Chelsea went the distance and lost the League Cup on penalties. With no one to really blame for the loss, some have dug deep to play the blame game.
As penalties approached in the League Cup final, Kepa Arrizabalaga received treatment for an injury. Minutes later he was up, but in the meantime Willy Caballero had been warming up. As the sub seemed likely, a defiant Arrizabalaga tried to assert that he was fine. Minutes of silliness later and he stayed on.
That will be the story of the match. Not that Chelsea held their own and even pushed Manchester City. Not that the squad seemed committed to a cause or that they were unlucky to lose on penalties. No, the only story told about that match will be about Arrizabalaga and Maurizio Sarri and all the fallout.
Of course, both manager and player have already called it a misunderstanding. They were too late. As soon as the event happened, the blame game began. And on a day when no one did anything blame worthy, there seemed to be plenty to go around.
Arrizabalaga is being blamed for “costing Chelsea the cup” which is quite frankly a moronic opinion. Penalties are more luck than skill and Chelsea just ran out of luck on the day. To blame Arrizabalaga for not saving more penalties while absolving Jorginho and David Luiz for missing theirs is silly.
As is calling for Arrizabalaga’s head over the whole event. It is worth keeping in mind that he is young and emotions are high in cup finals that late on. Sarri did not push the issue because he never officially told the ref the change was happening. Could Arrizabalaga have come over and explained he was fine and wanted to stay on? Absolutely but the fact that he did not does not mean the final was lost because of him. Nor does it mean he should be severely punished.
Sarri, for his part, could have handled it better too. His dramatic half walk down the tunnel is an extremely bad look no matter what the reason was. And again, if he wanted to force the issue rather than argue halfway across the pitch, he could have. But he did not.
Cesar Azpilicueta is getting a fair bit of the blame as well because of reasons. Azpilicueta wears the armband so he was supposed to go haul Arrizabalaga out. Of course, David Luiz did not haul him out. Eden Hazard did not. Antonio Rudiger did not. Not a single player came over to Arrizabalaga and tried to walk him off.
On a day where Sarri got his tactics right and everyone played well, there was no one to blame when the loss happened. The Arrizabalaga incident was thus ripe for blowing way out of proportion. It has since been used as a point of blame to say “Chelsea lost because of this”.
The simple fact is Chelsea lost because penalties are a bit random. Keepers can study to do better and there is skill involved on the shooters end. But after that it is a guessing game and Chelsea guessed wrong more often than Manchester City. There is no one to blame for the loss.
Instead, fans should look at those positives. No, it was not a win, but Chelsea played extremely well in a blend of what they were good at and what Sarri wants. It is just a shame that some cannot get away from the final without having to blame someone for it.
Arrizabalaga and Sarri have already called it a misunderstanding and they will surely talk about it. The situation is done, as should be the finger pointing. It is time to move on and take the positives from the final and build on them for the future.