Champions League Draw

madwhitegiant said:
Number 1 in my household Morbs!!:lol:

Mind you the passion I am showing in praying for Newcastle and their best fans in the country (my @rse) to go down is rivalling that of Chelsea's demise tonight!

Apparently David Blane is gutted after Michael Owen smashed his record of 48 days doing funk all in the box!
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haha :D

far easier run in than Hull tho... they should scrape through
 
Hull are in freefall. I can see the Toon scraping out of it.

Funny a few months back old Phil Brown was tipped as a bright young manager (bit like Gareth Southgate!) and people saying why aren't these managers given a top job in English football. Well the league table don't lie! They are sh1te.
 
Getting nervous now too.

I'd take any sort of victory tonight.

There's one player to watch out for.. forget Messi, Etoo, Henry..
Iniesta is in the form of his life.
 
Ferd said:
Getting nervous now too.

I'd take any sort of victory tonight.

There's one player to watch out for.. forget Messi, Etoo, Henry..
Iniesta is in the form of his life.
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all the press here rate him as the best player in la liga at the moment. for me xavi pulls the strings, iniesta is in and out of games, keita i like but doesn't get enough games, sergi busquets looks so far out of his depth i'd rather play marquez centre mid.

visca el barça!!
 
grego said:
all the press here rate him as the best player in la liga at the moment. for me xavi pulls the strings, iniesta is in and out of games, keita i like but doesn't get enough games, sergi busquets looks so far out of his depth i'd rather play marquez centre mid.

visca el barça!!
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i rate Messi as World No. 1
Iniesta not far behind


half-time

Chelsea have been nothing short of disgraceful
tactics = kick Barca off the park
should have had a few more cards by now
 
C*NTFLAPS

Barca fuked it up and are now missing 2 key defenders

S'all over.

well done Cech (and morbyd)
 
Why the pessimism Olly?

Bookies still have Barca as favourites to go through, I think it's 50/50.

Don't know why I thought Chelsea would actually try to attack today :confused:
They did defend well though so fair enough.

Ballack should've been off too.
 
Ferd said:
Why the pessimism Olly?

Bookies still have Barca as favourites to go through, I think it's 50/50.

Don't know why I thought Chelsea would actually try to attack today :confused:
They did defend well though so fair enough.

Ballack should've been off too.
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should have been off before clocking Iniesta

Toure was booked for trying to get a Chelsea player booked
Ballack did the same for Puyol
 
Ballack should probably have been booked later, but his earlier booking was bullsh*t so it's only fair.

That was like watching a Liverpool v Chelsea match circa 2005. Boring!

But the Blues did defend especially well. And Barca will have problems in defense for the return leg, just when we'll get back Ashley Cole who, for all his faults, might be the one defender who could really match an in-form Messi (not the Messi we saw today).

I think the ball is in our court... but I fear another serious rollercoaster ride of emotions in the home leg. And I predict a draw, which would punish our not going for that away goal.

Hope I'm wrong! But glad I'll be at the Bridge to see it :D
 
I'm on a downer because 2 key defenders are out - marquez injury looked shocking, puyol is suspended + heavy game this sunday at the Bernebeu + Barca don't usually win on UK soil...

they bossed the game throughout but for what? :(
 
I spent the first half trying to figure out what the hell Chelsea were up to... only when Drogba (should have) nearly scored did I realize that the gameplan was to stifle, defend, frustrate, and hope Barca made a stupid mistake.

Sure, Barca bossed the game if you mean possession, but despite their handful of chances, and even shots on target, they really didn't look like they were going to score. Most of the shots were right at Cech, who had a pretty good game aside from a couple of flaps. I can only assume his random punts downfield were part of the plan... :confused:
 
tactically CFC played a blinder

but they had to work very hard to keep Barca out - it was a siege at times

the one grain of comfort is no away goal

also, hiddink has the bigger dilemma now tho - carry on doing the same or attack? I think that might play to Barca's advantage early on

generally though - I see momentum in chelsea's favour
 
Abidal plays centre back for France, so him and Pique should be ok. Only problem is we'll have 45 year old Sylvinho left back lol

We'll agree to disagree about Ballack's 1st half booking Morbyd ;)

Like Olly says, Chelsea will have to attack in the 2nd game and hopefully Messi and co will find more room.
 
Ferd said:
Abidal plays centre back for France, so him and Pique should be ok. Only problem is we'll have 45 year old Sylvinho left back lol

We'll agree to disagree about Ballack's 1st half booking Morbyd ;)

Like Olly says, Chelsea will have to attack in the 2nd game and hopefully Messi and co will find more room.
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From the Independent:
"Moments later Ballack was booked for a foul on Henry but the Barca player certainly made the most of it as he rolled on the ground as though he had been shot."
:lol:

I think we'll have a substantially different line-up in the 2nd leg. Cole, Bosingwa in position, either Anelka or Kalou up front, and Essien further back in the midfield, Obi dropping to the bench. Hard to guess what Guus' strategy will be, though, as tonight wasn't at all what I expected, even if not completely surprising.

The great defensive display masks the reality that it was also a really poor attacking display by Chelsea tonight. Their passing was horrible. They have shown they can certainly do better (Liverpool!) so I hope they do in the 2nd leg.
 
got to agree with Ferd about the Ballack tackle - it was a shocker


terrific defensive performance from Chelsea but horrible to watch
my team did the same and was classed as "anti-football"
(but we spent about £150m less on the that team)

:D
 
Sod it, it was a pretty bad game all round. Just feel sorry for any neutrals, some of the play acting and shoving on the left wing was shocking. Also thought the card for Ballack was a bit harsh compared to some of the other challenges that had gone unpunished beforehand. The ref wasn't that particularly good in general. Am trying to forget the whole thing.

Worse still was the fact that ITV still decide to go with David Pleat commentating. Bring back that racist fella, Ron Atkinson. :lol::lol::lol:
 
alves and drogba were a joke to football, they should have got a room.

it would have been nice if barça had scored when drogba was 'down' in the area, instead of trying to help defend. pr!ck

marquez injury = nasty. i felt that one
 
grego said:
alves and drogba were a joke to football, they should have got a room.

it would have been nice if barça had scored when drogba was 'down' in the area, instead of trying to help defend. pr!ck

marquez injury = nasty. i felt that one
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Alves does have some anger management issues, doesn't he? :lol:

When Drogba was down... you mean, when they used smelling salts to snap him out of a stupor after he got headbutted? Na... I think Barca would want to score fair and square.

After sleeping on it, I really think we needed that away goal. I fear a scored draw at the Bridge, which sees Barca through :confused:
 
Morbyd said:
Alves does have some anger management issues, doesn't he? :lol:

When Drogba was down... you mean, when they used smelling salts to snap him out of a stupor after he got headbutted? Na... I think Barca would want to score fair and square.

After sleeping on it, I really think we needed that away goal. I fear a scored draw at the Bridge, which sees Barca through :confused:
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the problem with 0-0 is that Chelsea will have to actually attack Barcelona - now whilst Barcas defence might be suspect - that should leave more space on the park for the front 6 to weave magic
 
0 0 is a good result. Better than 1 1

Chelsea have to better whatever Barca do so game on now.

Wasn't a classic but Chelsea done a job so hats off.
 
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