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Chelsea V Barcelona (CL) Tues 20th Feb 19:45 UK


coco
Eton Blue at the Chelsea Megastore

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2 hours ago, robdog said:

Lovely breakdown of the match from Ruud Gullit & Henrik LarssonI just found this graphic & I had to add it here - just craziness if you think about it

Apparently its also exactly even on away goals too. Too lazy to check.

I am mad. "In 9 attempts" sounds worse than "Never has managed" :(

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JM7, yeah exactly, most people here would have jump right on Conte, as they usually does. It`s fun when i see the comments before the match, o no false 9 again, " we will lose badly", " our end" and such priceless comments from people who think they know better the game then Conte. Ahahhahahah.
I hope most people realize now why Conte is the Chelsea manager, and they are here and stop putting such idiotic comments about Conte and not knowing what tactics and player to put into the game.

The tactic was spot on, and we was the better team 100%. That mistake in our half was so so dumb.

We have terrible defence i said this many times. We concede so many goals, but most people here are just point at 1 player - Cahill.

Barcelona get lucky. This match could very well end 3-0 for us. But i do have high hope for the rematch. But let`s be fair, they have the better team and they play with this style for like forever. And let`s not forget this Barcelona team beat Real Madrid at Bernabeu with 3-0.
And 1-1 was not good result on your stadium before 15 years. For me it`s not a bad result.

If we have some luck in the rematch we can easily beat them 2-0 or 2-1, even 2-2 is good result for us.

We just need solid defence there.

 

 

 

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That was a good performance from us actually better than 2012 in an attacking sense ..we looked so dangerous when we got in and around their box and we created more chances . We kept Suarez and messi really quite, if it wasn't  for a mistake we would have won..barca never looked like scoring. On another day we would have won 3-1 and Willian would have had a hatrick. I feel if we score 2 goals away that would be enough to see us go through. Be proud guys we made barca look a mediocre team . We deserved the win .

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I think we can be a bit more optimistic ahead of the second leg. In this game we showed we can contain them - had we avoided the mistake, Barca would have only one chance! Against the best or, at lest, top 3 attack in the world we managed to concede only one - and not a clear cut - chance. I think that we should have been more accurate when going forward, and had we been -  we would get so many more chances. Also, while the team defended, we pressed Barca - successfully - in their half and most of the time managed to incur a ball loss. We also had good understanding of when to pressure. For example, every time the ball was played to the flank, we  waited for the moment to attack their full back with our wing back. This resulted in the ball-nearest CB to go high. When Barca tried to adjust their game in order to cope better with the press, the wing back would push less high and posit himself closer to the centre in order to cover the long ball behind him. This showed me we came very prepared, Conte did a great job tactically (yes, the players some time relinquished the ball for too long, but for understandable reasons - the pressure, playing against Baca etc'. You could see Conte, in some footage, telling the players to press more, higher...).

I think that Conte is an elite manager, and he showed it today. Obviously, playing in Camp Nou would be a different ball game, however I can see us going through. We will attack more, press them even more and defend less, but I think given the game today, we can be optimistic. Also, this good performance can impact our tough games ahead against City, United and Baca. If we glean 3 wins, I will tattoo Conte to both ass cheeks. Luckily, odds are slim.

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9 hours ago, Osgood is Good said:

I wasn't knocking Christensen, just trying to explain to another poster that a ball across the box is a no no, because the other poster didn't think it was a mistake.

Of course. I see your point. Sometimes however when team tactic is to play out from the back you will at some point have to play across the back.

It's very difficult to manage and most times that's where you will get punished when teams press if you insist to play out from the back.

Can't remember what game it was but I think it may have been against Arsenal when we were a goal up and Willian had the ball could have booted it up the field but because of play out the back tactics he tried to do so by dribbling his way out of the press and got dispossessed leading to their equalizer.

I think the managers can set up the team tactic as play out the back but leave the players to execute it how they see fit depending on the circumstance.

Now if Cahill had made that mistake i would have been livid as he is already a mature and fully developed player but with Christensen these are the moments that help his development in reading danger better. 

Like I said earlier, annoying it happened and tough mountain to climb but we know what our boys are capable of.

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Christensen's mistake will do more good than harm to him. He is a cracking defender and his game will only improve from here.

Unlucky last night, we deserved to win. It could have been 3-1 to us by the end, if only Willian's shots had gone in.

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17 minutes ago, mojo said:

Yesterday was the first time I saw Christiansen sh*tscared out of his pants. He was so calm and composed in all of his previous games. 

Think that's a bit of an exaggeration!

He had the one in the first half where he sliced the ball and it went out for a corner and then 2nd half, the bad mistake which led to the Barca equiliser. Other than that, he was good and calm but I guess that was probably the biggest and most important game of his career to date, so it's no wonder there were nerves.

Think we have to accept that a young player like Christensen WILL make mistakes - same with Ampadu when he plays. All a learning process and it's always gonna happen - just unfortunate hat last night it cost us. Senior pro's still make the same mistakes - Pedro in the first half last night did pretty much the same thing and a couple of games back Moses header put an opponent clean through.

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Proud of the boys last night. They all fought for the shirt and were unlucky to come away from that game with a draw, which Barca didn't deserve. Messi? Who's Messi? Willian was head and shoulders better than Messi last night, he was simply magnificent. Conte got the tactics spot on and I hold my hands up to getting that wrong. The only criticism I would give him is that he should have brought on Giroud and not Morata and he should have done it earlier. Barca were yet again extremely lucky to get the draw having a goal gifted to them by Christensen. All to play for at the Nou Camp. We are massive underdogs but if we play as well as we did last night and defend as well, we will have some kind of chance, Can't say it's going to be easy though. I really didn't think Barca looked like the best side in the world after seeing REal Madrid Vs PSG last week. Both of those teams looked far better as do Man City. I think a lot of this adulation is hype by the media.

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Firstly, spot on tactics from the manager. Certainly knew better than me.

Being disappointed with a draw only highlights how good we were yesterday. Willian looked like the best player in the world and deserved at least one more goal.

Horrible mistake from poor Christensen but the young lad will only learn from that. I felt like Azpi got to that ball before Iniesta though and that he for some reason got to ball under his legs when going for the tackle.

After our showing yesterday i think this tie is wide open now. Eliminate mistakes at Camp Nou and performe at a similar level and we have a great chance to go through.

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9 hours ago, Osgood is Good said:

Understand your points, however, not playing the suicide pass, or kicking out/up field would not have resulted in a Barca goal from that situation.

And for me thats the kind of thing he needs to learn and hopefully will from last night. The best defenders we have had know when to play out or when to just get bloody rid, I really hope conte hasnt instructed them to be robotic and always play out, managers need to know when to allow players to think for themselves.

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I thought the team collectively played well and Conte git his tactics spot on.

For me the standouts were Willian, Dave and Fabregas. Thought they were excellent.

I was pleased the referee had a good game, I was worried we’d be let down by the ref again but we weren’t. 

Unfortunately I think giving the goal away will prove costly but it doesn’t take away from how well we played.

Barca are still a set of a cheating cnuts though. Alba and Suarez are terrible divers. Still just looking at Barca as a team you can see they aren’t what they were even a few years ago. I was convinced Barca would win this years CL (they still may) but now not so much.

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1 hour ago, brakeit said:

JM7, yeah exactly, most people here would have jump right on Conte, as they usually does. It`s fun when i see the comments before the match, o no false 9 again, " we will lose badly", " our end" and such priceless comments from people who think they know better the game then Conte. Ahahhahahah.
I hope most people realize now why Conte is the Chelsea manager, and they are here and stop putting such idiotic comments about Conte and not knowing what tactics and player to put into the game.

The tactic was spot on, and we was the better team 100%. That mistake in our half was so so dumb.

We have terrible defence i said this many times. We concede so many goals, but most people here are just point at 1 player - Cahill.

Barcelona get lucky. This match could very well end 3-0 for us. But i do have high hope for the rematch. But let`s be fair, they have the better team and they play with this style for like forever. And let`s not forget this Barcelona team beat Real Madrid at Bernabeu with 3-0.
And 1-1 was not good result on your stadium before 15 years. For me it`s not a bad result.

If we have some luck in the rematch we can easily beat them 2-0 or 2-1, even 2-2 is good result for us.

We just need solid defence there.

 

 

 

Cahill wasn't playing and 0 chances created by Barca :face_palm:

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Fantastic performance, I’m so proud of the lads. Luck wasn’t on our side last night, hit the post twice, and they capitalised on a mistake.

Despite that they have played out of their skins and deserve all the credit they get.

Also a special mention to Messi, I thought he was a great professional last night. I’ve always seen him as abit of a cheat but he played like a true professional and never made a meal out of any tackles he received.

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7 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

The false 9 was putting too much pressure on the defense, the attackers couldn't keep the ball long enough. This is why i hate the false 9 formation.

Conversely, the false 9 with 2 around him was the reason Willian and Pedro found themselves in so much space at times, their defenders had no idea who to pick up, especially when Hazard came out of the false 9 position, drifting wide or deep etc. Umtiti was running around chasing shadows at times, there was one play where Willian passed by Hazard who was coming out of the area, both Pique and Umtiti just let him go and if the pass had came he was completely clear. 

I dont think we had the centre forward available to hold the ball up anyway to allow us time to get up the pitch, Morata especially just cant do it, Giroud is better but also not exactly a Drogba`esqu player.

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27 minutes ago, dkw said:

Conversely, the false 9 with 2 around him was the reason Willian and Pedro found themselves in so much space at times, their defenders had no idea who to pick up, especially when Hazard came out of the false 9 position, drifting wide or deep etc. Umtiti was running around chasing shadows at times, there was one play where Willian passed by Hazard who was coming out of the area, both Pique and Umtiti just let him go and if the pass had came he was completely clear. 

I dont think we had the centre forward available to hold the ball up anyway to allow us time to get up the pitch, Morata especially just cant do it, Giroud is better but also not exactly a Drogba`esqu player.

Just doesn't create any clear cut chances though, its more of an away formation or setting up defensively. You can't just hope it will work every now and then during the game and the majority of the time the ball is going back to Barca, you need the defence to be perfect for the whole game and one mistake and they are in.

The shots Willian had wasn't down to the false 9 and Pedro didn't do alot with the ball, Hazard on the left and a forward would have caused more problems. Hazard done more in 8 mins than the rest of the game.

Morata can hold the ball up plus has speed and movement.

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Just watched the game back. Have to say I think that it's harsh to single out Christensen for the goal as many of the pundits did tonight. It's a high risk pass but I think playing out the way we did all night Andreas has a right to expect a bit more from Fabregas. I realise fatigue is a factor but he was caught flat footed again at a crucial moment. Dave's lunge didn't help either. That said, hope the young man learns from this. It's great to see one of our own on the big stage with his best years ahead of him.

Overall I thought we were very solid. Conte's gameplan worked to a tee. I was skeptical of the false 9 given recent results but the extra movement made all the difference. 

Still in it for the away leg and how many of us thought that was a possibility two and a bit weeks ago? Barca are probably the favourites to win it all and by rights we should have beaten them tonight. Says to me the club needs to continue to have faith in Conte and his methods. A couple of extra reinforcements would do wonders. 

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Regarding Christensen's pass - it was a bad pass, the wrong pass, and the fact that Fabregas/Azpilicueta failed to dig him out of the hole doesn't change that fact. On the plus side, you can pretty much guarantee that he will never do anything like that again. He will be a slightly better player as a result of the experience gained last night.

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Very proud of the performance last night after some of the god awful negativity I read on here before the game especially about the line up and formation. We were the better side arguably and it says a lot that we were disappointed to draw when most were expecting a hammering. The tactics were spot on and literally one lapse cost us however I think we can go to barca and set up the same in confidence. 

Will be a tough task now with that away goal but we are chelsea and we love doing things the hard way. This tie is not over yet

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34 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

Just doesn't create any clear cut chances though, its more of an away formation or setting up defensively. You can't just hope it will work every now and then during the game and the majority of the time the ball is going back to Barca, you need the defence to be perfect for the whole game and one mistake and they are in.

The shots Willian had wasn't down to the false 9 and Pedro didn't do alot with the ball, Hazard on the left and a forward would have caused more problems. Hazard done more in 8 mins than the rest of the game.

Morata can hold the ball up plus has speed and movement.

I think you're wide of the mark here. With a striker we would have seen just as little of the ball and caused none of the issues on the counter.

Busquets would have just sat in the passing lane ahead of Morata and especially Giroud and they would have been invisible. You win 50-60% percent of aerial duels at best and with how deep we were it would have been very hard to win the second balls. 

As it was Hazard and Willian were able to use their movement and combinations to cause issues for the Barcelona defenders in a way we wouldn't have otherwise.  Different of course when we are playing high up the pitch against lesser opposition. But tonight it was the right move.

 

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36 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

Just watched the game back. Have to say I think that it's harsh to single out Christensen for the goal as many of the pundits did tonight. It's a high risk pass but I think playing out the way we did all night Andreas has a right to expect a bit more from Fabregas. I realise fatigue is a factor but he was caught flat footed again at a crucial moment. Dave's lunge didn't help either. That said, hope the young man learns from this. It's great to see one of our own on the big stage with his best years ahead of him.

Fair play for sticking up for him but come on it was a mistake, clear as day. Whether it's Barcelona or AFC Fylde it's defending 101 that you simply don't put your teammates under pressure with a square pass across goal unless you know for sure the man you're passing to is free. It's easy to say in hindsight I know but as soon as Christensen kept the ball from going for a corner he should have anticipated Barca's press and just hoofed it as JT would have done.

Edited by the special one
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2 minutes ago, the special one said:

Fair play for sticking up for him but come on it was a mistake, clear as day. Whether it's Barcelona or AFC Flyde it's defending 101 that you simply don't put your teammates under pressure with a square pass across goal unless you know for sure the man you're passing to is free. It's easy to say in hindsight I know but as soon as Christensen kept the ball from going for a corner he should have anticipated Barca's press and just hoofed it as JT would have done.

It was poor execution of the pass but Fabregas was in space and should have been ready for the pass as he wanted in milliseconds before. After that Azpi and Tbo should have done much more to prevent it from being a goal. A culmination of errors that stemmed from a poor pass led to the goal last night. 

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