Update: The videos in this post were uploaded on YouTube, and they were ‘removed’ by YouTube because of a DMCA complaint made by the FA Premier League. More details can be found here.
Mourinho compared Hunt’s ‘challenge’ on Cech to Ben Thatcher’s elbow – an over-reaction, but seeing Hunt make no effort to jump over Cech and instead slide in knee-down into Cech’s head was sickening and smacked of crazy recklessness, if not deliberate foul play.
Making sense out of tonight’s incidents is almost impossible – on one hand you cannot help but feel sorry for Chelsea and especially Cech and Cudicini – both were weren’t over-extending themselves and in both cases the Reading player was sorely at fault for the resulting injury.
On the other hand, both Sonko and Hunt made genuine, albeit stupid, mistakes, and you cannot punish them too harshly for them. Hunt, in particular, will come in for a lot of criticism, but he had little time to react and chose his own comfort over the safety of Cech. No where near the actions of Ben Thatcher, who raised his elbow into Pedro’s face.
Here are the video clips – the first one is Cudicini’s injury, in which Sonko jumps late and clocks Carlo. The next three are Cech’s injuries – the live clip plus 2 replays from different angles.
And as a bonus, to lighten up the day, here’s John Terry in Chelsea’s goal unsure of what to do with the bloody ball. To his credit he handled the last couple of minutes in goal (replacing Cudicini) pretty well, although to be honest he had little choice and anyone in his position would be lauded a hero. Terry’s the captain and lead defender, he’s the one that has to go in, no questions asked.
Props to the man though. He’s got heart, if nothing else.
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
