Just got back from the game, haven't been our board yet but there's going to be a lot of overreaction and focus shifted where it shouldn't be. The fact is Swansea were excellent as well, tactically you had us sussed out and we created next to nothing in the 2nd half, the shape of the team was so good and Michu is as good a finisher as I've seen at the Bridge. Your support was fantastic tonight as well, huge numbers considering it was a midweek game and how far there was to travel, it was very noisy and I enjoyed the anti-Cardiff songs. Classy club, classy manager and classy fans. Don't care if Bradford get to the final you deserve to win it and it would be a pleasure to see you in Europe.
Cheers, but still only half time. I am a happy man but not counting chickens yet! You are not European Champs by default.
I guess I need to come in here and say a very big well done Swans, I never thought you had a chance of a win at the bridge but 2-0 is a hell of a result! Yes, it's only half way but I reckon you will now make it through, certainly looks like you are going to deserve it
Your halfway there you Swans.Their going to come at you hard in your home leg.Keep 'em out and you and Bradford(?) will have a date with destiny. I just love it!!!! Takes me back to a League Cup Final when Arsenal thought they were on a sure thing against "little" Swindon ......and got wopped. They'll be keeping a welcome in the valleys.........
As previously mentioned a great post by District Line and much appreciated. Not getting ahead of ourselves though, talk of a Swansea v Bradford final is so premature. As Laudrup said, i still feel Chelsea are favourites to go through. An early conceded goal at the Liberty is what we need to avoid, otherwise we are in trouble. I think Ba will start so Ash will need to be on top form again.
Amazing, truly amazing. Just to go to the Bridge and win 2-0 in any competition is a fantastic result for any away team, how many do that or when was the last time? It's certainly not over yet, Chelsea are a fantastic team and could easily come to the Liberty and roll us over, but who want's it more? Swans in their 100th year, everything to play for. Chelsea, architects of their own downfall today, dreadful mistakes. Here's hoping for more. Any speculation of Danny Graham leaving should be thrown out the door now. He shouldn't be going anywhere now and more than proved his point last few games. Swans 2 games away from Europe? Holy Crap is this real or a dream?
To be fair, Chelsea did many things right and deserved more I reckon. They closed down the midfield well. I stopped counting the number of times a Swans defender looked confused as to what he should do with the ball and then ended up passing it back to Tremmel. I was a bit disappointed with how all of Swans build up plays seemed to fail. But then again it was a top quality team they were up against, and winning with two goals away is more than acceptable.
I don't think Chelsea deserved any more than what they got apart maybe for Ba which I thought was onside. I thought our defence was outstanding limiting Chelsea to long range efforts and hurried toe pokes straight at Tremmel which go down in the stats as their many shots on target. I can only think of one good save that Tremmel had to make. I know it's only half way, but you'd have to fancy us to keep it tight at home
It will as very interesting first 20 minutes at our place. I expect Chelsea to come at us from the start but may leave themselves open. If we could get that all important first goal then surely we can do it.
Excellent team performance again last night, Mr Laudrup had a game plan and the confidence in his players to enact it. yes there were opportunities that Chelsea created that on another night they would have buried but they didn't .I'm suprised that Torres was kept on for as long as he was as Ben for the majority kept him quiet .The team gave 100%. and the spirit shone through . It was nice to see both recently critisied players having good games (Pablo & Ki)some of Pblo's little flick ons didn't come off but he tracked back hard when he had to and Tremmel again making two crucial saves so again this shows the strength that we have Long way to go yet but we are slightly in the driving seat now as Chelsea will have to risk throwing every thing at us to at least equailise and that's where we are most effective by counter attacking. A mention must be made to the Jack Army who didn't stop singing and their support of trhe team was there for all to see & hear.
TV always shows an offside decision at the wrong angle, as you'd expect. The cameras are not in line with play. The linesman was smack in line and called it offside. The TV replay shows a thin sliver of blue (Ba's sock) ahead of Chico. The margin was actually wider than the TV camera shows - it's a matter of physics really - probably the thickness of a leg. That's offside - but only just and we were lucky. Bottom line? We did to Chelsea what they did to Barca. But I disagree with Laudrup that he could only count 3 clear chances they had. They had at least 5 or 6, and on another day we'd have been beaten soundly. Great game-plan by our Manager and it worked. I suspect more of the same in two weeks, but if Ba is playing it'll be touch and go. He caused a lot of problems in just 10 minutes and had the ball in the back of the net. We will have to be at our very best, and probably have to score ourselves to get through.
The positive aspect for me is that, at the Liberty, we've only lost 6 matches that I can count in a season and a half. Four of these have been to the same two teams (Everton and Norwich, the swines!) and only two of these have been defeats by over two goals (both to Everton, the utter swines!) which is what Chelsea have to achieve to beat us. It's a funny old game and anything can happen, but, good team though Chelsea clearly are, the statistics are in our favour.
I was just about to post similar myself. Chelsea will have to do what only Everton have done since we've been in the premier league. Beat us at home by 3 clear goals. As dominant as Chelsea were last night, we restricted their decent chances to a minimum and as I said earlier, Tremmel only had to make one good save. I'm not counting my chickens, but they won't find it easy at fortress Liberty
Tremmel made two excellent saves - one from Ivanovic and the other from Luiz. Mata and Ramirez should have scored too as both had easy chances. This game could easily have been a drubbing but that's football. We had a game plan and it worked. Credit to Laudrup and the players. Ba will start at the Liberty and I still maintain we'll have to score to get through because I'll be amazed if they don't.
Thank you very much. All very true of course along with the fact that we're the best in the world at being modest Seriously though, such comments are always appreciated. We've come so far in the last 10 years and still have to pinch ourselves thinking of where we are at the moment. Seeing our club's efforts noted by fans of hugely successful clubs always gives a nice warm feeling inside
Nice to hear nice things from other clubs fans. Tidy. Cheers lads. I hope that destiny is with us, what a way to celebrate our centenary year winning the Cup would be! Beats the Vans Trophy any day! Chelsea played well (as you'd expect from a squad of their calibre) but we defended with commitment and collective spirit. we know we are better on the break under Laudrup than last season and we have the players who can get a goal (that Spanish chap comes to mind, can't think of his name just now ). The other thing I love (after Michu) is the fact that we actually have strength in depth to the squad for the first time ever! We've been playing guys like Davies and Teindalli who no-one had heard of a few months ago and who now look every inch Premiership players. Being a Jack is gooooood right now!
