** Uefa Champions League, Semi-final ** *spoilers*

Absolutely. Their work ethic of 2 men on every man worked incredibly well and you could see Chelsea were trying to get Drogba in the hole between the 2 CB's which often opened up massively due to the system Barcelona employed. It worked once with Drogba almost scoring and almost worked again, only a good tackle stopping him - this was also the case with Puyol's last ditch tackle on Malouda.

I think Anelka's pace in that gap would have caused some real problems.
 
I don't think GH felt he needed to risk Anelka as he was on a booking and he'll probably partner Drogba next week at some stage.
 
I don't think Barcelona or Messi were that bad last night, it was only the fact that Barcelona weren't clinical enough that it stayed 0 - 0, they could have scored on a number of occasions. Messi had at least 2 players, sometimes 3 or 4, around him every time the ball headed his way, and they were good Chelsea players who were not going to let him play, he wasn't particularly bad and played some good football, but he was never going to shine in a game where the other team were good enough and determined enough to neutralise anybody
 
Good performance from chelsea.
Only thing that really annoys me is the UK press hailing it as a great hard fought and honourabe battle.
Whereas if liverpool use such tactics (Barca 07) , the press hail it as un-imaginative, bus parking and bad for sport.
Ho hum.
 
NokkonWud said:
They mentioned this on TalkSport yesterday, saying "Tomorrow's Discussion: Barcelona. Are they all that?"

We, as the British viewers have always had a tendency to lean on giving more credit than it's due outside of our own leagues. It was only last year that Ronaldo wasn't the best player in the World, it was Messi, but I can guarantee if Man Utd had Messi and Barcelona had Ronaldo it would be the other way around. Now this season we have Man Utd/Liverpool aren't the best team, Barcelona are, they're destroying everyone.

I think the fact that the last 2 games where Barcelona have been unable to score at home being against 2 English sides a year apart shows something for the quality of La Liga.
Click to expand...

What. They were joking with regards to Adrian Durham about his 'are they all that' debate he's had in the past. I bet you tonight Durham will criticise Chelsea for their tactics.

English teams are currently better at defending and closing down space than the rest of europe. The fact that the last two games where the top English teams couldn't compete with Barça technically at the Camp Nou say's a lot.

If Barça defend well and have a bit of luck they will win the champions league this season.
 
Alpherah said:
Good performance from chelsea.
Only thing that really annoys me is the UK press hailing it as a great hard fought and honourabe battle.
Whereas if liverpool use such tactics (Barca 07) , the press hail it as un-imaginative, bus parking and bad for sport.
Ho hum.
Click to expand...

Almost as bad as Gerrard stealing all the headlines despite Lampard being the better and more consistent player all season?
 
Yet Gerrard got nominated for players player?

Gerrard receives much more attention than Lampard regardless of his performances. In my opinion Lampard has had his best season to date.
 
Probably because they needed to put a Liverpool player in this season due to their improved effort at the title, and Gerrard has been immense at times ..
 
PFA has nothing to do with the press, lol .. sorry.
Its voted by players (And result fixed by the FA :p).

Footballers are thick, otherwise how did Giggs win it?


Lampard's had another good season, but it has nothing to do with press bias.
If anything all it proves is the players dont like him .. maybe its because hes arrogant? or hard to get along with? (I dont know, but its obvious after his performances since 05 that the other players really, really, dislike him)
 
Alpherah said:
but its obvious after his performances since 05 that the other players really, really, dislike him)
Click to expand...

What performance are you referring to? I've met giggs and he was boring as hell, not that he wanted to be nice to me but he could have shown some interest. (autograph session, he didn't say 1 word)

Lampard on the other hand always comes across as professional, intelligent and capable of having a laugh.

Gerrard is just an uneducated ****(ignorant, i have not a clue how well educated he is, 100% assumption based on interviews/tv analysis)...I do respect him for being loyal to Liverpool though
 
As i said its nothing to do with my percieved oppinion.
But the players vote, and year after year look elsewhere then Lampards direction, what other reason can it be?

-edit-
to clarify my other post, his performances since 05.. i mean, im reffering to his on the pitch performances :P hes been top class (And that sentence hurts haha :p) yet players over-look him every year.
 
Gibbs and Silvestre are doubtful. Hope Gibbs can make it, Silvestre is awful. If they are both injured we are in trouble.
 
I've noticed that Silvestre is a good 12-14lb above his fighting weight. He's really filling his shirt :p

Really looking forward to tonights game and I just can't call it either way. Local radio are speculating that he will go with Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo & Berbatov up top with Anderson & Carrick in midfield. I think there are goals for us thats for sure. I would just hate for us to get to 2-0 up and be coasting to loose a goal in the last five minutes or so.

Wenger has said as much the way to stop Utd playing is to attack us. All makes for a very interesting and mouthwatering tie
 
The only hope for Arsenal is to score tonight, 'cos they're so unlikely to keep a clean sheet it's not worth defending really. 6 - 6 is my prediction.
 
----------VDS---------
Rick---Rio---Vidic---Evra
--Carrick----Anderson--
Ronaldo-------Rooney--
---Berbaflop-Tevez--

IF he goes with that and Arsenal attack us from the off we are ****ed, if Arsenal sit back and paly it cagey we will rip them to bits.

If Silvestre and Gibbs are injured it will be a blessing, so glad RvP is out as well so we only have to contain the Elephant washer and Eduardo and we will be sweet :)
 
It will be Ade up top on his own, Nasri, Denilson, Cesc, Song and Walcott in the middle. Potentially this is going to be a good match with lots of goals!

Pity Arshavin isnt playing / on the bench, just seen these stats:

2008/09 Premier League
Games 9 Goals 6 Assists 4
 
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