Drogba, Yes him, not so many weeks ago he was saying that he was throughly embarrassed after watching himself diving during games, and that his son had also told him to stop it. What in the name of football was he doing last night, the screaming, rolling around and laying prone as if he'd died, wasn't even laughable, it was PATHETIC to see a 6 foot plus man play acting like a baby. He made Ashley Young seem angelic. But it's what we've come to expect from a club that booed and jeered during a minutes silence last week. Chelsea are a disgrace and I hope Barcalona beat them 12-0 in the second leg. ILD OTBC
Jason Cundy, ex Chelsea of course, remarked on his show on Sky after the game that he didn't see anything wrong with Drogbas tactics as it prevented any flow to the game and stopped Barca achieving any tempo. Is that what top flight football has come to? You try and win the Champions League by your ability to stop the opposition by play acting. Lets just all buy Championship Manager at forget the real thing. I too hope Barca stick a hatful past them in the 2nd leg and Drogba DOES get injured and everybody ignores him lying there and Messi runs past six players and scores.
Agree with all you say although the thought of Drogba in a tutu is something I am desperately trying to get out of my mind!!
Shocking diver - built like Lennox Lewis and manages to writhe in agony every time there is any contact with him whatsoever. Really disappointing as I thought when he got the ball at his feet he looked decent and interested last night and he scored the winner. It is really annoying to watch an English team in the semi's of the Champions League behave so poorly. He made Sergio Busquets look like an honest man and that guy is a disgrace who does not deserve to represent a proper football club like Barca.
have to agree ILD about drogba. one of the most irritating footballers of all time. such a talented guy but his performance last night was farcical. can't agree about wanting chelsea to lose heavily though. i couldn't care less who goes through...!
Really hate seeing it. Was clearly told to do it by the manager in order to disrupt Barcelonas play. Hate it when they describe him as a "big strong" centre forward that at the faintest contact if any he throws himself to the ground and roles around. Ashley Cole also diving last night to get Pedro booked was disgraceful
I hate Drogba but wanting Barcelona to win? No offence mate but you've been sucked in by the media Barcelona Love In. I hope Chelsea drop them out of the cup as this obsession that the media and public have with the Catalans is unhealthy.
Would be better if they got crushed my Madrid in final would love Mourinho to win it against them again. Although I do think Barca deserve the credit, they are dominating football at the moment and deserve the attention. Agree about Busquets NorfolkBhoy, he is one of the worst in football.
Yes, just about. Win at any cost appears to be the order of the day, especially for the top clubs where the expectations are that much higher. Agreed it is sad to see and that is why the laws of the game are frequently revised, the down side is it takes the football authorities for ever to make the changes.
I did laugh when Ruddy knockd him out, great punch.... then got kind of worried that he had got seriously hurt. he is diving scum though!
It says something that the thread title told me what the subject matter was.I see Barca are strongly odds on toprogress though.Let's be honest Chelsea had a single shot an several lucky escapes.
Is it me but I was pretty bored with Barcelona. This pass pass pass thing is O.K. for a short while but a lot of it was dull and lacked the incisiveness that I was expecting. Chelsea rode their luck and the result at least keeps the tie alive. Taking you question directly ILD - Drogba should have been sent off, he is an absolute disgrace. Do I want Chelski to progress? tough call because in theory they are an English team but really it is just a foreign X1 including some East End wide boys (Terry, Lampard) so on that basis not fussed either way and would probably plump for Madrid for the overall winner as at least Mourinho has some character and the Premier League would benefit from his return (To Chelski maybe!)
Totally agree about the boring side of Barca. Most of the pundits tell us that it is the way to play the game. That is why they love Swansea more than us of course. At times I'm sure they pass it for the sake of passing it. To me, that denegrates the rest of football. The means will probably always justify the ends in football. My preference is and always will be passing football but as a means to give the ball to a winger who will beat his man and swing in a cross for a striker to head or kick the ball, hopefully into the net. Thats my preference. Probably speaks of the era I come from.
No redruth I think its because that type of game is the best to watch. I really enjoy Norwich games at the moment as we tend to try and do that! Pass the ball around the back or then counter attacking, crossing balls in.... Brilliant!
Northampton, I would rather see ANY team win by playing football, rather than diving and cheating and parking the bus. I must admit though that I did kind of surprise myself in hoping that a foreign team beat a English team, but then Chelsea aren't really english are they? It just goes to prove to me exactly where we are in the scheme of things internationally. We think we're better than we are, we hype it up, then resort to cheating because we aren't good enough! That's not having a go at you, it's just the way I see things. ILD OTBC
well as much as i didn't really care who won, as the game grew i wanted chelsea to win the match and i hope they get through. yes drogba was a comedy act up front but my word did they defend well, and three of their four defenders on the night were english too! football isn't just about passing or scoring goals - it can be about brilliant defending and goalkeeping too. i enjoyed the way chelsea defended through the 90 minutes - there were some very good performances at the back, and barca weren't able to stick the ball in the net while chelsea took their one clear chance. you could argue the visitors were a bit unlucky but they squandered some great chances. sometimes, a backs-to-the-wall effort is great to watch and something to admire. anyone remember england away to italy trying to qualify for france 98? paul ince covered in blood, some extraordinary defensive displays and a 0-0 match which was truly enthralling to watch. you don't need skill to be entertained all the time
Never forget that game in Rome, watched it in our Union Bar at uni and I won £150 on my coupon thanks to us drawing which was a lot of money for a poor student at the time - my heart was in my mouth when Ian Wright went round the keeper in the dying seconds only to hit the post! Great stuff! As for the game the other night I agree that is was an absolutely superb defensive performance, with Cole, Terry and Cahill all looking as good as I've seen them play in ages which bodes well for the summer if they can keep those levels up against the best. However, I do also have to agree with ILD about Drogba's antics, regardless of how successful they were on the night it certainly wasn't pretty to watch. Tony Gale was on Sky Sport News this morning pronouncing Drogba's disply in breaking up Barcelona's game and not letting them play football as "magnificent". Now I'm sorry, it may have been effective and it may have been the kind of tactics Chelsea needed to deploy to stand any chance of completing, but "magnificent" it certainly wasn't. The game is called football and to play it the way Barca do is magnificent. Bending the rules and wasting time to gain unfair advantages can never be called such a thing if you ask me
totally agree about drogba i just feel chelsea's defensive performance is being overlooked a little. 'they' were magnificent, drogba, not so much...
