manpe

Two men who have no prior experience in big games or games in Europe for that matter, and already they managed to qualify in Champions League final. What are the odds? It's as if yesterday they were still managing WBA and MK Dons, today they are beating Barcelona.

The whole squad registered to CL should get it, definitely. Not sure about the ones who were registered in first round though (Anelka and Alex).

I never knew he had a chip in him.

If we won the final, it would be a bit of a fairytale. Remember, we barely qualified through the group stage, only in the last game. We lost 3-1 to a rampaging Napoli side and then overturned that scoreline by a massive result and performance, not many believed it was possible, including me. Then we beat Barcelona just barely, and in the second leg were down 2-0 and 1 man, conceded a penalty that was taken by the best attacker in the world and yet it ended up against the bar, and the game somehow finished 2-2, last one being a rare goal by no other than Torres in the dying minutes. Not to mention we changed managers in between and are experiencing the worst season domestically in the Roman era. It's a hell of a story. In the first leg against Barca, when they hit the bar, I said to my friend that it shows luck is on our side, we won't lose now. It was to be. Yesterday we scored a goal before half-time and Messi hit the bar, I said the same, and it was to be. We have been hard working and lucky, it's a combination of champions. I hope we make it.

I don't know. Bayern would be playing in their hometown, their home support would be enormous. And I also think they are a better team than Real, and I would love to face Jose.. but knowing we would probably lose to him, then I don't know. Both are unpleasant opponents, so it doesn't matter much. Whoever gets through, they are probably satisfied they will face us in the final instead of Barcelona, especially seeing that we have 4 players out of contention now.

Is there a video of his reaction? Fuck, we're in big trouble without Rami, Ivan, Terry and Meireles.. who are we gonna play, Bosingwa ffs?

I was fearing for the repeat of manchester united when he was through on goal, but he finally got his shit together facing an open goal.

Terry is a fucking brain donor.

defensive masterwork. vintage chelsea. luck played its part, finally.

Where is the joke in this? Just two similar people, nothing special. Well, I guess I'm just not into that kind of humour.

I could use a chelsea lion template If somebody has it, then you can send it to me. But as I like minimal styles, I can't see where I can improve it... I'm not a fan of big effects or whatnot. And it doesn't matter really, I know for a fact that it won't be chosen, I did it just for fun.

well, why not give it a shot. I like minimalistic styles and logos (because I suck at photoshop), so I did one myself. I wanted to add a chelsea lion somewhere as well (most likely at the end), but I couldn't find a clean/nice picture of it with transparent bg.. so if somebody likes it and wants to add a lion to it, then feel free to do so. I also have a version of it with non-bold TC letters, but they are quite similar, so I didn't add it. If anybody is interested, I can post it.

you obviously missed my point

I'm much more optimistic of this game than I was 2 months or even 1 month ago. The question is how much have the guys left in them and how much are they going to save for Barcelona. 2 huge games are successfully behind us after tremendous efforts. On the other hand, they have saved enough steam earlier in the season, when they resembled nothing more but pedestrians. Now it's time to off-load that energy in the remaining games for a hell of a spurt. Some mild rotation will be necessary I feel, Sturridge and Torres should play a big chunk.. it would be ideal if Lamps and Mata got rested too, but it's unlikely that both of them will.

well, now it's time to get Kjaer

Mata should play (can't even believe we're discussing Kalou over Mata), but ideally he should be rested for it, but since we play against bumfuckers before, I can't see that happening. He's visibly fatigued, how many games this season has he not played in at all? Has he ever not been included in match day squad?

well, his pass was lucky more than anything.. now Lampard's pass before that was all skill.

you're stretching it. 30 sounds about right. blah.. who cares.

yep, there is a long list ahead before Ramires' name comes up

Well, the safest way to keep him at bay, and the whole barca team - play 11 men behind the ball when they have it. When we're attacking, give the ball to our playmaker (Cech) and hoof it up to Drogba. Yeah, I can definitely see that working. In all seriousness though, it will be the most interesting set of matches tactically by far. You don't meet teams in England who play without a striker. When a team has an assigned striker through the middle, then there are always certain basics you have to do defensively, but a dynamic front 3 has its own challenges. For example, when aerial ability plays a major part in day to day English matches, then this time our defense will need to work twice as hard on ground level. It will be interesting to see how we approach that, the zonal marking setup and all. The most important issue probably is to avoid having them rolling the ball around our box and combining with eachother, pressing aggressively and effectively once they reach that area will be vital. Easier said than done, because a small lapse in concentration leaving too much free space, we'll be riding our luck (which with barca is always near unexistent).

How many goals does he have this season?

It will be a massive mistake to let this man leave. It's foolish to give up on such a young talented player.

has a new haircut apparently

That controversial goal by Mata made it so much sweeter And fuck me what goals by Drogba and Lampard! Drogba's was especially nice. Best performance of the season.

voted cigarettes and internet. being without internet feels much worse than being without smoke for me.. I can take a few days or a week without puffing, it won't bother me much, but without internet I will become more and more anxious.