Paddy Power - Chelsea 8/13 Aston Villa 12/5 Swansea 5/1 Bradford 20/1 The bookies haven't written us off!
There is absolutely no point in going to Chelsea and parking the bus, it's not the way we play or have played against the big clubs away this year and our results, as a result, have been pretty good. We prefer to play against teams that come forward as the game against a defensive Reading showed with the 0-0 although pressing for a goal toward the end can leave us exposed. The question is, will Chelsea put their big guns out from the start? For them, in the past, the League Cup is not the biggest thing to win but as they are out of the Champions League and any win is a good win, Rafa might hedge his bets and try to get at least this one under his belt knowing the precariousness of a Chelsea Manager. Would it be enough to secure his place at the end of the season if it was all Chelsea won? Probably not. For Swansea, we have nothing to lose, a serious Cup to win for our first time. Have I paid much serious attention to the league cup in previous years, well yes but not for a long time. Am I paying much attention this year? Damn right. If Laudrup and the Swans make the final or even win it, it will be a HUGE feather in his cap and his stepping stone onto greater things, he will want to beat Chelsea, of that there is no doubt. It will be the biggest tactical game of his managerial career so far and all eyes will be upon him, big clubs from all over Europe will be watching. Our success may mean our loss eventually of our golden manager, but success in this competition for Swansea will be the greatest thing we have ever done, by far. Up and at um I say. C'mon the Swans! To make this final would be incredible. Then go on to win the FA Cup, Champions League Qualification.
NJS - Chelsea put out a very strong side against Leeds and will do the same against us IMO. Rafa wants that cup - and the PL title.
I'll answer the question................ In all probability you can't beat them over two legs, having seen them on Wednesday. They look like they are nearly back to their best and very solid in midfield and defence. Not want you want to read I know but it's going to take a monumental achievement to reach the final for you now. The draw could have been so much kinder to you. I think you can win at home but maybe only by one goal, it's the Stamford Bridge game that is going to be seriously tough and where I believe you will miss out
I think the only way we will beat them over 2 legs is to up our tempo and go all out attack. We should have Pablo Hernandez back which should make a huge difference and hopefully a shiny new striker
Why cant we beat them thai???. I tell you what they will be scared of us more than we are of them for the simple fact that they are expected to win. As have been mentioned we are pretty tight giving away goals against the big teams at their place and we are good enough to beat anyone at the liberty, Yes it will be tight and yes we will need all our best players to be on top form and if they are not up for this game then they should not be representing Swansea city. we have never ever in our history been in this position in this competition and we are in the last 4....we can win this and i think we will....
Well said, Dai. It will be a huge task but not out of the question. Our new signings might make a difference if we are allowed to play them......
I am not saying it's impossible, just not very probable having seen them play this week, they were solid - really solid. I just don't fancy your chances, just an opinion.
The simple answer of how to beat them is to play bloody well over two legs! we will need to boss midfield and take any chances we might get. This is why a new striker is required as we miss Michu in the middle and Moore, DG, Itay and Lita just don't look likely to take their chances. We could try working on actually scoring a set-piece.... crazy thought...
fair enough comment but have you seen us when we are up for it...we are just as good and some would say better....I have no fear that we can match chelsea and beat them...
One thing that will work in our favour is that chelsea are more open and attack minded than in the past. We tend to play better against more open opponents. Teams like Villa, Everton and Norwich (under lambert in particular) have been very good at closing the space and narrowing the play - we tend to struggle against teams like those imo. still gonna be a hard game but we can snatch a result against anyone as dai says.
as dai says we can match them and beat them. Chelsea are on a hot streak at the moment but maybe they're peaking. Chelsea cant score a hatful every game can they? of course not, complacency will kick in and we'll be well up for it, and we're due a few goals.......
Remember Notts Forest in 2 leg semi- 10 men after 2 mins we were superb held out for a draw and then 3-1 at the Liberty
I fancy our chances actually, think this is our year for a cup! I've watched Chelsea and they are scoring well, but their opposition hasn't been great, I mean Villa and Leeds?? even Norwich contained them to a 1-0 win, and we got a good draw at the Liberty in November, so I'm pretty upbeat about this Semi!.......
I'm normally an optimist but feel we might need a huge slice of luck to get past Chelsea over 2 legs. I put a tenner on them to win the league at 14/1 the morning of the 8-0 thrashing of Villa....they have World class players everywhere, a rock solid defence and are just starting to gel as a team. Rafa is a specialist in cup competitions also, he usually manages to pick the right team to suit the opposition and the occasion. Just wish it was a one off game because when we click it doesn't seem to matter who the opposition is, we need 2 in a row like that.
2-1 to Chelsea at the Bridge then we get a 1-0 win at home. That would mean a nervous 120 minutes! "In the Semi-Final ties, if the aggregate score is level at the end of the second game an extra half-hour shall be played. If the aggregate scores are still level at the end of extra time the tie shall be decided by goals scored away from home counting twice."
