Chelsea Thread

@ Prof - That means of stifling their attack...his name is Michael Essien. Best midfield player I've seen since Roy Keane is his pomp, and probably has more tools (and I don't mean his teammates). Scores long range screamers? Check. Marks 'bestest player in the whole wide world' out of game easily? Check. Can be box to box for 120 minutes? Check. Saves critical goals with a diving header? Check.

Man is a midfield all on his own.
 
@ Prof - That means of stifling their attack...his name is Michael Essien. Best midfield player I've seen since Roy Keane is his pomp, and probably has more tools (and I don't mean his teammates). Scores long range screamers? Check. Marks 'bestest player in the whole wide world' out of game easily? Check. Can be box to box for 120 minutes? Check. Saves critical goals with a diving header? Check.

Man is a midfield all on his own.

I agree, would love essien in our team...

great game last night..

would love another utd-chelsea final!
 
How you guys feeling about tomorrow??

I really think Chelsea are gonna do it, but I think i'm in the minority...

but..

Barca look pretty vulnerable to me at the mo, they drew with Valencia at the weekend and have "El Classico" on saturday...

it could be too much....
 
I think they'll lose tommorow but one with a away goal 2-1 loss which IMO will do them fine to take to the bridge
 
Anyone think Van Gaal will be the new chelsea manager? We should really put it up on some forum and the media will copy it. He's won the Dutch league with AZ, after just missing out last year or the year before. If you put that into context he's won the premiership with Fulham!

He's also publicly said that he wants to move on and sees no future at AZ. He went there to win the league and he sees no point in trying to do well in the CL next year as they are so small compared to the big teams.

He was also the manager when Ajax won the CL in 95 playing briljant football and did pretty well at Barca. Oh and he's dutch so it wouldn't be a surprise if Hiddink recomends (sp?) him.
 
Don't think I've looked forward to a game so much in years, in pure footballing terms. Absolutely fascinating how Europe's best team in terms of passing and possession will face what is arguably the most physical team in Europe. And the fact that Barcelona have very little to counter Chelsea's physicality.

Can't wait.
 
God Chelsea look like pentioners compared to the speed and movement of Barca. Although great to see them get wound up :D

Great game so far.
 
I can see this being an almost carbon copy of Barca-United last season.

Nou Camp first, away team stifles Barca and tries to hit on the counter every so often, gets one fantastic chance (Drogba clean through/Ronaldo penalty) and spurns it.

Second leg, one goal from a big name on the home team and that'll be that.

Anyone else seeing it?
 
Im proper dissapointed with Barcelona, I think they should have learnt there lesson from last season. Chelsea gave them the ball and upto the final third and once Barca got their they didnt create all that much. Eto'o and Bojan having two chances.

Messi was awfully quite today! didn't even see him in the 2nd half. Overall Chelsea will be happy with that and like some of you said carbon copy of us V Barca.
 
You know what? Barca remind me soo much of arsenal. they are almost identical in a way where all you have to do is play 10 man behind the ball and your almost guaranteed to get something out of arsenal/barca.
 
I thought Essien was great on the the wing. He seems like Chelsea's only major threat at times.
 
Amusing to read all the comments coming out of Barcelona, sounds a bit like arsenal aswell;

"They didn't play fair and attack, we couldnt score, boohooo"
 
Credit to Guus for masterminding that. I did wonder what he was going to do to stiffle Barca's attack. Cech was inspired (makes a change of late), Ballack was and is awful, i don't know why Guus plays him. I would have played Essien in his place, with Belletti on the flank from the start.

I like the fact that we were the first team to stop Barca scoring at home this season. I think they face Real Madrid in the league next (4 points behind). An away goal would have been nice. Drogba? :CONF:

2nd leg may well be a nail-biter. Surely we can't stop them scoring again, in which case we'll need one more.
 
Amusing to read all the comments coming out of Barcelona, sounds a bit like arsenal aswell;

"They didn't play fair and attack, we couldnt score, boohooo"
The thing is that arsenal have learned how to play differently now.

They dont rely on passing the ball around all the time like barca. arsenal have adapted well over recent games playing long balls etc. i hardly ever see arsenal play like barca anymore tbh.

if barca was in the premiership, they would be struggling even worse then arsenal.

You simply cannot play football like that when a team defends for there lives. barca was SOO predictable last night that it wasnt funny. The ball hardly lift off the ground when barca had pocession. i reckon even Hull or stoke would have got a draw out of barca last night.


i still believe barca will win this round though because i doubt chelsea will play like that on their own ground next week. any team that opens up there defense againts teams like barca and arsenal will simply get whipped and i can see chelsea attacking at stamford bridge. it could end up being a 4:4 game
 
The thing is that arsenal have learned how to play differently now.

They dont rely on passing the ball around all the time like barca. arsenal have adapted well over recent games playing long balls etc.
i hardly ever see arsenal play like barca anymore tbh.

From the chatbox -
[Yesterday 20:25] jonneymendoza: barca are EXACTLY liek arsenal

:WORSHIP:
 
From the chatbox -
[Yesterday 20:25] jonneymendoza: barca are EXACTLY liek arsenal

:WORSHIP:
yea when arsenal do nothing but pass it to the floor but there not like that anymore otherwise we wouldn't be 4th in the league and still in the champions league. sorry if i wasn't more specific last night!
 
I think some of you really talk silly things when talking about barcelona. Saying barcelona will struggle in the premier really is a poor comment done by someone that doesn't really loves football. Barcelona has been on fire all the season battering everyone. Yes, we had an average performance against a team that relied on defending with 10 men in its field. And yet we had 5 clear chances.

Some of you definitely haven't seen much barcleona games this year. In fact, I've seen a lot of premier matches and I could say defending is abysmal, but the truth is that teams like Barcelona, Manchester or Liverpool are really leaps ahead of the rest in their leagues and when they clash each other, they are mucho more leveled.

Still, I clearly prefer a team like barcelona who tries to attack al the time. It's a matter of style, it's not saying it's better or worst, it's style. You can prefer Germany for winning the world cup in 74, they were a solid team, but I would prefer Netherlands even if they lost the final, simply because their style.

I thing in Stamford Bridge you WON'T see sometihng like last year Barcelona against Man Utd. at all. Barcelona will score for sure. The thing is how many goals will be see and who will strike first. Chelsea having to go for the match can be mortal against barcelona.
 
yes i think Chelsea's defensive performance was slightly over-rated.

Barca missed about 3 sitters. Eto missed a couple and Bojan missed an absolute guilt edge header from a wonderful Alves cross.
 
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