** Uefa Champions League, Semi-final ** *spoilers*
- Thread starter Tummy
- Start date
Right.
Getting an early night but I'll give you my opinion on the game.
Barcelona were brilliant at times, they did everything but score. Messi was much quieter in the second half, but Alves had all the right side to himself all game. I was wrong, I thought Barcelona would stole to success, well they did strole, they just didn't score
Chelski, well... Thought they were pretty poor, Cech, bar a couple of good saves was very poor, flapping at the ball, distribution was truely awful. Chelski used dirty tactics and just were negative. A prime example of how to kill a game.
Whats just as interesting is what Chelski will do at home, because tonight proved that they just can't give Barcelona any space or time, if Chelski attack Barcelona next game it will leave a lot of space for Barcelona to play with and probably take advantage of.
However, if Chelski play like today, where they need almost 10 men to defend against the Barcelona attack, I can see it being another boring negative game and Barcelona stealing it at the end.
Getting an early night but I'll give you my opinion on the game.
Barcelona were brilliant at times, they did everything but score. Messi was much quieter in the second half, but Alves had all the right side to himself all game. I was wrong, I thought Barcelona would stole to success, well they did strole, they just didn't score
Chelski, well... Thought they were pretty poor, Cech, bar a couple of good saves was very poor, flapping at the ball, distribution was truely awful. Chelski used dirty tactics and just were negative. A prime example of how to kill a game.
Whats just as interesting is what Chelski will do at home, because tonight proved that they just can't give Barcelona any space or time, if Chelski attack Barcelona next game it will leave a lot of space for Barcelona to play with and probably take advantage of.
However, if Chelski play like today, where they need almost 10 men to defend against the Barcelona attack, I can see it being another boring negative game and Barcelona stealing it at the end.
Can't see a difference tbh, they wanna buy some bloody wingers. Why is Quaresma never used, or is he cup tied for Champs? Does he even play in Prem?
Barcelona should have had a penalty.
Ballack should have being sent off, Puyol was lucky to still be on the pitch.
Malouda ? was truely awful. Lampard showed he can't defend. Essien was poor, but steady. Alex was a lucky man to be on the pitch. Terry "Mr England, Giant balls ect ect" didn't impose himself on the Barcelona front men either.
How to kill a game, Cheslski style
Ballack should have being sent off, Puyol was lucky to still be on the pitch.
Malouda ? was truely awful. Lampard showed he can't defend. Essien was poor, but steady. Alex was a lucky man to be on the pitch. Terry "Mr England, Giant balls ect ect" didn't impose himself on the Barcelona front men either.
How to kill a game, Cheslski style
Do you have any experience of goalkeeping? He stopped 2 1 on 1's and made a few saves and commanded his area reasonably well.
Yes his distribution was poor but to say he was 'very poor' is nothing but an ignorant statement.
Sorry Tummy, but in this case i highly disagree with you.
What do people expect from a goalkeeper? A robot that is programmed to catch everything? Honestly, go play 11 a side with your mates and try and be effective in goal... I'd be surprised if you come out and catch one corner all game.
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Exactly what I expected, Barcelona didn't look all that. Neutralised Iniesta and Xavi (who was actually poor anyway) and pretty much cruised it. Can't see Barca doing much at Stamford Bridge.
Lots of wild shots from Barcelona, exactly as they did against us last year, total no shows from many of their players such as Eto'o, Messi and Xavi. Thought Iniesta tried incredibly hard though and Henry was superb in the first half, I still maintain he's been the star of Barcelona's season this past year, he looked so dangerous.
What did surprise me about Barcelona was the petulant attitude from so many of its players, Alves especially, only Iniesta and Xavi seemed to not be going at it all the time with the referee.
On Chelsea's side I thought Mikel was superb which surprised me as I expected him to have a torrid time against fast legs and Terry looked very cool on the few occasions he was needed. On the negative side, Ivanovic in the first half was battered by Henry, stronger in the second and Ballack and Lampard had real games to forget for me.
Valdes - 7 - Never needed to do anything bar one save, but great reactions.
Alves - 4 - One good cross, too much theatrics, I was appalled by it.
Marquez - 5 - Unlucky with injury, but cut a few things close
Pique - 7 - Some lovely passes and runs, looked good in the air too.
Abidal - 5 - Didn't seem to do anything.. nor did he need to.
Messi - 4 - Tackled time and time again and constant slack passing. Not sure if he came out second half.
Xavi - 5 - Poor. Shackled and only a few angled passes caused problems in first half.
Iniesta - 8 - Worked tirelessly, lovely feet and some nice passes. Their best player.
Toure - 6 - Did what he needed to.
Henry - 8 - Threw back the years with some decisive play in the first, looked the most dangerous player by a mile.
Eto'o - 3 - Etwho? Anonymous bar one run after turning Alex.
Cech - 7 - Poor in first half, but needed to make 2 or 3 saves in the second half. Still awful with his handling and kicks though.
Ivanovic - 5 - Awful first half, some superb tackles in the second.
Alex - 5 - Turned a little too easy, too many times.
Terry - 7 - Looked classy when needed, very cool.
Bosingwa - 6 - Much steadier in the second half, bit clumsy throughout though.
Essien - 6 - Handled his side and controlled whoever he faced more often than not but poor distribution.
Mikel - 8 - Solid and calm, very experienced performance beyond his years.
Lampard - 3 - Might as well have not been on the pitch, worst player tonight.
Ballack - 4 - Could have gone off instead of Lampard, kept for height clearly. Ran lots, did nothing.
Malouda - 6 - Always wanted to move, but no one to pass to.
Drogba - 5 - Could have worked harder, stood still rather than running his lines. Unlucky not to score though.
Lots of wild shots from Barcelona, exactly as they did against us last year, total no shows from many of their players such as Eto'o, Messi and Xavi. Thought Iniesta tried incredibly hard though and Henry was superb in the first half, I still maintain he's been the star of Barcelona's season this past year, he looked so dangerous.
What did surprise me about Barcelona was the petulant attitude from so many of its players, Alves especially, only Iniesta and Xavi seemed to not be going at it all the time with the referee.
On Chelsea's side I thought Mikel was superb which surprised me as I expected him to have a torrid time against fast legs and Terry looked very cool on the few occasions he was needed. On the negative side, Ivanovic in the first half was battered by Henry, stronger in the second and Ballack and Lampard had real games to forget for me.
Valdes - 7 - Never needed to do anything bar one save, but great reactions.
Alves - 4 - One good cross, too much theatrics, I was appalled by it.
Marquez - 5 - Unlucky with injury, but cut a few things close
Pique - 7 - Some lovely passes and runs, looked good in the air too.
Abidal - 5 - Didn't seem to do anything.. nor did he need to.
Messi - 4 - Tackled time and time again and constant slack passing. Not sure if he came out second half.
Xavi - 5 - Poor. Shackled and only a few angled passes caused problems in first half.
Iniesta - 8 - Worked tirelessly, lovely feet and some nice passes. Their best player.
Toure - 6 - Did what he needed to.
Henry - 8 - Threw back the years with some decisive play in the first, looked the most dangerous player by a mile.
Eto'o - 3 - Etwho? Anonymous bar one run after turning Alex.
Cech - 7 - Poor in first half, but needed to make 2 or 3 saves in the second half. Still awful with his handling and kicks though.
Ivanovic - 5 - Awful first half, some superb tackles in the second.
Alex - 5 - Turned a little too easy, too many times.
Terry - 7 - Looked classy when needed, very cool.
Bosingwa - 6 - Much steadier in the second half, bit clumsy throughout though.
Essien - 6 - Handled his side and controlled whoever he faced more often than not but poor distribution.
Mikel - 8 - Solid and calm, very experienced performance beyond his years.
Lampard - 3 - Might as well have not been on the pitch, worst player tonight.
Ballack - 4 - Could have gone off instead of Lampard, kept for height clearly. Ran lots, did nothing.
Malouda - 6 - Always wanted to move, but no one to pass to.
Drogba - 5 - Could have worked harder, stood still rather than running his lines. Unlucky not to score though.
He flapped at a things when he could have caught then.
He made a couple of decent saves.
His distribution was awful.
Alas, I supose making one or two good saves makes him have a good game ?
And yes I do have expirence of goalkeeping
Caporegime
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WAs pretty dissappointed with Barca in terms of cheating. Alves was an utter disgrace, when you have a game with Drogba in and he's no where near the worst injury faking tit on the pitch something is seriously wrong. LIkewise Henry made a huge meal of a tiny tap on the shin because the tap itself was small and in no way could possibly cause the 3ft jump into the air henry performed before going down.
Likewise Iniesta's dive towards the penalty box was pathetic, the "contact" which no replays really showed well, didn't look near the face, was a good 2 yards outside the box and frankly didn't look like anything at all. Ballack extended his arm across the runner which almost every player does all game long every game of the year. Doesn't help that the coverage included poor replays and in shocking quality thanks to ITV.
Chelsea had their divers too, Drogba obviously and others. no where near a fan of Ballack but even if in pain you can get yourself up, he saw he was needed got up and limped back, he was subbed due to injury right after so I think calling him a faker there is a little harsh.
Overall a well defended game with for me the right back playing very well overall and a really weird 60 yard run backwards towards the end of the game which looked ridiculous but was done at some serious speed and for no real reason
You can only really take from that game that Chelsea's defence is improving again while Barca without loads of time on the ball and space to break into aren't remotely as good as people think.
Likewise Iniesta's dive towards the penalty box was pathetic, the "contact" which no replays really showed well, didn't look near the face, was a good 2 yards outside the box and frankly didn't look like anything at all. Ballack extended his arm across the runner which almost every player does all game long every game of the year. Doesn't help that the coverage included poor replays and in shocking quality thanks to ITV.
Chelsea had their divers too, Drogba obviously and others. no where near a fan of Ballack but even if in pain you can get yourself up, he saw he was needed got up and limped back, he was subbed due to injury right after so I think calling him a faker there is a little harsh.
Overall a well defended game with for me the right back playing very well overall and a really weird 60 yard run backwards towards the end of the game which looked ridiculous but was done at some serious speed and for no real reason
You can only really take from that game that Chelsea's defence is improving again while Barca without loads of time on the ball and space to break into aren't remotely as good as people think.
Malouda ? was truely awful. Lampard showed he can't defend. Essien was poor, but steady. Alex was a lucky man to be on the pitch. Terry "Mr England, Giant balls ect ect" didn't impose himself on the Barcelona front men either.
How to kill a game, Cheslski style
Did you watch the same game as me? Malouda ran his socks off and did well to provide cover. Yes he wasn't brilliant on the ball but he was lucky if he could see more than 1 player ahead of him (drogba)
Terry had his best game of the season so i won't even bother justifying myself there.
And yes I do have expirence of goalkeeping
Well i can't help but assume that experience is a very poor one.
I've played in goal for my secondary school, sunday league and 5 a side. i'm not claiming to be a brilliant goalkeeper but to say cech was 'very poor' is comical.
Yep. I've said all along, superb in a bad league. Could they hack it in the EPL? Sure, but I don't think they'd look like the superstars they are hailed as.
They play very similar to Arsenal, very intricate and are revered in the same manor.
Terry had his best game of the season ?
He's being really poor all season then ?
That was Anti football.
Yes Malouda ran his socks off, but his touch was poor, he gave the ball away and gave free kicks away, not to mention his on running love afair with Alves.
*yes I know Alves was diving left right and center*
Cech was flapping at the ball, he doesn't look confident, I saw a couple of cross's he pushed out when he should have caught them.
His distrubtion was awful, I'll say it again, making one or two good saves doesn't make you have a good game, it makes you average, coupled with **** distribution, and not catching the ball / ect ect makes him poor.
I'm not anti Chelski, please don't pull that card.
I just thought Chelski were really poor, in just putting 10 men behind the ball.
*btw, primary school, high school, college, 5 a side, under 18's, pub team
Caporegime
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what twaddle, do people watch football anymore or just listen to commentators and question nothing. Like I saw comments about Arshavin looking tired because the commentator said he was after two poor touches, after that till the end of the game he made countless runs, but that tiredness crap stuck in peoples heads.
Arsenal don't in any way play old Arsenal or current Barca football anymore, if we're not lobbing it up to a loan frontman we're giving it to Fabregas to put a throughball into Mr talentless Tap in. We don't overplay, or pass to much looking for the perfect goal, we used to, we used to have wingers with speed aswell. We used to be counter attack Arsenal which we rarely rarely do anymore.
Barca are good, they'd be good in our league, any team can sit the bus infront of ANY EPL team and grind out a draw, its been done against each of the top 4 countless times over the years. Thats football, sometimes it doesn't work, , I wasn't saying that Barca are crap, just not as magically far beyond any other team thats ever played that everyone seems to have been pretending they are of late.
the EPL isn't much better than la liga, its gotten hugely worse in the past couple years, the only difference is a huge number of teams have switched to killing game 4-5-1 tactics, which means English sides are better at countering it. Spanish league the worst teams, many of them, will still go all out attack even on Barca even at the Nou Camp. Its an entertainment league and they simply aren't used to playing a kill the game 4-5-1, that in no way means they can't.
EDIT:- as for cech, he was poor, the difference is in the holding onto the ball, he's clearly very hesitant/scared of holding the ball when theres a real chance of a striker/anyone coming and smacking into him to challenge for the ball, he doesn't want to hold the ball and go down with people landing on his head. understandable, but still poor, multiple times he could have caught the ball in the crowd but he did a useless punch which went straight back to barca or out for a throw in. 3 years ago there were all things he'd catch with ease and turn into posession and relieving the pressure on his team, in that sense he was very poor as he encouraged the pressure on the team. Still not a bad shot stopper, vastly improved in his past 3 or so games on the 4-5 before that, but the whole team is improving, so less pressure on his goal, the more confidence he's been getting.
Calling lampard poor defensively is a joke, he was part of a side that kept a 0-0 against a VERY good team at home. He was taken off as there was little offensively for him to do and with that in mind someone better defensively was going to be a good idea, aswell as protect him from any yellow cards, injuries and so forth for the return leg where they'll want to be attacking more.
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We really need to wait til the stamford bridge game, they could still whack 3 past them. Full credit to Chelsea tho, they played very well. Defense was superb, especially Ivanovic and Terry. Now for tomorrow! 
I personally don't think that the Premier League is the "best league" in the world. It simply has the most money.
Spain is a far more exciting and fun league, not to mention far more about football, any League where it hails stoke for staying in the league and playing "direct" football is ****.
Sorry, it's only sky and a few other broadcasters that say its the best league in the world, you don't watch every league the world to be able to judge.
Sky pay the wages of the Prem, of couse they are going to say its the best league in the world, bad marketing if they don't. /rant
If that was an Italian team playing like that they would get absolute slaughtered ..... so what is the difference ?
Chelsea couldn't pass the ball between themselves and they've spent how much money over the last few years, what a joke.
You don't expect every team to play like Barca ... but when you get to the semi final of the champions league in 2009 you expect a team to play better than what Chelsea did.
Chelsea couldn't pass the ball between themselves and they've spent how much money over the last few years, what a joke.
You don't expect every team to play like Barca ... but when you get to the semi final of the champions league in 2009 you expect a team to play better than what Chelsea did.
I watched Arsenal completely overplay it against Middlesbrough, so they do still overplay, although, I agree, without Hleb and Flamini there, there is less Chuckle Brothers passing. But it's not what you'd call direct either (barring Fabregas' second goal, which was).
I never stated Barcelona are crap, I simply said they wouldn't look the superstares they are being heralded as. In Spain you get a laughable amount of time to look pretty and the average standard just isn't competitive. The league table sums it all up, Barcelona are top, Real Madrid just behind, but 3rd place are almost 20 points behind Madrid, you just wouldn't get that in England because it's so competitive.
I never stated Barcelona are crap, I simply said they wouldn't look the superstares they are being heralded as. In Spain you get a laughable amount of time to look pretty and the average standard just isn't competitive. The league table sums it all up, Barcelona are top, Real Madrid just behind, but 3rd place are almost 20 points behind Madrid, you just wouldn't get that in England because it's so competitive.