Closed Basel 1-2 Chelsea

[bushman 2,043]

Well, what can I say here ?

The team wasn´t pushed hard, scored 2 away goals & Chelsea should advance easily.

Basel was not good enough to beat Chelsea.

I thought Hazard played very well, last night.

Just one thing I am a bit surprised though. Frank seems to be either disinterested or he looked tired to me. I hope, somehow he still can score 3 goals in the remaining games. Sometimes, when I see Frank on the pitch, he looks lost there.

After so much worry, we might see Chelsea winning EL trophy.

Now, back to PL business & hammer them all.

New players are coming to Chelsea, the team will go places next year.

[Milan 17,854]

Am I the only one who thought that Luiz's free kick was to some extent similar to the ones of Drogba? Didi scored a couple of goals exactly with this technigue. Lovely to see it again.

[edetarod 2,155]

take that Luiz goal and shove it up your ass, UEFA

[NiclasCFC 2,582]

Am I the only one who thought that Luiz's free kick was to some extent similar to the ones of Drogba? Didi scored a couple of goals exactly with this technigue. Lovely to see it again.

Drogba hull Away 09-10

[kellzfresh 7,229]

I think I'm not against buying falcao, I'm tired of our front four throwing away clear chances. We don't have anyone in our team that will surely score 90% of his clear chances. Finishing games off will become easy with a proper goal scorer.

Just imagine it was torres in lewandoski's position against madrid, he won't even score one of those chances, he doesn't run into the box, he can't trap the ball and his shooting is off

[Special Juan 27,429]

I was expecting a lot more from Basel if I am honest, but also more of our finishing.

Cannot afford to approach the second leg with a 'we can't lose' attitude and we must have more cutting edge.

Very pleasing to win and get two away goals but it's not over and focus is key.

[Buffalo talks Blue 85]

Damn, how come all the refs hate us so bad?

Well deserved win. Hazard was great and of course the rest of the team. *kisses Luiz*

[Special Juan 27,429]

I thought Hazard was OK, but felt his control was poor when it was played into him, but he made up for that with some nice mazy dribbles. Frank was awful last night, he gave it away a lot and looked incredible leggy all game.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I thought Hazard was OK, but felt his control was poor when it was played into him, but he made up for that with some nice mazy dribbles. Frank was awful last night, he gave it away a lot and looked incredible leggy all game.

I thought Frank had a good game. Some of his passing from deep looked almost Alonso-esque, but in the second-half there were periods where he was slow to get back and Luiz covered. However, there were moments when the opposite was true and he was defending on the edge of the box against a Basel counter. It was his best performance for a few months in my opinion (since Stoke away probably) and he should've got a goal too.

Hazard was hit and miss, but the lack of support from Torres was abysmal. This was Fernando back to his worst, unable to hold up the ball and being less useful than a brick wall when it came to one-twos. Still, he took his chance that hit the post well and was unlucky on that occasion.

What is encouraging is that we never really got out of second gear, and essentially coasted for much of the second-half. But when we actually needed a goal we applied pressure until we got it. Basel are not a great team but it was great to see us step up at the end and get what we needed and for the first time this season it came from the double pivot (Ramires winning the free-kick, Luiz scoring it).

[Special Juan 27,429]

I thought Frank had a good game. Some of his passing from deep looked almost Alonso-esque, but in the second-half there were periods where he was slow to get back and Luiz covered. However, there were moments when the opposite was true and he was defending on the edge of the box against a Basel counter. It was his best performance for a few months in my opinion (since Stoke away probably) and he should've got a goal too.

Hazard was hit and miss, but the lack of support from Torres was abysmal. This was Fernando back to his worst, unable to hold up the ball and being less useful than a brick wall when it came to one-twos. Still, he took his chance that hit the post well and was unlucky on that occasion.

What is encouraging is that we never really got out of second gear, and essentially coasted for much of the second-half. But when we actually needed a goal we applied pressure until we got it. Basel are not a great team but it was great to see us step up at the end and get what we needed and for the first time this season it came from the double pivot (Ramires winning the free-kick, Luiz scoring it).

Can't disagree mate, your about right. Going back to Frank I think it typifies us in a nutshell really. He could fire 40 yard balls and find the feet of a wing back but struggled to pass it five yards, basics...... Still, we came out with a victory and we are very much in control.

[Danelka 209]

Don't know if it had been mentioned, but we could potentially have a Bayern(Guardiola)-Chelsea(Mourinho) supercup final. That would be pretty interesting.

Edit: Oh yeah, it had been mentioned.

[IkE 267]

What problems do you have with Nando's performance. So happy Torres is back... without him we would have been pretty fucked

Sarcasm? Reality? You scared the shit out of me.

[Milan 17,854]

Don't know if it had been mentioned, but we could potentially have a Bayern(Guardiola)-Chelsea(Mourinho) supercup final. That would be pretty interesting.

Edit: Oh yeah, it had been mentioned.

With two managers who actually didn't win the competitions with the two clubs.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Try to wear specs I say. And try to understand physics.

That was straight red card mate. If Mata would get tackled like that whole forum would gone mad.

[Jase 43,479]

Want to point out that Bertrand, Mikel, Ramires and now Luiz are all 1 YC away from a suspension and missing the final, if they were to play next week.

[Weckerz 3,781]

Cole motm. He deserves more votes, solid performance.

[Strike 7,217]

Roger Federer wearing the half-scarf just makes me happy

[Leif 6,006]

I was just so confident we were going to win this one and I'm glad we did. I'm rarely optimistic but it had me feeling good this time.

I think their previous games have, for whatever reasons, been blown out of proportion a bit.

Tottenham are Tottenham. I do not care if they are on par with us when it comes to league football these days , they are absolutely nothing to us when it comes to Europe. Manchester United were simply awful in Europe in general when they faced Basel, and blah blah. (Also didn't they have Shaqiri back then?) Anyway, point is - They are not a great collective of top-notch individuals but are indeed a very good team. They work well especially when Dragovic is playing as his determination seems to rub off onto other players, but he's now suspended of course for the Stamford Bridge game, meaning we should have this in the bag as he plays a huge part in their team spirit on the field.

I can't even see us conceding when they come to London personally and can see us winning by 3 or more goals. The fact that they choked in the biggest game of their history just last night makes me feel like the psychological difference between our team and theirs is so great that they'll crumble like a fine cheese while we play with the elegance of wine as we send them back to Switzerland and pack our bags for Amsterdam.