enough, the high press did rattle them enough for us to score. But we couldn't keep up the pressing and were pegged back for so much of the match, Pedro should have come on much sooner, but then again there's the pesky rule of having to make 3 subs at once or whatever.

I agree.  Soon as the Pulisic goal went in, we collectively dropped deeper for god knows why. We had them pegged back then we let them off and allowed them to play their game.

57 minutes ago, Deino said:

If you were Lamps, with 20mins left and you can only bring on 1 of 3 wingers. Pedro, CHO and Willian. Who would you pick to change the game? 

8 out of 10 people will pick Pedro. 

Pedro was the right choice when you take everything into account. He's a born winner, massively experienced and offers a bigger goal threat than the likes of Hudson-Odoi

My two sort and sweet observations from that match - the Ref f**ked Chelsea and Pedro played really well with a real sense of urgency. Something that seemed lacking for the first 2/3 of the match.

Anyone have any idea when we can expect to hear about the severity of the injuries to Azpilicueta, Pulisic and Pedro?

 

 

Honestly what a miserable f**king game, we lost so much. Losing to a rival team in the F.A. Cup final again, losing two of our best players from bad injuries that can likely go into next season, we've now got a suspension for Kovacic no doubt... Ughh... I wish we never got into the pissing final now, what a miserable way to go. 

Isn't Taylor also a Manc? f**king criminal how he gets to referee United games. 

1 hour ago, Slojo said:

Honestly what a miserable f**king game, we lost so much. Losing to a rival team in the F.A. Cup final again, losing two of our best players from bad injuries that can likely go into next season, we've now got a suspension for Kovacic no doubt... Ughh... I wish we never got into the pissing final now, what a miserable way to go. 

Suspensions are now exclusive to competitions, he'll miss the third round of next season's cup as opposed to the first game next season.

3 hours ago, Slojo said:

Isn't Taylor also a Manc? f**king criminal how he gets to referee United games. 

He's from Wythenshawe which is a very red part of town, He's got a bit of a history with Chelsea too. Like many PL referees, he wants to be the star of the show instead of being, as a good ref should be, virtually invisible. Too many games are being ruined for the supporters by shoddy refereeing and, for the most part, they get away with it. It's just another reason to dislike modern football.

1 minute ago, Stretford Ender said:

He's from Wythenshawe which is a very red part of town, He's got a bit of a history with Chelsea too. Like many PL referees, he wants to be the star of the show instead of being, as a good ref should be, virtually invisible. Too many games are being ruined for the supporters by shoddy refereeing and, for the most part, they get away with it. It's just another reason to dislike modern football.

This time around could be he wanted revenge for the semi final result.

2 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

This time around could be he wanted revenge for the semi final result.

I honestly don't know who he supports. I know he's a pretty mediocre referee like most of them. Chelsea fans were saying something similar after he was in charge of one of our games back in February.

43 minutes ago, Stretford Ender said:

I honestly don't know who he supports. I know he's a pretty mediocre referee like most of them. Chelsea fans were saying something similar after he was in charge of one of our games back in February.

Referee is one of the few jobs where you can be a completely useless, egotistical pri*k and be rewarded for it. A bit like being a politician.

9 hours ago, Sparkz said:

Pedro was the right choice when you take everything into account. He's a born winner, massively experienced and offers a bigger goal threat than the likes of Hudson-Odoi

I thought Pedro looked dangerous when he came in...

41 minutes ago, ChitownBlue said:

I thought Pedro looked dangerous when he came in...

unfortunately also not match fit.. all his crosses/thourgh balls were overhit :(.. but he was giving his all and was the only one with some creativity on him..

By Mark Halsey

REFEREE Anthony Taylor made a poor decision when he sent off Chelsea's Mateo Kovacic.

Blues boss Frank Lampard can rightly feel aggrieved with the second yellow card issued to the Croatian midfielder in the 73rd minute.

Kovacic's first caution in the opening period was a 50/50 challenge with Granit Xhaka and the Chelsea man was unlucky to be cautioned.

I felt Taylor could have managed the situation better by awarding only a free-kick.

For Kovacic's second caution, I don't think it was a foul and there was barely any contact on Xhaka. If anything it was a careless challenge but it was not worthy of a second yellow card and therefore a sending off.

Taylor has gone on Xhaka's reaction but you could argue the Arsenal midfielder should have been cautioned for simulation.

Anthony Taylor has been criticised for some of his decisions in the FA Cup Final by former referee Keith Hackett.

Taylor was the man in the middle as Arsenal beat Chelsea at Wembley but the 41-year-old had some major decisions to make.

 

He chose to send Mateo Kovacic off after handing him two yellow cards, the second of which has attracted criticism.

And Hackett has claimed that Taylor has always been prone to brandishing his cards quicker than he perhaps should.

"I was not entirely surprised that Taylor got the decision wrong.

"Taylor has a habit of reaching for a card too quickly. You get the impression that, at key moments, he would benefit from taking an extra moment or two to think through a decision."

On 01/08/2020 at 23:42, Sexyfootball said:

Seem to be two stills of the "handball" doing the rounds ... which is correct ?

The problem with these still images is that you can't tell if the keeper has his hand on the ball, especially the bottom one that is blurred to f**k (what the hell did they do to it?). The fact that the bottom one has clearly been "enhanced" in some way means I'm reluctant to take it as proof of anything. That doesn't mean I believe the keeper did not handle the ball outside the box, I really don't know, but the picture looks like some kind of artist's impression.

2 hours ago, coco said:

By Mark Halsey

REFEREE Anthony Taylor made a poor decision when he sent off Chelsea's Mateo Kovacic.

Blues boss Frank Lampard can rightly feel aggrieved with the second yellow card issued to the Croatian midfielder in the 73rd minute.

Kovacic's first caution in the opening period was a 50/50 challenge with Granit Xhaka and the Chelsea man was unlucky to be cautioned.

I felt Taylor could have managed the situation better by awarding only a free-kick.

For Kovacic's second caution, I don't think it was a foul and there was barely any contact on Xhaka. If anything it was a careless challenge but it was not worthy of a second yellow card and therefore a sending off.

Taylor has gone on Xhaka's reaction but you could argue the Arsenal midfielder should have been cautioned for simulation.

Thank you for this, finally, some media coverage. 

If this was Arsenal, Ian Wright and Martin Keown would've been screaming about it after the game, about how badly the referee did and how it impacted the game. Not a f**king word when its us though. 

1 hour ago, bluedave said:

The problem with these still images is that you can't tell if the keeper has his hand on the ball, especially the bottom one that is blurred to f**k (what the hell did they do to it?). The fact that the bottom one has clearly been "enhanced" in some way means I'm reluctant to take it as proof of anything. That doesn't mean I believe the keeper did not handle the ball outside the box, I really don't know, but the picture looks like some kind of artist's impression.

There's a clear video here, which is slowed down just as the keeper handles it. Looks to me that his left hand touches it fractionally outside but of course you cannot see the precise moment of contact. It also pretty much proves the viral still image is a fake.

I still do not know if VAR checked it or if it is even permitted to check it as the (possible) offence was outside the box. I've read that VAR cannot be used in such instances, which is surely absurd, but so much about VAR is absurd, like not being able to tell the ref the ball is a foot over the line when his watch hasn't beeped:

https://mobile.twitter.com/aSadArsenalFan/status/1289645242518405121

 

Edited August 3, 20205 yr by Backbiter

15 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Referee is one of the few jobs where you can be a completely useless, egotistical pri*k and be rewarded for it. A bit like being a politician.

Egotistical is right. It's all about them. They are treated like celebrities even going so far as to have them act as historians. Didn't they have a modern referee watch the 1970 cup final replay to give us his pearls of wisdom? Football is run as one gigantic marketing operation; especially the PM. It's not a game any more, it's a lifestyle.

1 hour ago, Backbiter said:

There's a clear video here, which is slowed down just as the keeper handles it. Looks to me that his left hand touches it fractionally outside but of course you cannot see the precise moment of contact. It also pretty much proves the viral still image is a fake.

I still do not know if VAR checked it or if it is even permitted to check it as the (possible) offence was outside the box. I've read that VAR cannot be used in such instances, which is surely absurd, but so much about VAR is absurd, like not being able to tell the ref the ball is a foot over the line when his watch hasn't beeped:

https://mobile.twitter.com/aSadArsenalFan/status/1289645242518405121

 

I agree. From the video it certainly doesn't look blatantly outside the box. Martinez was falling backwards so it would the initial contact with the ball that needs to be looked at. That video, even at slow motion, is too far off to be used accurately. I would say the incident was close enough to merit a review by VAR and it sounds like that never happened? VAR could and should have been used on the Kovacic challenge that led to second yellow too. I am pretty sure I have seen cases where yellow cards have been overruled by VAR this season. If anything Xhaka should have got one for simulation in this case.

While we weren't playing well, the loss of Kovacic put the game beyond us. I think the soft yellows dished out to our players in the first half contributed a lot to our play too. It forced our players to hold off on many challenges. If Arsenal players had received similar cautions it would affected their play too. You could argue that Frank maybe could have taken off some of the players with yellows but with the 2 injuries he was then limited to one tactical window for subs. 

Very bad season for Pep Guardiola, who not only lost the Premier League title to the unwashed, but has now also lost his 'bald fraud' crown to Anthony Taylor.

 

6 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

 

Evidence like that needs to be put forward to the league with a petition to have him fired.

1 hour ago, forbzy said:

I agree. From the video it certainly doesn't look blatantly outside the box. Martinez was falling backwards so it would the initial contact with the ball that needs to be looked at. That video, even at slow motion, is too far off to be used accurately. I would say the incident was close enough to merit a review by VAR and it sounds like that never happened? VAR could and should have been used on the Kovacic challenge that led to second yellow too. I am pretty sure I have seen cases where yellow cards have been overruled by VAR this season. If anything Xhaka should have got one for simulation in this case.

While we weren't playing well, the loss of Kovacic put the game beyond us. I think the soft yellows dished out to our players in the first half contributed a lot to our play too. It forced our players to hold off on many challenges. If Arsenal players had received similar cautions it would affected their play too. You could argue that Frank maybe could have taken off some of the players with yellows but with the 2 injuries he was then limited to one tactical window for subs. 

There was a photo of the Bellerin run from behind our goal, which shows Kova actually pulling out of a challenge on him, as he knew what the risk was of bringing him down. He'd have been able to make a proper challenge if he hadn't had the earlier yellow. 

https://images.app.goo.gl/BHznNAXF3JzTngwd8

Edited August 3, 20205 yr by Backbiter