Champions League Thread

[LAM09 7,051]

This is bollocks mate, sorry. You can't ignore quality players like Bale, Di Maria, Benzema and Isco.

It clearly ain't mate. They all played last night, but did fuck all.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Well, to have the best player in the world out for a match is a blow. Yep, that's a very good front four, i'm not denying that.

The facts are that they don't do well against teams who press them high-up the pitch (At.Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, Dortmund,...), the Pepe-Ramos partnership is a joke, Carvajal and Marcelo aren't know for theirs defensive ability and against the top five they took 7 pts/24.

BBC and their midfield are the threats but I'm 100% sure that Oscar could keep a Xabi Alonso out of the game, Luiz can outmuscle Modrid and so on...

I'm not saying that if we face each other we are going to beat them but we certainly can.

And we can't forget that José know them very well.

I'm not saying we can't beat them either, we can beat them, in fact we can beat any of the three. My point is that I don't understand how people are trying to say that Real are the easiest out of the three we might face - I think the opposite because of the way they play - it isn't like something we've faced this season. PSG, City and Arsenal are possession based side, and we've done very well against teams like that, but I don't think you can put Real in the same category as them - hence why I think Bayern are our best match up.

[The Skipper 20,609]

It clearly ain't mate. They all played last night, but did fuck all.

You seriously can't judge them off of one off game pal.

[LAM09 7,051]

You seriously can't judge them off of one off game pal.

I know mate, but it was probably the most important they have played this season. They SHOULD be out.

[The Skipper 20,609]

I know mate, but it was probably the most important they have played this season. They SHOULD be out.

It's one leg... By that logic we should be out too since we fucked up in Paris. You really shouldn't put too much weight to that game, their players went into the game practically thinking the tie was over and Dortmund had nothing to lose.

[LAM09 7,051]

It's one leg... By that logic we should be out too since we fucked up in Paris. You really shouldn't put too much weight to that game, their players went into the game practically thinking the tie was over and Dortmund had nothing to lose.

I agree with what you are saying mate, but surely that was a chance for them to shine. Chelsea turned up and created chances, but made three mistakes leading to the defeat.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I know mate, but it was probably the most important they have played this season. They SHOULD be out.

It's easy to get complacent when you have a 3 goal lead. Bayern did it last season and almost got knocked out by Arsenal. Does that mean that Bayern, who won the treble, we're shit last season? Of course not.

I think people are way exaggerating how bad Reals defense is. Honestly Bayern's is worse, IMO.

[LAM09 7,051]

It's easy to get complacent when you have a 3 goal lead. Bayern did it last season and almost got knocked out by Arsenal. Does that mean that Bayern, who won the treble, we're shit last season? Of course not.

I think people are way exaggerating how bad Reals defense is. Honestly Bayern's is worse, IMO.

I know they are shit mate, but the players previously mentioned didn't turn up. I honestly can't see how Bayern have a worse defence than RM. Not even close IMO, but each to their own.

[Tomo 21,751]

If we get the first leg on Tuesday with the 2nd leg on Wednesday then i don't care who we get, a home 2nd leg to go with that would be perfect.

If we play the first leg on Wednesday then the potential title decider at Anfield will have to move to Saturday (because off the Tuesday 2nd leg) stripping us off 2 days preparation time for that game.

Getting the first leg on the Tuesday is more important than getting a home leg 2nd.

[didierforever 7,349]

Let's take a team that has a similar play style to us and look at their results vs Real; Atletico Madrid:

Real 0 - 1 Atletico

Real 3 - 0 Atletico

Atletico 0 - 2 Atletico

Atletico 2 - 2 Madrid

ATM outplayed RM in both the league matches. the 3-0 and 2-0 wins of RM over ATM were in a copa del ray 2 legged affair where ATM played with less than half their proper team, especially in the 2nd leg.

[didierforever 7,349]

It's easy to get complacent when you have a 3 goal lead. Bayern did it last season and almost got knocked out by Arsenal. Does that mean that Bayern, who won the treble, we're shit last season? Of course not.

I think people are way exaggerating how bad Reals defense is. Honestly Bayern's is worse, IMO.

bayern were outplayed by arsenal on the night. but people dont take that individual performance cos it was an individual performance. nothing else close to that comes to mind

RM on the other hand have got 1 point in possible 12 against their title challengers, getting outplayed against ATM in both the matches, and at camp nou.

RM were lucky against juve

RM lost to sevilla 2-1 away and won 6-3 at bernabau

they were lucky to get away with a 1-1 against bilbao.

the 3-0 scoreline flattered RM no ends as it could very well have ended 3-3 and they could have lost 5-0 at least at bvb.

hence, they have struggled against almost every good team they have played this season.

RM's defensive frailities are not a one-match isolated problem. they are poor defensively, people are exaggerating nothing here. anyone who watches them would vouch for that. hell, even RM fans DO say that.

[The Skipper 20,609]

ATM outplayed RM in both the league matches. the 3-0 and 2-0 wins of RM over ATM were in a copa del ray 2 legged affair where ATM played with less than half their proper team, especially in the 2nd leg.

They outplayed them in the first, but not the second. Second was even.

And the 3-0 result Atletico played their main team, don't make stuff up.

[didierforever 7,349]

They outplayed them in the first, but not the second. Second was even.

And the 3-0 result Atletico played their main team, don't make stuff up.

they were outplayed in the 2-2 draw at the caulderon too. RM were lucky to get the early goal thru benzema. after that, until the 70 minute mark it was ALL ATM. RM were lucky to come out with a draw. ATM could have had a couple of penalties thru costa, ramos could have easily been sent off.

my bad on the 1st leg mix up. still does not change the fact that RM have been average at best against good/big teams

1 point from 12 against their title challengers.

draw against bilbao (a) and loss to sevilla (a),

their performances againt juve in CL were lukewarm too and their performance against bvb in both the legs was poor. the first match could easily have been 3-3 and the 2nd one 3/4/5-0.

so RM have been far from this "awesome strike force" that the normal hype would have us believe. and IF ronaldo is actually out of the 1st leg, then this is a MAJOR boost. simply cant see benzema scoring against us, plus bale+maria against azpi+cole would be as dangerous as hazard/schurrle+willian against carvajal+marcelo.

[Rmpr 8,977]

LOL, people are acting like Real Madrid is the new Arsenal!

It is one thing to point out their flaws, but it is entirely different to undermine their qualities as a team!!!

For me, with Cristiano Ronaldo - Benzema - Bale playing the way they are, Real is the clear favourites to win it all...

[BloodIsBlue 291]

Atletico, Bayern and Real are three of the most difficult match ups we could ask for any way you slice it. Bring on the big matches with Real Madrid and Bayern, more money from TV with those teams. We can do it and everyone knows defense wins you trophies, they're scared. Not too worried about the Ivanovic mess, Ashley Cole might not be the sharpest tool after this season but he's going to play his heart when he gets a go in the first leg of semi final (I didn't forget about you Ash). He knows he'll be playing and he'll be ready.

[Strike 7,489]

Apart from Ron Gourlay and David Barnard, Chelsea will be represented by Paulo Ferreira at the draw

[Jase 43,479]

Apart from Ron Gourlay and David Barnard, Chelsea will be represented by Paulo Ferreira at the draw

Where did you read that?

[Strike 7,489]

Where did you read that?

official site

[iseah100 5,612]

I want Madrid. Mou vs his old team, beat the best player in the world. The main reason we can beat any team because we have best defense and have conceded the fewest goals among any team in the 5 major leagues.

[meetdoscar 335]

Of the three teams bayern, ATM and Real, real madrid are the least we should want to meet, reasons being.

1) ATM are poor at defending set pieces which is one of our strengths from which we score and we have a better defense than they do. I think the physicality of Ba can cause problems for them at their home as we can always lump balls towards ba to prevent being caught on the break hence we have a system to work against them.

2) As for Bayern with their possession game I think we will get a lot of chances to score on the counter attack and our defense is more than capable of holding their monotonous attacking style. I am confident if we play well we will get nothing less than a draw at germany with the ability to win them at stamford bridge.

3) Real are the least I hope to meet, the pace of their attackers is incredible compared to a slow ivanovic and ageing terry. Their ability from corner kicks, free kicks and crosses makes them a quality above all the other semi finalists and they are clear favourites for me being in the hunt for a treble of trophies. I simply DON'T want to go to the bernabeu. We have no prior champions league meeting against them, and having torres as our only energetic striker for away games makes no sense in going to bernabeu to play a team of athletes. However I hope they get bayern in the draw as they are more likely to knock out real madrid than chelsea due to their system. Our system is quite similar to madrid but they have the better players which is where the problem lies.