Chelsea came back and won at Cardiff City today, thanks to a couple of extremely questionable calls going their way. However, the Blues spent the bulk of this game either trailing or in stalemate and that inspired the Blues supporters who made the trip to the Welsh capital to express their strong discontent with Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri and his tactics.
It was estimated by the NBC match announcers that about 3,000 Chelsea fans were in Wales and that they were chanting/singing: “you don’t know what you’re doing.”
Other fans sang songs with NSFW lyrics:
Chelsea fans loudly sing "F*** Sarri-ball" as Hazard comes on for Pedro.
— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) March 31, 2019
There was also a very audible chorus of Chelsea supporters singing “we want Sarri out,” and it was then countered with Cardiff fans singing “we want Sarri in.”
Had Chelsea lost today, it would have been another embarrassing set back for Sarri, and fresh speculation about his future with the club would have resurfaced. However, Chelsea got extremely lucky with a series of blown calls that all went their way.
Victor Camarasa netted for the hosts just a minute into the second half, and the Bluebirds were up 1-0 all the way up until Cesar Azpilicueta’s equalizer in the 84′.
The goal should not have stood, as it was clearly an offsides situation; see below:
How can this be justified, it could actually cost Cardiff there place in the Premier League #disgracful pic.twitter.com/bvx5Z38NzL
— ???????TonytheManc (@tonythemanc) March 31, 2019
Then Antonio Rudiger was shown yellow in a situation that should have seen him shown red and sent off. Ruben Loftus-Cheek scored the game winner in extra time, and with it (along with the match officials) may have saved Sarri’s job for the time being. We have much more on the controversial calls that determined the result of the match, and it’s implications over at this link.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.