2 things I disliked from Newcastle 2-2 Chelsea
As the dust settles following Saturday's 2-2 draw with Chelsea, Newcastle fans are probably left with mixed emotions. Encouraged by parts of our display, frustrated by the concession of two points and angered by VAR!
After covering what I liked from the game, featuring two standout Mags and that first-half display, here is two things I didn't like from and up and down affair.
Disliked: A refereeing (and VAR) disaster-class
In a way, Andy Madley, his linesman, and VAR don’t deserve cogent words, they just deserve a long line of expletives, as that was one of the worst displays of officiating, we have seen at St James’ Park in a long while as they never had control of the game.
The ref didn’t have a clue how to control Chelsea’s over aggression allowing them to foul over and over without needing to worry about being punished highlighted by Garnacho’s late rake down Jacob Ramsey’s ankle which resulted in just a yellow card (something Xavi Simons was sent off for Spurs for in the late game by the way…), we were denied a clear penalty after Chalobah’s blatant foul on Gordon, and to make that situation worse the Premier League described it as “side to side, shielding action, with the ball within playing distance” which is absolute garbage as he didn’t play the ball and there was clear contact between Gordon and Chalobah’s legs.
Reece James denied a clear goalscoring opportunity for Harvey Barnes late on which was ignored by all involved despite the clear pull back on our flying winger. And the linesman on the nearside (next to the Milburn Stand) looked like he had won a competition to run the line in a Premier League game, as he was overweight, never up with the play and didn’t give anything all afternoon.
Throw in that the semi-automated offsides weren’t even working for Woltemade’s second, resulting in a five-minute check for a goal that you could see was onside with the naked eye, and its moments like that that confirm referees and PGMOL are amateurish and stealing a (very good) living. Disgraceful.
Disliked: Second half performance
United should’ve had the opportunity to go 3-1 up from the spot after the denial of the clear penalty on Gordon, (and we had multiple chances to put the game to bed in the first half too) however familiar failings led to us surrendering a 2-0 lead and dropping more points.
We seemed to step back as the ref lost control of the game and some poor decision making couldn’t see us come back from 2-2 via Barnes and Elanga who both made critical errors when well placed.
Ramsdale was at fault for Chelsea’s first as he is stood too far to his left on James’ freekick, Thiaw made an unfortunate error for Chelsea’s equaliser as he slipped allowing Joao Pedro to score, and once the game was level, we conceded too much possession as Chelsea had a whole host of chances.
It’s another example of United not reading the game state and the refereeing performance as once Madley (and VAR) had nailed their colours to the post of being an absolute joke, allowing Chelsea to get away with niggly fouls and not blowing up for clear infractions, we failed to take advantage and rise above it.
Keep the faith. Have a great Christmas, everyone.
