Fernandinho’s Elbow On Costa: MOU claimed City could have finished the match with only nine men, ostensibly for his opponents overly physicality. But I think that’s being economical with the truth because it’s only Fernandinho that should have been expelled for planting his elbow on the head of Costa during an aerial battle.
It was a border-line decision. But I think ref Martin Atkinson got that one wrong. From several replays, it looked like a deliberate dangerous play probably to instill fear in the Street Fighter himself. And I’d like to think the result might have been different if City had been reduced to 10 men from first half. Fernandinho and the Citizens were very lucky indeed.
But Chelsea too were lucky to finish the game with the full complement of their players after Costa’s persistent unruly behavior went unpunished. I still marvel at how he hardly gets booked despite his overly and consistent bad behavior on the pitch.
Frankly speaking though, I wouldn’t expect Chelsea to bank on a City expulsion to win anything at the Etihad. Mou’s boys were simply awful on Sunday. Just speaking frankly.
Another player who got the shine on a Lucky Sunday was Arsenal’s Francis Coquelin who could have been booked twice by ref Lee Mason after his correct caution in the first half. Gunners boss Arsene Wenger quickly paid heed and withdrew the young midfielder before he could ruin the game for the visitors.
Mou subbed Terry at half-time. But I’m sure if he had no number restrictions, he might have subbed the two centre-halves at once.
Ivanovic Continues To Bother Me: Branislav Ivanovic had another terrible day at the office and I think Mou must be getting really worried now, for sure. How many times did Raheem Sterling skin him for pace and trickery? And the burly Serb was completely at fault for City’s second goal which eventually ended the match as a contest.
I was stunned as Iva allowed City captain Vincent Kompany to beat him at his own game by outmuscling him at the near post to glance home a David Silva’s corner-kick! Ordinarily you would want to reverse the roles and be talking about a Chelsea goal by Iva after a Kompany error. Not so this time. Very poor!
So as it were, Iva is not only beaten for pace nowadays, he is also now being easily outmuscled in aerial contests which used to be one of his many strengths.
Iva also it was who lost the ball to City in Chelsea’s final third for the third goal, scored by very lucky Fernandinho. In all fairness Iva could not be entirely blamed for this goal as Blues failed miserably to properly clear their line. So by the time the ball came to the versatile defender, he wasn’t expecting it and could only react by surrendering possession back to the Citizens in danger zone.
My advice after Mou wakes up from the rubbles of this Etihad wreckage is to look his underperforming boys in the face, tell them the home truth and wield the axe where necessary to get the champs rolling again.
Chelsea have been very poor right from the pre-season when they didn’t win a single game. And as for those usually wont to dismiss pre-season form with the wave of a hand, that disturbing trend continues as the Blues are yet to win a game in three competitive matches, actually losing two of them! This doesn’t sound like a Mourinho’s team, does it?
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