Closed Chelsea v Barcelona

[didierforever 7,349]

Pick one.

danny(to exploit puyol/ adriano) mata rambo(to cover alves' runs)

[Ollie 4,400]

Ok, we've had a great win yesterday but i'm still not confident about this game, i'm just happy that the lads will go into the match in a .... as Carlo may say, 'a good moment'. This result should give us a lot more confidence in the attacking way and hopefully we can bag a couple against them. A clean sheet is huge but i'll be surprised if we can hold out, especially with Luiz out. Glad that Ivanovic was out yesterday now lol he's now fresh and yesterday went more than perfectly.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Most of the English football world is probably rooting for us to lose this. I've seen comments like "Barcelona will beat them 10-0" and "I hope that uppity plastic club and its pathetic fans are shown up".

I would be delighted, delighted, to win this, more to just silence the haters than anything.

[Kieran. 6,317]

We're going to win this leg. Can't say much about the away leg, but I'm confident we'll get a good result at home.

[Strike 7,271]

Most of the English football world is probably rooting for us to lose this. I've seen comments like "Barcelona will beat them 10-0" and "I hope that uppity plastic club and its pathetic fans are shown up".

I would be delighted, delighted, to win this, more to just silence the haters than anything.

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

[capriccioso 2,545]

I specifically mean the English though. Outside of England Chelsea-hate isn't that strong.

You'll have the pro-Liverpool media hoping for a record European defeat to make things easier for Liverpool in May.

[Milan 17,865]

"BREAKING NEWS: Chelsea confirm that they will lodge an appeal to UEFA about the red card they will receive in Wednesday's match against Barcelona"

[Blue Armour 4,323]

I wouldn't start mata for this game as crazy as that sounds, because:

1) The only advantage our side has is our physical strength. We need to bully them off the ball and Mata just can't do that.

2) If he plays in the center behind the striker he will have to mark Xavi or iniesta wich would be a disaster since he can't defend and Barca will probably have possession most of the match.

3) If he plays on the wing, he is not fast enough to break on the counter and beat their fullbacks.

4) Mata plays well when the team has most possession and want to break a tight defense. The only chance we have against barca is if we sit deep and lump the ball forward to DD whenever possible.

If we try to pass the ball in midfield, we are screwed.

Crossed my mind as well, but who will be the midfield enforcer to replace him?

It would be great to have a fully fit Essien right now, but I'm not sure of his mobility.

It's most likely going to be a 5 man midfield with Lampard and Mikel playing deep, with Meireles and Ramires upfront on either side. The fifth will most likely be Mata, and Torres/Drogba upfront.

But if RDM really wants to gamble he could drop Mata and play Drogba and Torres together. One to hold the ball, and the other to run with it. The other option is to take one of Drogba/Torres and play a fast player like Sturridge /Kalou to take advantage of the high line Barca usually employ.

I'm also concerned about the back four. Will it be Ivanovic or Cahill for CB? Cahill is still short of European experience, especially for this stage of the tournament, but he did face Spain this year right?

If Bosingwa could play like it was 2009 again, I would definitely put him in RB. Brana was skinned for pace the last time he played RB against Barca, and it was our Portuguese who had a better outing. But of course, neither player is like what they were then.

Will be very interested in seeing the lineup for Wed's game...

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I'd go with:

Cech

Iva-Cahil-JT-Cole

Mikel-Essien

Rami-Lamps-Kalou

Drogba

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

I'd go with:

Cech

Iva-Cahil-JT-Cole

Mikel-Essien

Rami-Lamps-Kalou

Drogba

No mata?Wow!

[CHOULO19 24,332]

No mata?Wow!

I wouldn't start mata for this game as crazy as that sounds, because:

1) The only advantage our side has is our physical strength. We need to bully them off the ball and Mata just can't do that.

2) If he plays in the center behind the striker he will have to mark Xavi or iniesta wich would be a disaster since he can't defend and Barca will probably have possession most of the match.

3) If he plays on the wing, he is not fast enough to break on the counter and beat their fullbacks.

4) Mata plays well when the team has most possession and want to break a tight defense. The only chance we have against barca is if we sit deep and lump the ball forward to DD whenever possible.

If we try to pass the ball in midfield, we are screwed.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

I somewhat agree, but at the same time, when we do have Possession, we need to use it well,retain it for as long as possible and create chances to score goals. Without Mata that becomes very difficult. It's your Classic Catch 22 Situation here, Lose-Lose...

[Strike 7,271]

I'd go with:

Cech

Iva-Cahil-JT-Cole

Mikel-Essien

Rami-Lamps-Kalou

Drogba

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

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

I disagree.without Mata we will definitely be screwed and will have no real chance of winning.He was involved in 3 of the 5 goals yesterday,so I guess he really needs to start on Wednesday.

[Ollie 4,400]

It's worrying now Luiz is gonna be out, he would be man marking the Argie i'm sure, woulda been a very exciting match up. Cahill now may have a chance if Ivan is played at RB to actually play in such an enormous game. He must be pinching himself.

[Slam Dunk 1,442]

I don't think I can imagine us scoring without Mata on the pitch. He is our attacking outlet and without him we'd probably create nothing. Don't forget that in a free role, he often drops to Mikel's position and has a huge influence in the middle of the park.

Saying that however, I remember watching the CL final last year and thinking Man Utd started well simply by bypassing their midfield with accurate long balls over the top. Sadly, accurate passing has never been a strong point of ours.

Either way, I think Drogba's influence will be decisive.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

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

Whoever plays on the right wing has to track back and help Iva with messi. Danial will most defenitely not do that. Ramires on the right is a must for me.

I disagree.without Mata we will definitely be screwed and will have no real chance of winning.He was involved in 3 of the 5 goals yesterday,so I guess he really needs to start on Wednesday.

Yes and yesterday we had most of the possession of the ball, and both his assists came from a slow build up, not a counter. Our only chance against Barca is if we lump the ball forward to DD or down the wings. We can not try short passes in the midfield to keep possession. We will get raped if we do.

[Nando 106]

I'm sure Barca will have difficulties at the Bridge. First the pitch is really small comparing it to the Camp Nou, so it should be easier for us to defend and wait for our chances at the counter. In addition if we grow the grass high that will slow down their game.

Drogba or Torres? I don't know really. I'd start both. Drogba can be really useful if we play long balls. Just look at the AC Milan-Barcelona game. I think Ibra did fairly well.

Torres, on the other hand, has a great record against the Catalans. 7 goals in 10 matches! With his pace he can cause some serious problems to the ageing Puyol.

Also, I would love Romeu to play some part of the tie.

It's revenge time and I'm confident we can get a clean sheet and a good result at the Bridge!

- Here you have the goals!