Strike

Oh dear. 65 in Britain now? I bet its 5000 bucks here then

don't worry mate. with all the hype around refs givin penalties to barca, they will end up giving us pens

sources: rob greissinger for the allardyce quotes and zonalmarking.net for the image and the mourinho insight

THE MESSI CONUNDRUM As Chelsea prepare to face Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final this Wednesday, the question on everybody’s mind is - How do you defend against what is widely regarded as the best team in the planet whose attack is headed by the best player on the planet? ….Manchester United, Arsenal, AC Milan, Real Madrid have all tried and have all been swatted aside by this rampant Barcelona team and at the heart of it all is the little magician ruling the game now - Lionel Messi Sam Allardyce once said "Nobody is good enough to man-mark Messi. He could elude anybody. What you have to do, as a player, is make sure that you’re aware of him. Whenever Messi is in your area or in your space, you’ve got to take responsibility for him”. Fergie tried man-marking Messi in the Champions League final and paid the price for it. So, the question arises, how do you defend Messi? The answer is not how Guus Hiddink dealt with Messi. The Messi of 09' is very different from the Messi of today. In 09' Messi used to play Right Wing. Cut inside with his lightning quick feet and link up with Xavi and Iniesta. But now, with Ibrahimovic and Henry sold, and Villa injured, he has been playing as a false number 9 for Barca (He started playing centre before Villa’s injury, but that’s not the point) Jose Mourinho tried an interesting idea in the Spanish Community Shield or whatever they call it. He assigned one of the CB’s, Ricardo Carvalho to push up and take on Messi when he got the ball. So, essentially, Carvalho pushed up to a CDM position and the 3 remaining defenders narrowed down to deal with Villa and Pedro. That way the actual CDM’s do not have to worry about Messi and can concentrate on clamping Xavi Iniesta and Fabregas. The idea didn’t work perfectly as Carvalho was beaten easily by Messi but it did help Real deal with Messi much more effectively and I think RDM can take a leaf out of Mourinho’s box of tricks. In our squad, I can think of only one player who can suffocate Messi – David Luiz. Yes, I am serious and No, its not a joke. David Luiz is regarded by the media as a player prone to mistakes but when was the last time we saw him make an error? He has been playing fantastically well this year. He had Edinson Cavani in his pocket against Napoli and has reduced his forward runs recently. He has the pace to deal with Messi and can harry him all night. He doesn't have to man-mark Messi. Mikel or Ramires should take responsibility for him when he drops back deep but it is when Messi is driving at the defence that Luiz needs to be careful. You can't let Messi get into that space in front of the defence and behind the CDM's. Messi is brilliant in getting through tight spaces and you could say he can get past Luiz but given that Luiz will be tailing him at the CDM position, the covering centre-back can clean up the mess if that does happen. John Terry fits the role of the covering CB perfectly. He is the organizer of our defense and he can direct the defense to nip the Barca attacks in the bud. The Barca full-backs will overlap and attack, so Ramires and Kalou have to get back all night and act as the wing backs for Chelsea – a kind of a Christian Maggio role. With Luiz injured for the first leg, Ramires would be the next best option to stifle Messi. He has the pace and the stamina to shadow-mark him all night long. Gary Cahill would do better covering the other defenders rather than man-marking anyone. There is no guarantee this will work since Barca will realize the marking and change their system, so that’s why we need to stay flexible in defence. Also, with the first leg at the Bridge, we have to counter-attack and get at their defence whenever we get the ball because otherwise Barca will pin us back with their tiki-taka. After Wembley, I fully believe we can score against Barca. It’s all about whether we can defend them.

out of the first leg most probably. cahill is a good enough replacement

The only problem with kalou starting is he gives away possession on the counter. we saw that happen numerous times early on at wembley and if that happens on wednesday, barca will fry us . i think rdm should have a talk with kalou and calm him because he is better than sturridge for this game although i like the idea of the napoli game - sturridge on the right and ramires on the left

still seems unlikely. now assuming we win at the emirates And all other games, arsenal still has to drop points for us to catch them. i think spurs will do us a favor rather than arsenal

even i was observing the silence from 4000 miles away and those fuckin twats couldn't zip their piehole for One minute? eventhough its a small minority, its a disgrace

i am not sure. compare walker's position with reference to the goal-line in pic 2 and pic 4. it seems allright, barely though. but at the same time, both places the goal-line could be incorrect

concise report but you haven't given tottenham enough credit. they were better in the firsthalf. our first half performance left a lot to be desired until the King of Wembley showed up. Huge slices of luck when JT cleared off the line, adebayor/vdvaart struck the post. we are doomed if we start like that at the bridge on wednesday

Its like selling soaps in france agree to disagree people

There is spending and there is spending smartly. City were in the bottom half of the table. they spent 200m and are challenging for the title now chelsea are 6th now. a few smart additions to the squad and clearing dead wood will make us title challengers again. And as for Barca and Real being miles away - wait until Wednesday

Much better than we are used to seeing. that's an improvement but still shouldn't start Barca game

i am not even thinkin about the liverpool game now. big fortnight ahead of us btw, we play liverpool twice in 3 days because we were scheduled to play them in the league on May 6

i dunno abt the game but the chelsea-barca match thread might just break the record for most number of pages for a match thread. anyone know the current record?

yeah. if its not messi its cuenca or sanchez on the left. both could be tricky

yeah. and so he should. but at CDM

Hasn't messi been playin centre ? i think a CDM has to keep track of messi. ramires?

i'd rather have ramires alongside mikel than essien with sturridge on the right. their left back (adriano? ) whoever is their weakest link in defence and sturridge's pace and trickery would expose that and as far as essien goes, its a no-brainer. this is not 2009 sadly

apart from the usual chelsea haters, the english football world , i feel will be supporting chelsea on wednesday. most of my friends who are ManU, arsenal, manc fans are supporting chelsea in this year's ucl and even people like gary neville have been backing chelsea through the run to the semis. of course there are the people who hate chelsea but neutral supporters will be cheering for chelsea because they are sick of seeing barca cheat to win

Harry Redknapp's Wife: Darling get up its 6. Harry: Oh no have Chelsea scored again??

Yes. it seems like it has crossed but still inconclusive unless we get a parallel to the post angle

Borderline decision. Spurs have only themselves to blame and any notion that Mata is a cheater because he celebrated the goal is nonsense because from his angle it looks like it has crossed the line.