Actually he never played for Shalke

He was at some Bundesliga team, perhaps Hamburg or Werder Bremen, I am fairly sure. Lumbering yes, but a threat on corners.

http://sports.yahoo....-225601843.html

did any of you see this? made me laugh

Edited April 25, 201214 yr by cuppatee1992

Robbie should be sitting Drogba down and making him watch his Moscow sending off clockwork orange style until matchday.

We are weaker on paper with crippling suspensions but the pain of that match particularly for Drogba gives me hope that with one last chance, such is the mentality of some of our guys that we might get a win.

Spiller, Drogba is very lucky not to be suspended himself. Do you remember his handball in the second-half, which he even acknowledged, but the referee let play on, even though he had seen it? I thought the ref might go back and book him but he bottled it, as we were already down to 10 men. That was our stroke of luck. I know Drogba's first yellow was harsh, as it appears Fabregas dived, but even still, he was on a yellow and he committed a second bookable offence: deliberate handball. Think of the Bayern player tonight, who gave away the first pen, he got booked, therefore missing the final, and that handball was accidental.

Agreed. As I said in another thread I thought Lamps might have gone off but for the Terry red. But we deserved a little luck with suspensions, surely?

I like that, would be a lot tougher to play against Jose's Madrid.Look like they got a few yellows too, ruled anyone out of the final?

Personally the lesser of two evils but their pace down the wings is worrying.

A strong gust of wind could take Robben out of the game, which only leaves the other wing.

I can see everyone's worries about playing Bayern on their patch, but it's not as if it's going to be a select 3,000 fans to cheer us on against 60,000 Munich fans, it's surely going to be a fair allocation to both sides, 17,500 each, and then the rest corporate, like the FA Cup Final. People are making a huge deal out of it being in the Allianz that I'm not sure I understand.

We dealt with Tottenham's flying pace down the wing relatively comfortably in the FA Cup with Bosingwa playing right back, we can do it again against a better team with better wingers...I think. Ash will need to be on top form, but on the whole I think we have a better midfield, even without Rambo, Lamps and Mikel and probably Essien will need to be on top form, as will Mata (who will surely have more impact in a less defensive game). Drogba will be up for this one so much. Bring it on.

Before the bayern v real game I would have preferred real in the final, mainly because it would have been a less "physical" game and neither team has home advantage.

But now I think real would have been too slick for our depleted and tired squad.

Now bayern play very much like a English team and I think as long as we can keep robben and Ribery quiet and win the midfield battles then we can win this thing.

Luiz and cahill have gotta be on top of there games thow.

It's one game, just 90 minutes, and we only need one goal to take home the trophy!

One things for sure, this time I will be there!

I'm just glad that

They are missing Alaba(great player), Badstuber and Gustavo(great player) aswell. Sort of makes us even in that aspect although we are missing Terry aswell. We can do this!

Left back, left center-back and a central mid who leans left. So that's Bayern's left side in trouble. That's also the side Ribery plays on.

Will this force Ribery to stay deeper, to protect? If so, it relieves pressure on a weak spot for Chelsea at right back. Will Sturridge be given a chance to attack down that side? With Ramires out, perhaps so. Or -- ooh! -- Torres on the right? He's been a solid defender this season, could be a useful idea.

Personally, I think there should be some kind of yellow card amnesty. This spoils the final. But it does make for some interesting match-ups.

Edited April 26, 201214 yr by wxwax

I agree Davey Baby. El Classico killed both teams for their CL chances.

Neither team has had the relentless schedule pressure that Chelsea has had. Furthermore, Madrid had an extra day either side of El Clasico. If that tired them out, it's their own fault for not being fit enough. No sympathy from me.

There were/are pros and cons to facing Bayern just like there would have been to facing Real. The final being in England did not help United last year, true it was Wembely not OT but atill. We know Bayern gain an advantage from being in their own stadium, but they will be missing 3 key players at the back, like we are missing JT, Brana, Ramires and Meireles.

They will be hard to stop scoring, Gomez will love that JT is banned. But we certainly have every chance of getting at their backline as well.

Pros and Cons to facing them. Gomez will love the fact JT is banned, but they are going to be missing a few options at the back. Could leave both sides being got at a fair amount.

We could have beaten Real but we also could have lost to them, just like Bayern. Both sides have a lot of quality, great keepers and very dangerous attacking options.

However not having to come up against Jose is, for me, a bonus.

Interesting thing to say about a Mourinho team, but Bayern were mentally stronger than Real Madrid. They're resilient. They're our match in this regard.

I'm hoping that playing at home will pile the pressure on them and will hurt their flow.

Much happier playing bayern than Madrid. Bayern are a dangerous proposition no doubt but Madrid just have so many weapons. Both teams have important players banned, the one thing i was praying from the match today actually, whoever won it that thier would be suspensions. Here's hoping Munich is going to go down in the history of Chelsea for all the right reasons!! What a fantastic end of the season we ahve to look forward to

Those penalties reminded me again why I hate the prancing horse approach.

Pick your spot, run up and bang it in. This business of making like a ballet dancer with hot peppers in her toes looks silly and it doesn't work. It f**ked up Messi, it f**ked up Ronaldo and it f**ked up Ramos.

If I were manager I wouldn't pick a player for PK's who secretly wanted to be a ballerina.

Edited April 26, 201214 yr by wxwax

Did anyone catch Jose's interview tonight regarding the Chelsea game last night, someone please find it, it was typical Jose!

Bayern's attack is pretty amazing, an equal to Real or Barca imo.

Ribery - Kroos - BS (not going to try and spell his name lol) - Robben and Gomez up top.

Unlike Barca and Real, we do not want Bayern to be able to chuck the ball at Gomez, even more so as we have no JT for the game. Facing them is very dangerous, Barca ended up being without a tip to their arrow with Villa out, but Bayern have that with Gomez and Muller if they use him.

Very, very tough ask to beat them. Though with 3 big defensive options out for them you would hope we can get at them. Can we create enough without Ramires though? We lose pace with him and Meireles out. Can we get the Bison back and use him in the Ramires role?

Credit to both these teams. That was an incredible first twenty minutes. I didnt see any of ET, but I am glad Real and Jose are going to win La Liga at a canter, still a successful year for them.

But bring on those Germans. We can do it, and play them on an almost level footing, rather than as underdogs again.

So Bayern it is...

How much of a threat do you think Robben will be?

Is he better now than he was when he played with us?

What are myour emories about him?

So Bayern it is...

How much of a threat do you think Robben will be?

Is he better now than he was when he played with us?

What are your memories of him?

Crazy Legs! At least that's what us Chels down here used to call him.

He is an obvious threat.

Watched a fair bit of him in the Bundesliga over the last few years: don't feel that he's any better than he used to be for us - he's lost some pace (not much though) which is understandable but I feel that he's probably less selfish/more team orientated than he used to be when assessing his options. Cole will have his hands full and I worry a bit about Ash matching him for pace but it should be an entertaining battle.

My enduring memory of him is not anyone particular goal or him ghosting past players but his total indignation at refereeing/touchline decisions that went against him whereby he'd straighten his arm and ball his fist in exasperation and then just as quickly get over it. For some reason, I've always found this gesture endearing and amusing and it was again on display last night against Real.

Old crazy legs! I miss him and despite his legendary low pain threshhold/propensity for injury I would have him back in blue in an instance.

I would have been scared either way, so I feel nothing new today than I did yesterday.

Wish Lahm and Muller were banned too lol

So Bayern it is...

How much of a threat do you think Robben will be?

Is he better now than he was when he played with us?

What are myour emories about him?

A big one

Yes

Injuries and brilliance

I don't really care about Robben in this game. He is great player but I think Cole is better than Marcelo at defending. They have Ribery, Kroos, Lahm and Gomez who can all hurt you so I don't think we need to put extra emphasis on him. It is still great to watch him play.