Closed Chelsea vs Benfica

[Ollie 4,400]

Forget Luiz and Ramires....

There's only 1 Scott Minto

[BenficaGlory 86]

Thought I might share a bit of history

I have some photos

[Strike 6,958]

cant wait for wednesday! in the meantime, come on Milan!

[capriccioso 2,545]

I wonder how we'll go about the game. Will we look to defend and nick a goal and keep it tight, or will we try and blast Benfica out of the water and go for an early 3 or 4 goal aggregate lead? I think the former would be a far better option, Benfica are a quality side and no doubt they'll come out and attack from the whistle. We can exploit that and play on the counter, but I don't think we should try to out-attack them. Of course, an attacking approach will be the last thing they expect so maybe we should go all out for the opening 5 minutes to catch them off guard and hopefully score a goal before withdrawing and defending for the rest of the match.

Huge tactical headache for me, thank god it's di Matteo's problem and not mine

[Strike 6,958]

remember the liverpool 4-4? we came in and defended. it was 2-0 by half-time. We should definitely not defend

[capriccioso 2,545]

Good point.

[communicate 2,703]

IMO we actually should play s

I wonder how we'll go about the game. Will we look to defend and nick a goal and keep it tight, or will we try and blast Benfica out of the water and go for an early 3 or 4 goal aggregate lead? I think the former would be a far better option, Benfica are a quality side and no doubt they'll come out and attack from the whistle. We can exploit that and play on the counter, but I don't think we should try to out-attack them. Of course, an attacking approach will be the last thing they expect so maybe we should go all out for the opening 5 minutes to catch them off guard and hopefully score a goal before withdrawing and defending for the rest of the match.

Huge tactical headache for me, thank god it's di Matteo's problem and not mine

IMO We should play similar to the 1st leg, defend and counter.

I am worried about their attacking power but their defense is very leaky+slow.

[Sheva. 5,373]

We have a 1 goal lead, we don't need to do any attacking

Just try to contain them, and hit on the counter like communicate said, or through set pieces.

[Strike 6,958]

We have a 1 goal lead, we don't need to do any attacking

Just try to contain them, and hit on the counter like communicate said, or through set pieces.

v r at home...v shouldn't 'contain' them here...

[Sheva. 5,373]

v r at home...v shouldn't 'contain' them here...

Being at home has nothing to do with it imo, we need to keep them from scoring, do that and we're in the semi's.

Just play a normal cautious game, and we will inevitably find spaces when they come forward in search of a goal.

[Strike 6,958]

Being at home has nothing to do with it imo, we need to keep them from scoring, do that and we're in the semi's.

Just play a normal cautious game, and we will inevitably find spaces when they come forward in search of a goal.

good point but remember liverpool right? We came in to defend and were 2-0 down at HT

But I agree with you. We need to approach this game, no different than the first leg. But we shouldn't get pinned down to our own half

[Jase 43,479]

We can't go into this game thinking about having that 1-0 lead and away goal. Need to treat this as if the tie is still 0-0 and where conceding a goal would be a disaster.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Spot on, BM. We probably need to score a goal, their attack isn't as devastating as Napoli's but you can safely bet if they attack for 90 minutes we'll have trouble keeping a clean sheet.

[coolhead23 1,146]

Forget what happened in the first leg as Bluemaster pointed out, play as if this is the final (which we need to do with every game) and more importantly keep the tempo up. The moment we go on the defense we tend to make lot of mistakes. So we should just keep the way we have being playing (baring the City game) and i m sure the result could be in our favor. As RDM has already pointed out, we shouldnt get complacent and that for me is the key.

[Strike 6,958]

what about the old guard? should/will they start?

didi is mostly out while cole and JT will start. Lamps and Essien is the question

[capriccioso 2,545]

I don't particularly want to see Essien. Lampard instead of Meireles?

[Strike 6,958]

I don't particularly want to see Essien. Lampard instead of Meireles?

yep...real leader in these situations

[magic weeds 446]

Miereles should start.