Chelsea 4 Cardiff 1: Mourinho ‘very frustrated’ with time-wasting
Chelsea 4 Cardiff 1: Steve Holland defends Jose Mourinho after the Chelsea boss was sent to the stands
Steve Holland has defended Jose Mourinho after the Chelsea boss was sent to the stands in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Cardiff City.
Jordon Mutch ran through to put Cardiff ahead after David Luiz’s mistake at Stamford Bridge, but Eden Hazard levelled after Samuel Eto’o kicked the ball away as goalkeeper David Marshall bounced it, which according to Fifa’s rules is a foul.
Eto’o then scored his first goal for the club since his summer transfer in the 66th minute, before Oscar and Hazard sealed a win which moved Chelsea up to second in the Premier League table.
Mourinho had grown increasingly frustrated at Cardiff’s perceived time-wasting and was sent to the stands for his protests in the second half – but Holland feels the manager’s protests were entirely justified.
“Jose is very frustrated about the time-wasting,” said assistant first-team coach Holland. “From the first minute, they took a long time to take every dead ball.
“We mentioned it politely to the fourth official and referee. It was a deliberate ploy to break up the game and needed some action.
“It was 56 minutes before their goalkeeper finally received a caution. The game changed when we got ahead. They kicked the ball out for us to take a throw in.
“The ball boy went to get it, threw the ball to Branislav Ivanovic, missed, and so it was in the dug-out area. Ivanovic had the ball in his hands for two seconds, and the referee was gesticulating for him to get it back into play.
“Jose was furious on the touchlines. For an hour, we’d been frustrated by their clear time-wasting.
“Supporters pay good money to watch a game of football and, from a few minutes in, their restarts were taking longer and longer.
“It’s very frustrating for Jose to then be sent off for protesting after we have to throw the ball in within two seconds of getting it.”
