Chelsea 2-0’s victory against Fulham has relied heavily on officials able to look at things a second time. When Enzo Maresca will do the same with this performance, he will surely concede Var masked a number of problems that he must solve during the next international break if the blues must make a challenge as a serious premier this season.
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They had the chance to beat Fulham here and the visiting boss Marco Silva knew it. The chalets should have been ahead of 21 minutes when Josh King clearly ran on a quick counterattack of lightning, cut inside on his right foot and fired a low blow in front of Robert Sánchez.
Referee Robert Jones was invited to review Rodrigo Muniz’s challenge on Trevoh Chalobah. While Muniz Fraya a tour, trying a double drag, he finished the first part but missed the ball with his left leg and landed on the foot of Chalobah. The Var told Jones that it was an “reckless challenge” and that the arbitrator agreed.
It was a harsh interpretation of what seemed a natural movement in the middle of a good game in the central forward. To worsen Fulham’s frustration, Chelsea took the lead against the game race from a corner taken at the ninth minute of what was supposed to be eight added at the end of the first half, João Pedro takes a look at the delivery of Enzo Fernández.
As Fernandez converted a spot kick, awarded after another Var review for the Handball of Ryan Sessegnon, the rage at Silva had given way to resignation for the second consecutive week, after the controversial goal of Manchester United against Fulham last Sunday.
“It is a special match for everyone in the best League in the world and I saw my team playing an exceptional performance in the first half, not trying to park the bus or something like that,” he told TNT Sports.
“We know from a financial point of view, they are on a different planet, but in the field, we know what we are capable of and the boys were exceptional. After what happened last week with us, all the controversy in the game against Man United, all the decisions of Var that people cannot understand.
“All the decisions of the Var and the referee had a massive impact on the game. I told them that we cannot control all the decisions against us.
“How do you prohibit a goal like that? It is incredible. We have meetings with the referees, the managers we respect. We are going there to see a direction, and one of the main things is that Var is not there to redo the game.
“For me, it is incredible to ban this goal. I don’t want to say more, because I will be punished. I want to be on the next bench. I don’t want to pay fines. I want to help our players. But it’s difficult for us this part of the season with so many decisions that do not achieve what they should.”
Maresca simply said “it was a fault” and “it was a penalty” in response. Anyway, all this should not hide the gaps of Chelsea.
The most obvious starting point is at the center-forward. They spent 90 million pounds sterling to bring Liam Delap and Pedro to compete with Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku, but a curious set of circumstances left them the graduate of the Academy Tyrique George leading the line after only 14 minutes.
Nkunku signed for AC Milan earlier on Saturday, and Jackson was about to join Bayern Munich on loan, but Delap’s injury seems to have caused a rethink.
Delap looked brilliant and threatening before his left hamstrings made room when pursuing a bullet above. MARESCA chose not to disturb the shape they had clearly worked all week – Pedro operating at n ° 10 with Pedro Neto on the left and is the Made to the right – and therefore opted for George to replace Delap.
George played in the middle – he scored against Fulham when these teams met for the last time in April – but probably prefers to go left. In any case, the 19-year-old is more likely than leaving the club before Monday’s transfer date, perhaps in Roma.
Jamie Gittens, a summer signature of 50 million pounds sterling from Borussia Dortmund, was left on the bench despite his introduction to an obvious reshuffle, where Pedro would move forward.
The absence of Cole Palmer, which lacked by an injury to the groin, created a hole in the team that Maresca had difficulty in filling up because its players failed to reproduce the fluidity of the 5-1 victory of last weekend at West Ham United.
Fulham is a much more robust proposal, however, and after the release of Delap, Chelsea seemed to lose their way. Pedro, however, has proven the secular maxim that good attackers can cover many shortcomings.
What followed was about last half hour when the fight relaxed from Fulham and Chelsea relaxed in their two-way cushion.
In a brief late rally, Pedro turned out to be useful on the other side of the field, blocking the ball on the goal line in time of stopping to preserve the Chelsea white sheet.
Chelsea’s transfer activities suggest that there is a recognition that Palmer needs more support to carry the creative burden of this team. A decision for Xavi Simons was discussed for a long time before Tottenham Hotspur bypass Chelsea and made RB Leipzig an offer that they found acceptable.
The blues rather turned their attention to Facundo Buonanotte de Brighton & Hove Albion, although it is not clear at this stage how permanent this solution would be. Sources say that Brighton was categorical on Friday that they were only open to one move to another Premier League club.
Buonanotte, 20, is a promising talent and would probably act like a Palmer sub-study, perhaps allowing Pedro to function like a n ° 9, especially if Delap is absent for the period “at six to eight weeks”, Marsca is afraid after.
The boss of Chelsea has a reflection to make. But at least, he can do it under everyone’s coat, unfortunately, spending another afternoon talking about Var.
