Champions League: Barcelona 0 - 0 Chelsea
Tuesday, 28 April 09, 06:58 PM · Comments (94)
Match reports
The Guardian, Kevin McCarra: "The resilience of Chelsea was formidable and it has preserved their hopes of a return to the Champions League final. A minor yet telling honour has been collected since they are the first visitors to keep a clean sheet at Camp Nou this season. Chelsea survived one vigorous penalty appeal and saw the substitute Bojan Krkic head over in stoppage time. After that, Petr Cech still had to block at the feet of another substitute, Alexander Hleb. This was, all the same, a highly practical exercise by the visitors, with no compunction shown about taking off Frank Lampard when the need was for fresh energy."
Daily Telegraph, Henry Winter: "Terry was immense, a captain leading by example, the rock on which Barcelona’s celebrated attacking ambition foundered. He kept clearing danger in the air and on the ground and his example inspired all his team-mates. Alex impressed alongside him while Petr Cech made vital saves from Dani Alves and Alexander Hleb."
The Times, Oliver Kay: "Amid all the eulogies to this Barcelona team of many talents, it was overlooked that they, like everyone else in Europe these days, struggle to find a way past the English. Throughout a compelling clash of cultures, skill against will, craft against graft, Chelsea never strayed from Guus Hiddink's battle plan and, after riding their luck at times, they are now 90 minutes away from a second consecutive Champions League final against Barclays Premier League opposition."
Official Chelsea FC Website: "The tie, as predicted by Barcelona players and manager, will very much be decided in the second leg as a Chelsea rearguard action soaked up enormous pressure."
The preamble
So we’re back at the Nou Camp and are we worried? Yeah right. We’re Chelsea, a club who’ve experienced every possible up and down in the game since Roman took over and a club who seem to relish playing the pantomime villain or party-pooper at the Nou Camp. It may have been billed as Beauty versus the Beast or David versus Goliath or any other pathetic cliché designed to make Barcelona look like the untouchable Gods of European football and Chelsea the lambs to the slaughter (yep another cliché) but the Nou Camp hardly scares us anymore. We’ve been here so many times that it’s sort of our second home in Europe (alongside Anfield of course). Barcelona may play beautiful, Playstation-esque football with goals being their only concern but under Guus, we’ve shown that we can play a little bit as well and unlike Barca we believe that to win trophies you have to build from the back. But defences are so boring for some so the press concentrated on Guus and Pep’s claims that they’ll both be looking for goals. And on that front we looked a little short. Our threat would come from Drogba’s battering ram and the class of Lampard. Barca’s would come from the part-time defender Dani Alves, Spanish maestros of Iniesta and Xavi and the ‘Holy Trinity’ i.e. Henry, Eto’o and Messi. Some were predicting a battering, with the surprising odds of only 13/2 that Barca would score four tonight but the more astute amongst us would have gone for a tighter more disciplined match with the storming of Anfield fresh in our minds. I never believed that we’d repeat that epic performance in the quarter-finals but rewind a year and some of us could see that stopping Barca was far from impossible, just ask Manchester United.
The tactics
Who’d be at left-back? Would it matter as Messi is just so damn good? Would Guus be true to his word and send the team out to attack? Well in the end there would be a surprise. Bosingwa did indeed slot in at left-back but Mikel was brought in for the lazy and misfiring Anelka (how many goals has he scored in 2009?). As the game kicked off it seemed as if we were playing in pairs all over the pitch. Alex and Terry kept the defence nice and narrow, Malouda and Bosingwa were told to shut down Messi and Alves, Ivanovic and Essien shut down Barca’s left wing, Mikel and Ballack sat deep to close down Iniesta and Xavi whilst Lamps and Didier were told to provide nuisance value around their centre-backs and Yaya Toure. And in the end it was a goal-fest worthy of its Tuesday night billing where 4-4 is the least we expect.
The match
Actually the start of the match summed up the rest of the 95 minutes; utter dross. In the end as a spectacle the match was bollocks but in terms of achievement, it was brilliant. From the kick-off we managed to keep the ball for about 20 seconds before letting Barca spray it about and that was about it. We’d keep it for a few seconds, hoof it forward to an isolated Didier and see if our 10 men behind the ball, ultra-defensive, parking the bus, Everton style, negative (any other descriptions would be much appreciated) tactics would hold out. Every so often Barca would stop passing the ball to death and create a chance such as when Henry turned on the afterburners in the opening minutes and won a free kick from Ivanovic but I was killing myself with nerves or making a mess of my pants every time Barca had the ball, mainly because they weren’t doing anything with it. We set up camp at the edge of our box with all of players bar Didier and asked Barca to try and get through us and even though they had some very pretty moves, they hardly ever got into our box. Iniesta, Xavi and Henry were weaving their magic outside our box but it only ended up with a couple of long shots or some useless crosses as no-one seems to head the ball in Barca’s side. After 15 minutes it had developed into attack versus defence (not too difficult to guess which one we were) and after 30 minutes this reached almost laughable levels. We were resisting more Barca pressure as they passed, passed and passed again and the ball bobbled to Iniesta on the left hand side of our box. I counted eight of our players in our box with Didier tracking back to the edge of it. Twenty-one/twenty-two players were now in our half as Barca tried to find a gap in our defences but we stood firm and in the end the ball mostly ended up in the arms of Petr Cech after another timid Barca attack. One was still nervous because this was the mighty Barcelona, the Harlem Globetrotters of the Champions League and we should have no chance at withstanding their pressure. But looking at it rationally, one would see that we were doing pretty well. Our bus was still standing and Barcelona were growing more and more frustrated. The game was beginning to quieten down with the crowd getting annoyed at our tactics only screaming out as we committed yet another clumsy foul. At this point I’d like to bring up the ref’s performance. The nice ones amongst you may call it erratic but I’d call it Rob Styles-esque. On some occasions he was so obviously overawed by the crowd that some of our players were seen laughing at him but on others he was just plain wrong. He’d book our players for some innocuous fouls but let a replica Barca foul go (just see Alves’ trip on Malouda in the second half). And it wasn’t just us on the receiving end of his ‘questionable decision making’ with Barca being denied a pretty good shout for a pen in the second half.
You may notice that I’ve left someone out of the report so far – the genius that is Messi. That’s because he hadn’t done anything so far. He beat Bosingwa once with some searing pace to win a free kick but apart from that he seemed to have Ronaldo syndrome – he just hadn’t turned up in this massive game. He’d kicked the ball out twice with wasteful passes and blazed the ball over from the edge of the box after a nice one-two with Eto’o and he did show some flashes of brilliance by beating players for fun, but all his work was done far away from our goal and Guus’ tactics seemed to be working perfectly. We were beginning to feel more and more comfortable in our own half with the only problem being our impact in their half. So far it amounted to, well, nothing. Barca would keep the ball for two minutes and lose it to Cech. He’d hoof it downfield to Didier, who’d lose the ball and we’d repeat the whole charade for the next few minutes. As the half went on we began to drop dangerously deep with more players sinking into the safe haven of our penalty box. We needed to push out but we struggled to relieve the pressure and Barca were beginning to create more chances with Cech impressing by keeping out Henry and Iniesta. But then we sprung into life. Didier spooked Marquez into a mistake, drove forward with the ball and was one-on-one with Valdes. His first shot was well saved but with the goal gaping he should have powered in the rebound but instead he tried to go round the keeper and the chance was lost. That was our one big chance and we blew it. The rest of the half followed the same pattern as Barca kept the ball and we continued to keep them out. Cech’s pass completion rate was remarkable - 95% of his passes going to either Pique or Marquez but I wasn’t complaining. We came here to do a job and with the half-time whistle came the opportunity to reset, have an orange and a cup of tea and get ready to hold the fort for the next 45 minutes.
The opening of the second half brought much more joy. We’d made it out of our half and had even won a free kick as Malouda was hacked down by Alves (still no booking which I was crying out for as it would have got him banned from the second leg). Didier sent it over to Ballack who narrowly headed over. It was a good chance and despite missing it we did seem to be a little more positive in this half. Essien and Malouda were still tracking back but on some occasions one took the risk to stay forward in the hope we could spring a counter-attack and we did a couple of times but Didier kind of got in the way with a heavy touch or poor pass. It was a more fragmented opening with us seeing more of the ball and more silly fouls being committed. Luckily Barca began to get some injuries with Alex smashing Henry’s head in and Marquez collapsing with a suspected cruciate injury. Puyol quickly announced his arrival with a poor challenge on Malouda which resulted in a yellow card and a suspension meaning Didier will be up against Pique and Caceras in the second leg. The second half began to get a little boring as Barca were creating even fewer chances. As we seemed to be ignoring our best player (Frank), Barca followed suit as they avoided giving the ball to Messi of all players. They instead seemed to concentrate passing amongst a Xavi-Iniesta-Henry triangle which suited our defence. The referee was still having a shocker as he blew for a foul against Mikel despite him shielding the ball perfectly well from Toure and springing a counter-attack with four of our players sprinting forward. The crowd were quiet and we even began to hear the faint chanting of the 2,824 Chelsea fans perched at the top of the Nou Camp. The ITV commentators were even struggling to come up with anymore clichés regarding English teams in Europe and soon resorted to plugging some awful ITV programmes on the weekend (apparently there’s some fight going on between two thugs in some ring in a couple of days?). Nothing was going on but suddenly I was awoken from my slumber by some strange noise: “Frank Lampard is coming off for Juliano Belletti.” Fuck me that shocked me back into life. Frank may have been quiet but surely that was a wrong move. He’s the best midfielder in the world in my eyes and is the man you look to for a goal alongside Didier. He ran off applauding our fans but the camera later showed him looking pissed off on the bench and his departure seemed to wake up Barca. Eto’o stormed past Alex and Terry from the halfway line but his effort was brilliantly stopped by Cech who was having a blinder. Alves then swung over a beautiful cross for Bojan to surely head in from three yards out but he’d obviously been watching too many videos of Kalou and headed it over. And then with two of five extra minutes remaining, Hleb ran through with Alex appealing for offside but Ballack was playing everyone onside by lying injured in our box. Cech came to the rescue and saved Hleb’s effort and that was that. The final whistle was greeted with whistles, probably at our tactics, but we’d made it. We’d come for a 0-0, hoping for one big chance and that’s what we got. Usually I’d be ruing that miss but as Barca stepped it up in the last ten minutes we were lucky to escape unharmed but for sheer effort a 0-0 seemed about right.
The good
- Petr Cech. Awesome. He saved us on numerous occasions and that penalty save has certainly helped him. ‘But he’s not been the same since he had his head cracked open’ and that may be true when coming for crosses but I’d rather blame Christophe Lollichon who seems to have told him to punch every cross. Despite his punching he was brilliant tonight.
- The defence. Bosingwa was meant to get bamboozled like Lell did for Bayern but he kept his head and tried to nick the ball from Messi as soon as he got it and if he couldn’t he simply drove him inside where we had masses of bodies to stop him. Terry and Ivanovic were brilliant and even Alex impressed me. Despite getting outpaced by Henry and Eto’o he was a rock at centre back and coped much better with the massive Nou Camp pitch than I thought he would.
- The midfield. Were told to do a job and did it brilliantly. They may have left Didier isolated but tonight was about getting a result and because of their hard work we got a good one. I don’t think it’ll work in the second leg where we’ll need more penetration and creativity as 0-0 and penalties will most definitely send us out.
- The crowd. The Barca crowd always make the stadium look brilliant at the kick-off but our 2,824 have to be praised for even getting heard in the last five minutes.
The bad
- Didier Drogba. Harsh I know because he was given precious little service and dealt with the barrage of Cech kicks as best as he could but when we needed him to finish he couldn’t. It was a repeat of the Anfield game but in the semi-finals you won’t get as many chances to make up for your mistakes. He’s a brilliant striker, probably the best at playing the lone role but when it comes to finishing I’d choose Torres or Villa any day.
- Barcelona. They believe in their footballing principles but against a professional, physical and pragmatic bunch like us they needed something more. The brilliance of Messi was crowded out and their tempo was too slow to ever really trouble us. I’m not getting cocky but on the small Stamford Bridge pitch they won’t have the chance to move us from side to side all night and we should have more of the ball.
- The Lampard substitution. I just don’t know why he was the one to come off. He’s so important to us and even though it enabled Essien to move into the middle, Belletti hardly touched the ball and Lamps could have given us that much needed away goal from a set-piece delivery, a 30 yard shot or a brilliant assist. I’d never take him off but who am I to tell Guus what to do?
Player ratings
- Petr Cech – 9/10 – Flapped at a cross early on but from then on he was brilliant. May not be back to his 2004/5 best but he’s certainly past the Bolton-Liverpool nightmare.
- Branislav Ivanovic – 8/10 – A rock who was only beaten by Henry once. With Ashley back next week I hope he keeps his place ahead of Bosingwa.
- Alex – 7/10 – Clattered into a few of their players and was beaten for pace a couple of times but he’s slowly growing on me. Always gives his all and loves to defend simply by smashing the ball away or heading it into touch.
- John Terry– 8/10 – A brilliant performance where he had to constantly marshal the troops and keep his concentration all night. Slowly getting the feeling that he’s destined to lift that trophy in Rome.
- Jose Bosingwa – 7/10 – Left-back? No problem for him. Still don’t like his casual distribution but he kept Messi quiet so job done.
- John Obi Mikel – 6/10 – Still looks a little out of his depth at this level. Patrolled the midfield well but when on the ball he looks clumsy and a silly square ball to Iniesta nearly ended in disaster.
- Michael Essien – 7/10 – Never stopped running and his pace, power and mobility were key in covering the grass on this massive pitch.
- Michael Ballack – 7/10 – Didn’t really see him but his class comes through every so often whether it be a clever dive to win free kick or a class ball out to the wings to relieve some of our pressure.
- Frank Lampard – 7/10 – I’ll give him a 7 despite getting subbed. He sprung a couple of great counter-attacks with some lovely touches and should never have been taken off. It wasn’t his fault that we seemed to avoid giving him the ball.
- Florent Malouda – 6/10 – Did a job for the team on the left wing but he forgot to track back on a couple of occasions and his final ball was pretty poor tonight.
- Didier Drogba – 6/10 – Held it up pretty well but when he had his big chance he blew it. Can’t afford to mess it up next week.
- Guus Hiddink – 8/10 – Came for a 0-0 and got it. Nullified their threat perfectly and would have given him a 9 or 10 but took one off for his subbing of Lamps.
Man of the Match
It could only be Cech. The defence were rock solid but they let Barca through a couple of times and he was there to save us.
The conclusion
So as a Chelsea fan how do I sum it up? It was a job well done really. To the neutral it may have been a dire spectacle but for us it was gripping stuff! Actually it wasn’t really. I was nervous at kick-off but it soon dawned on me that there was absolutely no chance of us getting battered as Barca struggled to get past our 10 men behind the ball tactic. We may have got into their half on precious few occasions but tonight was about staying in the tie and we are. The second leg will be very different though. Ashley will be back to give us more balance but we have to go for a goal and parking the bus won’t work next week. I fear for us if they score first but as I mentioned earlier, this year feels more and more like our year. After another disastrous start to the season we are on the verge of reaching another Champions League final and should also wrap up the FA Cup final which would turn this season into a great one. We may be packed with OAPs according to Fergie but that experience and nous has served us pretty well thus far and who’s to say that we can’t win the biggest prize of them all?
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94 Comments · Add yours
Actually, I thought Lamps was terrible tonight. He didn't make one single pass that you'd label as creative in any way, and had already been booked. I counted at least three occasions where he just gave it away meekly. By that time it was obvious Hiddink was totally committed to playing for a 0-0 and had given up getting a goal on the break, so I didn't think it was a bad substitution at all. Given how erratic the referee was I can hardly blame Guus for wanting to ensure Lamps would be there for the second leg.
I assumed Franky was subbed because of a yellow? can anyone confirm? I thought barca played franky in the same way that we played messi- they simply closed in on him and gave him no where to go to open up his creativeness.
Not sure I would have subbed him, but still i don't think it was a horrendous decision.
2nd leg will be interesting, especially considering that have Real this weekend.No puyol and no marque for the 2nd leg- "Marquex tore the external meniscus in his left leg, according to an announcement made by the FC Barcelona Medical Services."
"should have" and not "should of". Thank you.
Kenyon seems to be listening to those who've branded Ancelotti as being a manager who's too old (only 49 though) and can't speak english by looking for the next Jose. Kenyon found Jose in the first place whereas Roman wanted Sven so Kenyon has looked for the next young, arrogant and cool coach who does speak English:
LINK
Reply to Gary:
Damn, i'm horrified i made that mistake. Makes me look like Musumba.
Though it was 0-0, this game confirmed the revival of Petr and my confidence in our defense. Terry was great, so was Alex. Bosingwa did his job (though I was worried earlier on when Messi got past him twice).
In my opinion, Frank substitution was not that bad - except for his earlier effort on goal, he was not much in the game - not even defensively. Petr was punting long balls to Drogba perhaps because our midfield forgot he was playing in the front? At the same time, we did Barca attacking more and more once Lampard got substituted - not sure if there is a correlation though.
Alves is a live-wire, and I think we were unlucky he did not get a card - that would have been nice. Not sure if Puyol card is good though - I would have loved to see him in defense at SB. Marquez is a hack and the player I hate the most in Europe. Karma time?
Overall, I don't think I would regret the missed chance much. Though a 1-1 would be much much better than 0-0, I would take it.
Return leg will definitely be much more open, no doubt. Barca knows what they have to do - not sure what Hidink has in mind for us though.
Cheers!
Forgot to mention - I think Ivanovic was poor today. He lacked pace, lost Henry too many times, gave away few corners, and was stranded in the midfield dangerously at least three times. He can do much better job, in my opinion.
A few thoughts.......
I guess the job is half done - although a 0-0 draw still means that we must beat Barca to go through, and any sort of draw is likely to result in them progressing (penalty form is never our strong point).
Defence were magnificent, except for a couple of silly free kicks given away around the box. Luckily the Barca boys left their shooting boots behind.
Alves is a prick...Glad we didn't buy him when it was touted.
Cech was in great form....Also survived another bang in the face, which will help with the return of confidence.
Although given a tricky task, I too thought Drogba was a little lazy at times, and should have been chasing more...Having said that most of the punts upfield were no-where near him.
Malouda is rapidly beginning to resemble a winger... Played well again and was our biggest chance to get behind their defence.
Barca were tricky on the ball, but way too intricate in an Arsenal-esque way. Too many passes, very little cutting edge. We have all seen them play better....Let's hope they don't in a week's time.
And Hiddink.... Magnificent plan, which when coupled with riding our luck, turned out ok..... Hope he comes up with something a little more inspired for the home leg though, or we will still be going out (in my opinion).
Should of... *shudders*
I love Lampard, but chaining him was definitely part of Barca's strategy which worked well so I don't think it was a bad decision to sub him.
If it's up to me then I'd rather see us lose 5-4 than to have this underdog-ish style of 0-0 success. ...I lied.
Second leg will drive me insane, I can't take the tension! Yet if we get through to the final and meet M Ugh again I'll have a nervous breakdown for real.
Look, no one likes the substitution of Frank. Frank doesn't like the substitution of Frank. But Guus is the first guy to hold Barca scoreless in 51 games. His tactics and his plan worked. I'd give the guy a break.
Bilic is interesting. I worry about another international manager, but we have the added benefit of Guus helping with the hiring and being rather objective. I'm sure he'll only suggest guys who know what they are doing.
For Cech- huge game. Perhaps with this and the penalty save, he's back in form, especially mentally. That will be huge for us. And why not punch it out? Barca have deft feet that can poke away dropped balls. But they can't seem to head things on in a dangerous way. If you are going to concede possession anyway, why not be safe in the box?
I'm liking our schedule for the week much better than Barca's. We have a tricky home tie with Fulham- but everyone seems to forget that Fulham have only 9 goals in 17 away matches. They are relatively toothless away from the Cottage this season. If things go well, we rest players, rotate, etc.
Meanwhile, Barca has a do-or-die with Real at the Bernabeu for all the marbles. They will be lacking both center backs, and they will assuredly be pushed to the limit.
So things are looking good. But nil-nil is a dangerous result, as we either need to score lots of goals, or not concede. But nothing in the middle.
My hope- an Anelka wonder goal, or a Stoch 70th minute cameo to out-Messi Barca and win it all.
Reply to haberdashers:
A great report Habs, but a yellow card for that error. I'm such a bloody pedant but I do hate this trend towards 'should of' instead of 'should have'. Call it taking one for the team ;-)
"Alves then swung over a beautiful cross for Bojan to surely head in from three yards out but he’d obviously been watching too many videos of Kalou and headed it over."
Harsh...but fair and very funny!
I was wondering how the media would portray our performance last night. Were we everything that's bad about football, or were we just organised and disciplined?
But browsing through a few fan sites last night and this morning, (even 606 but I should have known better) but didn't find anything insightful.
But I did find these two contrasting opinions from the team I love to hate along with it's fans. (yeah I know, I should get help)
The first one...
"Fuck me. I should be booking me trip to Rome now. This is absolute cack. Chelsea are a fucking disgrace. Barca are there for the taking but not a pair of bollacks between them.
Chelsea sitting back, there for the taking Braca about as good as Arsenal in the days when you had to threaten to shoot them before they’d actually shoot themselves.
It’s not rocket science ffs Braca… stop trying to walk in or score a goal from the half way line. Get within a credible range and have a fucking go"
and this....
"Now now lads. Chelsea got what they came for. And lest we forget, we had our chance and they beat us fair and square in our own back yard no less so I dont think they’re that bad! They went there with a plan and executed it perfectly. How many times have we done that in the past and enthusiastically patted ourselves on the back? No point crying over spilled milk eh? Next year lads, next year, we’ll get our chance again."
we looked like a liverpool last night. it did the job, and all is still open for next week.
on the bilic issue - he is a great coach for the national team - but has virtualy no expirience in club management. he has coached only 16 club games, so i don't think he would be a good solution for the present management that demands results "right here, right now". on the other hand - maybe they are switching to "long term project"...
For those who speak a bit of French
LINK
Cech did good but he can't seem to hold onto the ball, he always punches it away instead, it could cost us against more predatory players.
Our defense was fantastic yesterday. But we were out-muscled in the midfield. our attacking options in midfield were neutralised. We simply couldn't mount an attack. Essien gave up the attacking ghost and went to beef up the midfield. Malouda, and Drogba were on their own in attack. Although Essien is naturally a winger, i think he's become accustomed to defending, so we best keep in holding midfield for no, and have Anelka at the wing.
I think Mikel and Essien should play in front of the defenders, with Anelka/kalou/Belleti, Lamps, and Malouda ahead of them, and Drogba in attack
David Pleat is the epitome of Chelseablogs 'Utter Cuntery'.
I needed to highlight that point. ITV are beyond a joke.
Anyways, decent result. Not conceding was always going to be the priority, an away goal would have really topped things off.
I know we had a plan to stifle them, but I can't help thinking it's going to take a herculean effort to score next week - we just didn't look like troubling Valdes.
Few things of note after last night's match.
I still despise Thierry f*ing Henri.
Since I do not watch La Liga is Messi faster than Ronaldo or is Bosingwa slower than Cole.
Onto the team front, Cech's initial longs balls, if you can call goalkeeper to golakeeper passes as such, were laughable, but glad to see him have a great game.
Drogs should have done better with the one oppurtunity we had as most of us knew it was the only one we would get.
I think Alex deserves praise for last night, especially for foiling Eto'o's attempt at goal, despite losing him initially. I think it was Barca's most credible attempt at goal.
Lastly while it was a boring defense match, thanks to Barca we now know what weaknesses exist with regards to the man to man marking. And they have yet to see us attack in force. On that note I hope we do cause none of us would like to see penalties.
Oh yeah who was the cunt of a commentator who kept going they deserve to score, providing us with such gems as talent/beauty vs science, and screamed orgasmically everytime a Barca ball went anywhere within ten feet of our goal.
@haberdashers,
I dont know which match you were watching.A 7 for Lamps while Mikel and Malouda gets a 6?That just shows your bais for certain chelsea players.As much as i love Lamp[i feel he is the most industrious and best midfielder in the EPL this season]i got to admit he was the worst chelsea player on the pitch yesterday.I was looking for him most times in tne game.Ballack too did bad yesterday,and i didnt see anything classy about him while he was on the pitch.Like Ballack/Lamps,Essien was lame in the first half but stepped up his game in the second half while the other two never did.My prayer is that in the second leg Lamps,Drogba,and Essien should rise to the occasion.
Morning all
Strikes me that there are a fair few pundits, commentators, hacks and other assorted know it alls out there with egg on their faces this morning. Having spent months telling the world how this Barca team is one of the greatest, how Messi is blah de blah - well, they weren't actually THAT great, were they?
All the bitching and moaning is hilarious; nasty Chelsea, doing all that defending and not letting us play - boo fucking hoo. Deal with it; we provided you with the thriller in the last round, this was about getting the job done. For what it's worth, it just showed me something rather obvious; Guus is a very smart cookie with many more miles under his belt that Guardiola, and it showed. Whilst many of us would like to see a young gun in charge next season, you just can't knock a bit of age and guile at this stage of the CL.
Lovely - bring 'em on next week...
After some early anxious moments when it looked like both Ivanovic and Bosingwa were going to have torrid evenings being beaten for pace I thought we settled down to the kind of solid defending performance we seemed to have forgotten how to deliver.
Would have been nice to see us able to hang on to the ball a bit more rather than keep giving it straight back to Barca to have another go - but hey, why make things easy for yourselves?
At least there is no temptation to defend a lead now in 2nd leg - we need a win in 90 minutes. [No extra-time/ penalties please].
Am I being hypercritical in suggesting that The Bison looks a bit off his game recently - perhaps his long lay-off catching up with him after his spectacular return?
And just to finish things off I got through the tedious virtual queuing thingy on the official website to buy my FA Cup final ticket this morning in less than 15 minutes -about a third of the wait I had in 2007.
Reply to blueboydave:
Good news about the Cup Final ticket - friend of mine also got through quite easily so at least the process is running reasonably smoothly on first impressions.
I'm in the hat for tomorrow - missed the cut-off today by one measly loyalty point!
Anyone have an idea of how the defense will look with A. Cole eligible for the second leg? Bosingwa looked excellent, Bane looked good, and Alex really impressed today.
Great Result.. Whether it was negative or not... Chelsea sticked to their objectives and prevailed in the end. Football is a game with different play styles and strategies but all within the rules of the game. Pep should not do a cry baby here. I would have appretiated him, had he accepted the fact that chelsea were strong last night. Atlast I thought referee was way too partial to Barca. Alves should have been sent off for his acts.Good luck to them on the away game.
So, BBD's got cup fianl tickets.
JD is in the hat for tomorrow.
That's the clubs full allocation gone then. Thanks FA....
For Chelsea it was an excellent result. But my belief is that the tie is very much evenly poised now. I don't believe that Chelsea will play an open game, they will probably do the same. ManU did the same last year. If we can prevent some thing like scholes did, we are seriously in the match.
Apart from that early attempt Lampard was nowhere in the game. so didn't surprise him being taken off.
Same old Chelsea - always spoiling parties. Fantastic report Habs and great comments all round that save me having to make them. I propose a new motto for our club crest:
nos adeo trucido vestri myths
(we come to slay your myths)
Just read this on another blog and had to verify it to see if it was true...:
2003 Juventus eliminated Real Madrid, AC Milan eliminated Juventus, AC Milan Champion
2004 Monaco eliminated Real Madrid, Porto eliminated Monaco, Porto Champion
2005 Juventus eliminated Real Madrid, Liverpool eliminated Juventus, Liverpool Champion
2006 Arsenal eliminated Real Madrid, Barca eliminated Arsenal, Barca Champion
2007 Bayern eliminated Real Madrid, AC Milan eliminated Bayern, AC Milan Champion
2008 AS Roma eliminated Real Madrid, Manchester United eliminated AS Roma.....
So since 2000, the team that beats the team that beat Real Madrid wins the CL....and that would be Chelsea this year!
Sorry, I meant: "So since 2003....."
lol@ Dezmond.
about yesterday game, man how can u give a 7 to lampsy? he stunk up Camp nou man. thats the worst I ever seen from him. essien was awful to wit his passes. ballack gotta show up to big games. I think Cech was superb. but we do expect that on a weekly basis from cech.
drogba should have scored. I agree wit you sometimes he act clowny when he gets a chance. but I wouldnt have picked villa or torres ahead of him. he will come through for us in the second leg. it still gonna be a nervy game next week but atleast we didnt let them score.
not many would have subbed lampsy but guus did and he did the right thing.
Good report. Particularly agreed with assessment of Franks contribution.
We controlled the game (in a defensive sort of way) and never looked like getting overrun until Franks departure freed up their markers and we suddenly looked like a team hanging on with no way forward.
Full marks to Didier, not just his play, but for his play-acting. When he started making the most of the tackles it made the ref look at what Barca were doing and he (the ref) started to get a better grip on things. If Did hadn't done it I believe we'd have finished at least one man down.
Who said two wrongs...
Malouda was brilliant defensively and showed that he has the potential to be a top team player, just a pity that he couldn't attack too. As our main outlet he could've turned the match for us, but that task seemed beyond him.
Maybe it was the defend at all costs mentality that had been drilled home at little too well.
Never liked the lone striker ploy but as Didier is the worlds best I have had to concede that it can work for us, particularly on small pitches where the midfield support quickly.
Last night it just left us virtually playing with only 10 men most of the game (and they were usually in or around our box).
It's hard to be critical with a clean sheet and the return still to come, but I feel we missed an opportunity by leaving Nic on the bench til the 94th minute. Don't know why he's so under appreciated and surely his effort would be guaranteed in a match of that importance.
Let's hope this one isn't decided on away goals.
If we were scared to attack when we get two for one (kind of) what's it gonna be like when they have the 2:1 offer?
The commentary was ludicrous, is it really that hard to report on a football match?
Quickly took my eldest to bed at the end and by the time I'd got back they had moved on to tonights match, which they're not even showing.
How bizarre, have they done some deal with Sky to advertise their programmes?
Kuhulai, this is a grown up blog that supports Chelsea. The "we're totally shit because we didn't win" attitude is for Mancs and Scousers. Or go to the Chatroom on the main Chelsea site where all the other children play.
Saw this on another site from, if not a scouser, then someone with a Liverpool home:
"Barca did not deserve to win the game, they created less chances than Chelsea. Also their antics were disgraceful. I've never seen so much diving and so much dissent shown to the referee every time there was a foul, they were clearly concentrating their efforts on him and not on their football.
Paul Sullivan, Liverpool, UK"
Barcelona ought to understand that football has two dimensions attacking and defending and Chelsea played really well with regards to their strength, which is defending.We were tactically well organised and executed it to perfection to deny the attacking trio who boast of scoring a century of goals this season,The problem with Barca is they always want the refree to give red and yellow cards to Chelsea players to cause an imbalance in our team,this shittish cheap manouver for the so called "favourites" has really brain washed alot of neutral fans,and led to bad footballing decisions by match officials, bad officiating has really helped Barca in the past going by my previous archives, and Barca always resort to negative tactics underneath the mask of playing good/beautiful football,
Barca wanted a penalty for a Henrys diving on a mere nudge ,Alves/Iniesta were busy crying as if they were in a spanish soap and went down far too easily as if hit by a 20 tonne lorry and demanded officiating decision with potential to impact the game in Barcelona's favour, Barcelona call themselves a team which plays "beautiful football" and still they don't mind refreeing decions at either end of the spectrum to decide the match in their favour?
The notion of boring football is nothing but mere hogwash in modern day football you have to be good defensively and in attack and can strike a balance between the two ,I hope we will rise above it this time round and not fall in that boring shit trap,Man-u played defensive against porto no one complained Rooney was playing like a right back yet the masses were mum,liverpool has done that from I dont know when, why are the tabloids always against chelsea? We played a 4-4 goal thriller with liverpool and the gutter press seems to have selective memory when it comes to chelsea, this is football and a ball is suppose to be round meaning it can go either way there is no hero or villain here ,and we are not to be blamed for our adaptability.
@ Haberdashers
Thanks for your reference.
Just confirming that you indeed are an idiot.
7 for Lampard?
Boring review as always by the way...
Just figured out if am looking for a match review...check who is writing and should your name appear...just read the posting from other web-sites...
Utter bollocks...
I enjoyed the review but i must admit, and i don't want to encourage him, but i did laugh at Jose Musamba's comment (#36).
Reply to PRODICKY:
The 4-4 thriller proved that Liverpool were plucky. Yesterday's match proved that we still are the enemy of football.
Reply to Jose Musumba:
Thanks for that. I was just waiting for you to crawl out from whatever cave you were hiding in and guess what, you made it all the way here! So well done for that. But i'm wondering if you ever watch any Chelsea games anymore as all your comments seem to be random and pathetic attacks on some trivial issue whilst avoiding actually commenting on the game? So it's beena pleasure as always you twat.
Reply to haberdashers:
He's just disappointed you didn't give Frank 8/10 Habs :-)
Great report ...I agree on everything except the thing about Lampard ... he was not really good yesterday ... I think he got subbed so that we can keep 0:0 (but it doesn't seem something Guus would do) or because he was booked...
Anyway...we can't relax now ...we have another 90 minutes or more to battle!
Terrific stuff from the back five, Mikel did an excellent disciplined job, Lampard was poor and sacrificed for all the right reasons - one thing that surprised/impressed me about Barca was how quickly they surrounded us when we had the ball, and Lamps was constantly getting squeezed.
Can easily see next week ending level, so we might end up rueing the lack of adventure, but despite that it was an excellent job. I have never had more confidence in a Chelsea manager than I do Guus right now.
Not read the press - are we getting hammered for doing the same as United did against a weaker Barca side last season?
Also, I seem to recall that when Barca only need a draw to progress in 2006, they played an astoundingly negative game against us at the Nou Camp. That's the way it flies.
For Barça's side of the game - LINK
Just read the report from the above link, which I thought was quite reasonable and fair. Then I read some of the very bitter Barca fans comments, oh dear!
Oh and kudos to greenlight for his comments on there as well, very polite and sensible.
Every 2nd Barca fans complains about us not playing football "as it is intended to be". That makes me laugh, because anyone with at least an ounce of knowledge of football history will surely know that football, in its first days, was nothing more than a twisted version of rugby. The players didn't even pass the ball, ffs!!! I think the first instance of a passing game was during that England - Scotland match, when the Scots started passing the ball and dazzled the English. So yeah, Barca, who the fuck are you to know and say how football is intended to be played? Shut the fuck up! I hope you drown with your "pretty-football-no-result" together with Arsenal. What's so fucking pretty about passing the ball aimlessly between 3-4 world-class players anyway?
I hope the boys will show them so-called purists how good Chelsea are at attacking! We'll need the best from Lamps and Drogs, well, as always at this level. Cheers to all the fans! Always stick by your team! I'm sick of all this shit we have to take from the media and other fans, and still we somehow manage to stay calm and seemingly intelligent. We know we are, but this game is dirty, as is the game of football itself, so if throw rocks at us, we don't just dodge them, we throw back! We're Chelsea, ffs! Maybe we all the bloated history, but charachter is something we've always had!!! Don't let no fuckers call us names and make us look bad, the fags they are!! Thanks =)
Yikes.
Reply to Clive:
Cheers Clive.....Just call me 'The Voice of Reason'!
I understand the Barca disappointment, and to be fair we didn't try to win the game, but in all honestly they need to take some of the blame for not scoring. If their chance in the 2nd minute which Eto'o missed had gone in, our game plan would have been totally different as we would have had to come forward and get a goal.
They didn't, so we didn't need to!
As for the Barca players shooting their mouths off.... I think we will see a few very determined Chelsea boys, looking to show that they are the equals of Barca, in a footballing sense, next Wednesday night.
Kudos to Chelsea for defending well for 90 minutes, you came to do a job, and you got it done.
The thing I fear for you n the second leg is you must attcak. It took eveything you had to keep Barca scoreless, and to do it again, even with ten men behind the ball, I think would be impossible.
So attack you must, which menas you let up on defence. And I think Barca's strike force is far superior to yours. In an attacking game, you will lose, Stamford Bridge or no.
So it is fairly evenly poised by I still think Barca have the slight advantage. You needed an away goal, and you didn't get one.
Now any goal to Barca and a draw is good enoguh. And you won't keep them scoreless again. Good luck outscoring Messi, Eto'o and Henry without ten men behind the ball....
Reply to Salec:
The biggest difference is that we've got 1st choice players coming into defense while you have them going out. No offense, but I'd be more worried about Pique and Caceres/Abidal stopping Drogba than Ashley Cole halting Messi.
Maybe I'm just biased though! Should be a cracking 2nd leg, I'm really looking forward to it.
Reply to Bango:
I'm pretty sure we won't hold you goaless for the leg. I just don't think we'll have too.
I too am looking forward to the game and it shoudl be another greta installment in the champions league rivalry of recent years.
Salec, interesting post with some reasonable thoughts.
"so attack you must"- you're not, by any chance, are you, a 19th century poet?
But, for all you have said about chelsea and our need to attack, i have to ask....Will be 4-2 at the bridge be playing on your mind?
Dylbo,
I prefer not to think abotu that game to be honest. But times they have changed for both Chelsea and Barcelona since that day.
No longer do we rely on Ronnie to get us out of every bad situation. And you no longer have Duff, or Kezman or Gudjohnsen although you do have Drogba.
We play a more disciplined and better style now.
In conclusion, yes it will beon my mind, and I hope the result will help me forget...
Hey mate,
I'm dead keen to come along but i don't think i will be able to make it this weekend. I have some mates over from (R)adelaide and they're not exactly into the game.
Will def pop into the place before the season finishes, cheers for the reminder.
Are there any other people that read this blog that attend the dickens?
Good points Salec, and to be honest I think a lot of us Chelsea fans are, secretly or not, thinking exactly the same way. As someone said above, another 0-0 is no good for us -- if it comes to penalties we are out -- so we're going to have to play a few midfielders further up the pitch, and give Frank someone to pass to. I'm certain Barca are going to score at least one. The question is, can we get at that central defence often enough and quickly enough to score more?
It's quite funny being on the receiving end of the rants about "anti-football". Given that we spend about half our home games watching teams like Blackburn and Hull come to Stamford Bridge and do exactly what we did to Barca (albeit much less intelligently), I think we should all enjoy being the bus-parkers for once.
All this whinging from Barca fans and now their players if this is to be believed: LINK
It's unseemly from grown men. Prelapsarian innocence expressed in this way displays a failure of maturity. It's how children think and act. For groups of people, it represents a kind of thinking that's locked into idealistic utopianism. Everything is black and white, right and wrong, and there is an assumption that only the group know the right way. Everyone else is wrong and bad. Especially big bad men who come and spoil the party. In that sense Chelsea represent experience. The exposure to the truth that the world is tough out there and growing up and reaching maturity means facing disappointment manfully. It's the service we provide to the world of football. We apply ourselves to necessary jobs with professional discipline. If we need to defend, we do that. In the toughest circumstances, and deliver results. When we need to attack, we will. Ask Liverpool. It'll be delivered with skill and agility, but come like a hammer. A bunch of roses with a thorn inside. We have all the cliches: continental flair, African power, British spirit etc. But its all wrapped up in a package. Essentially though, the whole is founded on Anglo-Saxon ideals. Our culture has experience. We do what's needed and take pride in performance. It's we provide most of the European troops for the NATO Alliance. It's why we do the fighting that allows everyone else to live in freedom to enjoy their innocence. As in life, as in football. So, fuck off!
Salec et al.
I would like to make a point about the 0-0 and the subsequent game at stamford bridge.
Guus took us to the nou camp with a game plan to nullify the barcelona attack and we did it. alright, it would have been great if we nicked a goal but from the tactics, the main objective was to keep barcelona scoreless..
we achieved that.
my point, however, is that guus is a master tactician- i dont think he would have sent us to the nou camp if he didnt have a plan to score goals in the 2nd leg.
i have complete faith that guus has tactics in mind for the entire tie and after 90 minutes i would say, in boxing terms, that chelsea is ahead on points..
bring on the second leg, let's see what barcelona have...
Sorry i meant to say i don't think he would have sent us to the nou camp to defend for a 0-0 if he didnt have tactics to score goals in the return leg.
KTBFFH
If the Barca players spouting off about the game hasn't been lost in translation, and is true.
Then thank you very much lads, you've just provided the team talk for our boys next Wednesday.
Good points from Dylbo and Dannybrod. I'd forgotten what a whinging bunch of prima donnas Barca can be - though credit the kid Krcic who said 'the ref can make mistakes but so did i when I had my chance against Cech. It was our fault that we didn't score, and nobody else's' (or words to that effect). Sounds like the 18-year-old has his head screwed on better than the manager ('the ref shouldn't be allowed to book us because we are attacking'). What is it they say? 'They don't like it up 'em'.
All that said, I don't think Chelsea had any intention to play quite so deep as they did on Tuesday, but they were forced to by Barca who were brilliant at closing down our players when we tried to break, and our use of the ball was also very poor.
Like Limetree, I think Barca have the advantage because they are, quite simply, the better attacking side, but if they approach us with the arrogance and contempt displayed by some of their post-match comments, they'll get a nasty surprise. Did they learn nothing from 2005?
Also, like Dylbo, I have complete and utter faith in Guus - Jose was wonderful but his inexperience and immaturity sometimes cost us big matches. I've never trusted a manager more than I do Hiddink.
Agree with the points on Hiddink, though all that does is make the end of the season seem a darker place.
Definitely dont want to lose him, but if we do, Riijkaard is more in the Hiddink mould (not just because he's Dutch) than Ancelotti, who I simply dont want.
For instance, I could see Ancelotti trying to 'do something' with Sheva in our team next season. To him, that would be play him, maybe as a focal point. To me, it should be 'condemn to the knackers yard'. I can't see Riijkaard putting up with him - he'd be gone. As would Deco.
Though I'm not thinking that way just yet. Guus has made this season a success (to me at least) already. What threatened to become a shit-stain of a season under TSSO has been turned around. We look solid, we've played sexy football at times, we've been disciplined when needed. We've got a hell of a chance of winning my personal favourite - the FA cup and have a great shout for the Champions League as well.
It just makes you wonder what might have been had Guus done it from the start. Actually, dont think about it, it'll make you cry......
2 number 61's ???
Like an order from the local Chinese.
I'll get my coat....
Reply to PeteW:
Followed the link over to the barca blog last night and I must congratulate you on putting such reasoned arguments across. They actually got it by the end too which I didn't think was possible.
All this talk from the team about Tuesday is partly sour grapes but also intended to keep us distracted, but one thing we know about Guus is that everyone will be firmly focused on the return. If they're still hung over from Tuesday, then that just gives us a lift.
Much of this whinging is also designed to put pressure on the ref but as we never get much home advantage refereeing that's just wasted effort.
The only benefit that didn't accrue to them on Tuesday was a possible penalty which he was blind side of. Even then Henry was going down anyway and wasn't pulled so much as enticed into falling.
There is definitely a cultural difference in Europe where some sides complain about any physical contact against them, yet have no qualms whatsoever in cheating to get players sent off. One barca fan quoted the stats as 1:3 for fouls given in their favour yet saw this as showing the ref was on our side, go figure that one.
One of the reasons that we couldn't get out of our half was that most times we won the ball the ref blew for them and kept us stuck where we were.
The only free kick we got in a good position almost resulted in a goal.
The apparent fouling was looking very bad for us at one stage and I still say that if Didier hadn't started to give them some of their own medicine they would've got at least one of us sent off. As it was, he seemed to make the ref look closer at what was going on and things began to settle down a little.
That's another thing about Chelsea. Not being familiar with positive refereeing bias there's never a great deal of squealing by the crowd or the players during a match, unlike most of the teams who idolize themselves.
Habs…
Lengthy review as usual, and it is still obvious that you’v refused to master your bias despite previous, well-intentioned comments by bloggers in that direction. Wasn’t expecting anything less though. Lampard had a terrible match…he was struggling to win, hold or effectively pass the ball. I acknowledge the fact that he has improved his game tremendously in recent times but on Tuesday, he was just a cog in the midfield... Mikel on the other hand had a splendid game (work rate and control of the ball) compared to the other midfielders and deserves much more than you rated him...You would do well to assess/rate players objectively, in line with the match under reference and not based on some preconceptions carried from previous matches…
Hiddinks has earned my respect in no small way…its been quite a lonnnnnnnnnng time I saw the team so organized and disciplined in defending. Barca is a scoring machine and it is no mean feat to come out of the camp nou without conceding… I also have great faith that he would fashion a way to take Barca out in the 2nd leg of this tie…Such a shame he doesn’t want to continue beyond the summer…Cant wait to meet Manure again (I think they will score in the emirates and I don’t see the gunners hitting 3 against them)
Always Blue!
Thanks fansincethesixties, I was wondering if I was wasting my times but bizarely all they really wanted to be told was that yes, we do think they are a very good team.
By the way Habs, I think you might have to change your mind on Alex. He was very poor under Scolari but has been immense since Hiddink arrived. At the moment, I'd flog Carvalho and keen JT, Alex, Ivan and Mancienne.
The team look so fit and well organised at the moment - we'd be five points clear at least if Hiddink had started in August.
Reply to PeteW:
What's with all that needing to be loved crap? My missus knocked that out of me years ago!
My biggest concern with the new coach is that some poor schmuck has now got to follow Guus.
If it wasn't bad enough getting the 'Jose did this in two seasons' stuff he'll also get some 'Guus did that in six months' too!
Who'd be a Chelsea Manager?
I know, anybody who wants a few £mill for telling 11 guys how to kick a football...LINK
That link wasn't meant to do that!
''Also, like Dylbo, I have complete and utter faith in Guus - Jose was wonderful but his inexperience and immaturity sometimes cost us big matches. I've never trusted a manager more than I do Hiddink.''
I agree with PeteW ...completelly...
Anyway ...we didn't win ...if we equalise by any score except 0:0 they are going through so ...and if we play 0:0 -penalties...which means we are screwed but its still great to draw with Barca on their field ...
We have a chance... I MEAN ...we are not some club from Timbuktu we are Chelsea :)
*Off Topic*
If any one is interested in a True Blue Premium Membership Package, we've got one to give-away:
LINK
Cheers,
Rob
I was happily pottering along Monday evening wondering where I would get to watch the game when I got the call I dreaded " Go to Portsmouth tomorrow morning and pick up 23 tonnes of bananas for Paris to be delivered tomorrow night!!!" ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Luckily I got off the train at 1600 and listened to the first half on R5 and Talksport (all depending on the signal where I was). I arrived at the market at Rungis in Paris during half time and abandoned my truck outside one of the cafe/bars and caught the second half on French TV. PHEW.
Only person upset was the guy I was delivering to as he was sat in his office waiting for me LOLOL. He got them after the game so don't know what his problem was!!
while he was tipping me, I actually heard Mark Lawrenson and Alan Green praising us SHOCK, HORROR!!! As Mr Green said, Henry and Eto were so good they were subbed.
As someone who remembers the eighties well, this performance was a carbon copy of how Liverpool won their European Cups. 0-0 away and win the tie at home. Lets hope we learnt the lesson well.
It's not just the Barca fans. I live in Ohio so I don't spend a lot of time reading the British press reactions to Chelsea games (I watch the games and read this blog instead), but I just listened to the first ten minutes of The Guardian weekly football podcast. There were some incredible things being said by two of the commentators to the effect that it is immoral or unethical (seriously, those words were used) to play a game defensively in the hope of sneaking a victory away from a "better" team.
For those of you who are regularly exposed to British sports commentary, how much of this is just anti-Chelsea bias, and how much the view that football has to be played "beautifully" to be real football? It seems astonishing to me that the tactical side of football (identifying how best to beat a particular opponent and then adapting to that need) and the defensive side of the game, should be derided. [For the record, I thought our defense was beautiful.]
This is cool: LINK
I thought it when I saw Capello in the crowd. We're showing England how to plot a way to another World Cup.
Off topic, but I heard the best Pleat-ism last night.
I sat down to watch the UEFA Cup semi-final between Werder Bremen and Hamburg. For anyone who didn't see it (probably those of you with a life) Hamburg won 1-0 and took the lead through a Piotr Trochowski header.
Pleat highlighted the fact Trochowski is only 5ft 6in but utterd the priceless phrase "He's good with both feet, so can header".
Thanks David.
Just shows how much journalists actually know. Last autumn nothing was more certain, according to every major football writer I read, that Frank Arnesen was going to be sacked at xmas because he was considered a failure at the club. Remember that? Well, he's just been appointed to the board, secured his position and taken on a more influential role it seems. If the Danes and Dutch become more entrenched in the running of the club, with a more joined up decision making process and chain of command, then has to be better, surely. Plus, some of the kids should start coming through now, with Mancienne a regular in the squad, along with DiSanto. Good sightings of Stoch in the early FA Cup rounds too.
Chris - the Guardian is virulently anti-Chelsea, with some of their journalists (Glenndenning, Smyth, Williams) openly stating how much they enjoy seeing us lose.
I think the podcost was Glendenning, who isn't really a proper journalist (who doesn't go to games or interview players and managers) and Sid Lowe, their Spanish specialist who is a good journalist but has spent the last week writing about how AMAZING Barcelona are so has been left with egg all over his face.
ITV was actually quite good about our performance, but make no secret of their preference for Liverpool and Man United, because that is what they imagine their audience wants to hear.
Reply to dannybrod:
This is weird.
That link says that Chelsea had praise lavished upon us for a brilliant defensive display - don't know where they got that from, must be reading this blog - because not many others were pleased with our performance.
@73 Got home late and watched the highlights, two very watchable matches.
They also showed the ArseMan game and after reading the reports I was expecting a very one-sided affair, but Almunia only had a few decent saves to make and think his bar was rattled once.
I'm sure the home team had plenty of possession, but that hardly constitutes the 'Should've won 4-0' stuff everyone was saying.
By that reckoning most games 'should' end up 7-5 at least.
Also as it finished the twat commentator asked Andy Townsend who they wanted to see in the final, Chelsea or Barca and Andy quickly replied Chelsea of course, then the guy said something even more snide like "Oh really?" or "You sure?".
Didn't catch it too well because I was in a state of disbelief.
How can a TV employee (impartial?) state on air that he'd prefer to see a foreign team win through and still keep his job?
After all, who's paying his excessive wages if not the UK advertisers/viewers?
Maybe it's because he knows that we've got the beating of ArseMan, but I still don't see how that can be tolerated.
Pete.
Just had a thought about why those Barca blogers were so desperate for you to show some affection for their team.
They must've felt like they'd received a right royal shafting on Tuesday night, and just wanted you to say that you still respected them as players afterwards.
ha ha!
I still maintain since i started blogging on this blog since 2004 when it started that the media not just in the Uk but the European establishment are against any up and coming club who are challenging the status quo of the top clubs in europe and again it has shown this week. Man-city will be next for it if they stsrt to do something over the next few years. As for Barca directly, 2 European cups in what, over 100 years? for a league where only two clubs have dominated because of resources that is pathetic. As for the pretty football, all the arguments by Barc lovers are no different from those who could only find the pretty/ugly football stick to beat Jose with all the while praising arsenal who have won what recently? Two clubs i dislike most and the luvvie media that follow them are liverpool and barca as anyone those who read my blogs will know. Barc dived, surrounded the ref, waived imaganry cards around and who played dirty? It makes you sick really...I hope we smack them out on Wednesday although to do a 4 goal fest would probably have taken a Jose style wind-up of the opposition and also our boys to go at them..dont think hiddink is like that though so we will see..hope we get man-u in the final as i have a very good feeling our boys will be up for it most, i really do...
one last thing, i notice a few bloggers on here dissing Jose? are you sure?, we have'nt won anything yet....and by the way, we may have played defensively at Barca to get a result but does my memory not serve me right in remembering under Jose we always scored when at the Nou camp...including putting enough pressure to force a penalty? tsk tsk...what short memories some have...and while i think Hiddink is the best man for us at the moment barring Jose of course, he (hiddink) won the European cup and three Dutch league titles by the time he was 44. Not one another title since regardless of world cup runs. Jose, by the time he was 44 last year had won, UEFA, CL, 2 portuges titles with a record points tarif, two prem titles, first woith a recored points tarif and all manner of other records broken for the prem, and now the Italian title, NOT LOST A HOME GAME IN 7 years, all manner of other trophies including FAC cup, Portugues cup etc etc and voted the folowing
UEFA Manager of the Year (2): 2002/03, 2003/04
World Soccer Magazine Coach of the Year (2): 2003/04, 2004/05
BBC Sports Personality of Year Coach Award: 2004/05
FA Premier League Manager of the Year (2): 2004/05, 2005/06
IFFHS World Manager of the Year (2): 2004, 2005
Manager of the Month, FA Premier League (3): November 2004, January 2005, March 2007
So please, yes Hiddink is doing a great job and lets beat man-u and win the effing CL for once, but please dont come on this blog and disrespect not only the best manager this club has ever seen but probably still the best manager in the world today...
Reply to Dio:
Not sure which blog you were on, but I don't think it was here: this is firmly pro Jose, as any Chelsea site will be.
I'm probably one of his biggest critics in these parts, and I only tinker around the edges.
My feeling is that he's probably a better manager now because he may have matured a bit. We should remember that his rise was pretty meteoric for one relatively young, as you've already pointed out, and his ego may have got in the way on occasions.
We've yet to win anything it's true, but Guus has shown that Jose isn't the only able to steer us in the right direction.
I just got an email advertising the new 09/10 home jersey. Is it just me, or does the addition of fake shoulder pads look very strange and not necessarily send the right message? I can see my other team (the Oakland Raiders) wearing this kit, but real football? I don't know.
Pity. I was looking for an excuse to stimulate the economy. What are the chances of getting FA Cup tickets instead, since I will actually be on the right side of the Atlantic that weekend?
Reply to Chris:
Get rid of the sports bra on all three of the new kits and they'd be great. I don't think we should wear the new kit in Rome; it might be a jinx like last year, and the current season isn't over yet!
80. Dio
I am not dissing Jose ...I just think he is not God and he is not perfect manager like some people think ...He did have flaws , like PeteW said , but he was a good manager and I did respect him for all the things he did for us...
I think he should have stayed, but now that he is gone, we can't just mourn him all the time.
We have to move on (the supporters, players, whole club) , or , regardless of WHAT MANAGER we bring in , we are screwed.
I already had this discussion with you (you probably forgot) , but I am really not dissing Jose...If he wants to quit Inter we should see if he can sign for us again, but if he doesn't ...we have to move on.
@ sarah, no worries, i now all of us fans whether one liked him or not cannot and will not really argue about achievements, and i know you feel the same too and you are right about moving on, just all i am saying in reality is we should always remember by whose hands a winners mentality we have achieved as kenyon himself said thats all
It just seems sometimes even CFC hierarchy dont seem to show some appreciation, its always been the fans. we know if he had been at liverpool and had achievd the same, they would have put a statue of him outside the ground by now but the board never allude to him except about moving on and sometimes that just seems a bit distatefull to be honest. anyway, heres to bating Barca!!!
Reply to PeteW:
At the same time, Peter, it was Sid Lowe who said on Talksport Monday afternoon that Chelsea were the one team that Barca didn't want to meet out of the three English sides!!
I'm not sure the Grauniad is endemically anti-Chelsea. Like most football fans and commentators they're anti-Abramovich, and that's not really surprising: who's ever going to come out in favour of the ultra-rich throwing wads of cash around in order to try and buy success? They're just as hard on the Glazers and on Hicks. Richard Williams clearly hated José, but so did a lot of people, and at least he kept it confined to his opinion pieces.
A few of us here were wondering how the press would spin Frank's call to the moronic radio talkshow host. Well, just a couple of days ago one of the Grauniad opinion columnists -- I thnk Lawrence Donegan -- gave his take on it. I can't find it anywhere on the Grauniad website unfortunately, but it was an enthusiastic endorsement of what Frank did.
Glendenning's job is to be a miserabilist bastard about everyone, and he does it well. Sid Lowe's a clever bloke who also writes exceptionally well, and I think his analysis is fair. We *did* park the bus, and it *is* annoying when teams to that, as Chelsea fans of all people should know. But as Sid and others acknowledge, we did it unusually well, and we achieved the one thing that's absolutely required when you are away for the first leg of a two-legged tie: we gave ourselves a chance in the home leg.
Parking the bus was the right thing to do, and anyone with a brain recognises it. They don't have to like it, and we shouldn't complain if they say they don't like it. Doesn't alter the fact that everyone knows it was right.
Personally i quite like the look of our new kit. It looks kind of 'powerful' if that's the right word as we strut around with our extra padding. See Petr has gone for the total opposite kit for next season. His bright orange told strikers: "make sure you see me and therefore shoot at me" whereas next season's green is saying "i'll blend in nicely with the grass so you won't even see me sneak up on you"
One thing which always puzzles me about Chelsea's kit launchs is their players choices. Whether it's Gallas, Robben or SWP we always seem to front our campaign with a player who leaves the club that summer. So out of this year's crop (Kalou, Ballack, Bosingwa, JT, Lamps, Cech, Mikel) who'll be leaving?
And finally with Robben on themarket this summer, why not bring him back home. For £15-18m i think he'd be a great buy and he's even improved his fitness, well sort of.
I think Ballack is going to leave- his contract is expiring and he wants to go back to Bayern Munich ...thats how I heard.
He had fantastic last season, not so fantastic this season ...
Anelka's best game in a Chelsea shirt, at least of all those I've seen. He, Drogs and Malouda linked well today. I'm not sure I can remember when we last scored three "proper" goals: no set-pieces, no flukes or long shots, three goals made by great running, swift passing and excellent touches. Drog's sideways run for the third was wonderfully simple and deadly.
A review of todays game will be done later tonight.
Reply to limetreebower:
At least one of those 3 is my Man of The Match........
Good grief, Real Madrid! That's a disaster.
Guus, park a bigger bus. I don't care if it's cowardly or shit.
I hope in a final game
of Champions League for
your team, with the victory
Your team will enter in the history
of Football.
I ask you and to your readers
to read this article about a team
with a great history
here
LINK#tab_content
a news about a great team as Torino
that 60 years ago lose all player in
Superga.
Please read this news, give your vote
for show your read of the article and
write a comment about this Great Team.
Thanks a lot of Marco.