9 hours ago, Davey Baby said:

We used to have men, now we have boys.

 

6 years ago we were played off the park by Barca but we came back from 2-0 down with 10 men at their place to draw. That's because we had men.

 

We played well today, didn't get the breaks, but football is about winning, and too many times this season we've seen we're brittle. That's because we have boys.

 

Courtois is not a man. He's a little boy. Go away and sign for Real. We won't miss your bleating.

 

Morata? Can we swap him for Andy Carroll? Will anybody be stupid enough to take him?

 

Fabregas? Not a man, really is he? A far better natural footballer than Lampard but Lampard was a man. Etc etc.

 

Willian and Kante deserve a lot of credit. Hazard was quiet unfortunately. The best thing we can say about Giroud is that he's not Morata. Mind you, that's the best thing you can say about anybody. I thought Giroud did quite well, but he's not a man. Didier Drogba was a man.

 

Our WBs aren't good enough. They're good, but not good enough. They're not men. Ashley Cole was a man. Ivanovic, now there was a man. 

 

I think we need to sign some men, and start playing Ampadu. Ampadu's a man even though he's a boy. I hope you follow.

Have to agree DB. Said same thing to my son last night as the third Barca goal went in. We are missing men / characters / mentally strong players that can up their game and you get a bit more out of them when it matters - call it what you want. If we had had one or two of them in last night the outcome might have been different. It's why Arsenal have struggled for so long sine they replaced the likes of Adams, Keown, Dixon & Vierra with good technical players but soft lads. You need a balance and currently, we ain't got it. 

Edited March 15, 20188 yr by Nibs

Apparently the stewards after the game were attacking the chelsea fans:

https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/84js55/police_and_stewards_brutally_beated_chelsea_fans/

https://mobile.twitter.com/_robbbbbbb/status/974055589486694400/video/1

Edited March 15, 20188 yr by Zeta

I have seen some of our fans complaining about Conte's plan!! Well: when he plays defensive, he gets blamed! When he plays offensive, he gets blamed! When he plays balanced btw defense and attack, he get blamed too!! Yesterday's tactics were on point !!! But our inaccuracies (mistakes) cost us big fcuking time as well as our fcuking luck too !!!! This game was a proof that Conte, with proper transfers, can make us Great !!! But I think there's hope for us though : next season, all of our signings might/may/ will (optmistic) improve and be much more prepared than this year!! Plus, experience will be gained, and if we can keep the Hazard, plus 2-3 quality players at midfield (maybe two wingers if Zappa and Palmieri aren't that good eventually) , then we can do good! I mean look at fcuking Kanté !!! this guy run the nou camp and has put to shame all of Barça's team !!! AND IF FABREGAS WOULD HAVE LET HIM SHOOT, he would have scored a great goal ( the one at the 37' minute) and it would have been 2-1 then !!!!! So, some players need to be sold (fab, pedro) or put on a bench for a while (ibid and maybe others) whereas others have done great and should be given more credit (Willian for instance who made me eat my words yesterday again!!) !!

We gave it our all, and were punished by some clinical finishing. 

We played well for a lot of it and were unlucky to not to score more. We hit the wood work.... what.....4 or 5 times over the two legs. 

Courtois was awful last night though, really poor.

Conte's tactics were spot on, we had so many chances, he cant be blamed if players hit the woodwork, or miss, thats on them!

As for the ref thing, I did not imply that he screwed us over (that would be ridiculous to say that !!!), but the fact this punk was giving away soft fouls after soft fouls, booked our players for no apparent reason (i.e the willian yellow was unbelievable) which killed our momentum little by little... this got on my nerves !!! As for the pen, it is debattable whether it was one or not. I am actually ok with his decision, but we all know how this would have been if it was a barça player being fouled!

Edited March 15, 20188 yr by Londonisblue

2 minutes ago, Zola said:

We gave it our all, and were punished by some clinical finishing. 

We played well for a lot of it and were unlucky to not to score more. We hit the wood work.... what.....4 or 5 times over the two legs. 

Courtois was awful last night though, really poor.

Finally someone talking sense !!!

11 hours ago, Davey Baby said:

Our WBs aren't good enough. They're good, but not good enough. They're not men.

I think Alonso has the potential to be a man. He's not quite there yet but the signs are good. 

1 hour ago, Zeta said:

Apparently the stewards after the game were attacking the chelsea fans:

https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/84js55/police_and_stewards_brutally_beated_chelsea_fans/

https://mobile.twitter.com/_robbbbbbb/status/974055589486694400/video/1

Catalonian state thugs.

Que viva España !!!

I don't agree with "Men against Boys" every man put up a fight for the shirt, no one was caught hiding.

Experienced against Inexperienced

You could see they have been there, done it - they have had the experience and know how to punish every opening. 

They knew the importance to punish our mistakes. We were resting on the belief that we would get rewarded eventually for good build up play.

They had the Pique/Busquets/Inesta/Messi experience on their side

The leadership/awareness/management/know how to guide the team to victory 

It's that Cech/Terry/Lampard/Drogba quality that was missing - unfortunately we don't have those types of characters at this time

This team are very reliant on Conte's ability to deliver that experience and knowledge

Having said that we performed brilliantly last night and deserved more, but were undone by errors and the magic of messi

3 hours ago, Zola said:

We gave it our all, and were punished by some clinical finishing. 

We played well for a lot of it and were unlucky to not to score more. We hit the wood work.... what.....4 or 5 times over the two legs. 

Courtois was awful last night though, really poor.

Conte's tactics were spot on, we had so many chances, he cant be blamed if players hit the woodwork, or miss, thats on them!

Gutting thing is it wasn't really clinical finishing, Courtois being sh*t helped.

3 hours ago, Londonisblue said:

I have seen some of our fans complaining about Conte's plan!! Well: when he plays defensive, he gets blamed! When he plays offensive, he gets blamed! When he plays balanced btw defense and attack, he get blamed too!! Yesterday's tactics were on point !!! But our inaccuracies (mistakes) cost us big fcuking time as well as our fcuking luck too !!!! This game was a proof that Conte, with proper transfers, can make us Great !!! But I think there's hope for us though : next season, all of our signings might/may/ will (optmistic) improve and be much more prepared than this year!! Plus, experience will be gained, and if we can keep the Hazard, plus 2-3 quality players at midfield (maybe two wingers if Zappa and Palmieri aren't that good eventually) , then we can do good! I mean look at fcuking Kanté !!! this guy run the nou camp and has put to shame all of Barça's team !!! AND IF FABREGAS WOULD HAVE LET HIM SHOOT, he would have scored a great goal ( the one at the 37' minute) and it would have been 2-1 then !!!!! So, some players need to be sold (fab, pedro) or put on a bench for a while (ibid and maybe others) whereas others have done great and should be given more credit (Willian for instance who made me eat my words yesterday again!!) !!

I would keep Zappa over Moses, letting a player like Moses get a lot of the ball in the attacking third is criminal.

Very odd feeling after last nights game. 

I thought for the majority of the two legs, we played very well.  

In terms of possession, and chances created, it's about as well as we have ever done against Barca. Certainly at the Nou Camp. 

Ultimately, individual errors gifted them their chances, and they took them with ruthless efficiency; for that reason they deserved to go through. 

I don't really get the constant comparisons to 2012, as if the nature of the performances were like chalk & cheese. For the most part, we played better this year and lost. I don't think it was a lack of desire, commitment, heart or spirit that caused it, just the individual errors noted above. Individual errors similar to those that were made by Chelsea players in 2012, but that went unpunished.

To expand further, we were on the rack in 2012 for most of the two legs. Barca missed a penalty, they hit the woodwork, and they fluffed chances they would covert 9 times out of 10, and we survived. 

This year, we hit the woodwork 4 times over two legs, could have had a crucial penalty, and despite creating plenty of chances at the Nou Camp, just couldn't find the back of the net. 

I am not taking anything away from the lion heart performance of 2012; the team defended with their lives and deserve the god like status that that each & everyone of them rightly has. My point, is just that these ties are won and lost by fine margins. In 2012 everything seemed to go our way- it was like we had 8 years of bad luck in the Champions League paid back in one sitting. This year however, we didn't get that bit of lick, that bit of magic that can swing the tie your way. 

So yes, ultimately we weren't good enough, and we did come up short because of individual errors, that unlike 2012, didn't go unpunished. 

Although I think Barca deserve to go through, I think the scoreline flatters them, massively. 

We went toe to toe with them, and despite what the scoreline suggests, I thought we held our own. Things could have very different, and despite the mistakes, I think we gave a good account of ourselves and feel strangely proud of the team. Maybe I am on my own on that front, but compare it to (for example) how United played against (a far inferior)  Sevilla over two legs. A pathetic display that no United fan could be proud of. 

Ok, when all is aid and done we lost, just like United, but I still think there are positives to take from last night. Willian, Kante & Rudiger all outstanding individually. 

Big game against Leicester on Saturday, but play like we did last night (without the mistakes) and I will be just fine with that...

 

 

Edited March 15, 20188 yr by mclovin83

IMO it should have been 1-0 Barca. Easily could have been 1-1 if Alonso nails that free kick. I'm not disappointed in the least with the team as a whole. Tibo blew it in goal and at points our passing was abysmal but we created, we put them on their heals at times. They blocked a hand full of great shots and chances.

Especially Umtiti was massive for Barca, I must admit.    The number of blocks that they put in was impressive, even Pique had a few.

Well I think we should have used up all our bad luck for several seasons to come this year. I'm not saying we deserved to go through, we didn't. I will give Willian, Kante, Alonso and Ruediger my vote, with Giroud getting an honourable mention. The rest were poor and in the case of Courtois, dreadful - how many us that now between his legs? Hazard could see last how far away he is from being a truly world class player - and it's not the first time.

The only positive thing was that the one sided score meant my stress levels remained normal for most of the match.

2 hours ago, Phillip said:

Especially Umtiti was massive for Barca, I must admit.    The number of blocks that they put in was impressive, even Pique had a few.

I never used to rate Umtiti, but he was excellent last night. He kept things simple and he has the knack for being in the right place at the right time...........bastard 

we played naive  compared to Barca , when we attacked they blocked us did cynical fowls on willian   etc but we allowed Messi to run  remember its either the ball or you that gets passed but never both 

2 hours ago, dellaw said:

we played naive  compared to Barca , when we attacked they blocked us did cynical fowls on willian   etc but we allowed Messi to run  remember its either the ball or you that gets passed but never both 

We would of been down to 10 men in no time if we used Barcelona's dirty tactics. One rule for them........

It’s depressing, Barcelona finally beating us by 3 goals even though they didn’t play that well.

I miss the days with Lampard, Drogba etc. We were ready to match anyone in the world.

I don't agree with men and boys argument. Its true but you have to look at the scenarios Players that you're mentioning (Cech,Terry,Cole,Lampard,Drogba) Played this competition on highest level multiple times against world's biggest club. They played and went till SF almost every season. This team(current) is very young as compare the previous one. May be, we have declined as a club despite of winning leagues. But its not kante's or azpi's or hazard's or willian's fault that these guys haven't played the elite competition on the highest level. We, along with every other club just failed to match the status of Real,Barca,Bayern in this decade.

We were really crap. Laughing stock. Goodby to Conte during the summer transfer. Sorry to see you go.

18 hours ago, Zola said:

We gave it our all, and were punished by some clinical finishing. 

We played well for a lot of it and were unlucky to not to score more. We hit the wood work.... what.....4 or 5 times over the two legs. 

Courtois was awful last night though, really poor.

Conte's tactics were spot on, we had so many chances, he cant be blamed if players hit the woodwork, or miss, thats on them!

Watching the game I always felt Chelsea was in it. penalty disallowed didn't help. Poor night for our goalie. Would rather go out like that then how MUFC went out of the Champs league. 

Well that trip to Barca wasn't as enjoyable as the last one...to be honest I went with little expectation...I have come home with frustration...we gift wrapped that tie to the weakest Barca side I've seen us play...we had more shots in both legs than I've seen before, attacked more, got in great positions, but weren't ruthless enough...

meanwhile we chose to defend like a bunch of rookies, gifting four of the worst goals we've ever conceded at this level...so frustrating because in some ways we played far better than I expected at home and away and in others far worse...

This summer we need to buy a leader, a presence...not easy to find, but we lack in this dept after so many legends left...I'd argue we need to go big for a striker again and I'm already tempted to bin Morata off...his attitude, as much as his form, stinks

When watching this match I felt Barca were always reasonably comfortable. they picked their time to attack and score and this did that a couple of times. I think we have a good side and some more experience in major competitions will help develop the squad. 

6 hours ago, bloodyfool0 said:

We were really crap. Laughing stock. Goodby to Conte during the summer transfer. Sorry to see you go.

We weren't crap, and we certainly aren't a laughing stock. Even the media, usually so quick to stick the knife in, gave us kudos and suggested the scoreline flattered Barca. 

Stop being such a drama queen.