Closed Chelsea 2-1 Benfica

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

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

Cracking finish and gotta love the celebration.

so much bass.lol

[Jase 43,479]

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

With the situation that Mata was in that time, he was only ever able gonna shoot with his right foot. And Kalou took the shot with his left foot. Either way, whoever of the 2 would have only been able to shoot with their weaker foot and would probably miss the target.

While it seems that Kalou has pissed everyone off with his contribution attacking wise, let's not forget he played his part defensively and arguably created our two best chances for Mata and Ramires which they both completely spurned! Had one or both converted their chances, we would have probably be sitting down here and praise him for his assist(s). Not defending him here but just find it very unfair for people to use him as a scapegoat for the performance last night when the entire team played horribly.

[Strike 7,218]

With the situation that Mata was in that time, he was only ever able gonna shoot with his right foot. And Kalou took the shot with his left foot. Either way, whoever of the 2 would have only been able to shoot with their weaker foot and would probably miss the target.

While it seems that Kalou has pissed everyone off with his contribution attacking wise, let's not forget he played his part defensively and arguably created our two best chances for Mata and Ramires which they both completely spurned! Had one or both converted their chances, we would have probably be sitting down here and praise him for his assist(s). Not defending him here but just find it very unfair for people to use him as a scapegoat for the performance last night when the entire team played horribly.

yeah.it is true that kalou is made to be the scapegoat of our attack

[Jase 43,479]

I'll have you know that Mata lost the ball more than Kalou did tonight. He lost it 26 times by my count, Kalou an enormously better 8 times. He created bugger all and every time Kalou played him in he was offside. Poor show.

Mata completed 38 of 55 passes attempted(69%) while Kalou only managed to complete 24 of 42 passes(57%)...

[zolayes 14,489]

yeah.it is true that kalou is made to be the scapegoat of our attack

its a religion on here started by TX ..Kalou must be sacrificed ,,,

[Strike 7,218]

Mata completed 38 of 55 passes attempted(69%) while Kalou only managed to complete 24 of 42 passes(57%)...

are u defending kalou or criticizing him?

[Strike 7,218]

Chelsea captain John Terry says two cracked ribs

are leaving him gasping for breath during matches - but he intends to play through the pain. "I couldn't breathe and my chest was closing up," said Terry, after he was substitutedduring his team's Champions League win against Benfica on Wednesday night

[Jase 43,479]

are u defending kalou or criticizing him?

Neither. Was just only refuting what Capri said about Mata losing the ball more than Kalou.

[BenficaSempre 25]

Not sure if it is appropriate but here is a video of the reception at Lisbon airport this morning around 5:00 am. Despite the emilination and having in account the attitude at the Bridge more than 300 Benfica Supporters received the players and gave them strengh for the next FINAL on Monday against Sporting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEAI0Vx-m7w

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3293231764472

Congrat's you guys for the passing. Later I will give my opinion about yesterday's game!

Smash Barça and Platini please!

Cheers

[Beirut_Blues 306]

Not sure if it is appropriate but here is a video of the reception at Lisbon airport this morning around 5:00 am. Despite the emilination and having in account the attitude at the Bridge more than 300 Benfica Supporters received the players and gave them strengh for the next FINAL on Monday against Sporting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEAI0Vx-m7w

Congrat's you guys for the passing. Later I will give my opinion about yesterday's game!

Smash Barça and Platini please!

Cheers

Thanks mate...About Benfica we all know the feeling when u play well and lose anyway.,its a bad feeling and Benfica played well last night.

But I think our team is not fukking around when it comes to the Champions League and they believe they can beat Barca.. so we believe it too.

We know from now that the referee will have decisions against us, so we need some insurance against that so we dont get fukkd by the referee.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Post-match conferencecs:

[Jase 43,479]

With the situation that Mata was in that time, he was only ever able gonna shoot with his right foot. And Kalou took the shot with his left foot. Either way, whoever of the 2 would have only been able to shoot with their weaker foot and would probably miss the target.

While it seems that Kalou has pissed everyone off with his contribution attacking wise, let's not forget he played his part defensively and arguably created our two best chances for Mata and Ramires which they both completely spurned! Had one or both converted their chances, we would have probably be sitting down here and praise him for his assist(s). Not defending him here but just find it very unfair for people to use him as a scapegoat for the performance last night when the entire team played horribly.

Contrary to what I said in the 1st paragraph above, francozola, looks like you were right. Just saw that move in the game again and Mata would have indeed got a clean shot with his left foot had Kalou let it run. Even then, still don't think Kalou warrants the scapegoating that he's getting after the game.

[Kojo 4,676]

Just watched the match, entertaining enough.

Mikel was immense, MOTM.

He was good but let himself down 2nd half.

[HNKS 508]

Cant believe people are defending Kalou. Yes the whole squad was shit. But had Kalou made more of the chances he had (go watch the match again if you cant remember) we would have had a more comfortable second half. Plus we are fucked for the barca match. Going to get demolished.

[the Blues 11 19]

Just finished watching the game and it was definitely not one of Chelsea's better games. We're through to the final four and have an immense task in front of us.

I sure would like to see mata get some rest, he seems to be coasting and lacking in energy.

Go Blues!!!

[Kostas 1,468]

First post-match thread that I manage to fully read and post before it gets locked

Not much to add to what's been said but I agree this was a particularly poor game quality-wise both for the neutrals and from Chelsea's point of view.

Credit is due to Benfica for managing to dominate us for most of the game despite being 2 goals down, 1 man down, having half their players yellow carded thus unable to commit fully to challenges plus having no regognised central defenders in the game. On the other hand it's a mess that they got themselves into by giving away a pretty needless penalty, and losing their nerve for the rest of the game over a decision on which the most vocal of them did not have a good view of. Their manager has got to be as much responsible as the card-happy ref for his team's ill-discipline and constant pathetic attitute.

As far as we're concerned we can only hope that we'll be at the very least 200% better in the games versus Barcelona or we're in for some embarrasment. They only possitive I can keep from this game is not letting Benfica create many clear-cut chances. Given how many factors went against the Portuguese there's no denying that defending well as a team was not good enough.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Kalou was especially hopeless today. I really don't understand how he even became a professional footballer. So brainless. Work rate is fine blah blah but footballing wise he is dreadful

While I can't dissagree with any other part of that post I have my doubts about stupidity being one of his weaknesses(the how he got into professional football has been bugging me for quite some time, my guess would be nepotism with his brother in the begining and then Drogba helping him achieve much greater recognition than his ability ever would)

With all of Kalou supposed advantages being little more than myths (e.g. decent score-rate, pace) it may actually be his footballing intelligence that has helped him being occasionally useful to his coaches.

Thursday's match was a fine example of how he successfuly gets himself into positions from where any player could potentially do harm but ultimately fails to contribute.

Despite him having acres of space like Mata and Torres he did arguably get into better positions than any of our other forwards partly due to him not being as closely marked (a very frequent theme in his Chelsea career) but also partly because he made his runs into the correct space,only to be later let down by his technique. The same goes for his defending where his only real advantage over our other forwards (workrate) is enhanced by smart rather than desperate positioning.

It is actually when he has the ball that he looks the dumber as he has to constantly look at the ground to figure where his touch moved the ball and 7-8/10 times dissapoints with either his choice of his inability to execute it.

Ok, give him to us!

I can only assume the following:

a) You have not seen over 10 games of him.

b ) You have not been following the Premierleague or Chelsea's not-quite-big-games very closely for the past 5 years.

c) You are not aware of his wage demands, and more importantly how do they compare to that of other similar (in either role/ability) strikers in Europe.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

Kalou was poor, can't help but think that if someone like Hazard was in the positions and had the chances that Kalou had he would make something out of it. These types of Matches really remind you of how players lile Kalou dont belong in our team.

Anyway mediocre performance in terms of skill and quality, but don't really care, we got through, Fuck Jorge Jesus that sore loser. For the Barcelona gama we are not only going to have to play at top gear, but perhaps create a whole new gear to go to lol. The players will have to play the best 2 games of their life to have any chance of beating Barca. I'm sure Di Matteo will show them the Milan vs Barca games, especially the first leg where Milan were pretty well organised and kept Barca scoreless. We need to be moving the ball quicker and with more purpose against Barca

[francozola 2,040]

Contrary to what I said in the 1st paragraph above, francozola, looks like you were right. Just saw that move in the game again and Mata would have indeed got a clean shot with his left foot had Kalou let it run. Even then, still don't think Kalou warrants the scapegoating that he's getting after the game.

It's over-the-top, yes, but it's not scapegoating. It's just a recognition of what a horrible footballer he is and I don't think that's unfair. He has no footballing brain and he screws a lot of moves up due to his lack of ability or common sense.

Most people recognize that he works hard for the team and I think most people, like me, would rather see him playing than Malouda. But it's not a Malouda v Kalou debate, because both are utter shit right now. And to be fair to Malouda - for two seasons he was one of the best wingers in the world. Kalou has always been Kalou.

Usually after games I go a little crazy and say things I don't mean but I still stand by what I said re: Kalou.

I like him as a person and he has scored a lot of important goals for this club, but it's truly unbelievable that he's still here at the club. Can you imagine us giving Sinclair, Tore or some other youngster these chances? Or buying some young, talented and hungry player to take his place....

While I can't dissagree with any other part of that post I have my doubts about stupidity being one of his weaknesses(the how he got into professional football has been bugging me for quite some time, my guess would be nepotism with his brother in the begining and then Drogba helping him achieve much greater recognition than his ability ever would)

With all of Kalou supposed advantages being little more than myths (e.g. decent score-rate, pace) it may actually be his footballing intelligence that has helped him being occasionally useful to his coaches.

Thursday's match was a fine example of how he successfuly gets himself into positions from where any player could potentially do harm but ultimately fails to contribute.

Despite him having acres of space like Mata and Torres he did arguably get into better positions than any of our other forwards partly due to him not being as closely marked (a very frequent theme in his Chelsea career) but also partly because he made his runs into the correct space,only to be later let down by his technique. The same goes for his defending where his only real advantage over our other forwards (workrate) is enhanced by smart rather than desperate positioning.

It is actually when he has the ball that he looks the dumber as he has to constantly look at the ground to figure where his touch moved the ball and 7-8/10 times dissapoints with either his choice of his inability to execute it.

He's just an awful footballer who has compensated for his lack of actual football talent (ability to make passes, etc) by developing the skills that he does have which is instinct on where to run, pace, and... thats about it lol.