"Daily Telegraph chief football writer Henry Winter tells BBC Radio 5 live: "Let's celebrate Chelsea's heart and also their heads because there was a lot of tactical intelligence. Sometimes it's not all about technique. Barcelona do need a plan B as well." Maybe NB needs to take note?
I do love the way it's been hailed as 'tactical intelligence' whereas the very same journos talking about teams from another European country playing exactly the same way would call them 'defensive, negative and anti-football'. If last night wasnt catenaccio I dont know what was....
every team needs a plan B. with the players we've got and the system we play its too easy to stifle us and stop us from playing.. we're too predictable at times, we need to be able to switch it up when needed.
They believe all this tippy tappy stuff is the only way to win, and when it works it's great, but sometimes you need to have a solid defensive rearguard and stop everything that comes your way. Not every team is at the same level of fitness, skill etc. Barca could beat Chelsea on any given day, but Chelsea got their tactics right last night. Guardiola, on the other hand, didn't. He played with three centre halves, no wide men & last years stalwarts like Pedro & Alves bizarrly didn't start. Pedro didn't even get on. I thought Fabregas went missing in a big match and it's not suprising to see him on the bench for the Spanish team when the bigger matches come around. Messi was just unlucky with the penalty and general play. Think only Real Madrid have exploited their weaknesses in Spain, so they're still formidable. Italy are the second most successful nation in international football and this is due to solidity, and not relying on flair alone.
One thing's for sure, the rookie manager Roberto Di Matteo has already exposed Alex Ferguson's tactical failings. The performances United have recently put up against Barcelona have been nothing less than an embarrassment to the Premier League, whereas Chelsea have worked out a plan and dealt with them.
Think Barca's team were better last year and in 2009 then it is now. Still take nothing away from Chelsea. It's a fantastic achievement.
Worked out a plan? You mean let them have the ball as much as they want for their passing carousel that goes nowhere and defend entirely for 180 mins with a quick break once every match? Hardly genius is it and you do wonder why others have failed so miserably. If you try and play them at their own game you'll get mullered so dont bother.
That's it exactly. Chelsea had no delusions of grandeur. They accepted that they would barely get a touch of the ball over two legs so they worked out the only way to get a result in that situation. United seemed to think they could compete with Barca and they got a footballing lesson.
Wow you really hate Chelsea don't you, why cant people just be happy, we have a English team in the final, Roberto Di Matteo and Chelsea did the country and our leagues proud last night.
As resilient as Chelsea were, no one's really talking about how poor Barcelona played over the 2 legs. They missed 2 or 3 very easy chances and missed a pen. Also Messi was far from his best. Well done to Chelsea but 9 times out of 10 Di Matteo's tactics would have failed.
I dont hate Chelsea even one little bit!! I actually wanted them to win cos I hate Barca so much! My point was it's not rocket surgery - Barca are just massively, massively overrated. People today STILL go on about them being the best team in the world despite them being well behind in their own domestic league and now knocked out of the CL. I just dont get the ****fest about them. Interesting again the praise for the Italian manager who masterminded the result by openly copying Milan's approach in the previous round. It was a very similar game actually, the only difference being Messi scored his ridiculously awarded penalty the previous round. And why should I be happy that an English team are through? I dont care one jot about any other English team than City. I'm just delighted Barcelona are out and wouldve wanted any team from around the world (hmm, maybe not TWS) to beat them.
After the Ramires goal, do you think that Di Matteo's half time talk was something like this? [video=youtube;ZJh5J3FPEkk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJh5J3FPEkk[/video]
