Champions League: Chelsea 4 - 4 Liverpool (Chelsea win 7 - 5 on agg.)
Tuesday, 14 April 09, 07:20 PM · Comments (93)
Match reports
Daily Telegraph, Henry Winter: "This was epic stuff, one of the most memorable, fluctuating games in the history of the European Cup. Only when Frank Lampard struck his second, making it 4-4 with a minute remaining could Chelsea fans finally relax."
The Times, Russell Kempson: "Chelsea, dogged in the extreme, rallied from 2-0 and 4-3 down to draw a pulsating second leg of an astonishing quarter-final 4-4, progressing to the last four for the fifth time in six years with a 7-5 winning aggregate. Can Chelsea v Barcelona possibly produce as memorable a tie as this?"
The Independent, Glenn Moore: "Needing three, Liverpool scored four times last night but so did Chelsea in a match of extraordinary drama at Stamford Bridge. Liverpool, beaten 3-1 at Anfield last week in the first leg of this Champions League quarter-final, twice seemed poised to achieve an incredible comeback success before Chelsea, driven on by a half-time blast from Guus Hiddink's "hairdryer", prevailed."
The Guardian, Kevin McCarra: "Chelsea maintained their hopes of landing the greatest prize of all, but only after they risked searing ignominy. There were moments when Liverpool, leading 2-0 and then 4-3, were a goal short of a triumph in the second leg of this Champions League tie. Barcelona could well be gleeful about their prospects against Chelsea in the semi-final, but it is most unlikely that those matches will bear any resemblance to this one. Few games ever have."
Official Chelsea FC Website: "The Blues put fans' nerves through the shredder - allowing Liverpool a 2-0 lead by half time and then after going ahead on the night, coming within a single goal of defeat before Frank Lampard eventually calms it down."
The goals
19' Aurelio 0-1
28' Alonso (pen) 0-2
51' Drogba 1-2
57' Alex 2-2
76' Lampard 3-2
81' Lucas Leiva 3-3
83' Kuyt 3-4
89' Lampard 4-4
The preamble
Guus Hiddink made two changes to the team that very nearly capitulated against Bolton on Saturday. Michael Essien came in for John Obi Mikel and Alex replaced the suspended John Terry.
We had not lost at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League since February 2006, some 16 matches in total. Thirteen of those were wins. Our heaviest ever defeat at home in Europe was 2-0 against Besiktas in October 2003.
Liverpool were without Steven Gerrard, who failed to recover from a groin injury picked up in the first leg.
I was a nervous wreck. The beer was flowing, again. Then the match kicked off and all hell broke loose. It was soon evident that alcohol wasn't going to help.
The good
- How exactly does one go about writing a blog post about an amazing football match like this? Did a Chelsea versus Liverpool Champions League tie really produce eight goals, 12 over two legs? Did we just win 7-5 on aggregate? SEVEN-FIVE? If it wasn't for the mental and physical effects I'm experiencing right now, I'd believe that I dreamt it all. But seriously, I'm going to try to post some coherent thoughts, but I don't promise that what follows makes much sense (I've imbibed quite a lot of lager too). I hope we can as a collective make more sense in the coming days of what was the maddest 93 minutes of football we're likely to witness for quite some time.
- The second half was pretty good, wasn't it? I'm informed that the opening couple of minutes weren't much of an improvement on the first half, with Cech making another blunder seconds after the restart. I was flitting between the sunroom and the living room like a deranged animal that has been locked up for too long. I didn't know whether to sit down and watch the TV or hide and hope for the best. I missed our first two goals in realtime because I was hiding and hoping for the best. Then I thought that the act of hiding and hoping for the best was playing a part in our revival, so I didn't know whether to sit down and watch the TV or continue hiding and hoping for the best. Lampard's first goal convinced me to sit down and watch the TV but this only made things worse as Lucas and Kuyt scored and I thought it was all my fault for not hiding and hoping for the best. Do you see what this game has done to me? I'm a gibbering wreck. I need another cup of sweet tea. Back in five minutes.
- Okay. I'm back. Tea's not helping. Didier Drogba. Superhuman. Rampaging. I can't think of two better words to describe his performance. After the break, with the help of Lampard, he literally picked the team up and carried it on his shoulders. He was utterly magnificent. The piece of boot leather he managed to get on Anelka's cross which caused Reina to fumble the ball into his own net should be framed and given pride of place somewhere in the Bridge, because before that we never looked like getting back into it. That faintest of touches changed the whole tie. While the goal made very little difference to the game other than to ensure that there would be extra time if Liverpool got the third goal they needed (no doubt I wasn't the only one screaming please football god noooo!), what it did do was give the players belief which had been so noticeably missing up until that point, while at the same time deflating Liverpool, if only for a few minutes. I allowed myself to relax somewhat after Alex's thunderbolt nearly burst Reina's net and restored our two goal cushion. How foolish of me.
- Frank Lampard. There was no way he was going to let every Chelsea fan's worst nightmare come true. He was pretty crap in the first half but then so were his team-mates. But as the second half progressed he turned into the Super Frank we all know and love and took the game by the scruff of the neck and smacked it about a bit. Two brilliant goals topped off a splendid 45 minutes. Criminally overlooked for the PFA Player of the Year award.
- Michael Essien's headed goal line clearance. By this point I'd slipped into some kind of alternate reality and I still have no idea what the aggregate score would have been if Essien hadn't got his head to Ngog's shot. Time had stopped. How many did Liverpool need? It's all a blur now.
The bad
- The opening 51 minutes of the match. A fiasco. Every Chelsea fan's worst nightmare came true. We looked nervous and tentative and sat back and let Liverpool play and couldn't keep the ball and Cech was flapping and Kalou was a liability and was Ballack even on the pitch. We couldn't string more than two passes together and let Liverpool have 65% of the possession and then Cech let a free kick inside his post from 40 yards out and oh my god Liverpool are going to do it aren't they and we will still be hearing about this match in 20 years' time and I just want this comfy sofa to open up and swallow me now I can't take anymore the Liverpool fans are mocking me somebody please rescue me because this lager isn't helping one bit. Then last week's hero turned villain and Alonso smashed a penalty past one of the most hapless savers of penalty kicks in the history of football and the pub erupted and the Liverpool fans mocked me some more time to abandon The Ship. I won't be going back in there for a while I thought as I snuck out the side door and headed home to watch the remainder of the match on TV.
- Seriously though, what happened in the opening 51 minutes? Did Guus get his tactics all wrong? Were the players to blame? Was it a combination of the two? I really would like to know.
- Petr Cech. Poor Petr. He won't live that one down for a while. My tip for him, taken from Goalkeeping for Dummies, is to wait until the ball is kicked by the opposition player before moving.
- Ashley Cole's undeserved yellow card which rules him out of the first leg against Barcelona. Essien at left-back to deal with Messi? Why not. I'm sure he'd do a decent enough job. Messi would easily fit in his pocket.
- ITV's commentary. Clive Tyldesley used the words “spirit of Istanbul” seven seconds into the match. Impartiality certainly wasn't going to be the order of the night. He even managed to disparage our fans on at least two occasions. In the words of our very own Jonathan Dyer, utter cunt(ery).
Player ratings
- Petr Cech - 2/10 - One of the worst, most nervy and hapless performances you're likely to see from a goalkeeper in quite some time. He's the new David James: a wonderful shot stopper but increasingly calamitous at all other aspects of the trade. It's quite worrying.
- Branislav Ivanovic - 6.5/10 - Gave away the penalty but recovered and was pretty solid overall. It's a cliche, but there'd be six penalties in every Premier League game if they were given for holding and shirt-pulling at set pieces. Still, the letter of the law was applied by the Spanish referee and a penalty was awarded.
- Ricardo Carvalho - 5/10 - Still off the pace. If he stays fit he should be up to speed by the time we play Barcelona. Fingers crossed.
- Alex - 7/10 - If only for his exceptional goal. Looked very nervous early on.
- Ashley Cole - 6/10 - Undeserved booking rules him out of the semis. Pretty average performance.
- Michael Essien - 6.5/10 - Gets an extra half mark for his headed goal line clearance. Looked a little lost without Steven Gerrard to mark. Did at least try to inject some urgency into the side on a few occasions in the first half.
- Michael Ballack - 6.5/10 - Invisible in the first half. In fact, I forgot he was playing until about 20 minutes in. Gets an extra half mark for his sublime pass to Drogba which led to Lampard's first goal. Watch it again.
- Frank Lampard - 8/10 - Like every Chelsea player he had a really poor first half. But after the break, especially towards the closing stages, he was bloody magnificent. Two goals too.
- Salomon Kalou - 4/10 - Was substituted before half time. Possibly injured? Was a liability anyway. Repeatedly trying to dribble the ball out of defence will always attract the wrath of your manager.
- Florent Malouda - 6/10 - Awful first half. But improved markedly as the second 45 minutes progressed. Is it all a bit too late to save him? Yes.
- Didier Drogba - 9/10 - Awesome.
- Nicolas Anelka (sub) - 7/10 - Replaced Kalou with at least an hour to go. His hopeful cross changed the game. Has to go down as an inspired early substitution by Hiddink.
Man of the Match
Didier Drogba. Tried hard in the first half and put in a beast of a performance in the second. Fernando who?
Final thoughts
My adrenalin levels have crashed, so I'm going to keep this short and sweet and then retire to bed to recover from the insanity of it all.
We're in our fifth Champions League semi-final in six years. Pretty good, huh? A little stability at the club and you never know we might win it in the near future.
Lionel Messi stands between us and our second consecutive final. He's only a wee lad so maybe we've got a chance?
I've had it. Good night.
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93 Comments · Add yours
well written, i particularly liked the stream of concious describing the first 51 minutes. my mind was a swirling cloud of THC, alcohol, and utter, utter despair. panic was setting in. before i could find out what "foul" was being called, cech was waddling over to his near post like a injured duck. after the response of the early 2nd half, the last 20 minutes was a roller coaster ride unlike any i've ever experienced.
lampard and drogba led by example, and i think drogba realized this ref would give a free kick for any sort of contact, and used it to his advantage. i remember saying "anyone but alex" right before he smashed in the equalizer. shows what i know.
my drinking increased as the game continued, first in ecstasy, then to cope, and finally as a attempt to slow down my heart rate. all in vain. by the end i was ready to see essien don the highlight orange GK jersey and beat petr cech to death with his protective head gear. lets only hope that barca has greater difficulty in picking apart our defence in 2 weeks time.
finally the debate begins, who marks messi in place of ashley cole?
Watching this game on the box brought back memories of growing up watching Dr Who. Lots of cushion chewing, hiding behind the sofa and peeking between fingers held over my eyes.
The Cybermen were NEVER this scary!
Before the game I remarked to my friend, an Arsenal supporter, that I had no idea about this game. It could go 4-0 or 0-4. I had no clue. Apparently I was exactly right... who could have ever predicted a 4-4 scoreline? 3-1 at Anfield seemed aberrant enough.
I don't know what to make of this game. I really don't. About 70 minutes in you could see in the eyes of both teams that neither side thought they could keep the other out- so the solution was to attack, and be the team that scored more.
I could not believe what was happening when it happened. Malouda was shocking. Where has that been? How is he dribbling past people into the box?
I feel like this season is best described as looking like an earthquake on a seismometer. Some vibrations at first, some lows and highs, and then a tremendous shudder where the lows and highs are extreme, alternating faster than you can count.
Liverpool v. Chelsea. Champion's League. Two legs. Twelve goals?
Friends of mine have a theory that ever since the Large Hadron Collider was switched on, the universe was destroyed and we are now living in an alternate universe. The evidence is a bit easier to see in America. Since it was switched on- Black President, Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl (think Birmingham City losing the CL final), Phillies win the World Series (West Brom winning the Premiership), etc.
This is more evidence. The world has gone mad.
Guus is nothing if he is not lucky...
We can all relax now - just Barca in the semis ahead. That's got no goals in it at all, surely...
Great sort of review Nick, I think anyone can be excused in attempting to make sense of that so called football match.
I think it's most likely to be filed under some sort of X-Files secrecy, and the subsquent reports will only be allowed to be read as to what really went on in 50 years time.
The sheer range of emotions from despair to euphoria, and then utter disbelief, surely has affected us all.
But some of your observations where spot on, Cech is a concern, and of course the bias from ITV. If there was ever a case for Offcom to flex their muscles, then their whole team should be made to watch and comment on Conference football for the next 20 years, WANKERS!
And to reiterate some of the posts on the previous blog, kudos to the Scousers, for playing their part in that Alton Towers thrill ride.
All I need to do now is take some laxatives to counteract the Immodium, and move the sofa back.
Greetings all.
Being witness to a match best characterized by the following WTF just happened moments:
Drogba's unstoppable performance (best seen in planting Carragher on his ass), Malouda's ,gulp, incisive passing, Herr's B sublime passing (except his attempt at goal), Super Frank's 2 goals, Cech's terrifying blunders, Cole's uncharacteristically poor crosses and runs, mind numbing goal clearances. etc.
I have come to the conclusion that, the football god is a crazed talking monkey driving a bus (CFC) towards a 90 foot deep 15 foot wide gorge at a nice 180 km/hr and moments before the edge turns around with, his eyes manic his smile just fucking evil and goes 'look guys no hands'.
For dramatic flair I would have like to added a cigarette but that would have just been silly.
On to the next chasm. KTBFFH. Go bus lol.
Several of you needed alcohol pre and during this match to get you through it. It appears that Petr Cech needed to calm his nerves in the same fashion because I can only assume he was drunk.
Having experienced a roller coaster against Bolton the Liverpool ride was far scarier, with some steep falls and climbs and sickness inducing twists and turns. Unfortunately I fear I'm going to get off this ride and run straight to the queue for at least two more traumatising rides against Arsenal and Barcelona.
Re your comment on Malouda I thought that was his best game so far for us and he showed real commitment to the cause.
It's simple really. All this could happen because Mourinho left Chelsea. Under him it would have been a tight, boring, defensive match but with Hiddink you get good attacking football and Rafa showed he can also play good attacking football, as Real etc can attest to. Best match of 2009-09 no doubt.
I'm a Liverpool fan by the way so congrats Chelsea, you deserved it.
The Anelka sub and the half time talking to (blast) changed the game. Nico set up two of the goals, he was fantastic. Shouldn't be overlooked.
Perhaps under José we would have got the tight dull 0-0 that all of us were secretly begging for -- but I doubt the evil bus-driving monkey would have let it happen. Last night clearly had nothing to do with either manager. 'Poo were visible the better team right from the start without really looking terribly dangerous: it was only when the first goal went in (and how could anyone put that one down to any sort of tactics or planning?) that everyone got the feeling that the match was on. We all know 'Poo needed an early goal to make it terrifying; as soon as it arrived their team filled with intensity and we became nervous wrecks. (Must be fun trying to defend when you know your goalie's fallen apart, eh?) From then on it was just a question of throwing the windows open and letting the mad winds carrying the match wherever caprice directed them -- ably assisted by the referee, it has to be said, who gave one of the worst performances I've seen for a long time. You know you're in trouble when the ref does that thing of charging dementedly towards the spot of a foul with his arm out like the barrel of a tank, as if the decision he's just made is the most vital intervention in world history since the Big Bang.
I'd summarise the game thus:
'POO: Oh bollocks, let's get this over with and go back to trying to win the league ... Wait ... Holy crap, this lot are as useless as Bolton made them look last weekend, maybe we can score a few here ... Woohoo! ... Argh what just happened? Never mind, keep attacking ... Wahey! ... arghhh! ... Huh?
CHELSEA: We're not taking this for granted, no we aren't, honestly, not even a bit [yawn] ... Ho hum ... Ooops ... oh shit, those ten minutes on Saturday were real weren''t they? ... Crap what do we do now? ... gahhh ... oh ... Yay their goalie's crap too! ... phew thank god for that ... We did it! ... Argh we're still shit ... What the fuck is going on? ... Frank? Frank? WHERE'S FRANK???
Concerning Guus being lucky, he SURELY is, consider this:
RC is injured, he plays Ivanovic, he scored a brace.
JT is suspended, on goes Alex, he scores a great free kick.
If I'm that lucky, I'll be driving my dream car, husband to my dream girl, swimming in my money-pool like Donald's uncle what'hisname.
Still, this kind of magic luck won't do with the likes of Messi and co.
Let's hope the team get the real wake-up call after this crazy match.
KTBFFH
Reply to limetreebower:
Great summery :D
Reply to Amit:
Thanks for your congratulations, Amit.... You are right, over the two legs we did deserve it.
Unfortunately your analysis about Mourinho is bollocks, mostly because Liverpool were always going to attack and Chelsea are currently unable to keep a clean sheet.
You forget that it was Liverpool that turned the 2nd legs at Anfield (in the Jose years) into a bore-fest as they had the upper hand and only needed a tight game and a draw to proceed.
Still, why spoil a good story with the truth!
Reply to limetreebower:
A perfect summary of a crazy night. Some say that the managers had no control over yesterday's result but Guus had a massive impact on our side. His Vialli-esque tactics of hanging on to a 3-1 lead looked like it would end in a Nou Cam-esque disaster. But as soon as the pen went in he knew he had to make changes. His subbing of Kalou for Anelka after 30mins was inspired as Kalou was having a shocker and we definitely needed a goal (let alone 4). And then his half time team talk was probably when of the best Chelsea team talks since Jose was around. I hoped we'd come out and blow them away and we sort of did. I say sort of because even with Lamps and Didier acting like superheroes, our defence and Cech in particular were shocking.
The only 3 worries ahead of Barca:
1. Messi - The best player since Maradona? He's a genius who i'd love to see win it if we couldn't.
2. Cech - He's not become a bad keeper just a keeper with less and less confidence. It's only natural after having your skull split open but he's shaky with crosses and in crowd situations in the box. Maybe his first season was an anomoly by only letting in 13 goals.
3. Left back - We've got a load of options; Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Ricky, Mancienne or even Malouda who played there for Lyon. I'd keep Ivanovic t RB and use thespeedy and mobile Bosingwa at LB to stop Messi and Alves.
Reply to limetreebower:
Ltb: Your summary is hillarious! It should be framed and put in the chelseablog records for stand out comments
Just browsing some Poo blogs this morning, and oh boy are they bitter. The general feeling from them is...
Drogba is a cheating diving t**t
Our club and fans are plastic and classless
Hiddink is not a tactical genius as we played long balls to Drogs in the second half and he was told to dive to get us free kicks to score.(Err three of our goals came from open play, but don't let that fact get in the way of the truth)
And they hope that if an English club wins it; it will be Arsenal, as they play with honour and class, and never cheat.
I suppose I'd sort of hoped after last nights game that there might be a bit more mutual respect between the fans. Ah well, I suppose we can get back to normal and hope they now crumble in the league and win f**k all this season.
Nick: I thoguth i was the only one who thinks my actions affect our performances :)
Sometimes i hide for an entire game, only listening to the commentary, thinking it will help us do better, which as tortuous as most commentary about Chelsea is pretty nasty. Nobody likes us, which makes winning all the sweeter.
That was a horrible game, but to be fair, most of the pool goals were lottery wins.
I strongly disagree with some ratings such as: Peter 2/10 and Anelka 7/10. Take a look on the goals again. Yes he (Peter) has made mistake with the first goal, but apart from it you can hardly blame him with the rest of the goals. Third goal was result of heavy deflection and fourth goal, if anything was defensive blunder. Now about Anelka; coming out as sub and setting up two goals worth 7 points? Is it because he is French :-) ? Otherwise I do not see any other reason and by the way Anelka did not have "bad first half as any other Chelsea player".
Nick,
Great work.
Doubt I'm the only one who'd have been happy to check the blog this morning and find a match review of just two words : "Who cares".
Great game, really, really great game. And I missed the first hour as I was playing football myself.
ITV have proven themselves to be THE most detestable bunch of clueless fuckwits to ever roam the planet. 93 minutes of Liverpool love-in (so the father-in-law assured me last night). History this, Istanbul that. Blah, blah fucking blah. Stcik it up your arse Tyldesley, you yawn-tastic waste of space.
There was almost disappointment that we won. But I'm not letting that spoil my feelings.
No. Because I'm already in a cold sweat over which square-peg-round-hole solution is arrived at to face Leo Messi.
No. Because I'm already in a cold sweat over which square-peg-round-hole solution is arrived at to face Leo Messi.
@Fiftee
Lets take some consolation, that last time we had a similar predicament with who would mark Ronaldinho during our home game, because our first choice was unavailable. Step up the legend that was Khalid Boulahrouz ;-)
Nice stab at a cohesive summary Nick, but really, it's an impossible task. The Hadron Collider comments above are probably nearer the truth.
Some observations on the illogic of it all:
If any of us were forced to bet against Chelsea, our money would have been on Torres to score: but he blew his chances and was subbed. Go figure (as they say in the States).
Liverpool created one good goal. The first three were flukes: Cech's positioning, a penalty that wouldn't have been given in the Prem and a deflection.
We scored three from open play (granted one with the assistance of the goalie).
Drogba's performance made me actually weep with awe. It's not just his power, the subtlety of his football is breathtaking. Someone's already mentioned putting Carragher on his arse (the finest sight in football is when a player does that), but his picking out of Lamps with the pass - holding the ball for that fraction of a second that made the difference. And the way he made his run to get that boot leather on the ball to deflect that first goal out of its trajectory - while running at 90 mph - were incredible and equal to anything Messi does.
And Alex's free kick. This was conjured from deep in the Brazilian soul, where Pele, Garrincha and all those old giants stir that big pot of shamanistic magic. It actually went at Reina but was so fast in its lift and loop and dip he could not react in time.
Someone somewhere said in some summing up last night - may have been John Toshak - that a right sided full back playing on the left might be a good thing against Messi, because he does most of his damage cutting in off the wing. A job for Essien for sure.
We'll remember this Battle of Stamford Bridge - 14th April 2009.
"You'll never walk (back to Liverpool) alone!"
Reply to Blue_MikeL:
Anelka made a huge difference, seriously better on the ball than Kalou, and just wtf has being French to do with it? if you're hinting at racism then I suggest you think again. Kalou was going down the usual blind alleys and the subbing was correct. Well done Lucky Guus.
Cech was fucking awful on Saturday, even you can't deny that, but last night I agree he was not at fault for 3 of the goals....although for their 4th he might have got out quicker....but Riccy was more to blame by letting Kuyt get in front of him. However, the fact that it wasn't more was a bloody miracle because his punching was dire......it was if he was cleaning his lampshades with a feather duster, prancing around the box like Nureyev in Swan Lake, only minus the aggression and asertiveness. He didn't command the box (look at some old videos of Schmeichel and spot the enormous difference) and his shot confidence seeped into the back 4.
I'll say it again...he is lacking confidence and importantly COMPETITION for his place, making him complacent. We need a serious rival number two to make Cech buck his ideas up. If he's worried about his injury, then frankly he should quit. Goalkeepers, the best ones, need to be brave.
Bloody norah, what a game. I had three heart attack and then dreamed about it again last night, only it was taking place in a school gymnasium rather than a football stadium, with benches and bags getting in the way and pummell horses as goals.
Well, a few observations.
In the second half, we were outstanding - as good as we had been at Anfield and missed as many chances as we buried. Forget Liverpool's resilience, they had a monumental slice of luck to get into it after our comeback and were then happily slapped down again by the masterful Lampard. The Malouda-Drogba-Ballack move that should have led to the third was the best bit of football of the night - the next two were Lampard's goals.
Liverpool bottled it. Sure, they did brilliantly to get to 2-0, but then they stopped playing, perhaps thinking they had an hour to get the third they needed rather than going with their momentum. If they'd continued to press at that point, they would have won, because we were all over the place.
Cech had a poor game but was not at fault for the first goal, which was audacious and brilliantly executed.
Drogba is a demigod. They kicked him, held him, tried everything, but he slaughtered - again - one of the best organised defences in the country.
Anelka for Kalou - best substitution for two years.
I like Ballack's new tendency to do very little other than play one or two of the most sublime passes you will ever see on a football pitch.
Lampard - I'm beginning to think he might be the best player I have ever seen in a Chelsea shirt. Utterly magnificent and the best player in the country this season by a country mile.
The ref and ITV - cocks cocks cocks.
Finally, totally agree that Essien might be the man to do a job on Messi, because as well as being a good defender, he'll have the ability to tear a hole through that side of the pitch as he did in the second half in Moscow.
It's not often I feel tempted to quote Old PurpleNose with approval but as he famously said after "That Night in B-"[snip, ed]:
"Football - bloody Hell!"
But hats off to Limetreebower above for a truly masterly summary in under 150 words of 90+ minutes of sheer chaos - I don't think that could be bettered.
I couldn't bring myself to watch all of the first half of my recording when I got back home from the Bridge other than to check out what the penalty was for [note that Skrtel was having a tug at Ivanovich's shirt as he executed his all-in wrestling move].
Has anyone watched it in a calmer frame of mind yet - my impression at the time was that even though we were beyond poor in the first half 'Poo created almost no serious chances apart from the 2 goals we gifted them?
And as for the referee's free-kick mania - according to the Beeb's report there were 42 fouls conceded, which as all Hitchhiker fans know is The Meaning of Life......
I've watched it twice. Nick, great review, sums up exactly how I feel. I am always telling people that I'm not religious (confirmed atheist) nor superstitious (fairy tale bollocks) but then hide away from games like this (although only coz it was Liverpool...I shall watch the Barca games with open eyed wonder....).
Here's why it all happened. I turned my mobile off which sends me a text for every goal conceded or scored, with half time updates and a full time summary. Plus the team news. At 25 pence per text. That cost my company (the big red mobile one) £3 just for last night on the company phone bill. Let alone the follow up texts from friends, enemies and associated replies of glee and disdain and healthy gloating. Then, I sat and watched 3 episodes of Star Trek Next Generation (the best from Series 7). I removed my normal replica shirt and replaced it with a Pink Floyd 'Dark Side of the Moon' (they should have made an album called What the Fuck?) which is ultimately about the decline into madness. Quite apt. I turned the PC off to remove the temptation to peek. I imagine that peeking at the wrong moment might have induced a form of psychological anaphylactic shock.
Then when I found out Mrs CT was watching it upstairs I had to up the volume. My house was my jungle. I was that Japanese soldier. All of this, my friends is why we got that result. Without my sacrifice we were doomed, doomed I tell you. The players skill and spirit, Guus's tactical changes and team choice, the attendant fans all had NOTHING to do with it. It was my duty to not put that hex, that indian sign on our team.
Seriously folks, no need to thank me.
Anyone ever seen the film Jacobs Ladder? How can I be sure that isn't exactly whats happeing to me at the moment. After that last night I keep expecting to fade out to a prolonged beeping noise........
Reply to ChelseaTony:
Anelka made a huge difference, seriously better on the ball than Kalou, and just wtf has being French to do with it? if you're hinting at racism then I suggest you think again. Kalou was going down the usual blind alleys and the subbing was correct.
What is this all about??? Are you on drugs, or didn't get your "hair of the dog" after yesterday couple of pints???
OF COURSE ANELKA WAS VERY GOOD AND THIS IS WHY I THINK HE SHOULD GET MORE THAN 7!!!!!!
Cech was fucking awful on Saturday, even you can't deny that
I believe this rankings given for yesterday's game and not for Saturday!!!!
Petr Cech truly is a broken goalkeeper.
I almost cry thinking of how good he was PSH (pre Stephen Hunt) compared to how truly ordinary he is now.
I wouldn't bet against him turning things round and returning to somewhere near the form we know he can play at, but it can't be too much longer before we have to look at another 'keeper to be given a chance (Rhys Taylor perhaps) in a few games near the end of the season.
I quite like how much Lamps gets ignored by everyone outside Chelsea. He's fat, apart from in England games when he saves the nation. He's just a poor mans Stevie Me, apart from those occasions when he outplays him (more often than not). No matter how many times you try and tell a neutral how good he is, your thoughts are always dismissed as bias. Then something like last night happens again, and suddenly the odd person thinks 'actually, he's not THAT bad'.
Other than the Drog in form like last night, Frank is simply indespensible. I wouldn't have anyone else in the World instead of him in that position. It is his place, and I for one am thankful he's on our side because he's that consistently good he'd frighten the life out of me if he were in opposition to us.
I would like to mention I saw Stevie Me in the stands last night, the camera showed him twice.
So that's twice more than he was seen at Anfield last week ;-)
Fucking hell MikeL, stop looking for aggro all the fucking time. It's boring beyond belief.
Reply to PeteW:
Look, just re read the messages and try to be honest for once. Otherwise it is really boring beyond any believe.
Ha ha, just browsed a scouse blog. And they call Everton the 'bitters'.
How can you call people Chavs and then simultaneously accuse THEM of lacking class. Silly kids.
Still, must be gutting as they once again become a footnote while we make history.
My brain is fried, I've got too much work on but let me just offer you a couple of vignettes from last night.
A mate in the pub received a text along the lines of "Istanbul, yes let's have the spirit of Istanbul 'cause they've only scored 3 out there while we've scored 5". And so it came to pass dear bretheren.
29 fouls. 29 fouls. Yes a fussy referee but 29 fouls to our 14. I would bet that 29 is the average for the total fouls in a EPL game.
Take out the goalkeeper thats 3 per man, enough to have booked 'em all for persistent fouling.
I'm not whinging just amazed when I saw the stat on the scoreboard at the end of the game.
When was the last time a team racked up that many fouls?
A tactical decision? Let the jury decide.
Reply to PeteW:
Well, it looks like they are going to stay trophyless one more season :-) and it says all about players and Tubby.
hopefully cech have got all the bad games of the season out of his system, and we can go on a winningspree till the end!
I wouldnt call liverpools performans lucky but damn we almost forced them to play footie by so coward in the first half. we made guys like lucas look good, naff said!
tx god we did show up for the second half, but I still dont understand why at times we get Intimidated and play nonchalant also?
I would rather have had Gerrard play cause, I knew they would be better off witout him, they would play freely. essien stank yesterday and that was due to gerrard not playing he didnt know what to do. that was mainly in the first half though. he was as the whole team much betta in the 2nd half.
Malouda was decent, Anelka was really good. I really liked his hustle play and he did take responsible gettin back to cover up and helped alot in defense.
its funny that Rafa never really believed in his team enought to push for the win. He as surprised everytime they scored. even in the end when they needed a few goals he took out torres just for his team to go on scoring 2 goals=)
for the neutral I guess it was a great and exciting game but I could have been witout it. had we not gone through this would have been even harder to swollow the the moscwo horror.
now I cant wait for the game on saturday. its nice to have a few days for Guus to regroup the troops for the fa-semi.
Ars are talented specially wit arshavin in their squad now, but our swagger is back!
another goalscoring spree from chelsea? very possibly specially since ars are witout their nr 1 goalie gallas clichy and one young defender whom I forgot his name.
come on chelsea
oh yea almost forgot, props to our MVP, DD!
Reply to Blue_MikeL:
Ok, I mis-read the Anelka comment. But read what i said about Cech last night and then you'll see why he was so bad. It wasn't the goals as much as his flapping, fluffing, piss poor overall perfromance.
I read recently that Chelsea are an unstoppable blend of English and African power and after yesterday's performance and the game at Anfield, that seems to sum it up perfectly. Our spine of JT, Essien, Lamps and Didier is one of if not the strongest in the league and with them playing, we can beat anyone, including Barca.
As for who'll play LB, well that's an almost impossible problem to solve thanks to Scolari's squad management. Essien is such a great player that he'd do a great job there, not only overpowering the genius of Messi but also the pace and attacking runs of Alves. But with Essien at LB, it would mean having Mikel patrolling midfield. And that would worry me. Barca's midfield of Toure, Xavi and Iniesta is one of the best in the world (along with ours) and lately Mikel's form has dipped dramatically and has looked like a liability in terms of concentration and distribution. That's why i'd keep our awesome midfield 3 and choose between Bosingwa or Mancienne at LB. It's a risk to choose either of them but our LB would need pace to combat the best right side in world football. So i think it'll be:
Valdes
Alves Marquez Pique Puyol
Xavi Toure Iniesta
Messi Eto'o Henry
Cech
Ivanovic Ricky JT Bosingwa
Essien Ballack
Anelka Lamps Malouda
Didier
And one thing which is annoying me about last night is the reporting of our 4-4. We are almost seen as the party poopers denying Liverpool their hroic comeback as if they deserve to go through for summoning the fucking spirit of Istanbul and all those other tired Liverpool cliches about not giving up. Some are forgetting that we also came back from 2-0 down and then 4-3 down. As for the ITV coverage, well apart from seeing Joe in the studio, they are an embarrassment.
There were some classics from ITV, my favourite was when Tyldesly lamented that Torres was offside, but only if you apply the latter of the law. There was a similar one when Ivanovic was brought down in the box in the first half.
Fuck em, we pissed on their dream. Revel in the bitterness. We live their dream.
Reply to Fiftee:
How about Ben Foster? I know it'd be difficult to get him out of Utd but if we could offer him more than a couple of Utd Carling Cup games then he could come. He's english, a future International No.1 and would provide genuine competition for Cech.
Reply to ChelseaTony:
Great, I am happy that this misunderstanding is cleared.
Reply to PeteW:
Not only that, but was I the only one to notice Tyldeslys piss take Dutch accent?
Wasn't that bordering on racism? Would it have been so blindly ignotred if say.....John Motson or Jonathan Pearce on the Beeb had said it? And is there a difference between that and a comedy Asian accent or Carribbean/African accent?
Maybe some of our Dutch friends should complain.
Did anyone hear his reference with regard our free flags and atmosphere. And then with the cameras showing the Loverpool end, he blurts out, "and they, don't need any flags to add to the atmosphere"
The bias has even been mentioned on a Sky HD Forum, I'm just surprised there hasn't been any complaints to ITV about their coverage.
Reply to ChelseaTony:
Also noticed Tyldesley's reaction to a Liverpool goal compared to ours. As soon as they put one in he was jumping and screaming, making it quite obvious that he hoped they'd score. Then when we scored some absolute stunners (Alex and Lamps' goals) he was muted if not depressed that we'd scored. The best example was when N'Gog shot to make it 5-4 but Essien cleared it off the line, he sounded so disappointed, almost on the verge of tears that his precious Liverpool weren't going to go through. I found it embarrassing and can't wait for them to lose the FA Cup contract to the BBC in a couple of seasons and then England and then the CL contract, leaving them with...the boxing!
While the LB positon is is up for grabs with Cole's suspension, a more worrying apsect is Bosingwa's return at RB. Specifically his propensity to dick around with the ball at the edge our own box, with the likes of Messi and friends prowling about.
Also I wonder if Alex and Carvalho would be better as the CB pair for the away leg over JT and Riccy.
'Did anyone hear his reference with regard our free flags and atmosphere. And then with the cameras showing the Loverpool end, he blurts out, "and they, don't need any flags to add to the atmosphere" '
They could have done with some at Anfield, when the Kop were thoroughly outsung by the away fans.
What gets me about the Liverpool 'atmosphere' thing is that nobody I know who goes to football actually rates them - Spurs, United, West Ham, Pompey all much much louder, as were we 10 years ago.
Reply to Dustlancer:
I also worry about Bosingwa's lazy and casual defending and that's why if Mancienne impresses in training enough, i'd love to have the balls to throw him in against Messi but i just can't see it. The Nou Camp has the biggest pitch in Europe and we need the pace of Ricky in the middle to cover the ground. Alex won't be needed as they don't play many long balls, just fantasy football along the floor. If we could defend deep enough then the best option could be Ricky at LB.
Afternoon all,
Whilst Tyldesley is a reprehensible turd of a man, and fairly biased with it, I think that there is always a degree of 'dramatisation' about his commentary; he has to talk everything up, evoke thoughts of the highly unlikely (part of the Sky disease that has infected football over the last decade and a half) to keep the interest there for the floating viewer, of which a game like that does attract a fair number. If he weighed in from the start with 'Liverpool have got bugger all chance of getting a result here' and 'Chelsea are bound to wake up and score even though Liverpool have got two', a lot of folk would just start channel surfing.
Couple that with the fact that he's just a bit of a twat anyway (hilarious Dutch impressions - very 90's Fast Show) and you have a load of intolerable bilge that is largely driven by necessity and of course, in part by bias. Much as we'd like to hear him (and other commentators) picking apart the tactical side of the game and so forth, it doesn't really happen anymore - football on TV nowadays is as much entertainment product as Britain's Got Chlamydia or C*nting About on Ice and in general much of the punditry / commentary around it is delivered as such.
I digress; an absolute monster of a game; truly amazing and a credit to both sides for making such a memorable contest - 12 goals in a Chelsea v Liverpool CL game, I mean, who'd have thought?
"....football on TV nowadays is as much entertainment product as Britain's Got Chlamydia or C*nting About on Ice".
The thing is, I'd actually watch both of those.
And I'm being deadly serious.
I think I like this piece of writing...quite interesting...
Sorry nick yours just put me back into yesterdays game state...
Lampard needs to step up a gear to play Barcelona because he is the most influential midfielder we have and he has to match the likes of Xavi, Messi, Iniesta, Toure, etc... We can not stand to have that first half laxity and hope to step up a gear in the second...Angers flared and trully required...
Ballack...I do not understand this bloke...Blasts them in for Germany but fails to slot the easy one in for us...Do not know what is going on there...
Essien...simply magnificent...would have been the best midfielder for us hadn't Lampard scored those two goals...that goal line clearance..just read how poor a night Cech was having and decided to cover him...
Ivanovic...Hero to Zero...Just about it...He was the second "weakest link" on the pitch yesterday.
Alex...marked Torres off the pitch can not blame him for any of the goals conceded just for that one he BLASTED in...
Ashley...The booking was not justified...Not the best game...crossed were lacking accuracy needs work on those...
Kalou...awful day at the office...sometimes goes for the outrageous when a simple one two would have worked wonders...try it some times
Malouda...assured but lacking the effect in the previous games...
Carlvalho...lacking match fittness but has that injection of pace that is superflous
Anelka and Drogba...way above the rest...Drogba was on a one man mission to kill off the opposition and the pace and height of Anelka gave the back four another something else to think about...
Drogba should be checked on his Human levels...got past Carragah like he was not there for that cut back to Ballack...SUPERMAN!!!!
@ nick
Quality read. Brilliantly renders the sense of a man on the edge and sums up how most of us felt.
Described in black and white there is just no way of defending the behaviour of the average fan in these situations.
We are all just loons.
I sat in the East Upper and for the last 8 or 9 minutes, in between assuming the crash position and looking at the pitch with a wild, incomprehending stare, I watched the stadium clock. Time has never passed so slowly. It seemed to hesitate before every second changed to the next one.
Reply to Jose4Chelsea:
Ballack...I do not understand this bloke...Blasts them in for Germany but fails to slot the easy one in for us...Do not know what is going on there...
Indeed, one big enigma for me as well. Even in yesterday's game, when he got pass from Drogba and was relatively free to blast it into the goal Ze German passed it to Reina.
"Healthy Living" News of the Day from the Desk of Dr Bayou
From yesterday's Independent
"Worry more, live longer
Stress may not be the one-way ticket to an early grave that most of us assume. In fact, it could do wonders for the immune system and even keep cancers at bay. Kate Hilpern examines the evidence"
LINK
Given the last 2 games, no 3 because last Wednesday though joyful was nerve wracking all the same, I'd say we're all going to live to be 105 at least.
And with Barca coming up some of us may start posting the sort of numbers not seen since the biblical Patriarchs.
Terrible game. Great result. Hopefully things would be a bit calmer in the remaining matches of the season. I've had enough of the "excitement" for a year! Great to knock the Red Scousers for 2 consecutive years in Champions League and in 3 Cups in the last 2 years. Enough said...
KTBFFH!
Reply to BlueBayou:
This would explain why there are so many Chelsea Pensioners
To be honest I had the sound turned off for most of the match as I can't stand the semi-hysterical nature of ITV's commentators any way, and knew they would resort to a moronic underdog vs oppressors story that they fondly think is more representative of what most viewers demand - with Chelsea cast as villains. But it was a friend across town, a Sheffield Utd fan, who texted to mention the bias. He added that it had made him want Chelsea to win more than the fact it would cheer me up if we did - in the same way I now look out for Blades results.
But for years ITV have got this entirely wrong. Especially when Liverpool or Man Utd, their favoured teams, play. The idea is that these two have the largest groundswell of support in the country and so commentary should reflect the wishes of large numbers of fans. Now, I don't contest that those two teams have the largest fan bases in the country, most of it appallingly plastic I might add. But they also, by the same token, have the largest groundswell of anti-support (if that makes sense). I mean, more people among general football fans dislike Man Utd and Liverpool than anyone else, because these are the two clubs who have dominated football among the current fan base: Liverpool for us older fans, Man Utd for the younger. It is natural to see them as perennial enemies whom we wish bad things visited upon. We hate seeing them succeed. That means the vast majority of the viewers.
Most people viewing Man Utd or Liverpool games on TV, watch because they want the other team to win. (A fact I'm sure is true of Chelsea and Arsenal too, but then, we especially, don't get the hysterical myth-making treatment). What kind of commentary a truly representative one would sound like I don't know. It has never been heard, but it would be a novel idea to try it.
~ First two goals, I wanted to kill myself. I said "cunt" more times than Ben Kingsley did in Sexy Beast. The penalty was... agh. Ivanonic should have been punished for his foul, but those things happen 10 times a match!
~ Drogba's goal, ie Reina's blunder, calmed my nerves a bit, and when Alex scored, I thought we had it in the bag.
~ Then Lampsy scored just as my mates were leaving and I was like "ah, we're cruising."
~ Then Liverpool scored and I was like shit.
~ Dirk "Paula Radcliffe" Kuyt (as nicknamed by this Evertonian James from Uni cos he runs and runs like paula), and I was like fucking shit. 3-4 on the night, 6-5 on agg.
~ Then Lampsy scored again. And to quote JK Rowling, "all was well"
And today, I just feel like I've been walking on air.
come on chelsea
who are liverpool
chelsea are by far the greast team
Quick thoughts on Cech-
Obviously something is wrong for him confidence wise. However, I also think that the CB carousel might be affecting him. As a GK, it is very hard to be consistent when you don't know what your central defenders are going to do.
Yes- you have to be authoritative. But that isn't everything, you have to react to them, and it is a symbiosis. I can't remember the last time Alex and Carvalho were paired. Riccy also seems to be slightly less than match fit.
These kind of things lead to indecision, which leads to flapping, etc. By no means is this the only cause for Cech's malaise, but it can't be helping at all.
I think, in our RB situation for Barca, that we may do something very out of the ordinary. I think it is worth watching the Barca-Espanyol game, to see what they did. But perhaps we will do a Essien-Alex-Riccy-Bosingwa across the back, with Mancienne or Ivanovic in a holding role alongside Ballack. A total destroyer role.
With Lamps, Drogs, and (gasp) Malouda playing the way they are, I don't think it will take 6 men going forward to be able to score on breaks.
We will see. This will be very, very interesting. It didn't help that Arsenal looked good today as well. But I didn't think Villareal looked all that great. What happens Saturday is anyone's guess.
I'm oddly relaxed about the rest of the season. We lost our chance at the league months ago, we're not going to get past Barca (sorry, but I'm afraid we aren't -- and at least we'll get a proper European tie now: who really wants to play the hideous Mancs yet again in the final?), and while the FA Cup would be nice it doesn't really feel like a season-defining competition. Getting past the 'Poo was the big event for me.
I suppose it's essentially because the whole Hiddink era is pointless in terms of the future of the club. We all know there'll have to be major major changes, and in a way the upcoming summer is far more important to the status and health of the club than anything that happens in the next few weeks.
To be honest I'm much more worried about the thought of Ancelotti arriving than the thought of playing Messi et al with our current defence. At least watching us (probably) being shredded by little Leo could be sort of fun. Whereas putting our future in the hands of another big-name big-reputation non-Anglophone elderly manager at a time when rebuilding and togtherness are clearly the main priorities will just be hideous.
Reply to Be_Champions:
No JT in the Nou Camp?
Reply to Be_Champions:
For me, the key to beating Barcelona is getting Iniesta marked out of the game a-la Gerrard. Messi makes the papers, but Barcelona's rough patch came when Iniesta was out with injury. And that Espanyol game featured a lousy referee job/un-earned red card, an injury resulting in Puyol covering as left-back, and no Iniesta. So it wouldn't be the best of guides.
@radicalevan - Absolutely spot on about Iniesta. That guy is the engine for the Barca front three. Without him, Barca is not as effective. Yes, there will be inevitable runs by Messi, but less is better than more there. I love Iniesta for what he does for Barca without much fuss. He is the key in my opinion.
As for the RB, it would be interesting to see what Hiddink does. So far, he has been very very good tactically (early substitution in last match was a masterstroke).
@limetreebower: Yes, I am in more or less same mood, and definitely would like to see somebody other than Ancelotti - that guy has never impressed me.
As for the CB dilemma, I think Riccy needs to get match fit - he was not convincing against Pool (their last goal). I would definitely prefer Alex on the current form (and not just because of his last goal). He may be slow, but then JT is slow too in that sense. But he seems assured in that position at the moment more than Riccy.
Looking forward to Saturday - I am sure Drogba will miss Sendoras but then he will have Silvestre to play with.
Reply to haberdashers:
Wow. Just read what I wrote. Yes- no Alex, but Terry in at CB.
It has been a very long day. Sorry.
In other news, I thought Alex had a nice game for the Pool game, for what it is worth. 4 goals against and all.
The final lap of this season is near and it’s going to be hard work and no doubt stressful. Arsenal have recovered their form, Barcelona could embarrass Cech even further and in the league we have to win every game, including home to Everton and away to Arsenal and still hope for a slip up by Man Utd and Liverpool. To cap it all if we do make it through in all competitions the final week has Sunderland away on the Sunday, Rome on the Wednesday and back to Wembley on the Saturday. Surely I should feel a little more upbeat having reached the semis of two cups and near the top of the league.
If it was another sport we’d be deemed as successful. In tennis Andy Murray is ranked 3rd based on cumulative points and is considered successful even though he’s never won a major and therefore isn’t a champion. Same is true for golf’s Colin Montgomerie who often won the European order of merit but never won a major. A few years back I’d have been satisfied if Chelsea were just successful but now successful is failure – we have to win.
Being the eternal pessimist, have to agree with LTB - can't see us getteing past Barca, and I think a final against oppo from another country is our best chance of winning the trophy. And it adds excitement whereas we've still got to play Arsenal twice at least and that would bore me, as would Man USA in the final.
Why all the sudden negativity?
These games are the reason we watch football!!! I've never been so mentally and physically exhausted after a football match than after the game on Tuesday night but that's what being a Chelsea fan is all about, up and down.
Great point about Iniesta, he is their hub, if we can close down Xavi as well, the ball never gets to the front 3. The key battle will be the middle of the park.
I'm looking forward to the games against the arse. We know they will attack and Guus looks like he loves to attack, so it should be an open and entertaining game. & Didier is going to have a field day with their current defence! Can't wait.
The league is difficult but not over. This season has been unbelievable so you never know.
One point on Ancelotti, he's only 49, hardly elderly. Still, I don't want to see him anywhere near the Bridge. Zola/Clarke for me.
Agree with you no. 9 -- I'm actually looking forward to all the remaining games. [Except a potential CL Final against one of the "big four" -- that would be horrible.] But I find I can only look forward to games if I'm not too worried about the result. Pathetic, isn't it?
I'd sort of assumed Ancelotti's in his 60s! Perhaps he just has ... gravitas? Anyway, I think one of the few definite things we've learned this season is that it doesn't matter how good a manager is if he doesn't "click" with the players, and my suspicion is that Ancelotti would be as baffled and bemused by the project of rebuilding a team in England as Mr Big was.
I'm really looking forward to Barcelona cos I feel we have nothing to lose and we get the chance to try and beat the most poetic attacking side in world football. The league is also a win-win situation, we don't have anything to lose, don't expect to win it, so let's keep going and see what's happening.
Not too happy about the Arse at Wembley on Saturday. I'm fed up losing to them in the Cup and can see it going either way.
Incidentally, haven't our defensive problems coincided with Ricky coming back into the team? Perhaps the JT-Alex partnership deserves more credit than it gets. First choice on Saturday, methinks.
Reply to limetreebower:
Bang on the money LTB - to be fair, Ancelotti is hardly elderly at 49 years old.....Guus is after 62. The bigger worry is getting the non-anglophone guy who's never managed outside of Italy and has a penchant for what we call 'sweating the assets' at my place of work. In other words he gets players to carry on beyond their sell by date.....with just Maldini being the exception in terms of consistent capability.
For me, Ancelotti just smacks of a younger Scolari. Surely RA has learnt from that mistake. We need to make sure the new guy speaks very good English and is of an age where he can build the future based on a mix of youth from the academy/reserves with occasional big buys from elsewhere. Good coaches develop talent, not just buy it in.
Belleti(taking into account his versatility) could man mark Iniesta,he has played with him and knows him in and out, while Essien could man mark Messi the enough said .There is something quite amusing about Mourinho, i think the guy never had Chelsea`s interest at heart, its not just by mere coincedence he left some days before us playing manchester united and manchester united seemed to have been the greatest beneficiaries from his departure judging by their recent successes and their closeness to liverpools PL record wins, Mourinho then goes ahead and gets beat by Man-u in a very uncharacteristic fashion ,subsequently Mourinho declares his interest in managing man-u, likewise Rio does mention his name as a possible succesor post-fergie ,what am asking myself is was he using us as a stepping stone? or is Mourinho a self confessed manu fan who wants to manage them and win the CL With them a record number of times. Mourinho was also supporting Man-u despite having led Porto to the championsleague Victory and porto being from his very native country and tipped them to win against porto.
Reply to Number9:
Sounds like there are a few faint hearted out there who are trying to jump off this 08/09 roller-coaster before time - very dangerous, remember:-
"Please keep in your seats until the ride stops."
Alternatively: "beware what you wish for."
While I fully understand the desire to put both feet back on terra firma, this season is reaching the sort of heights we could hardly have imagined just a few weeks or months ago.
Not wanting or believing it can continue is for the other teams with their arrogant, glory-hunting 'supporters'.
We covered this topic some while ago with the quotes about what it means to support Chelsea, and for a team with a relative dearth of silverware and how, for us, the journey really is often better than the getting there. So make the most of it.
Sorry No9, I'm actually agreeing with you, though it doesn't maybe read like that.
And in case anyone's forgotten, our next game is against the Arse who are starting a bit of a run of their own.
Barca can wait.
Reply to prodicky:
Beletti will be the main man fr the Barca tie..... Having trained with him everyday at Barca, there will be no one in our squad more suited to playing against Messi than Belletti.
This will leave Essien free to tackle Iniesta, in my opinion.
I just hope it will be enough to give us a chance.
@ltb
You seem like a man gripped by mental and emotional exhaustion. As I’ve said on here before the straightforward cure is a couple of pints of quality stout to wash down a plate of floury spuds, hairy bacon and well boiled cabbage. The world will seem an altogether brighter place and you’ll be up for the fight.
That said I’m inclined to agree with you on all counts.
As a man of 49 I have to say that if I looked as young and carefree as Carlo, I might spend more time on the dance-floor throwing a few shapes and encouraging the passing ladies with a raffish smile.
Going back to Tuesday night, I’ve noticed the half time booing is mentioned a lot around the interweb. Now I don’t wish to rehearse the arguments re booing your players etc. but to ask the question as to whether anyone thought it more directed at the ref because of the penalty etc?
No-one around me was booing, but then that’s the East Upper and a general silence is observed so that a man can get on with praying and contemplating the futility of existence in a bit of peace and quiet.
fansincethesixties - I did pick up on that, don't worry!
Sorry guys, but I can't agree about Belletti. He's not completely match fit, players like Messi and Iniesta would absolutely abuse him. He might be decent as a sub for the last 10 mins or so but not as a starter.
On the topic of Ancelotti and a new manager (before I start let me be clear that I definitely DO NOT want Ancelotti as our manager) there are a few things that troubled me about some of the points.
Any manager, no matter where they have managed, can manage in England if they have the talent. Look at Wenger, Mourinho etc. I do agree the new manager should speak English, but most importantly should feel that he has time on his side to rebuild the squad and implement his own ideas.
You never know, Roman may be looking at our squad, which keeps performing superbly and then horribly, depending on the man in charge, and he may be thinking that Ancelotti can replicate the Milanello lab in Cobham and get a good few years out of some of our aging stars.
My personal opinion is we need a new injection but some of the older players have a good 3-4 years ahead of them, Lamps being the perfect example.
I'm not as antiAncelotti as most, though I do have reservations. But we can only appoint someone who is available and willing to come.
What I don't think we want is another Big Phil scenario, where his only motivation was that we outbid the opposition.
If ebay's really the place to get a manager then times surely have changed.
Ancelotti could be perfect. His teams are solid defensively and they don't give up at the crucial stage of the season. He's used to managing huge stars and he's got the best out of experienced players too.
That said, he's had plenty of time to learn some English and if he hasn't bothered yet, then he must not come here.
Re: Messi, we should get Chopper out of retirement and he can do what he did to Eddie Gray in the Cup replay. Best reducer of all time...
Booing at half-time? Well, frankly, they asked for it. I don't like booing of individuals or at the final whistle, but at half-time it's the only way for the crowd to let 'em know they need to perk up when they've been so utterly flaccid.
Flaccid!
Splendid, if a picture can paint a thousand words, then one word can conjure up oneheluvva picture. (must surely remind Jerry Clarkeson of his visit to the changing room).
But they were, spineless, spunkless, standing around waiting for the inevitable which duly arrived.
When he moved over to let Aurelio have a good view of his open goal I thought that Petr was going to speak to the ref about something. Then as the taker started his run, time slowed down and the only question was would he hit the target?
This was no opportunist brilliance and he did no more than any schoolboy penalty taker would do when seeing the goalie leaning against one post with the rest of the goal available.
But even before that, we didn't look convincing. It was as if the whole Bolton/Hilsborough thing had got to us and we had some a kind of survivors guilt about winning the game.
Nuff said. Nic and half time came then we played like only we can.
Petr is a problem and maybe he needs to take that stupid hat off and get on with his life. I can't remember how long he's supposed to wear it for but he did say that he might keep it on anyway, and that lack of confidence in his recovery is what we're witnessing.
The whole game Chelsea vs. Liverpool is somebody is interested to have it.
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2 things:
As a fan who's first game was in 1964 (4-1 home win against Northampton in the Cup, soon followed by a 4-0 home win against the then Champs, Shnakly's Liverpool, squashed in among 66,000+ on the wide open terraces with my dad having to lift me up to see - and every time he did we seemed to score) I agree with the above comments about enjoying this ride while its rolling. I never ever dreamed we'd end up here. It's fantastic being a Blue in these times.
And on Ancellotti. I want to play Devils Advocate against my own and several of your doubts about him (because it is strongly rumoured he is the incoming man). He's relatively young as someone's already mentioned. He's not like Scolari. His teams have a compactness allied to an attacking flair. This is what we need and will be a more or less what we have now under Guus. He is very good at getting those extra years out of older players and has a fitness crew who specialise in this: 4 or 5 more years of Lamps makes my mouth water. And get this, the killer: he's won the Champions Lge twice. That's twice! So he knows how to do it. And its why, I suspect, Roman will be seriously interested in him.
Having said all that, I agree with all the misgivings stated in other posts about his inexperience outside of Italy and his current run of relative failure in the face of Inter's dominance. But then maybe he just needs a change of scenery and a new challenge.
Just noticed that if the Blue Mancs can't turn round their 1-3 deficit, we will be the last UK team to face continental opposition this season.
I wonder how the comentary for that game will go.
Will they be obliged to be at least impartial, if not to actively show a bit of encouragement to the PL sides supporters?
Surely in this interactive era it should be possible to select a different comentary team with the red button or something?
On the plus side, Jose spent many hours building an 'us and them' siege mentality which the media are now giving us for free.
The other plus is that we are now getting some real support and admiration from the the league outside the red triumvirate.
I guess that everyone loves an underdog, even if its owner's still got a few quid.
First of all congrats for the victory against Liverpool. I have to admit that it was quite a crazy match.
Was just checking to see what is the mood here after that match. Great spirits.
Absence of Cole could be blessing for us at Camp Nou. That will allow Messi and Alves combination to work better. My belief that Cole is pretty weak in his right, so Messi could anyway trouble him. Where you will miss him will be in exploiting the space offered by Alves at the back.
Putting Essien at LB could be a stupid ploy. Mikel for me will not be able to contain the two little geniuses - Xavi and Iniesta.
You people hold the upper hand with palying the second leg at home. But this could be one of an interesting match of this season's CL - Barca has been the most consistent team of this year and Chelsea under Hiddink is the most improved team.
I have to admit that I fear the likes of Drogba and Lampard; but if there is a man I fear more, it has to be Hiddink.
Ok, was going through majority of comments. It's good to see people recognising Iniesta's contribution. He is essential to Barca's atatck. But Messi is a better player. If you look at the matches we lost this season it was not the absence of Iniesta which contributed to it. It was the absence of Xavi- Iniesta partnership which troubled us. Without one of them in the middle, it become easy to double-mark the other and cut the creativity from the middle.
Marking out one of them from match when both are present in the middle is tough, especially Iniesta, he is like EEl. He will simply slip past you.
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Reply to PeteW:
Apart from vilifying Drogba and our free flagware, the booing seems to be the thing that exercises those who seek to denigrate Tuesday’s fine achievement. I can’t say I thought too much about it at the time. As you say, it was an expression of frustration and during the game the support seemed solid if a little hysterical (well I certainly was) at times.
@FSTS & DB
As one of those who has questioned the choice of Ancelotti, I do take on board your points and they certainly counteract some of the negatives. Unlike Scolari he has got solid recent top level club experience. I guess we’re all a bit jittery after they way it all seemed to go downhill under the TSSO.
@ DB
Am I alone in seeing the references in Number9’s post and yours to this ability to extend the careers of aging stars as chiming a little unfortunately with JM’s dark mutterings about Sheva’s “training methods”.
Is CA a shadowy be-cloaked figure hurrying through the dark Milan nights harvesting blood and organs from unfortunate waifs and strays, the better to bring new life to his elderly charges?
Reply to All About FC Barcelona:
Well I don't fear anybody (but then I'm not playing).
Anyway, we've got a big game on Saturday and all this 'who plays who plays where' means nothing til we get past that match and see how the team perform.
Intriguing as the fixture with Barca is, you are only a part of our season and will just have to wait your turn.
Welcome to the blog. Opposing fans are always welcome to come and gee us up a bit provided its done with good humour and intelligence.
I think you'll find most of us on here are relishing meeting Barcelona, not least of all because facing yet another English side in the Champions league is getting rather tedious in the extreme.
Agreed on comments re Messi, by far and away the best player in the world in my book, better than the winking arrogant one currently residing at man utd, but in all likelihood to be playing for your nemesis in Madrid!
Bloody Oleole.....the last posting was actually supposed to include our friend from Barcelona' post, and was therefore aimed at him (or her?)
Nice post from the Barca fan.
Let's not give them any tips on how to beat us though (pump the ball at Petr Cech's head and wait for all hell to break loose).
Easy to forget the extraordinary series of matches we played a few years ago. In fact, I think Barca were the last foreign team to knock us out the CL, way back in 2006.
Feeling a lot more confident for Wembley after seeing Arsenal's defensive crisis:
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So out of their back 5 they're definitely missing Almunia, Clichy, Gallas and Djourou whilst Gibbs and Sagna are doubtful. I know their front line of Cesc, Van Persie, Adebayor, Nasri and now Arshavin are dangerous but Didier and Lamps must be looking forward to playing against Silvestre, Song and Toure.
Reply to PeteW:
Hopefully after our encounter with them this memory will be as distant as it is now.
Just to clear up a little confusion. When I mentioned Milan stretching players' careers, it's more their Milanello 'lab' (something of a mystery) than Ancelotti himself. How much he could bring with him (knowledge/people) is difficult to judge.
Even Milan this season though have realised that they have slipped so far behind Inter that they need to invest in new talent/bring through youth players.
With Ancelotti looking more and more likely to become our new manager i feel i should provide some positives for him:
1. Age - Only 49 (or around there) and would definitely be able to build a side for the long term, unlike Guus or when Phil was here. If he's successful enough, i have a suspicion that he could even be around to help in the designs of our new stadium in 5/6 years like Wenger did with The Emirates.
2. Tactics - Has been brought up in Italian football for most of his life so he should be tactically and defensively astute unlike Phil. He also has a liking for flair players upfront to provide the goals, so we may be able to move on from the 'Didier football' when Didier's knee finally gives was in 2/3 years.
3. CL success - Maybe it's because he had the best player in the world when he won it twice (Sheva in 2003 and Kaka in 2007), but he knows how to guide even an old and slow side to glory.
4. Signings - He may be associated with buying some OAPs but he has found a couple of gems over the years - Pirlo, Seedorf, Kaka and Pato.
Despite this he has one huge negative - the language barrier. I feel speaking English is crucial for our side, in terms of getting his tactics and training across but also to put confidence into the side, take team talks, perform rants at half time...Without it and it could be another expensive mistake for Roman.
Apart from the fact that you are playing the second leg at home, I think you guys have one more advantage. It's our schedule. This saturday we visit Getafe (always a tough place to visit), then on wednesday Sevilla visits Camp Nou, Then Valencia, Then Chelsea, then Real Madrid, Then chelsea again and then Villareal. Now that's what we call a fixture.
Habs,
I was prepared for someone to do it, and you have.
I too took more than a passing interest in the Arsenal defensive crisis, but it then gives them nothign to lose (and you know Wenger will harp on and on about it - as will the commentators) while we'll look like prize clowns if we can't capitalise on it.
I think it'll be close, we'll sneak it 1-0 or 2-1, but you just know their makeshift back line will have 'one of those games TM' that we always seem to find ourselves on the receiving end of.