 |
| *Jose |
THERE might not be any Premier League to report from the weekend but a breathless season continued with more drama in the FA Cup.
As ever, here’s the Good, Bad and Ugly to wrap the weekend action it one place for you, but for something different, we’ll start with the controversy.
UGL
IT WAS A BLATANT PENALTY
“The boy who cried wolf” theory will see Luis Suarez miss out on a few penalties for the rest of his career. But when he’s barrelled over by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, trailing 2-1 in an FA Cup clash with Arsenal, he could probably expect the call to go his way.
It didn’t, and Liverpool exits the Cup.
“We are bitterly disappointed not to get a blatant penalty. It’s more clear than the first one,” Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers told BT Sport after the game.
“First one Luis [Suarez] gets clipped. Second one was clear but I’m not sure if it was because it was just after that. Luis got the ball and Alex has clipped him straight after that, it was a strange decision.”
What a surprise, but Wenger didn’t see the incident clearly!
“Maybe. I have to watch it again. You know that I rate Suarez as a player but I think if we had him in the team we would have a few more free-kicks! There was contact, I don’t deny that, but he is good to make more of it.”
Webb had already given Suarez a penalty and simply appeared to get it wrong. Not long after, Steven Gerrard, already on a yellow, swiped Oxlade-Chamberlain but remained on the pitch.
GOOD
SLICK CITY
But still, credit Manchester City for putting its rivals to bed with two goals of the highest order, and Manuel Pellegrini with learning his mistake from last time.
When Chelsea stunned City at home not long ago, Mourinho was hailed as a tactical genius, while Pellegrini was criticised for selecting the Dalek-like Martin Demichelas in place of the injured Fernandinho.
But with Eden Hazard easily contained by James Milner and Pablo Zabaleta, the Premier League leaders looked much less threatening and City’s victory was, in the end, quite easy, with Javi Garcia holding the central midfield fort to allow Yaya Toure to return to his best in the middle.
“It’s easy for me to talk about tactics when you win,” Pellegrini said. “But it is not revenge. I really don’t think we had any tactical problems against Chelsea the other day.
“We knew exactly the way Chelsea play, they knew how we play, but players always make the difference during the match. Today was not a tactical masterclass.”
What effect, if any, will this have on the title race? Has this shown how to shut Chelsea down? Is City really eyeing the quadruple? We’ll be watching both over the coming weeks to try and get some answers.
SWEET REVENGE
Arsenal joined Manchester City in turning the tables on their EPL results.
With Bayern Munich looming midweek, Wenger’s gamble paid off as he played some of his fringe squad members. There was a promising debut for Yaya Sanogo; Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski’s workrate made a huge difference against the mobile Liverpool outfit, while it was refreshing for Wenger to see Mesut Ozil have a hand in both goals.
Brendan Rodgers thought his outfit was still the better side, and Daniel Sturridge could have replicated last week’s blistering opening, but for Wenger, he is back on course.
“It was vital for us to respond to the disappointing performance we had against Liverpool last week.
“It was vital as well because we had an opportunity to go to the quarter-final of the FA Cup. I am very pleased with the intensity of our commitment and our response, our determination.
“You could feel there was a clinical desire in my team to take every opportunity to ‘kill’ them. That’s why it was a great game between two good teams, and overall it was a fantastic FA Cup tie.
“Many people questioned the FA Cup but like today it delivers a great football performance.”
UGLY? BRILLIANT? NASTY? THE PANTOMINE CONTINUES
Many would call this ugly. Others just sit back and enjoy the show as Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho continue their very public spat.
Arsene Wenger, it seems, is trying to have the last word. We doubt he will get it.
“I am embarrassed for him (Mourinho), honestly,” he said after the defeat of Liverpool.
“First of all I would say that I didn’t speak about him at all in my press conference, and I have no more to say ... I am more disappointed for Chelsea than for me.
“I am not interested in the subject at all, and that is really genuine. If you are interested, and you have nothing better to do in your life, you are free to do it.
“But honestly, I cannot force my interest in things that are not interesting for me. I love football and I’m sorry to disappoint you, but what interests me is what happens on the pitch.”
If you missed it over the weekend — it all started when Wenger said the EPL title was Chelsea’s to lose and that title managers play down their chances because they “fear to fail’, Mourinho wasted no time in returning fire.
“If he is right and I am afraid of failure it is because I didn’t fail many times. Eight years without silverware, that’s failure,” Mourinho replied, not mentioning Arsenal’s lack of silverware since 2005.
“He’s a specialist in failure. If I do that in Chelsea, eight years, I leave and don’t come back.”
Asked about his comments after the defeat to City, the Portuguese manage was again typically mischievous.
“You mean my comments or the previous comments to my comments?” Mourinho said, referring to Wenger’s own remarks about the Chelsea manager.
“It’s your fault. It’s always the same guy who’s the bad guy. One is polite, the other is thebad guy; OK, OK. I’m not surprised because I know him.”
No comments:
Post a Comment