Chelsea FC Fall To Stoke City: Four Things We Learned
No Friends Among The Referees
Tuesday’s referee Kevin Friend had a bit of a shocker didn’t he? The Stoke City Mark Hughes has tried to build these past few seasons was supposed to be about playing attractive football and moving away from the brutish tactics that the Potters have been known for for so long.
Instead what we saw at the Brittania was closer to the Rugby World Cup than a proper football match. Within the first 15-20 minutes of the match several Chelsea players needed medical attention after some heavy challenges from Stoke’s brutes. Star striker Diego Costa, who looked very much up for the match and ready to harass the Stoke defenders, was brought off after suffering a rib injury resulting from a dirty elbow from Charlie Adam.
The Stoke midfielder had a very late studs-up challenge against Willian go completely unpunished when most referees would have sent him off.
The Adam challenge in question:
Stoke eventually had a man sent off after yellow card accumulation but this was a match that Kevin Friend let slip out of his control with Stoke benefitting from a string of non-decisions on their rough tackles. The Blues are not getting any love from the referees this season and it may take a serious injury for the tide to turn in their favor in terms of decisions.
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