Leeds United suffered a disappointing defeat to Chelsea at Wembley as they were knocked out of the FA Cup. Fans were not pleased after yet another disappointing journey to Wembley stadium.
The game got off to a great starts, with the Whites showing intensity in the opening minutes. Daniel Farke’s side pressed and made the game as uncomfortable as possible for the opponents. They could have taken the lead, but Brenden Aaronson failed to score when put through on goal. Chelsea scored minutes later as they exploited the press, and that was the only goal of the game.
The first half ultimately decided the game, as the second half was full of time-wasting antics by the opponent. Farke made key changes at half-time which raised the tempo in the second half, but when Chelsea felt the pressure, they resorted to delaying the game.
Leeds captain slams ‘cheating’ this season
Goalkeeper Robert Sanchez went down looking like he picked up an injury, forcing the referee to stop the game. Chelsea players could be seen going to the touchline for instructions, and Sanchez was fine just minutes after being treated.
Ethan Ampadu has spoken about what happened at Wembley, slamming the gamesmanship and questioning the rules around it.
“First of all, you never want to just put away that someone might be feeling something or injured, so first of all you hope that the keeper is alright,” he said on BBC Sport.
“Every keeper that’s happened to us has been okay and they’re not injured.
“After that I just went to go get a drink and it’s right next to their dug out. In all honesty, it’s just a bit of gamesmanship where there’s no law that can change it right now.
“I don’t know what it could be, but there’s no law now. Everyone understands the gamesmanship behind it, so I might be wrong, but I thought I was maybe right to have a little bit of a joke with it and have a bit of gamesmanship and have a drink next to them.”
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What has happened to Leeds this season is very unfair
Gamesmanship and time-wasting is common around the league, but for some reason it goes against Leeds often. From the Manchester City game, to the Sunderland game and now the FA Cup semi-final, the Whites have suffered from this. In the games against these clubs, anytime they had momentum and were on the ascendency, there was a break in play that killed the game. Authorities need to start cracking down on this and do something about it down the line. It has no place in the game.
