Barca are weak on the wings. Two attacking fullbacks played tonight and Mascherano in the CB position. They should be sending that ball out wide all night and knocking it into the middle - Barca looked a mess when dealing with crosses/corners. Lumping it 50yards down the middle and hoping Drogba pulls something out his arse was dull and for the most part, useless. As proven by the amount of times he resorted to diving in order to win a freekick. People seem so keen to praise Chelsea for their performance (of being dominated, getting a goal from one of their few attacks, diving and hoping Barca hit the post/crossbar/miss whilst holding 10people behind the ball) whilst pundits constantly knock teams like Stoke (first name that comes to mind) who've played this kind of football. At least when United got steamrolled last year they tried to play to play their game and didn't resort to diving. Chelsea just parked the bus from kickoff and this is supposedly the big English hope in the European league this season...embarrasing. I don't expect everyone to agree, maybe most won't, but that's my thoughts :>
Didn't arsenal beat barca last year? That ended well... As for today, Chelsea scored then parked the bus. Problem is, a 1 goal lead won't save them from the battering theyll receive at the nou camp. Stoke could have got the same result today, Chelsea won with anti-football and barca being bloody unlucky
The 'press' will say that Chelsea adapted in a way to negate Barca's passing game. But the same hacks slate Stoke for the same thing. Also they interviewed two Chelsea players after the game and the interviewer was all over them like a rash,one is currently on bail awaiting criminal charges and the other done more diving tonight than Jaques Cousteau.
Ok my late summation. Chelsea did a good job tonight. Defensively they were well orgainsed and supported each other well. Sure they has a lot of luck with both the bar and the post being hit (not to mention some very poor finishing) but then every defence has to have a bit of luck. The goal that they got was well taken. My big complaint, was with the Referee. Drogba's antics became monotonous. He should have been booked and wasn't. Now I no longer expect to see any spotrsmanship in professional football but I do expect the Referee to apply the laws. Therefore I am going to complain about the Ref and not about Drogba. Will one goal be enough in the second leg? We will see. However, my money is still on Barca.
The match was not pretty. I thought Barcelona totally dominated from start to finish. But having said that, if you are a fan, would you want to beat Barca 1-0 playing like that or get thrashed 4-0 playing great football? No brainer.
Barca are not at thier best yesterday, I am not sure if Chelsea are not going to crack under sustain pressure at Nou camp in the second leg next week
I enjoyed the way Chelsea played. What else could they do? They were focused, admirably quick to get the ball up the pitch and took their chances despite a large difference in quality.
oh my jaesus, as soon as barca dont win its this or that. Barca did not play wel last night by their standards, messi was a shadow of himself yet he far outperformed Drogba who got the winnner but otherwise lay on the turf all night. Barca missed their chances.. sounds familiar and lost 1 0. sounds really familiar. I doubt they will miss their chances in the Nou, Post crossbar and off the line last night, Chelsea were just plain oold fortunate. You need three things to win against Barca and one important thing is for them to have an off night, 2 you gotta be at your best and 3 lots of luck, chelsea had all three last night and they are the only reasaons they won As for arsenal last year, Barca missed lots and had a def penalty turned away and a good goal disallowed, arsenal were VERY lucky to beat Barca last time
Chelsea are not going to get away with many things they got away with yesterday at Nou Camp.I am afraid someone would get a red card there.
Ach; I dislike Chelsea and what they stand for in football but I'm going to applaud them. Yes they rode their luck until it was near dead. Yes Barcelona missed a hatful of chances they would normally bury. But I put some of this down to what Chelsea did well! Many teams have tried this approach to no avail. You can park the bus all you want but if you don't have the concentration & discipline over 90 minutes, you will fail. I think Barcelona missed a lot of chances because they were successfully frustrated not just because they were "having a bad day" And Chelsea did the other important thing that a lot of teams fail miserably to do: take that one chance & score. Do I think they'll do it in the Nou camp? It will be more difficult but not impossible. And yes Drogbas antics were embarrassing but this particular Barcelona team would have a cheek to argue about falling to the ground like gravity suddenly increased: I've watched then enough times this year to say they have a team (no matter how skilful) of Drogbas! It wasn't pretty, it was effective. They can do pretty if they get to the final.
I do believe Chelsea will reach the final. An away goal could do loads for them next week. Loose 2-1 and they are through. My guess is Chelsea v Bayern Munich for the final. Looks nice and exciting on paper, and unpredictable.
Barcelona are not invincible at Nou Camp. They lost to Real Madrid today.Chelsea can finish job on Tuesday.
