CL Group A: Chelsea FC vs. FC Barcelona [P+R]

[$teauA]

Boularouz
Drogba
Essien

Barca looked pretty bad today to be fair. Messi was their only bright spot. Great game to watch and watching Chelsea play in the second half was a joy, the way they were passing the ball around and getting out of their defensive end was made to seem so pure and simple.

Can't wait for the return at Camp Nou.

 

[d3adly]

excellent game from chelsea, barca were really ordinary barring messi.

 

[Sevillista]

No caption necessary.

 

[Jaouadinho]

Boulahrouz, was a beast for chelsea i loved the way he totally owned ronaldinho, soon as RONNIE got the ball he was shaking like a little girl. "OW NO THAT SYCHO IS HERE PLEASE DONT HURT ME THEIRE U GO HAVE THE BALL, JUS DONT HURT ME"

to the game

chelsea didnt give barca space, they defended them well, and barca looked slow without any pace, theire play was slow as well which made it even easier for them to defend.

Messi was ok, but thats it, was any one else puzzeled by rijkard's substitutions.

chelsea did great, just how to beat barca sufficate them, be all over them like a rash.

Boulahrouz great
Drogba Great
Essien did well boming forward, but his passing was a bit wastefull some of the time, e.g when they were in attack it was 3 on 2 all he had to do was pass to shevchenko or carvalho and they score but he did niether and lost the ball.

 

[Bobby]

The critcism towards Shevchenko is unfair, he isn't playing bad, so he doesn't deserve to be called useless. I think he is being mis-used, he is doing a lot of the work for the team, but it is far too deep away from goals. He is linking up play well though, and I think he is just trying too hard to get the monkey off his back.

Very confidient once he scores one, the flood gates open.

You said the same thing about Kezman and I kept telling you otherwise.

Cole looked crap but Barca couldn't expose it because they looked like Leeds. Who plays without a striker? That's some crap a USL team would pull to save costs.

 

[pede54]

That was a great game for us last night. The formation used was to give Hilario as much protection as possible, hence the first half display from us was defence orientated mainly while waiting for a chance to counter attack. I thought that three of the back four were awesome. Khalid put Ronaldinho out of the game completely, although to be fair, Ronnie is struggling with himself at the moment anyway, Carvalho was so focused and JT was, well JT.

The plan was to soak up any attacks from Barca before Hilario could be threatened by them. I think all in all that worked well. Although Hilario did play a great game too. People can put him down all they want, but to step into a game like this and then play with so much confidence has already endeared him to the Chelsea faithful. We were singing his name in respect, and he enjoyed that.

Great goal by Didi. He performs better with less time to think about anything. The physical attacks on him during the game did not deter him at all. In fact that makes Didi stronger. You cannot intimidate this bloke at all, so it aint worth trying it.

Our left flank was weak. Ashley Cole was left in no mans land too many times. He needs to find his form soon or else Bridge should be put back in there because Bridge is in form.

Sheva bashers? I won't waste my breath on that subject. How anyone can compare Sheva and his track record with a one season wonder (in dutch football) like Kezman, is just stupidity. Nuff said.

Anyway, a great win, three more points means thats nine out of nine and top of the group. Not bad at all.

The pitch looked perfect too didn't it. So much for all the bulls.h.i.t on that subject.

 

[MaestroZidane]

Great game, totally loved the way chelsea were controlling the game. I wont criticize sheva because he was actually playing and trying his best. Essien should have made that pass rather than playing it himself, what was he thinkig?? anyhow I congratulate chelsea for a good win and a great game

 

[VanTheMin]

sheva cant seem to pick up with the epl...
he is slow at many times and seems to be lacking vision in teh footballing sense..
no doubt he is class, but the chelsea of last season and its team tactic,formation should have stayed the same..you cant change a championship winning side..when all the same players are available.
pity for sheva..pity for chelsea..they arent the same side again.take out sheva..play drogba alone..with two wide forwards/wingers and a lampard-makelele-essien..and things will be super class

 

[Mandieta6]

Shows how great Chelski is really, they play great regardless of they're fielding, and even their 3rd choice keeper is good, or at least, decent enough to make it through a very tough game (on paper) with a clean sheet. Barca on the other hand simply collapsed after Drogba's amazing goal, and even Messi and Gudjohnsen weren't able to turn the tables. Without Eto'o and with Ronaldinho practically absent, they played some bad football at most times. Not something I expect from a European champion.

Also, I think anyone here can now agree that Terry is one of the greatest captains and defenders England ever had. His game was simply spectacular. He even dribbled past 3 Barca players, centred the ball which got deflected from Puyol, and managed to win it back from the defender it reached. True display of awesomeness.

I'm not complaining about Shev, he was my favorite player at Milan, and he's my favorite player at Chelsea, he just needs to adjust a little bit and get played differently. I don't think putting him up like a 2nd striker is doing him good, but he creates play and IMO that's better than him scoring goals that Drogba or anyone else could score. Yeah, it'd be great if he scored, but no use putting him down when he's creating so much.

Boulahrouz was spectacular. I was hesitant when we bought him because I thought he a tad too physical, but seeing matches like these prove that I was wrong. What a boulder, simply unshakeable, best transfer of the season for Chelsea, IMO. A.Cole wasn't that great, but I'm not worried, I simply hope that Mourinho will smakc some sense into him or play Bridge, Bridge is class on form. Carvalho was great, as always, and Makelele was better than average. Won some great balls.

Ballack I don't like. I think he's just an effing brat. He's a good player, no doubt, but I don't think he's playing to the same standards as we saw in the WC. Not that it was an amazing WC, but he's not as good. Worth what e got him for though: 0 down. Lampard was ok, although he didn't wow like he normally does. Drogba effing amazing, as always. And I don't think I even have to mention Essien, whose proving to be one of the greatest midfielders in the premiership.

 

[TheGrimSweeper]

yes, and then bring Sheva back home, we appreciate him at least.

 

[pede54]

Too late mate. Sheva is already a fans favourite at Chelsea. Don't take any notice of the negative media reporting or other peoples comments. The jibes are anti-Chelsea really and not anti-Sheva. He will end his days at Chelsea and thats that.

 

[Vedran-10]

I want to congratulate Chelsea for their display last night. It was the best game they played against us.
Their defense was flawless. Hilario did his job very well and I should also highlight Boulahrouz who put Ronaldinho into his pocket. I don't understand how he could have been so sterile... the only explanations I can come up with are lack of interest or preserving himself for Madrid.
I was surprised how Messi never posed a real threat. Guddy probably couldn't play at his best in front of his crowd, but still I don't think he would have helped much. Edmilson was piss poor, I find it insulting that he plays instead of Iniesta. Not only does he fail at basic passing, but he also doesn't seem to destroy opposition attacks as well as he should. I think it's ridiculous that someone can play this bad and still be in Barcelona's first team, but then again, we have another ace in Gio. This man never does anything, he never participates in our attacks, takes no risks thus contributing absolutely nothing to our offensive-minded game. I'm angry at Rijkaard for playing him, it's just... I don't know. On the other hand, a better player in Belletti (...) suffers by having no playing time. I said a hundred times that Gio has to be dropped and maybe Rijkaard finally realized that by subbing him, because I thought Edmilson was equally sh*t. Deco made a lot of mistakes but he can't be great in every game. Xavi finally met his standards, IMO. Zambrotta was crap in the first half but he improved in the second.
Basically, we didn't do anything to deserve a win, nor a draw. Statistics may have gone our way (slightly), but we were far from any points.
It easily could have been more goals for Chelsea and I find the 1-0 result satisfying, given the performances.

It seemed impossible for us to score, and it became evident we wouldn't win the midfield, too. Chelsea just seemed stronger and faster at times. They won fair and square, hats off.

Drogba MOM. Great player, can decide a match in one move at any point of the game.

Can't wait for the return. It's played on my birthday and I'm convinced we'll be much better than last night and win.

VISCA EL BARCA!

 

[RuiCosta_10]

No caption necessary.

Hahaha

 

[Bobby]

You guys act like nobody's ever used a third keeper before. It's not like Hilario is some guy fresh from the youth teams either, he's played in Europe before. Nobody had a hard on for Alan Blayney when he had to play.

 

[ShearerM4]

You guys act like nobody's ever used a third keeper before. It's not like Hilario is some guy fresh from the youth teams either, he's played in Europe before. Nobody had a hard on for Alan Blayney when he had to play.

:funny: we signed Srnicek a few weeks ago, and he almost played tonight ffs! the guy is nearly 40, and last played EPL football in 2000.

 

[~Cahill~]

No caption necessary.

Schev: Oh Drogba... you're a genius, give me a big kiss!!!

As you can plainly see, Drogba managed to turned his head away just in
time as Schevchenko tried to strike a big wet one on him.

 

[Aragorn]

Congrats to Chelsea. It deservers to win the macth obviously. As i had in mind, the play was more beatiful this year, nothing to do with the picth, i mean that Chelsea plays now diferent, using more the midfields, forwards make pressure, and well, a suberp goal from Drogba.

No excuses for Barça, Barça miss a lot of chances on the first half, when the game was really exciting, 50% - 50%, but on the second half it didnt seems Barça. This does not means that all was a Barça mistake.... all the opossite, Chelsea did probably one of the best macth of this season, but there´s no reason of to see Ronaldinho, Deco, Xavi, Iniesta, Guddy and company totally out of the game, specialy Ronnie, i dont know what happends lately with this boy....may be barça fans we demand to much, but man, he earns a lot of money and is voted as the best player in the world.......pffff....he didnt do anything on the field.

On the other side, Messi was superb, but, is clear, only a man cannot win the game. I found all tha Barça players rarely tired.....may be reserving forces againts Madrid?? I dont know....but the resume is that Chelsea has 9 points and we have 4 equal as Bremen.....so, we need to achieve almost the second position, due the to achieve the first position is really difficult,,,,i dont think that Chelsea will lost against Levski Sofia, with all my respects to this team, but, the diferences are clear.

Finally, one appoint about the substitutions.....i dont understand why to use Giuly instead of Guddy, due if the reason is to increase the side game, why the hell Barça was continue playing on the center, trying to break a 8 man wall?? ...well....he is the trainer,,,,he knows....but the things are obvious. So, was great to see the respect about Guddy on the bridge, after 5 years he deserves all and i hope that he will play aswell in Barça as in Chelsea during 5 years more. A great aplausse to the crowd for to be so human.

P.D: About Madrid fans that are arguing about "hahaha,,,Barça suucks" and this things.....well....Steaua Bucarest and company is not Chelsea or Werder....ahem...and that´s no reason for to be happy about 2 sad victories against teams that are in other brand. I would like to see how Madrid would win to Chelsea...HAAAA...may be on dreams.
So "merengues" prepare for the Sunday battle and to hold down your knees...AGAIN.

STAY strong PETER!!! you are the best keeper, regards from Barcelona

Take care

neovico
The Mind

 

[ilips]

Do you think Etoo would be enjoying this right now, maybe he will get the recognintion as Barca's most important player as he is

yeah lol, he's so self-centred that it wouldn't suprise me

 

[Jaouadinho]

Boulahrouz who put Ronaldinho into his pocket. I don't understand how he could have been so sterile... the only explanations I can come up with are lack of interest or preserving himself for Madrid.

Maybe he thinks real madrid is easy to play against and people would get of his back if he plays well in a high profile match, well let me just say that he wont and that madrid will do just what chelsea did if not more, and it will be sergio ramos at right back not mejia or cicnho, last years goals were good but i think it we made too easy for him to score.

P.D: About Madrid fans that are arguing about "hahaha,,,Barça suucks" and this things.....well....Steaua Bucarest and company is not Chelsea or Werder....ahem...and that´s no reason for to be happy about 2 sad victories against teams that are in other brand. I would like to see how Madrid would win to Chelsea...HAAAA...may be on dreams.
So "merengues" prepare for the Sunday battle and to hold down your knees...AGAIN.

erm its not madrid fans, ive actualy havnt herd a single madirid fan say that barca are shit because they lost to chelsea, its other people not us.

 

[Vedran-10]

Maybe he thinks real madrid is easy to play against and people would get of his back if he plays well in a high profile match, well let me just say that he wont and that madrid will do just what chelsea did if not more, and it will be sergio ramos at right back not mejia or cicnho, last years goals were good but i think it we made too easy for him to score.

Frankly, I don't think Madrid will do what Chelsea did because they don't have Chelsea's defense. They completely blocked us.


And for the record, last season Ronaldinho went past Ramos as if he was one of those plastic posts they use in trainings sessions.