I think they defended very well. Except for that Henry denied penalty. Let's not forget that Chelsea had Alex in the middle. Bosingwa playing LB. And Ivanovic playing RB. It was a makeshift defence as it is.

And both Bosingwa and Cole are big attack-supporters for Chelsea.

The game plan was for Lampard and Malouda to support Drogba. These were the only two attacking players around. Essien and Ballack were to nullify Iniesta and Xavi. While Lampard and Drogba were to establish themselves against the less physical defence of Barca. Malouda was meant to exploit the space left by Dani Alves, while at the same time help out Bosingwa. I don't think Malouda is that good.

Lampard flopped(great match from Toure). Which meant Drogba was fed scraps. With that cancelling out Chelsea's threat, Barca kept attacking. Heck...even Pique was pushing forward in the second half.

There was only the Bojan miss that can really count. Most of the others were well kept out. Sure there were not brilliant tackles etc...but I don't think that was the plan. It was meant to cut space and stop play.

I do believe though that if Drogba had scored that one-on-one in the first half, the game might have opened up.

This post has been edited by Jack Sparrow: Apr 29 2009, 02:26 PM

I remember dozens of games in which Mourinho's teams didn't follow that approach so I don't know what you're talking about (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I think Chelsea were sheepish and Barcelona insipid. Both teams played a bad game in my view.

Chelsea's players were clueless. Hiddink is a coach that does play defensively when he needs to but always with a plan... Chelsea last did not look to have a plan at all and considering how deep they played and how slow Barcelona were they still conceded a lot of chances. Don't forget Hleb's last minute one-on-one and Henry's chances in the first half. Add the not-given penalty and Krkic's chance and that's too many great chances against a team playing for the clean sheet.

By the way Drogba's finish on that occasion was awful. I can't believe he's paid to hit the ball and he hit it that way... even if Valdes wanted to avoid the ball he couldn't, Drogba shot right at him! And then the effort to go past him was terrible too.

This post has been edited by dst: Apr 29 2009, 02:17 PM

Could very well be .. And Drogba's miss, that was just so poor; once he passed Marquez, I expected the goal.

Second leg is still 50-50, all Barca have to do is score an away goal and that would open the game up to their advantage. Then again, Hiddink does his talking on the pitch where he conducts a very organized and disciplined side .. Hence, I doubt the second leg will be anything spectacular, rather a closed game from Chelsea again. But next time around, Barca will have major problems in defense and would have been drained already after playing Madrid.



Next up United vs Arsenal ... I don't know, but something tells me Wenger's boys will get an away goal, at least .. and I hope they do (IMG:style_emoticons/default/96.gif)

I would love for Arsenal to win this. But they won't.

I guess it's a subjective topic then. I remember more of this type of game where he would score from the counter attack, while you don't.

We don't need to go back far. Just this season will do. Jose's already been criticised for doing nothing but playing simple counterattacks. His scoreline, except for that one match with a Juve (or was it Roma) team in ruins, it's all been staid stuff.

I agree with the bolded part.

Weird, I don't think they looked clueless. They cut spaces too effectively(esp in the first one hour) to be clueless. In any case, they've always been hopeless tacklers. And Mikel is not much.

Don't remember Henry's chances, I just remember Alex flying into him and Henry lying senseless on the ground... both the Hleb and the Krkic shots were towards the end. When Chelsea were probably all pooped. Don't remember Chelsea making many subs.

I do agree though, this was a match Barca could have won.

I agree Chelsea were sheepish. Their plan was to keep Barca stuck with the possession, but no penetration, while hoping Lamps, Malouda and Drogba could somehow fire a quick counter. That was the Plan. Lamps and Malouda flopped (attacking-wise), and fortunately for them, Barca had no Plan B, once the famous 5 were nullified. It also didn't help that Dani Alves seemed to cross a bit like Oddo last seaon.

You say "hoping" and then you say "plan"... these two don't go together... I saw that none of the Chelsea players knew what to do with the ball once they had it on their feet and that shows to me that there was no plan.

Aargh...

I have no time or energy to argue with you. I've been working all day and I need a break. Look..I'm right ok??!! That's all you need to know. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/realmad.gif)

By hope..you know what I mean. When Pirlo finds Kaka in open space. The plan is Pirlo finds Kaka, the hope is Kaka can do something with it. Or when Becks makes crosses into the box looking for Pippo...the plan is Beckham brings Pippo into play, the hope is Pippo does something.

That's what I meant. Unfortunate choice of words.

Here's an article...

I told you So

This doesn't feel like a CL game AT ALL. please god, don't let it be two EPL sides in the final... we deserve more excitement than this.

Arsenal so far have been terrible, with the bad back passes and terrible marking, Almunia pulled a couple of point blank saves already and if it weren't for him they could be 3 down.

They really need to wake up, football can't afford to have Man U in another final!!!

The trouble is that Adebayor as a lone striker in a 4-5-1 simply doesn't work.

Yeah, God forbid English teams keep playing the way they've been doing of late. I mean, Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal, Chelsea 4-4 Liverpool, United 5-2 Spurs, Chelsea 4-3 Bolton all in the past few weeks. Boring, boring England!

I don't want to see another Chelsea v United final (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Com'on Arsenal !!! You can do it !!

You think because you're 10 days older or so you know better!?? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

This is ridiculous... Barcelona had two great chances and a clear penalty not given to them only in the last half hour, how is that stopping them?

(by the way, the writer of that article is ignorant, his articles do not even make sense to me)

Milan have a plan because they know HOW TO do what they're going to do... simply saying we'll give the ball to Kaka is not a plan... there has to be a procedure of doing it. Chelsea had nothing, when they had the ball they just did not know what to do with it... they looked like 2 year olds (none of them Chuck Norris) with a condom on their hand.

This post has been edited by dst: Apr 30 2009, 09:18 AM