Closed Chelsea 1 - 0 Barcelona

[Spike 12,049]

I did too! Woke up at 5:10, still early enough to see Drogba's goal

I woke at 7:30 the game was well and truly over.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Tbh, the ref was unfair to Barca in one occasion. During the celebrations for DD's goal, I took off my shirt. Clearly deserved a yellow card!

[Dylan_91 90]

drogba was a disgrace last night

[capriccioso 2,545]

drogba was a disgrace last night

I found him to be incredibly comic, actually. I haven't laughed that hard when watching football in a long time. And to be fair, a couple of those 'dives' involved contact with the testicles, and contact there, no matter how slight means all bets are off. Just about every male should know that

[zolayes 14,489]

What can I say? I only became a fan recently so I didn't feel the pain of 2009 like many of you, but damn, my heart was as big as a mountain today. This is MY TEAM.

enjoy the ride ...you can be sure of one thing ...it is certain to be bumpy

[Krypt 241]

The Picture that speaks a thousand words. Don't see them like this often.

[Kezza 1,965]

Haha check this poll out

http://www.bayernforum.com/european-matches-f5/the-other-semifinal-barcelona-and-chelsea-t8021.html

[Owizzy 19]

Okay Okay so we won leg 1: How do we win the next leg?

I was only opportuned to watch the first half of yesterdays game, my understanding is that our tactic was to park the bus and do the counter which worked out for us as we were able to get a slim 1-0 victory. The big question is, will this work at camp nou?.

For the 45 minutes i watched here are my few recommendations:

1. We did not park the bus well at all. We were guilty ofleaving the Barca players free most of the times thats why they were waltzing around the Chelsea players with ease. The way to go about parking the bus is to make sure that at any point in time there is no Barca player free (except whichever one is with the ball at that moment). The Chelsea players should adopt a strict man-to-man marking system that way the Barca players will not see free teamates to pass to and we have to be quick at this. Several times yesterday I saw Meireles moving away from his opponent instead of close-marking him. If we repeat this at nou camp we will only end up piling on pressure on our defence and when the pressure gets too much we will falter. Guys, do REMEMBER the many occassions we were saved by the goal post and the readiness of Petr Cech. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, fellow Blue Brigade members help me tell Di-Matteo that it is important to close mark and never should a Chelsea player be seen on a solo walk (aside from the striker(s)) Every Chelsea player from defensive mid field to defence should marry at least 1 Barca player.

2. This second suggestion is the magic formula, instead of playing 9-1 formation as we attempted to do yesterday I will rather we play 8-2, ie two strikers the rest 8 can be shared between midfield and defence. What I would really love to see is Sturridge as the 2nd attacker, my reason: If we pack the bus we only end up given all the Barca players the opportunity to become attackers, BUT if we do have an occassional tormentor, this will de-stabilize the Barca formation and they have to reduce their numbers in our own half. With a player like Sturridge who can be silky, he can run Puyol to shreds and even 'maybe' force penalties out of him. So lets not wholly depend on Parking-the-bus defensive system alone.

With Sturridge Drogba and Ramires, we can torment the Barca defence and good enough the lad Ramires is abundle of energy and can always help when necessary in defensive midfield duties.

Mata wasnt seen much yesterday however, Lampard did well in the withdrawn role, so let Mata go into central midfield and make the distributions. We can start with that. Also if Torress is not suffering from Jelly feet he can sub someone in the attack because he has strong legs and can hold the ball....

more to Come Please forward to Di Matteo.

DO NOT PARK THE BUS WE NEED TO OCCASSIONALLY DESTABILIZE THEIR DEFENCE SO THAT THEY FALL BACK. PARKING THE BUS WILL ONLY MAKE THEM ATTACK AND ATTACK AND IF WE ARE UNLUCKY, WE CONCEDE. ADOPT MAN-TO-MAN MARKING AND FC BARCELONA WILL BE CAGED. NO TEAM IS UNBEATABLE. AND YES CHELSEA CAN DOIT AFTER THE COME BACK AGAINST NAPOLI, CHELSEA REMAINS A TEAM TO BE FEARED....... Thank you Blue Brigadeans

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

Haha check this poll out

http://www.bayernforum.com/european-matches-f5/the-other-semifinal-barcelona-and-chelsea-t8021.html

wankers want us to win so they can have an easy final apparently. Let's see who even gets to the final first ze Germans

[Blue Armour 4,292]

Okay Okay so we won leg 1: How do we win the next leg?

I was only opportuned to watch the first half of yesterdays game, my understanding is that our tactic was to park the bus and do the counter which worked out for us as we were able to get a slim 1-0 victory. The big question is, will this work at camp nou?.

For the 45 minutes i watched here are my few recommendations:

1. We did not park the bus well at all. We were guilty ofleaving the Barca players free most of the times thats why they were waltzing around the Chelsea players with ease. The way to go about parking the bus is to make sure that at any point in time there is no Barca player free (except whichever one is with the ball at that moment). The Chelsea players should adopt a strict man-to-man marking system that way the Barca players will not see free teamates to pass to and we have to be quick at this. Several times yesterday I saw Meireles moving away from his opponent instead of close-marking him. If we repeat this at nou camp we will only end up piling on pressure on our defence and when the pressure gets too much we will falter. Guys, do REMEMBER the many occassions we were saved by the goal post and the readiness of Petr Cech. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, fellow Blue Brigade members help me tell Di-Matteo that it is important to close mark and never should a Chelsea player be seen on a solo walk (aside from the striker(s)) Every Chelsea player from defensive mid field to defence should marry at least 1 Barca player.

2. This second suggestion is the magic formula, instead of playing 9-1 formation as we attempted to do yesterday I will rather we play 8-2, ie two strikers the rest 8 can be shared between midfield and defence. What I would really love to see is Sturridge as the 2nd attacker, my reason: If we pack the bus we only end up given all the Barca players the opportunity to become attackers, BUT if we do have an occassional tormentor, this will de-stabilize the Barca formation and they have to reduce their numbers in our own half. With a player like Sturridge who can be silky, he can run Puyol to shreds and even 'maybe' force penalties out of him. So lets not wholly depend on Parking-the-bus defensive system alone.

With Sturridge Drogba and Ramires, we can torment the Barca defence and good enough the lad Ramires is abundle of energy and can always help when necessary in defensive midfield duties.

Mata wasnt seen much yesterday however, Lampard did well in the withdrawn role, so let Mata go into central midfield and make the distributions. We can start with that. Also if Torress is not suffering from Jelly feet he can sub someone in the attack because he has strong legs and can hold the ball....

more to Come Please forward to Di Matteo.

DO NOT PARK THE BUS WE NEED TO OCCASSIONALLY DESTABILIZE THEIR DEFENCE SO THAT THEY FALL BACK. PARKING THE BUS WILL ONLY MAKE THEM ATTACK AND ATTACK AND IF WE ARE UNLUCKY, WE CONCEDE. ADOPT MAN-TO-MAN MARKING AND FC BARCELONA WILL BE CAGED. NO TEAM IS UNBEATABLE. AND YES CHELSEA CAN DOIT AFTER THE COME BACK AGAINST NAPOLI, CHELSEA REMAINS A TEAM TO BE FEARED....... Thank you Blue Brigadeans

Two good points.

When we faced them back in 2009 we let them have only one shot on target. But then again Messi was a different animal, and so too were Essien and Bosingwa.

Its for this reason that point 2 you mentioned becomes more important. We have to look to score at least one goal, as keeping a clean sheet at Camp Nou will be difficult. Someone like Torres/Sturridge to burst through their high line on a counter could prove useful.

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

I'm not sure we would get away with the same tactics as last night again.

[Strike 7,218]

[The_Nenae 0]

The whole team was superb, can't wait till next week!

[Azpinator 2,325]

He hasn't brought anything. All he's done is shove the best players back into the typical Chelsea 4-3-3. He abandoned all the fancy stuff Villas-Boas tried because he sensed that it wouldn't work with the players we have. The players have responded to this because they've gotten exactly what they wanted and so they're a bit happier and more motivated than before. He's not proven to be a tactical genius, what he has been really good at is picking the team. He hasn't made a wrong pick once in his tenure.

He did have an impact after all, maybe he's just a lucky man but you gotta give him some credit.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

The Farca fans are so Mad lol. They just can't take it. Immature scum. Anyway, Chelsea are half way to exacting their Revenge!

[capriccioso 2,545]

Okay Okay so we won leg 1: How do we win the next leg?

Well said. We can't afford to let it be 10 attackers v 10 defenders like what Inter did in 2009, we'll definitely concede. We have to have something at the other end for them to think about and at least leave 2-3 back. Drogba/Sturridge or Drogba/Torres would do just that.

[capriccioso 2,545]

The Farca fans are so Mad lol. They just can't take it. Immature scum. Anyway, Chelsea are half way to exacting their Revenge!

Fans of all the teams who desperately do not want to see us get through- in particular Liverpool, United and Arsenal are much, much worse. Barcelona fans are gentlemen compared to them. Arsenal I can understand but we have little to no traditional rivalry with the others, just mutual hatred between the fans. It's fear on the part of the Scousers (they don't want to admit that they are the sole laughingstock of England- they want to include us), and envy on the part of the Mancs.

He did have an impact after all, maybe he's just a lucky man but you gotta give him some credit.

I did, I said he was great with his team selection. Don't get me wrong, I have really taken to the idea of Di Matteo as manager.

[Spike 12,049]

Haha check this poll out

http://www.bayernfor...lsea-t8021.html

I find it odd they are being extremely arrogant without being pricks about it. They seem to think they will stroll over us in the hypothetical Final, FUCK THAT! If Chels do manage to get past Barça they lads will play with their hearts and souls on the pitch, they aren't getting another chance at this glory.