Well, game at the bridge is gonna be exciting if nothing else 
Pool was crappy tonight though =( Tiredness and / or pure lazyness in the wide areas were key.
Kuyt for once seemed overall un-interested in defensive duty and spent a lot of the time playing very narrow high up the pitch leaving arby to provide width.
Its not usually a problem with Masch due to his energy, pace and tackling skills, but lucas nor alonso are quick enough to cover .. kuyt or arby needed to show more restraint tonight.
On our left flank, aurelio had a complete shocker .. worst game for a long time.
And the 2 conceded from corners, zonal marking cannot be to blame when the players dont carry it out properly
First goal happens, alonso should have reacted but didnt.
Second one was bad positioning, the only player between the keeper (who was between mid and front post) and far post was Arby, it was a deep corner and accident waiting to happen.
As for Essien on Gerrard, hes a great man-marker but thats about all hes good for, not to mention he plays terrible (read: Nose bleed material) when dragged to wide positions, wouldnt suprise me if we start with the usual 4-2-3-1 for a quick burst out the blocks, then boot Gerrard wide right, kuyt up top in a 4-4-2.
Think thats key to defeating chelsea when they employ these tactics. Essien if he sticks to Gerrard is dragged very much out of position, giving space for Alonso, Masch, Kuyt and Torres to exploit infront of the back 4. Leaving Essien in the mid and chelsea have a similar problem, hes just a terrible anchor man .. no Makelele for sure. And in this situation .. Chelsea's wide men are terrible at defence, Guus and Maureen said it themselves , their player choice almost forces a 4-3-3 formation due to their wide forwards being just terrible at anything but going forward, i fancy Gerrard to give A Cole a torrid time in this situation.
Gonna need all our goal threats for this game, we need to make the most of corners especially .. Agger and Hyypia must start (who cares if we concede 1? doesnt change the tie) as they are our 2 best threats from corners .. Torres, while awesome in the air, just isnt tall or strong enough agsint competent defenders. Agger and Hyypia however .. give a good ball in and 9/10 one of them will get some sort of contact on it, see Sami's goal vs Arsenal last year.. header from the edge of the box and it got thundered in like Gerrards belter vs west ham in 06 FA cup final :O
Gonna force Carra to RB to acomodate them though.
Get at them and who knows what might happen!
Istanbul? Olympiacos? 3 in 45 happens, but this time we have 90 mins
Pool was crappy tonight though =( Tiredness and / or pure lazyness in the wide areas were key.
Kuyt for once seemed overall un-interested in defensive duty and spent a lot of the time playing very narrow high up the pitch leaving arby to provide width.
Its not usually a problem with Masch due to his energy, pace and tackling skills, but lucas nor alonso are quick enough to cover .. kuyt or arby needed to show more restraint tonight.
On our left flank, aurelio had a complete shocker .. worst game for a long time.
And the 2 conceded from corners, zonal marking cannot be to blame when the players dont carry it out properly
First goal happens, alonso should have reacted but didnt.
Second one was bad positioning, the only player between the keeper (who was between mid and front post) and far post was Arby, it was a deep corner and accident waiting to happen.
As for Essien on Gerrard, hes a great man-marker but thats about all hes good for, not to mention he plays terrible (read: Nose bleed material) when dragged to wide positions, wouldnt suprise me if we start with the usual 4-2-3-1 for a quick burst out the blocks, then boot Gerrard wide right, kuyt up top in a 4-4-2.
Think thats key to defeating chelsea when they employ these tactics. Essien if he sticks to Gerrard is dragged very much out of position, giving space for Alonso, Masch, Kuyt and Torres to exploit infront of the back 4. Leaving Essien in the mid and chelsea have a similar problem, hes just a terrible anchor man .. no Makelele for sure. And in this situation .. Chelsea's wide men are terrible at defence, Guus and Maureen said it themselves , their player choice almost forces a 4-3-3 formation due to their wide forwards being just terrible at anything but going forward, i fancy Gerrard to give A Cole a torrid time in this situation.
Gonna need all our goal threats for this game, we need to make the most of corners especially .. Agger and Hyypia must start (who cares if we concede 1? doesnt change the tie) as they are our 2 best threats from corners .. Torres, while awesome in the air, just isnt tall or strong enough agsint competent defenders. Agger and Hyypia however .. give a good ball in and 9/10 one of them will get some sort of contact on it, see Sami's goal vs Arsenal last year.. header from the edge of the box and it got thundered in like Gerrards belter vs west ham in 06 FA cup final :O
Gonna force Carra to RB to acomodate them though.
Get at them and who knows what might happen!
Istanbul? Olympiacos? 3 in 45 happens, but this time we have 90 mins
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Its no coincidence that Chelsea have started playing well again since he has returned. Essien was immense for chelsea the season before last when he was made to play centre back, right back and on the wing due to injuries.
