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Chelsea FC vs SSC Napoli POST MATCH DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

Thanks for the comments, appreciated!

Mateja Kezman suggests the answer is yes!

Chelsea FC vs SSC Napoli UEFA Champions League, Round of 16, 2nd Leg Wednesday 14 March 2012 Stamford Bridge, 7.45 pm kick-off MATCH CHAT HERE!

Hi everyone - we have finally announced our international friendship with SSC Napoli forum NapoliNetwork NA1926! Visit our new forum now! We will be hosting our Italian colleagues here as we hope to create a lasting friendship between the clubs regardless of which side progresses in the Champions League. As staff, we are genuinely excited by this venture, as we hope it brings our collective communities closer together, as well as potentially creating greater activity on both forums! Hopefully everyone on TalkChelsea will take part in friendly discussion both in our new forum and also visit our new partners as well! Remember, both forums now contribute discussion in English and Italian, so there is no need to be shy about posting away (plus there's nothing Goggle Translate can't help with...)! The plan is to have the twinning as a dedicated part of the forum for the immediate future before we eventually integrate it with the rest of the community section as an individual forum. However, regardless of its position, we hope you make full use of this forum and enjoy doing so! Alex.

Even Torres would score more than 6 with 108 shots

I really like the two-thread idea now it's been put into place. I think three is overkill, as you say.

Interim manager Roberto di Matteo continued his perfect start to life in the Stamford Bridge hot-seat as his Chelsea side recorded a 1-0 victory over Stoke thanks to Didier Drogba's 100th Premier League goal. The move - which saw Juan Mata assume the role of architect - resulted in Drogba confidently rounding Stoke custodian Asmir Begovic before slotting into an unguarded net. Chelsea hit the woodwork on three occasions through a John Terry header, a rasping effort from Branislav Ivanovic and Juan Mata's near-perfect free-kick. Meanwhile both John Terry and Gary Cahill went close with efforts from distance, Begovic pulled off a brilliant save to deny Drogba and Ivanovic headed over a presentable chance from a Frank Lampard corner. Chelsea absolutely dominated the game - Stoke barely even troubled Petr Cech, who may as well have had the afternoon off. 1-0 flatters the Potters, who had Ricardo Fuller sent off for a ridiculous stamp on Ivanovic in the first half, an action which Stoke gaffer Tony Pulis instantly condemned. A new feature here on TalkChelsea looks at the best analysis offered from our members - and remember, you can have your say as well! Here we reflect on the performance and the match's key incidents. Positivity! I think people would still have been finding faults even if we would have got a second or third goal, which I don't think would have flattered us at all. We played well and did quite well to fashion as many chances as we did. Remember, Begovic made some good saves, whilst the woodwork proved to be our nemesis once again. This could easily have been one of those games, but we did the necessary and pulled through. As for the Champions League, I think a little more realism must be employed. It sounds easy on paper to win 2-0 against Napoli, but their attacking qualities almost guarantee them a goal or two. I think Mikel is a must for that game as we will be relying on defensive rigidity to get us through. It'll be an interesting game; I think one thing that may help us is that Napoli will be naturally more cagey in the return leg, so if we can get an early goal and continue to apply the pressure, it could be a famous, famous night in our history. I do agree here. I think the boys expected to win this one quite comfortably, and I believe they would have done so. Whilst it was 11 against 11, we were exploiting space a lot easier as Stoke were willing to have a go. Then Fuller comes along trying to remove Ivanovic's manhood! After that Stoke sat back with two solid banks of four, and then Walters putting pressure on the man in possession. It was a simple but effective tactic from Pulis, but eventually we got our just rewards with the goal, and ultimately the three points. As you say, there is no sweeter tonic than that! Amen to that. Cahill has settled in beautifully well. I would say at present he is looking like our most consistent defensive player. The Terry-Cahill partnership has worked well in the past for England, and it looked solid yesterday. However, I would say that the style of both centre-halves is very similar, whilst the Luiz-Cahill pairing seems more complimentary of both players' qualities, as Luiz operates more as a sweeper than anything. However, back to Cahill - he impressed in all areas of the pitch. He had limited defending to do, but did it with minimum fuss, and he attacked with purpose. Like Terry and Luiz, he is a very good footballer and has good feet. I'd say we have three of the best attacking centre-backs in the Premier League, whilst Ivanovic is no slouch at right-back as well! Concise and to-the-point - and spot on! Games like this can be easily over-analysed in terms to focusing on the negatives more than the positives. At this minute, the morale and confidence of the team is incredibly low, and the only known remedy is to be winning matches. Two wins (and clean sheets) on the bounce is a good foundation for us to move on. Good point on Mata, which brings me on to team selection. This seems to be the area where di Matteo is getting the greatest amount of stick. However, I think his team selection was interesting. Stoke are a physical side, whilst with Napoli on Wednesday night, it is imperative that the likes of Torres, Essien, Sturridge, Luiz and Mata (five players who have featured more than most in the last half-dozen matches) were given some sort of rest. Roberto's decision to bring on Mata was very bold, and I was also pleased with his positivity to take off Mikel and introduce Sturridge. One thing you can definitely say about his substitutions is that he is very, very positive. The decision to rest those players, as I say, was to give them a bit of a rest, but bringing Mata on was very astute, as he has so often been the key to open up tight defences this term. Overall I was pleased with his managerial performance. Very good post. As I've already discussed some of your points I'll refer to your argument about creativity. We are indeed terribly low on imagination in this side. Our three most inventive players are the three forwards who were left out today, but you can see Roberto's reasoning for this - Stoke are a physical side, and after going a man down they became especially content to sit back and soak up the pressure. A more direct approach has been key to past successes against the Potters, and playing Drogba and a couple of enforcers in Mikel and Meireles is testament to this. However, we are still desperately short of options. If it isn't Mata, it's Sturridge or Torres who opens up the defence. If it's neither of them, it's nobody. That must be addressed in the summer. I want to focus on your final point here. This is something I have discussed in the past. After witnessing first-hand what happened to Villas-Boas, I highly doubt RDM is going to be as cavalier in his criticisms of the old guard. Instead he has recognised the issue of player power, and it seems obvious he wants to keep them sweet. However I believe the reason for the inclusion of Drogba, Lampard, Mikel et al. is both for tactical reasons and to rest our three main attackers. Granted the Premier League should be our priority, however I feel at this moment in time, even with the way we are performing, that team was good enough to beat Stoke, and it would have been before they lost Fuller and went so negative! Now, I try not to quote myself in these topics as I get my own say in response to member opinions, but I feel that this is a positive way to round off the views and opinions from this weekend's game; delivered from the mouths of your's truly, and a certain Didier Drogba... And that brings me to the concluding thoughts... Conclusion - there seems to be a split consensus after yesterday's match. The apparent optimist-pessimist divide has been re-opened, but what it boils down to is the fact that under di Matteo, performances have improved, albeit only slightly. Regardless of that, two wins from two is a welcome return from the Italian, and we all know that further victories will help breed confidence; the currency of the modern game. As it has already been said, 1-0 doesn't suggest a professional performance or dominance of the game - yet after Fuller was dismissed, Stoke reverted back to their normal, horrible style of defensive football. It was a tough challenge for Chelsea - one they overcame thanks to Mata's vision and Drogba's quality in the penalty area. Di Matteo received a bit of stick for his team selection, but frankly, the side he put out was good enough to beat Stoke yesterday, even if the performance wasn't quite up to the standard of one of the more recent clashes with the Potters.... Remember you can have your say on today's game by checking out the post-match thread - discuss the game, analyse the key moments and vote for your man of the match! You can do that by clicking HERE.

I think Luiz-Cahill is a more complimentary pairing at present!

Haha, well thanks for skim-reading it

The team we had on should have been good enough to beat Stoke.

Didier Drogba speaking on Final Score: "To play Stoke is always difficult. Tactically they have a good shape, and we focused on the win today. It was a lovely pass from Juan Mata, knowing their defence played really high. We brought him in because he can change a game. He's very good." Summed up perfectly.

I don't know why people are complaining. We were resting our usual front three for the Napoli game, is that so hard for people to recognise? Yes, it was a shit game, but we totally dominated them. 1-0 is a flattering scoreline to Stoke, who, to be fair, defended valiantly. They didn't park the bus; they parked the entire depot. Games like this aren't won on performances but instead moments of individual quality, and Drogba and Mata provided that today. If this is how you react to a very good result against a hard-to-beat team, I'm avoiding this place on Wednesday when Naples put us out of our misery. This was an excellent result against a tricky opponent, and rather than focusing on two wins and two clean sheets in the last couple of matches, people are being very defeatist.

That was saved, though, didn't hit the post 3 added mins.

With Kalou on the pitch, this is technically 10 vs 10.

That's the second time this season Mata has hit the post in a tight game with a free-kick... he did the same up at Sunderland. Great technique.

DROGBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Such a boring game. Attack vs defence... hardly enthralling, wish Stoke would show some balls rather than do what every team does and just defend.

Need to capitalise on the Sunderland-Scum score.

They have eight defenders and one striker.

I'm quite excited, been wanting this for 14 months now!

So... many.... gaps.... Perfect for Torres

Being rested for Naples I would guess.

4-4-2? Nope, it'll be 4-3-3 with Ramires wide right