The physio had told them he wasn't injured. They wanted him off as Caballero is a specialist at penalties and knows the City players well. Kepa was a disgrace and so was Azpi.Remember Colo wrote: ↑Mon Feb 25, 2019 4:01 pmDefinitely. I think everyone handled it terribly. Kepa shouldn't have waved it all away, Sarri shouldn't have just sat in his seat shouting and gesticulating, Cesar should have shown some leadership. It all could have been avoided had the manager, keeper and trainer maybe actually talked to one another.Bodacious Benny wrote: ↑Mon Feb 25, 2019 3:52 pm
He'd gone down twice though so clearly wasn't in the best shape to be facing penalties (and Caballero on the bench has a relatively good reputation for saving them). It's a team sport and ultimately you might not like the decisions but you save your misunderstandings or arguments for in the changing room IMO. From the moment all that happened it was clear that only one team were winning the shootout as Kepa / Chelsea effectively heaped every ounce of pressure onto themselves.
It's a bit of a shame for Chelsea as up until then they'd handled themselves and City pretty well from a defensive point of view and appeared to be playing for each other. Then that happened and it just showed all the fractures and weaknesses in the squad. As has been said in the media, a strong captain would have sorted it out but Azpi didn't do anything.
Again, I get that Kepa should have just done as told, but I do think a keeper injury sub is a little different than the usual substitution situation, and for as much as the team seem to be quitting on Sarri, he's obviously not doing enough to build trust and loyalty either.
Also, after Kepa saved a penalty he spent a minute celebrating on the wrong side of the goal so it delayed Luiz taking his penalty(which he then missed). Luiz was actually standing on the spot telling Kepa to go over to where he needed to stand.
