By Paul Green at Wembley
CALUM McFarlane had few complaints about Chelsea’s defending for Manchester City’s decisive FA Cup winning goal from Antoine Semenyo.
The January arrival from Bournemouth settled the tie with a deft flick midway through the second half to close another opportunity for the Pensioners to secure European football next season.
McFarlane now has two Premier League games against Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday and Sunderland next Sunday to avoid the embarrassment of missing out on continental action.
And although his under-performing charges did compete well with City for long periods, ultimately they were undone by Semeyo’s moment of magic.
Asked if more could have been done to prevent the goal, McFarlane replied: “Not personally for me. We hold the line really well.
“Semenyo goes into an offside position, the ball is meant for him.
“Bernardo [Silva] is trying to slide Semenyo in, [Erling] Haaland reads it, gets onto the ball, we make him play an awkward right-foot cross under pressure, Semenyo finishes from outside the line of the front post under pressure.
“For me it is a one in a hundred goal. It is a really low executed goal so for me no, there isn’t much we can do in that moment to defend it better.”
Chelsea had a couple of decent penalty shouts ignored by referee Darren England and VAR, notably when Jorrel Hato went to ground under a challenge from Abdukodir Khusanov.
It was the second week in a row the Blues had been denied a spot-kick following the previous weekend’s 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield which saw no VAR involvement following a tackle by Jeremie Frimpong on Joao Pedro.
McFarlane added: “I thought it was an evenly matched game. Both teams had moments of control. Both teams had momentum at different times.
“They are two really good sides. I’ve got a lot of respect for Manchester City and what they’ve done over their last period of success, so congratulations to them first.
“It was a disappointing result but a very evenly matched game. In terms of the penalty incidents I thought they are tough calls but for me the Jorrel Hato and Khusanov collision in the box is a penalty.
“Jorrel gets in front and it is a collision in the back. If that is anywhere else on the pitch it is a foul, very similar to last week at Liverpool with Joao Pedro and Frimpong,
“I said that was a penalty as well so sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t.”
Despite the defeat and the growing fear Chelsea might miss out on European football, McFarlane still believes there are plenty of positives for next season, with former Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid boss Xabi Alonso set to be announced soon as the latest SW6 gaffer.
“It’s a really talented group,” explained the interim coach.
“There is lots of quality in that group. The fight and heart has been questioned at times, but the last two performances I don’t think you can question that.
“They gave everything today to try and win that trophy for the club.”
