Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal - Fabregas and Lampard deserved red cards
First off, a bit about the match - tribute to Arsenal’s young Gunners for the way they played today - fantastic stuff. Chelsea won at the end, but they were assisted by an offside goal and what Arsenal fans will politely call blood money. It could have been very different had a few shots come off the bar or if the ref (and linesman) had made calls differently, but that’s what we had.
A cracking final - the football was fitting for the grand stage.
Now to the two main incidents.
Terry’s head injury
Ouch! Diaby obviously didn’t mean it, he was looking to clear the ball and Terry put his life (yes, his life) on the line to get the 2nd goal, so props to Terry for his commitment and our best wishes to him - I’m sure Arsenal fans will feel the same way.
Chelsea - Arsenal Melee
For the life of me, I cannot understand why both Fabregas and Lampard were not shown straight reds. The Toure / Obi Mikel scuffle could have remained just that, a disagreement in which both players would have gotten yellow cards for pushing each other and the game could have gone on.
But Fabregas - hot-headed he certainly is - jumped in, and Lampard - not a calm man himself - tried to wrestle him away, and that really got things messy.
I mean, come on - we’re all grown up and we’ve all been in fights. There’s a football match going on and the last thing you want to do is waste time and get mixed up in something that will cost your team heavily.
Who is to blame? Fabregas or Lampard? I don’t know, because we don’t know yet what’s been said. I’ll update this as things go on, but I stand by my initial view - both players should have been red carded (not sure what Adebayour did though) and Toure and Mikel yellow-carded.
Stupid Arsenal, stupid Chelsea. But the football was good, so not a total waste of time.
Extremely proud of the kids. Monumental performances from Diaby, Denilson and Traore. The key bit for me, personally, was how they performed in contrast to Chelsea’s first team. The fact that three 19 year olds and a 17 year old ran circles around a midfield that included Essien, Ballack and Lampard must not be forgotten.
As for the end, what a fucking shame. Stupid for Mikel to shove/pull Toure, especially as Chelsea were a goal up. Stupid for Toure to react, as captain of the side and one of the senior players, I expected MUCH better than that.
I don’t quite agree with straight reds for Lampard and Cesc. Both of them were trying to hold their ground in a rather stupid scuffle. They got yellowed, which is fine by me.
Adebayor, funnily enough, did nothing. That’s why he was so bloody angry. It was actually Eboue who shoved Bridge, after he was shoved by another Chelsea player (I can’t make out the shirt number from the recording). Bridge went down as if he was punched, regardless: it should’ve been Eboue receiving punishment, not Ade.
I wonder why Sky didn’t show any replays. That should’ve cleared everything out.
Conclusion: Great football, extremely proud and optimistic about our kids. They really did live up to all the hype and no one can take that away from them, even Chelsea fans.
Congratulations, Chelsea.
I’m getting the clips for the incident, will try putting them up if I don’t find them on YouTube before that.
Classy play by Arsenal, shame for the scuffle.
Chelsea came back, but hey, we expected that.
Let’s just hope they let the fight stay on the pitch and not carry it out in the press, even if the media hounds will be lapping this up for months…
I agree with the points made. Well done to Arsenal for the way they played and Chelsea for winning.
I have to say that I am very surprised by the sendings off and think that Fabregas and Lampard were much more to blame than Toure, Mikel and Adebayor. It is odd that two white guys get away with it and three black guys get sent off. Shame on Howard Webb and his assistants, they were appalling today and made a series of terrible decisions. When will referees be held to account by those who run the game? Yes, it is a tough job, but they are the elite and bear a heavy responsibility to control the game we all love.
Should there not have been a sending off for Diaby and a penalty? In most other countries I imagine this to have happened. Regardless of the intention you are not allowed to kick someones head in a quite a high level in the penalty box while defending.
contrary to ben’s view, i think howard webb had a decent game up till the melee. its impossible to get a clear view of what was happening in the scuffle. however its disappointing the way it ended after a fantastic match played out by both sides ..
Red cards from the Ref for Toure and Mikel were over the top. How many times do you see players square up? If the FA want to stop it then be prepared to finish matches with 8 players per game. There was no violence nobody got hurt. It’s a stupid incident at the end of a great final, Even though we lost, it means the final will be remembered for the wrong reasons.
Oh please… there was nothing white or black going on, take a brown man’s neutral word on it :P!
As for the match, some solid hope for Gunners to perhaps become “invincible” again, maybe in a couple of years although it will be much tougher this time unless Walcott turns into Henry sooner than expected. Fabregas, for me, will become the best midfielder in a few years - he’s phenomenal (I support Chelsea, not Arsenal). But of course, the calibre of the Chelsea squad was good enough to bounce back after a lazy first half… I can’t understand why Jose has made it a habit to do something about the match once he’s got a knife to his throat!
BTW I loved this line on Skysports.com, pasting it here for readers as well. Sweetly worded indeed:
“What was a beguiling final - pitting two contrasting squad building philosophies against each other…..”
And yea… I completely disagree on Lamps/Fab getting red. They didn’t spark the fight, in fact were only caught confused in the heat of it - they didn’t jump in with malign intent or so it seemed to me…. I guess initially both of them zeroed in to calm things down.
A sending off for Diaby would have been absurd. His kick was below the waist so he can’t be punished for Terry going so low. Accidents like that don’t equal penalties even if you admire Terry going for the goal, which I do.
Drogba was probably offsides for the first goal but it was well struck and the second was a classic finish. Bravo to the kids who really took it to Chelsea, especially in the first half when Arsenal could have been up three. Bravo to Chelsea for fighting for the full time. Boo to our ’senior’ players for losing their cool and almost turning the game into a full brawl. Then again boo to the referee for not stepping in when Chelsea started not just tugging on Arsenal jersies but full on holding players in place by their shirts. Overall the game has me wondering if our ‘youth’ team shouldn’t be our first team.
Adebayor was given a red for throwing punches…I couldnt clearly see who he was punching but he threw some good ones in there…
Hope JT gets better soon…
I Love these young gunners…they prove that kids CAN win a cup (I know we lost, but we gave them a hell of a 70 minute fight) too bad about Traore injury and Hoyte clearly not up to scratch when he moved to left back…
Fair enough guys, just saying it as I saw it and I just would like to hear the reasoning for sending some players off and not others. I am not saying there is a hideous and insideous plot in football in general or even with these particular officials. I happen to think they had poor games in this case and I am perplexed by the decisions for the sending offs.
E Yrjola, you’re ridiculous to suggest a card for Diaby. Look at the picture and you’ll know it’s accidental. If there’s any fault at all, it’s Terry’s for doing that. He asked for it.
The young kids were all excellent. Dont be deceived by the scoreline - Chelsea was helped by poor refereee decision on the first goal.
The fight? I’m real proud that these kids are a fighting bunch. Why, every other manager and team in the PL use a ‘rough’ physical approach against Arsenal, so I’d rather they be tough as well. The onus is on the ref to do a good job and be fair.
It is PL referee doing what they do 90% o the time…. ruling over foreign black players and protecting noble englishmen. Do you remember Toures three last yellow cards…!! all of them jokes. they would never have been a freekick had it been Terry doing that. whats more I remember that I was telling my pals that he would never give red card to Lampard and it happened… kinda confirms my suspicions.
Remember Rooney againts Arsenalcoule of years ago and his F words in the face of the ref… 5 times. and he only got yellow card… you try to remember then that Diouf got red card for saying What the *****……
I know that for Arsenal to get the refs with them they would have to change around and put in couple of noble people in the team..
That ref was very stupid in the pitch today, i dont know if the game was big for him.
But all the same waht goes arround comes arround Chelsea they were very lucky today because they score offside goal but all the same we will try next time that is all about the game.
I’m a big fan of Fabregas’ footballing skills - all the more so for my affiliations with the Catalan nation - but I think that the boy has a severe disciplinary problem. He is always the first to argue with the referee, often gives vitriolic interviews and continues to get involved in unnecessary conflicts (see the Mark Hughes argument last week, as well as the infamous “Pizzagate” incident). Don’t you think it’s time that Mr Wenger sat down with him and taught him some respect?
Hugo, spanish coach said something about thierry. What respeot are you talking about??
I’m not sure I see any connection there. I said Mr Wenger should teach Fabregas respect and you retort that Aragones had set a poor example (despite Fabregas having been at Arsenal for 3 years and only having been in the Spain squad for 12 months). It’s like saying Glenn Hoddle should be held responsible for Rooney’s disciplinary problems. Pure drivel.
I am a big admirer of Fabregas. But, I also agree that he should’ve received a red (together with Lampard). After checking the replays of the match a couple of times, it appears that the first swing came from Fabregas.
Ben, I KNOW THERE IS NO PLOT against white/black, but I agree with you that it is kinda ironic that 3 black guys got red and the two white guys that actually started swinging the punches received nothing.
i think that toure was well out of order lashing out at mikel but i think he did it because of the emotions and wanting his team to win.i think fabregas and lampard were wrong by getting involved in it too i think they should have been sent off but wtf was the ref goin on sending adebayor it werent even him who hit bridge it woz eboue cant da ref tell da diff adebayors huge n eboues tiny also bridge iz jus a poof all in all it jus ruined da game i mean if deyr gunna av a fight av a propa 1 lyk n arsenals yongsters totally outclassed chelsea firsts n dey shud av 1. Jose Mourinhio iz a wanker wenger iz a god n arsenal r well the best side going
Terry asked for it? You’ve got no idea.
Racial factor in the cards given? You’ve got no idea.
Well played to Arsenal and well played to Chelsea who won it for JT.
Look at the offside still picture, especially the way the grass is mowed: I think the benefit goes to the attacker. It was poor defending by the Arsenal fullback who didn’t push up.
Perfectly said. I was waiting for Lampard and Fabregas to get sent off. Toure over-reacted and even if he got sent off(which happened), it was justified. On the other hand, Mikel did not deserve the red card at all. His only fault was the foul on Toure. Adebayor’s incident was abit blurred but for some reason, I think he will get a suspension too and get into the bad books with the referee even if he didn’t do anything wrong. It is his reaction towards that sending off that is detrimental to him.
But, for Terry, I have to say bravo and say “why can’t Rio Ferdinand be half a man he is?”
Mikel tugged Toure’s shirt and Toure went hysterical. No explanation for that but all the fault was with Toure while Mikel did nothing offensive at all. Lampard as the team captain after Terry went off is entitled to help break it up, but Fabregas isn’t entitled to wrestle him away by the neck.
At first I thought Adebayor was just a victim of mistaken identity but replays make it clear he was throwing some fists at the beginning right in front of the linesman. In any case his refusal to walk when red carded was a disgrace. Eboue’s involvement was missed completely at the time so no wonder he’s getting done after the event. Surprising that Almunia’s 70 yard run to get involved hasn’t been mentioned. Cech barely came out of his area, which shows how a young player ought to behave. It was also Drogba who did his best to calm all the Ivorians and Adebayor and first to apologise in post match interviews. Enormous credit to him.
As Wenger said when he apologised for the behaviour of his players, they lost their nerve and failed to score more goals when they had their chances. Chelsea got two goals in reply to Walcott’s opener and hit the bar twice too, while all Arsenal’s efforts were powder-puffs. Not very impressive at all from these kids and nothing that shows them to be winners. That’s why they lost.
Youthful exuberance and gross imaturity, followed by a shameful disgrace to the name of the club that detracted from everything they did. They lost their control because they were losing and couldn’t do anything about it. That’s a losing mentality they have to break free from if they’re to have any success in future.
An interesting point about a penalty for the Diaby foul on Terry. Yes, of course it should be - any late challenge in the box that completely misses the ball and takes the player is a penalty. They don’t come any clearer than that. Intent isn’t part of the decision - just whether the player was taken down. I don’t think anyone can argue with that. Not a sending off though. For a clearance it didn’t involve any unreasonable force, so no dending off necessary, but it was careless and reckless for being at chest height as the picture above clearly shows.
the whole show was started by Obi Mikel if you want to analyse it.secondly Lamps and Fab did nothing wrong to deserve red cards.if Ebuoe deserved red thats fine but then again if you watch the clip critically you will see that Wayne Brigde obstructed Eboue whilest he was running past him right from the begining of the brawl and to tell you the truth those chelsea players aren’t desciplined but arsenal have always been blamed.maybe they should also sell the team to foreigners to gain some respect….hahahahaha…..its such a shame but if arsenal sell their team to foreigners,some of us will stop supporting them.we love the board,we love the manager,we love all the players and we love ARSENAL!
Mikel tugged Toure’s shirt and Toure went hysterical. No explanation for that but all the fault was with Toure while Mikel did nothing offensive at all. Lampard as the team captain after Terry went off is entitled to help break it up, but Fabregas isn’t entitled to wrestle him away by the neck.
At first I thought Adebayor was just a victim of mistaken identity but replays make it clear he was throwing some fists at the beginning right in front of the linesman. In any case his refusal to walk when red carded was a disgrace. Eboue’s involvement was missed completely at the time so no wonder he’s getting done after the event. Surprising that Almunia’s 70 yard run to get involved hasn’t been mentioned. Cech barely came out of his area, which shows how a young player ought to behave. It was also Drogba who did his best to calm all the Ivorians and Adebayor and first to apologise in post match interviews. Enormous credit to him.
As Wenger said when he apologised for the behaviour of his players, they lost their nerve and failed to score more goals when they had their chances. Chelsea got two goals in reply to Walcott’s opener and hit the bar twice too, while all Arsenal’s efforts were powder-puffs. Not very impressive at all from these kids and nothing that shows them to be winners. That’s why they lost.
Youthful exuberance and gross imaturity, followed by a shameful disgrace to the name of the club that detracted from everything they did. They lost their control because they were losing and couldn’t do anything about it. That’s a losing mentality they have to break free from if they’re to have any success in future.
An interesting point about a penalty for the Diaby foul on Terry. Yes, of course it should be - any late challenge in the box that completely misses the ball and takes the player is a penalty. They don’t come any clearer than that. Intent isn’t part of the decision - just whether the player was taken down. I don’t think anyone can argue with that. Not a sending off though. For a clearance it didn’t involve any unreasonable force, so no dending off necessary, but it was careless and reckless for being at chest height as the picture above clearly shows.
Chelsea the scum, they should have had there entire team sent off
Arsenal and chelsea are just big headed scums, who think everthing is money not passion. football is boring now because of those two teams, it’s much exicting with manchester united v liverpool coz one it always decides the team’s future and it’s more exciting finals
ooooo ova bese golema slucka pomegu arsenal liderite i chelzi nikakvicite no topciiite gi skrsija!:)))
celzi na ARSENAL mozat da im nosat voda a isto take i mancester junajtet i liverpool.pa take drukput da ne im se pikaa na ARSENAL deka ce go jadat uste ednas!!!:)))))))))
hahahahaha i fala na komentarot i cao cao cao:))))))))))
Arsenal is the best team!!Robin Van Persie is the best in arsenal and Fabregas is the best in Arsenal!Arsenal won over chelsea.
ArSeNaL is Best
arsenal are the best team in the world there going to win the leauge neek year with the youth. arsenal till i die,
come on arsenal
arsenal are the best team in the world there going to win the leauge neek year with the youth. arsenal till i die,
come on arsenal