Louise Taylor parks the bus in favour of Rafa;
Interesting reply in the 'Comments' section as well;
Rafael Benítez......very nearly succeeded in choreographing.....a tactically astute draw against possession-monopolising visitors
....Chelsea’s win was arguably deserved.....
....the cool, wet conditions were sufficiently unpleasant to prompt Newcastle’s manager.....to suppress his inner Geordie and take the rare step of wearing a coat
Had the unloved Sam Allardyce or Alan Pardew presided over such apparently negative home tactics they would have doubtless been pilloried by Gallowgate Enders but Benítez can do no wrong – locals are convinced he is capable of walking on the Tyne – and, in truth, the coach who led Chelsea to Europa League triumph surely had his strategy spot on.
...Marcos Alonso collapsed under Schär’s penalty-area challenge.......Chelsea, somewhat contentiously, enjoyed the benefit of what was probably a 50/50 refereeing decision.
Interesting reply in the 'Comments' section as well;
Last season, ManU vs Chelsea, the ref had a word with the ManU captain about persistent fouling on Hazard.
When the ref does this, it's within the Laws of the Game that the next player to foul the same victim, no matter how innocuous or benign the offence, may be immediately sent off, even if he's not already on a yellow card.
Within literally two seconds of the game restarting, Herrera kicked Hazard, and amid much protestation was rightly shown a straight red.
This should have also been the case yesterday.