Carling Cup Football. Yes, Spoilers...

Nice that neither BBC nor ITV have thought to mention that we (Chelsea) played pretty much the whole of extra time with 10 men due to Di Santo's injury. There's not much excuse for failing to win it in the 90mins, but there was a good amount of heart and fight in extra time, we managed to create plenty of chances to win it.
Burnley scored at exactly the right time too, about a minute after Drogba was subbed, so we were relying on a youth team striker to get the goal and with Terry not on the pitch either, there was no big leader to rouse the troops.
Ah well, at least that's saved me a potential £200ish in tickets and travel cash.
Not that it's much of a consolation.

Edit: Oh and Mikel's pen was actually pretty good, but their keeper pulled out his only decent save of the night to stop it. Bridge's was abhorrant though, I actually told the bloke stood next to me where he was going to put it before he'd even placed the ball on the spot.
 
Last edited:
Shamikebab said:
Well it was pretty stupid taking Drogba off with only a 1-0 lead.
Click to expand...
There was about 20mins left, he's still not fully fit and he'd pushed his luck with the ref already by chucking something back into the crowd.
Necessary sub for many reasons if you ask me.
Di Santo nearly scored a couple of times, he was looking pretty sharp, nobody could've predicted that he'd pull up injured.
 
Chong Warrior said:
So bored of listening about Arsenals young uns, been hearing it for years *yawn*

Remember last season? I'll give you a clue, 5 of them ;)
Click to expand...

Vela/Wilshire & co will tear you apart and i hope they get the chance in the next round ;)

redemption time, even if it is only the boozers cup.
 
FrankJH said:
Wonder how long before Utd ask for Frazier back, the way we are playing we will probably need him sooner rather than later
Click to expand...

Can they do that? Surely if he was a condition of Spurs selling Berbatov then from Spurs end they would have made sure there was no recall allowed?
 
No- I believe it was two seperate deals, and Spurs knew that we were trying to loan him out, and leaving it so late they didnt have any other choice to get another striker

Also I seem to recall that the loan was common knowledge several hours before the Berba one was signed off - which also seems to indicate two seperate deals

happy to be proved wrong though (and either way if we meet you, he cant play which seemingly nullifies two of your strikers)
 
Campbell is on loan till the end of the season, there is no clause in the deal that allows United to recall him at any time hence why he is allowed to play for us in cup competitions.

If there is a recall clause the player isnt allowed because it will make them ineligible in the event they are recalled early.

If I am honest he is doing better than I expected. I saw him a few times for Hull last season and he looked very good, but wasn't convinced he would cut it at this level. He has been sharp every game he has played last night and he is now showing his potential. Shame SAF wont sell him.

As for the game, a good result for us over Liverpool, irrespective of what side they put out. People are forgetting we made 7 changes from our usual starting XI and that is just as disruptive as anything.

I don't care what people say about the Carling Cup either, its a trophy and another chance of success and a route into Europe which is something that irrespective of how well you are currently doing in the league is certain. Come February, if you win the CC your in Europe, come February in the league if your in a European slot, your still not guaranteed a place.

I was also shocked at how well Lennon was crossing yesterday, he made Dossena look like a mug all game too.

Glad to hear Gomes is ok, yes he gave Liverpool 2 goals, but I'd still have him over Cesar at the moment, just hope the knock doesnt dent his already fragile confidence. Harry's comment after the game about him being alright and going out to celebrate with a Chinese was class.
 
I am actually pretty happy that we lost to Tottenham last night, I agree with what Phil Thompson said before the match when he said if we lost there wouldnt be too much weeping over it and that if we have to sacrifice something to have a crack at the league the carling cup would be 1st on the list.

We were simply awful last night it has to be said, if any of those reserve players were hoping to put on a display to push into the first team, they failed miserably. Having said that though, I am not terribly disappointed. A work colleague earlier in the day yesterday asked me how I thought the game would go and I said that I hoped we would lose.

The premier league is my priority, now I am not saying we will win it, but this year is definately our best chance yet. If we have to get knocked out of the carling cup, the fa cup and the champions league in order to maintain that title challenge then I'm happy. I've waited for nearly 2 decades now to see us lift the league again, and thats where my number 1 priority lies.

Its a pity though that Burnley knocked out Chelsea last night, as it means any advantage we will have gained from not having the extra cup matches has been lost.
 
Thought Torres was awful tonight aswell. He might be tired but it looked like he lacked commitment through-out the game.

Just shows much quality our youth system lacks compared to Arsenal etc. We always seem to want to play backwards rather than looking for killer passes. Very annoying.

Makes you appreciated the spine of the team a lot more. Reina, Carra, Gerrard, Alonso, Masc, Torres.

The likes of Lucas seems to roam around linking up play (like Plessis) and sprints no where. Awful game from them both.
 
FrankJH said:
Maybe wrong but my impression is that Pavlyuchenko seems to play best with Frazier
Click to expand...

He's played the lone striker role under Redknapp too. As long as Modric is creating behind him and Bentley is delivering crosses, I'm sure that he'll continue to perform.
 
Tunney said:
He's played the lone striker role under Redknapp too. As long as Modric is creating behind him and Bentley is delivering crosses, I'm sure that he'll continue to perform.
Click to expand...

Indeed.

Last night was the first time Harry has played 2 up front from the start of a game. We looked nicely balanced last night, and it looks like RP and FC complemented each other nicely. When Bent and Campbell played together under Ramos they looked too similar and it didn't work, but then not much did under him.

RP is getting better and better and some of his hold up play yesterday was very good, and I am sure that once he has learnt some English he will be a lot better. Its not quite Keane and Berba who, but if they keep banging them in and Bent aswell, then it soon will be.
 
I think that is what the difference is, whether we play Modric in behind the striker or Giovanni. Modric seems to play a lot better in that role from what i have seen, whilst Giovanni is better on the wing and can cut in/run at defenders.

At least it appears we have some good competition for places in the team, which in turn should mean the performances stay up there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom