Closed Chelsea 2-1 Benfica

[Dj Borgs 262]

Chelsea! Chelsea! Chelsea! Chelsea! Chelsea! Chelsea! Chelsea!

And now let's destroy Barca!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HNKS 508]

Kalou wasted so many chances yesterday. Just shows again why he shouldnt play for us.

[magicrico 175]

Fuckind dreadful. Benfica should have gone through based on their performace. 10 Men and they ahd so much control and want about the game. Chelsea need to pull their fucking finger out or Spurs, Barca will beat us and say goodbye to what slim hope we have of top four.

[Dj Borgs 262]

Kalou wasted so many chances yesterday. Just shows again why he shouldnt play for us.

Ok, give him to us!

[HNKS 508]

Ok, give him to us!

Straight swap for Cavani?

[Jase 43,479]

Kalou wasted so many chances yesterday. Just shows again why he shouldnt play for us.

Erm, mind listing out the chances that he got??

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Cech - 6 - I'm struggling to see why he has been voted man of the match? One very good save besides, and two routine ones, he made a horrendous howler for Garcia's header.

Ivanovic - 6 - solid and unspectacular. It is still annoying me how he refuses to charge the crosser down, we were nearly punished again by that yesterday.

Terry - 7 - excellent when he was one. Organisation, leadership, commitment. We lost it completely after he went off, which is pretty pathetic actually. Standard JT performance capped off with a goalline clearance.

Luiz - 6 - he had an effective game aerially but he was struggling with people running at him. Started trying to dribble the length of the pitch again before resorting to the safety-first method.

Cole - 7 - I was very impressed by Cole, I would go as far as saying he was our most productive attacking outlet and he did excellently to win the penalty. Very happy with his showing.

Mikel - 7 - I have not been Mikel's biggest fan but he impressed me once more with a composed performance. He did a very good job to screen the two centre-halves and he made some very good and incisive attacking passes. The majority of our best moves were created by his simple passes into space. He will be crucial in the Nou Camp.

Lampard - 7.5 - I thought Frank was our best player yesterday. Nimble-footed and quick across the turf, he looked as if he had a point to prove and I have noticed his passing has returned to its usual standard; he was thrashing 50-yard crossfield passes here, there and everywhere with unerring accuracy. He took the penalty very well - there was no doubt, really! SUPER FRANK!

Mata - 6.5 - not as good as he was against Aston Villa but still the major spark of creativity. Just please rest him Robbie!

Ramires - 6.5 - he had a decent game, but oh my goodness - that miss was horrendous! It takes some skill to not only miss the goal from there but also to divert it away from goal. Forgetting that, he was here, there and everywhere and his stamina is exceptional. Typical Ramires performance - solid and unspectacular.

Kalou - 5.5 - on a day where no-one played poorly and certainly very few played well, Kalou was the worst of the lot, in all honesty. He tried but toiled, and though he worked the goalkeeper on a couple of occasions he just was not the same, sharp player we saw against Villa and in the Cathedral. That being said he wasn't as bad as people are making out; just incredibly frustrating. Talk about blowing hot and cold!

Torres - 6 - desperately unlucky to see that shot go wide! He did a good job for the team and worked tirelessly. Despite a lack of service he created space and got himself involved when he could.

SUBS - 6 - did Drogba touch the ball? It doesn't matter, because Meireles did, and BOOM!

RDM - 6 - he got his tactics spot on, but not his team selection. This game was based entirely on Benfica coming forward and us hitting them on the counter, so why was Daniel Sturridge an absentee?

[Strike 7,489]

Straight swap for Cavani?

we'l throw in bosingwa and malouda too. give us cavani and lavezzi

[HNKS 508]

Erm, mind listing out the chances that he got??

Numerous occasions he had the ball on the left flank and did fuck all with it. The guy is useless. Dont defend him, it makes you look stupid.

[Jase 43,479]

Cech - 6 - I'm struggling to see why he has been voted man of the match? One very good save besides, and two routine ones, he made a horrendous howler for Garcia's header.

TBF, the whole defence was at fault. Everyone just stood there statically during the corner and nobody was marking Garcia. Yes, Cech could have come for the corner but Garcia was left free to just run through the blue shirts and get a free header. Absolutely diabolical defending all round.

[Jase 43,479]

Numerous occasions he had the ball on the left flank and did fuck all with it. The guy is useless. Dont defend him, it makes you look stupid.

If you can't even list out the chances that he got, then I think it makes you look stupid instead when you can't back up your point with facts/examples.

[francozola 2,040]

Cech - 6 - I'm struggling to see why he has been voted man of the match? One very good save besides, and two routine ones, he made a horrendous howler for Garcia's header.

I think the entire team is to blame for that goal. They were so complacent! Nobody was marking the Benfica players at all. Shameful, shameful defending. They should be fined for that.

Regarding Cech... other teams are clearly noticing that he comes too far out sometimes. They tried to chip him two or three times yesterday. The first one (by Cardozo I think) was really well hit and on another day it would have gone in.

[Dj Borgs 262]

Straight swap for Cavani?

ehm................no!

[francozola 2,040]

If you can't even list out the chances that he got, then I think it makes you look stupid instead when you can't back up your point with facts/examples.

I can't remember them all, have to see it again but off the top of my head...

1) the pathetic header which he should either have not gone for at all, or done something else with it rather than head it 200 yards away from the goal

and

2) the one where he took the ball off Mata's feet and shot wide (Juan should have slapped him for doing that)

there were a couple more too

[Jase 43,479]

I can't remember them all, have to see it again but off the top of my head...

1) the pathetic header which he should either have not gone for at all, or done something else with it rather than head it towards the corner flag

and

2) the one where he took the ball off Mata's feet and shot wide (Juan should have slapped him for doing that)

there were a couple more too

Fine, think I agree with that 1st one. But for the other, I'm not even sure if he took it of Mata's feet. Didn't Mata just missed the ball by a tiny bit when it arrived to him??

[Jase 43,479]

Not sure if this has been posted but here's Meireles's goal and celebration.

Cracking finish and gotta love the celebration.

[Kezza 1,965]

Hmm how come for both the Napoli game and Benfica games, some people say "you guys should of gone through", "really, you should be in our position?"

Its not like it was only luck that got us through..

[francozola 2,040]

Fine, think I agree with that 1st one. But for the other, I'm not even sure if he took it of Mata's feet. Didn't Mata just missed the ball by a tiny bit when it arrived to him??

Haven't seen the replay of the incident but I think if he had let it run, Mata would have been able to shoot

[francozola 2,040]

Hmm how come for both the Napoli game and Benfica games, some people say "you guys should of gone through", "really, you should be in our position?"

Its not like it was only luck that got us through..

Don't think anyone said that for the Napoli game.. We were deserved winners in the end. Nobody can argue with a 4-1 win

But for the benfica games..... We did get some luck. JT's handball should have been a penalty. But benfica were crap in both legs in terms of creating actual clear cut chances. They were dominant for about 15 minutes at the start of the 2nd half in the 1st leg and made Cech produce 4 or 5 great saves, but other than that they were simply average.

Yesterday it was a bad performance by us considering it was 11 v 10 and benfica were running rings around us at times and had us on the back foot but they were average. It's just that we were horrible.

At the end of the day, benfica have nobody but themselves to blame. Maxi shouldn't have opened his big fat mouth to complain to the ref, and the challenge on mikel definitely deserved a yellow. The penalty was obvious as well.

After the game i felt a little... Meh because they were clearly better than us yesterday. But now.. Don't feel sorry for them at all, they were diving all over the place - in both legs. Pathetic.

[TacticalBlues 2,817]