muttley
Alert Team
I think a few of us discussed this during the game thread, but interested to hear whether objectively you think Gio should have faced red or not?
If I watch the body language of our player first I'm pretty certain there was no major intent to hurt Azpilicueta. His immediate reaction was to reduce pressure and he turned his body in and arm out to see if the Chelsea captain was OK. For me, Gio's body language was of a player who had made a bad choice in how he went in and probably deserved a yellow.
If I watch the body language of Azpilicueta, there was clearly a moment where he felt Gio's weight and studs down his leg and that clearly hurt. Did he milk it after that? Probably, most players would nowadays and you probably can't blame him for that.
All in all, I think we were lucky to keep 11 men on the pitch as it could have easily been given. Any appeal wouldn't have had much of a case to be overturned if he had been sent off as the stud went down the leg. I'm pleased we weren't penalised though after the Robertson, Cantwell and Capoue tackles went unpunished.
Final thought. More evidence of the referees union sticking up for each other. Once Peter Walton had realised that VAR had retracted their initial opinion, he retracted his. Funny that !!!
Interesting what everyone thinks on another big moment in the life of VAR and the officials?