Chelsea’s struggles in the Premier League continued on Saturday as Graham Potter’s side drew 1-1 with West Ham United away from home. Joao Felix gave the blues the lead in the 12 minutes. However, the Hammers equalized 16 minutes later through Emerson.
The match was not without VAR controversies, as both teams had goals canceled by VAR for offside. The biggest controversy for the day was when West Ham United midfielder Tomas Soucek used his hand to block a shot by Conor Gallagher in the 89th minute before Lukasz Fabianski eventually collected the ball. Despite VAR reviewing the incident, it was waved as a ball to hand.
However, former Premier League stars Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole disagrees with the VAR decision, claiming that Tomas Soucek more or less saved the ball from scoring.
What did Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole say concerning the handball incident?
Ferdinand revealed on BT Sport: “He more or less saved it. It was a great save. No wonder these players in Chelsea shirts are going bananas here. I would have been going crazy.
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“He [Soucek] gets down really well to his left. What a save that is. I can can’t believe that hasn’t-hasn’t been given; it is unbelievable.”
Joe Cole Continued: “The crucial thing for me is the distance Soucek was from Gallagher when he hit the ball. If he was two yards from Gallagher and it hit his arm, you can argue no penalty.
“But when you are that far away, you get a split second, and he knows what she’s doing. It is a penalty.”
Meanwhile, Rio Ferdinand believes the headlines would have been different if Chelsea were managed by Pep Guardiola, Mourinho, or Jorgen Klopp.
He added: “It comes with experience. If you look at a Pep Guardiola or Klopp or Mourinho in years gone by at Chelsea, Mourinho would have been out there in the presser tomorrow, and that would’ve been the story; the back page would’ve-would’ve been Mourinho slams VAR and takes the focus off what happens on the pitch.
“There were some bits that you could improve on with Chelsea, but that would not be the focus; it probably will be now… the influx of players, the money spent, but you can negate that by controlling the narrative in that presser there”.”
Joe Cole added that Chelsea’s lack of experience in the dugout is a cause of concern.
He added: “If he had someone in his staff who has been at that level and managed at that level… you need to cause a bit of an uproar because it does two things.
“It deflects from the bad elements of your performance, but it puts it on VAR. It cost Chelsea a chance of winning the game there through no fault of your own.
“You can dissect the performance of your team on Monday morning, but if I was advising him now, I’dI’d say come out and make a thing of it.
“Make the Chelsea fans come out of here thinking you’re you’re hard done by, instead of feeling why didn’tdidn’t we beat West Ham. That’sThat’s a little bit of inexperience.”
