Closed Atletico Madrid 0-0 Chelsea

[Special Juan 27,093]

Hazard and Eto'o could be ready for the return, that in itself is a huge boost.

[Stef 15]

Only two reflections on this game

Number 1: Gary Cahill is close to becoming one of the best defenders in Europe!!!!

Number 2: Yes Mark Schwarzer had some great moments but occasionally his positioning wasn't that great!!!

[Special Juan 27,093]

Number 2: Yes Mark Schwarzer had some great moments but occasionally his positioning wasn't that great!!!

That's just been over picky. He commanded his area brilliantly and made a tremendous save from a FK. What a stage to come in on, the SF 1st leg of a CL cup tie and produce a rock solid performance.

[ZOS 580]

You really are a moron.

How much have those two squads spent on players recently? They have players in the prime of their careers! don't you get it?

I usually ignore idiots, but hey.. let's have fun ... 1) English is not my first language, or my second.. and yes, I've never been to SB ... so don't worry about my english as long as you get what I mean. But given u'r maturity level (and since I belive in letting people have their fix) I'll give this one to you, YOU ARE BETTER AT YOUR OWN LAGUAGE THAN ME 2) I didn't say chelsea should be as good as RM/BM right now, but, even at this level, we shouldn't be scared in to parking the bus against Atletico 3) The injury of JT and Peter had no impact in the game plan, defending was the game before and after the substitutions ... any how, ..chill man, take it easy

[zolayes 14,489]

thank you genius

seems you are the genius ,,so could you explain CHICKNES

[Special Juan 27,093]

I'm not saying we need a miracle to beat Atletico, but we'll need some if/when we meet who ever comes on top of the RM-Bayern tie and after spending in excess of 100M on attacking players, this shouldn't have been the case and, at least, we shouldn't be pissing our pants for the lots of Atletico and Liverpool

Football at this level is about planning, having a game plan and deploying in such a way that suits the tools you have and what the opponent bring to the table in terms of threat and their and philosophy. Nobody will pissing it going to Atletico or Liverpool but what will be required is a plan on how to play. Atletico was a two legged affair where we could not, and didn't, play ourselves out of the tie after 90 minutes and leaving us with every chance come next Wednesday, we did, and it's on.

Every team relies a little on luck or rub of the green, but what this team has that a lot of teams don't is desire and that never say die attitude and most importantly on the biggest stage of all.

[ZOS 580]

seems you are the genius ,,so could you explain CHICKNES

have nothing against you, what is it you want?

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

2) I didn't say chelsea should be as good as RM/BM right now, but, even at this level, we shouldn't be scared in to parking the bus against Atletico 3) The injury of JT and Peter had no impact in the game plan, defending was the game before and after the substitutions ... any how, ..chill man, take it easy

I'll just address this stuff. I really think you are underestimating how good Atletico are, they are first in La Liga with cushion and have made it to the final 4 of the champions league. This isn't a team of jokers, they haven't yet lost at home and very few teams go there and come away with a result. The gameplan in my opinion was to soak up the pressure and try to knick a result in the final 20mins. It didn't work out that way because we were forced to make two subs due to injuries... You really think Jose planned to keep Ba, Schurrle and Oscar on the bench and play everyone else a full 90 with the amount of defending we had to do? Use your head. The injuries GREATLY effected how we could change the game in the final frame of the game.

[zolayes 14,489]

have nothing against you, what is it you want?

when you start to get sarcastic ,, check the spelling in your av

[Badboy 1,526]

The only thing that worries me is the fact that we never got an away goal because I can see them getting one.

[ZOS 580]

I'll just address this stuff. I really think you are underestimating how good Atletico are, they are first in La Liga with cushion and have made it to the final 4 of the champions league. This isn't a team of jokers, they haven't yet lost at home and very few teams go there and come away with a result. The gameplan in my opinion was to soak up the pressure and try to knick a result in the final 20mins. It didn't work out that way because we were forced to make two subs due to injuries... You really think Jose planned to keep Ba, Schurrle and Oscar on the bench and play everyone else a full 90 with the amount of defending we had to do? Use your head. The injuries GREATLY effected how we could change the game in the final frame of the game.

this makes a little more sense ... but I still think Jose took too much risk with his starting line up, inviting Atletico to attack us that much was crazy, IMO.. and we shouldn't be this happy about the result

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

this makes a little more sense ... but I still think Jose took too much risk with his starting line up, inviting Atletico to attack us that much was crazy, IMO.. and we shouldn't be this happy about the result

I don't remember one instance where I thought they were gonna score. If you ask me Jose got the tactics spot on... Had we not been forced into changes we may be talking about one of the great European away legs in the clubs history.

Its not the greatest result but given the circumstances its a good one. We win the next home game and we're going to Lisbon. We win our next two European games and we'll be champions of Europe!

I don't know how anyone can be disappointed with that.

[ZOS 580]

when you start to get sarcastic ,, check the spelling in your av

you too huh? ... I'll say the same thing to you, CONGRATULATIONS FOR BEING A BETTER SPEAKER AND WRITER OF YOUR LANGUAGE THAN A FOREIGNER ... and expect more mistakes from me, thank you

[ZOS 580]

I don't remember on instance where I thought they were gonna score. If you ask me Jose got the tactics spot on... Had we not been forced into changes we may be talking about one of the great European away legs in the clubs history.

Its not the greatest result but given the circumstances its a good one. We win the next home game and we're going to Lisbon. We win our next to European games and we'll be champions of Europe!

I don't know how anyone can be disappointed with that.

you mean one, right?

[Melanicus 5,208]

Second leg X1:

Schwarzer

Azpilicueta - Ivanovic - Cahill - Cole

Luiz - Ramires

Schurrle - Willian - Hazard

Eto'o

[LAB 1,030]

Haters gonna hate. Don't mind them. Neutrals just wanna see goals and drama. In our eyes it was another flawless execution of a plan crafted by the mastermind Jose Mourinho. Another masterpiece including breathtaking performances by everyone (yes even Torres was good). Nearly perfect though because if we were killers in front we might be talking about a 0-1 today, because we had some good moments.

Also why perfect execution of a defensive approach doesn't ever get at least a minimum amount or praise? We actually stopped Atletico from scoring in their own home. That is one of the most difficult achievements in Europe this season, and we are playing in a competition involving the best teams in Europe. Yes "we parked it" because that's what we needed to do, given the opposition and our missing players, and again proved that we are the absolute best at it. It's no easy task to have this strategy available whenever you want. So WTF are these ppl talking about? As is said, fuck the haters. I really don't get it.

[Barbara 15,149]

I think the result favors Atletico

• we've struggled against parked buses all season, and tactically atletico will come to give us the taste of our own medicne
• playing extra time will favor the away team
• if it comes to it, they'll have a better chance in penalty shoot out because they've by far a better GK
• we've lost lampard, JT and peter
• due to its smaller pitch size, SB is suited for parking the bus and counter atacking

How extra time favors the team that had to travel and are literally in foreign territory? And we're used to playing without any space - even if we suck balls - they aren't and they proved that in a pitch as huge Vicente Calderón when we took away their space. They'll struggle even more. They're Chelsea 2.0 with a better overrated striker, but with way less experience and success at this stage - which is all much important and decisive.

And I think it's pretty naive from everyone to think that Mou will come with an offensive team for the home leg.

The only change I see is Hazard for Lampard if he's fit. Then drop Luiz to CB and Ramires do the pivot. With both Lamps and Mikel out and Matic cup-tied, there's a chance we'll play with Iva stepping up as a CB and Luiz being kept in the pivot. The most obvious option would be maybe play a 4-3-3 with Oscar or Willian dropping to midfield, but I don't see Mourinho doing it. It could be a 4-4-1-1 with Hazard (supposing he's fit) playing behind Eto'o (supposing he's fit) with Oscar and Willian marking each of the FBs and playing there, with Hazard centered. We do need Hazard and Eto'o back as we already lost Cech, Terry, Frank and even Mikel.

How did injuries screw us up so badly all of sudden?

[StasisAEL 29]

Oh, that's interesting. Will they be paying us in rainbows or lovehearts?

But I agree we need more middlefielders. Maybe a couple of topfielders, and at least 7 bottomfielders.

but of course. they are real madrid. they ve got no money. just a few golden coins from the end of their rainbow bank.

id love to see u trying to write in an other language other than your first language.