Those plagued by monologophobia might want to avoid rewatching Mauricio Pochettino’s media interviews from this eventful encounter as he repeated the word ‘damaged’ when discussing how ruinous VAR can be.
‘Damaged myself, damaged my team, damaged my players, damaged my fans, damaged football,’ he said after seeing Axel Disasi’s stoppage-time winner at Villa Park disallowed for a nudge in the back by Benoit Badiashile on Diego Carlos.
It might have been a foul. It might not have been. What we do know is referee Craig Pawson had a perfect view in real time. He was 10 yards from it, unobstructed, and originally gave Chelsea the goal which would have completed a terrific turnaround after finding themselves 2-0 down at half-time.
PGMOL head Howard Webb forever insists he does not want VAR to ‘re-referee’ games – it is supposed to be reserved for howlers only – but that was exactly what happened here. Chris Kavanagh told Pawson he had clearly and obviously not seen the foul which, just seconds earlier, he had been staring straight at.
That was why Chelsea erupted at full-time with Badiashile among those booked for protesting. Yet once Pochettino and his players have stopped simmering, they should take pride in this performance, not least because of the circumstances surrounding it.
Mauricio Pochettino said he was ‘damaged’ after Chelsea saw a winner ruled out at Aston Villa
Axel Disasi looked to have stolen all three points for the Blues after steering home late on
But referee Craig Pawson was advised to check his monitor by VAR after a foul in the build-up
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Their injury list is so long and covers such a variety of positions that you could make an XI worth £486million out of it. Their substitutes’ bench here had the look of a crèche with Disasi the only senior outfielder among the options.
Despite that, Chelsea took the game to the Champions League chasers, and left with the least that they deserved in a draw. Show more of this desire against Tottenham on Thursday and they might yet get a morale-boosting victory over their arch rivals.
