Excuse for me for saying this but the Barcelona vs Chelsea was one of the best games I have seen for ages. I have to congratulate our neighbours on an epic performance and wish them well in the final. May be I am going soft or may be it is because QPR are in the premiership, for the moment at least, that I think Chelsea derserve some credit. All that is except for their embarassment of a captain. Once again he blows his head under pressure. So congratulations and thank you for a classic game of foootball that will go down in footbll history. Can we please have Ramires on loan next season he is absolute class. One point though, whilst watching I could not help being taken back to our game against Shaktar. We seemed to absorb pressure like I had never seen and still walked away through the final. Great memories.
Call me old fashioned, but I prefer the teams who play the best football to win trophies. Over the two legs, Barca were by far the better team and can be considered incredibly unlucky not to have progressed having hit the woodwork a handful of times. Over the course of the competition, Barca have deserved their place in the final, Chelsea were also lucky against Benfica. There's nothing I hate more than seeing teams park the bus, Barcelona's weak point is their backline, so why teams like Chelsea decide to sit back and soak up pressure is beyond me.
Because it gets them into the final maybe? Many teams have tried to attack Barca and been done on the counter. They did what they needed to do.
I agree with Fulhamireland, Chelsea don't have the players to beat Barca at their own game, remember we're talking about one of the best teams in history. Lets give them the credit they deserve as found a way to nullify the threat of Messi, Xaxi, Iniesta and co. Not just that, but over 2 legs, with 10 men and losing their other centre back to injury. If Fulham had achieved this against a team technically miles better than us, the last thing we would moan about would be parking the bus. And Ramires' goal was an absolute delight to watch.
So when Mourinho's Inter won the CL, you were pleased they won because of their God-awful negative football? There are teams in La Liga who are far worse than Chelsea but still attack and more often than not get a positive result. Why is everyone referring to Chelsea as if they are a million miles away from Barcelona?
It is very hard to define what is the best football. Pundits gush over Swansea's football, but honestly I find it mind-numbing to watch. I was gripped by el Clasico last week because Real found a good way to beat Barcelona: let them have the ball but don't let them use it. Barca had over 70% possession in that game too, but they didn't deserve to win. Real Madrid played the best football. Barcelona did not deserve to win tonight. Hitting the woodwork from a penalty is not bad luck, it is poor technique (or in Messi's case, bottling it). What is incredibly unlucky is watching one centre-half go off injured in the first half. Barcelona were at home, against a team with 10 men and no recognised centre backs. Yet they didn't get over the line. The whole point of a cup competition is that you are not judged over the course of the competition. Chelsea deserved to get their result tonight, Barcelona were not good enough to get the result they needed. If we just anointed the "best" team every year, there would be no point in being a football fan.
No and I haven't said that I'm pleased Chelsea have reached the final. I'm just saying Chelsea did what they had to do to progress. If they went after Barca while being a man down they would have been destroyed.
It seems to happen to teams that have a passing philosophy, that after a few years, they become to intent on passing for the sake of it, and can not see the openings to take advantage. It happened to Arsenal a few years ago and they haven't recovered. Barcelona are great to watch, but they too have been too intense to keep possession without an end product. They have missed David Villa who was more selfish when it came to wanting to score. Too some extent it happen in Tigana's last season with us, when we just seemed to do one pass too many.
Bandy, you raise some interesting and valid points. I agree that ultimately good football should prevail and that it should be rewarded with success. That said, when you look at the premiership, Arsenal should be winning everything going. On their day they play the best football in the premiership but have been shy of trophies for quite some time. Barcelona do, and I think this is undisputable, play the best club football in Europe, sorry the best attacking football in Europe. What last night showed though is that football is not just about attacking football but also about defending well. Petr Cech was immense in goal last night and should be rewarded with a clean sheet. Ivanovic and Bosingwa played well outside of their comfort zone but again were rewarded with a clean sheet. So although we all love watching attacking flair based football we should discount quality defending when it is done so well. I hark back to us against Shaktar. I remember sitting in the Hammersmith end and being in total admiration for what football I was watching. That said we defended like an army possesed that night and got our rewards. As Chelsea did last night, we defended narrow and crowded the centre of the park making it very difficult for any headway to be made through the middle. I would have in no way wanted the better attacking football team ( Shaktar ) to win that night. I guess that is what makes football such a wonderful game, there are so many styles and tactics involved that strength can be found in many ways. At the end of the day the team with most goals wins and that is all that counts in Cup format. I should say also that as good as Chelsea were last night, Barcelona were incapable of trying anything different last night. They have to learn to be a litlle more flexible when it comes to these tight games. They should have been trying some longer shots and picking up the rebounds, I would be disappointed as a Barca fan today that they were so pigheaded in their tactics. COYW
I haven't seen the game, but I agree with Froggy's original post - well done to Chelsea (although I'm typing that through gritted teeth). It sounds like it was an extraordinary match, and a reminder that good football comes in lots of different forms. Let's just hope they don't pull it off again in the final.
Agreed with Froggy. Well done Chelsea on beating Barcelona. 'Purists' will bemoan Chelsea's tactics but the simple fact is that Barca were found out, and it was in no small part down to the man who was sacked from West Brom. There's no rule in football saying you have to play tippy-tappy 'Total Football' - Chelsea didn't try to play that game because if they did, they'd lose, as would many (if not all) teams playing Barca. If every year the team who plays the best football wins then we may as well not play at all, and just drop the CL trophy off at the Nou Camp every August. Plus, it was so, so sweet to watch those smug bastards get beaten. For all their mastery and technical skill, they use far too much playacting for my liking.
That's a fair point, District Line, but how many of those games were when you had Mourinho, who may yet be in the opposition dug-out in the Final. Is your head-to-head against his teams as encouraging? Good luck (again, through gritted teeth) for that either way.
Agreed. But what about the match at Stamford Bridge? They had 11 men the entire game and still refused to attack?
I know Bidley, but if you watched the match (I presume you did) you would know that Drogba's shot on target was their only one of note, whereas Barcelona could easily have scored 5. It was a masterclass in counter-attacking, but I prefer the most attractive football playing teams to win trophies, that is just my opinion. I also felt sick when Greece won the European Championships with their boring 1-0 victories.
