Great performance overall, disappointing the manner in which we conceded the goal. 

It's going to be a difficult game away now, especially because barca won't have to push for a goal. 

Hazard on the left second leg though please conte. 

They never outplayed us here. This gives me a lot of hope for ManU and for the Camp Nou.

We've been sloppy passing it around at the back all season, but rarely punished for it. But when you play the best teams, one mistakes is all it takes. Feel sorry for Christensen, he's been good this season. The task now becomes even harder in Spain.

Also, Hazard did so much more in the 8 minutes he played on the left, then the 82 up front. He is utterly wasted playing as a striker.

Yes Andreas made mistakes, did anyone expect him to get through his career without making mistakes ?

I would never have expected you to say that. 

I'm full of surprises here.

Gameplan was right. Almost executed to perfection. Personally I'd have brought on Morata earlier but one mistake cost us. Willian MoM.

Don't think the false number 9 played much in the result, it was more to do with the brilliant defending and some superb performances at the back. The only chances Chelsea created was Willian's 3 pieces of magic so it didn't work going forward and arguably if Conte can't trust Hazard on the wing in big games i actually think tonight we could have done better with a natural forward leading the line. The second Hazard goes to the wing he is twice the player.

My only gripe is Conte taking so long to make a change. 

Other than that I thought the boys played well an should have been up 2-0 before their goal which was down to a mistake that never should have happened. They took their one chance so hats off to them. Let's hope Suarez is OK and doesn't end up in the hospital after being shot toward the end there. 

Edited February 20, 20188 yr by TheChelseaBlues

2 minutes ago, Brutos said:

Defence was great apart from the mistake I don't think you were watching the same match 

I think tibo had one save the make throughout the match

 

I'm talking about 75 minutes on when Barca started going for their goal. Christensen's mistake came from him not handling pressure well.

I can't see us going through now, i know, it's a pessimistic view, but things will be 10x harder in the second leg. No doubt we will go with the false 9 in the next leg, which means Hazard will be even more isolated, Barcelona will be all over us, more so than today, and they will get every decision at home. If you think they got soft fouls tonight, just wait until the second leg.

It's so frustrating conceding that goal, we had them today, they weren't breaking us down. It was the only way they were getting through. That mistake has been coming all season though. We have been woeful playing out of the back all season, it doesn't surprise me that the mistake has come in one of the biggest games of the season.

We need another 2012 miracle to get through this one.

Weird how I didn’t really fancy our chances in Barcelona even with a one nil lead, but it’s sickening to have made it all but impossible with one absolutely unforgivable f**kup at the back. Who in their right mind plays a 40 yard pass across a crowded box against Barcelona. Christ on a bike.

Other than that it was a fantastic underdogs performance and Conte was vindicated in not playing a striker to hang around up front leaving us overstretched in the middle of the park.

Playing it out from the back isn't the problem, if we just cleared the ball all the time Barcelona would have a lot more possession. 

The issue is Christensen struggles in that aspect, every other area he's fine with. He's our best defender at 21 years of age, it's just his distribution is very poor and he'll always struggle playing the ball out from the back. If you watch Christensen on the ball compared to off the ball it's like Jekyll and Hyde it really is, very poor on the ball but very good off it. 

Christensen is still very young, only 21 I think. This is the biggest game of his career. It's unfortunate he's made a big mistake (and a schoolboy one really, never pass it across your own box), but he's still very much learning. I thought Dave f**ked up a bit as well, diving in like that, he should have stood him up and made him do something.

Thought we were brilliant tonight, Conte got his tactics spot on and we definitely deserved to win that, 1 mistake that was punished so it's hard to take. Bit different from some predicting us to get smashed ey! Have some faith lads were f**king mustard when we want to be. We can do these c**ts at the Nou Camp! Come on Chelsea!!!!

I would go for Giroud simply because he can hold it up better and bring others in the game stronger too, this should give us great confidence going into the other big game's

Individual diving. 

Synchronised diving. 

Team diving. 

I bet they are in the shower right now, soap everywhere, slippy as f**k, and not one of them goes down.

We gave it to them on a plate. Christensen messed up and Dave couldn't save the error and they scored. They have the away goal which gives them the advantage. We should have won 3-0. The referee was a plonker and gave nearly everything to Barca. We defended brilliantly until that lapse but we need a target man upfront. We were under pressure for far too long. Better result than I thought but it was a game of what may have been. The Nou Camp is terrifying. We will have to play out of our skins again and maybe Willian or Hazard will have more luck. I'd play Giroud in the second leg.

5 minutes ago, coco said:

Yes Andreas made mistakes, did anyone expect him to get through his career without making mistakes ?

Exactly, players are human, they make mistakes, it's very unfortunate. I feel gutted with how we conceded though, don't think I'd feel as gutted if they'd scored a decent goal.

Edited February 20, 20188 yr by Floyd25

When a team plays with no target man, it is expected that we would play out the back. How many times did we see Conte shouting at Tibo to play it short. Andreas tried to that exactly. 

When Andreas had the ball, Cesc was there to receive the ball, punting it upfield would have resulted it in coming back at us in no time. The pass was not perfect, but hell, cesc makes a meal out of it. Actually makes a gesture of leaving the ball, specially against a team who press like barca do. People blaming andreas for the goal are being really unfair to the lad. The far graver mistake was an experienced player like cesc not knowing who is around him to press/get the ball. Azpi going to the ground when he just never needed to and infact 99 out of 100 times, he never would have gone to ground.

3 minutes ago, coco said:

Yes Andreas made mistakes, did anyone expect him to get through his career without making mistakes ?

None the less you don't make a suicide pass 1-0 up against barca after 70 odd minutes, that's not a mistake  it's unnecessarily stupid, but he is young so it's forgivable. 

1 minute ago, Zeta said:

Christensen is still very young, only 21 I think. This is the biggest game of his career. It's unfortunate he's made a big mistake (and a schoolboy one really, never pass it across your own box), but he's still very much learning. I thought Dave f**ked up a bit as well, diving in like that, he should have stood him up and made him do something.

Christensen was fantastic, I don't think anyone is criticising his performance, just the mistake he made and his passing alone. Against Barcelona it's very hard to keep possession so he really had his hardest challenge yet and he got exposed for it. 

Besides that he was solid as a rock as always. 

Respectable result but a bit frustrated given the circumstances. Our tactics were spot on, kept Barcelona locked out for the most part. Maybe, just maybe, this manager of ours knows a thing or two about football?

I don't think christiensen is entirely culpable for the goal either tbh. It was a poor ball, but fabregas should've positioned himself better aswell. 

He's young, he will learn. Bigger players have made worse mistakes in bigger games. 

such a waste :(

3 minutes ago, coco said:

Yes Andreas made mistakes, did anyone expect him to get through his career without making mistakes ?

I don't blame one individual for mistakes like that. Yes, Christensen should have done better but it's something every player has been doing all season for us, the only difference is that Christensen was punished. It's a tactics thing and something Conte hasn't been able to correct. The truly shocking thing is that we keep persisting with it, no matter how many times it has gone wrong.