Closed PSG 1-1 Chelsea

[stroey 2,525]

Don't think we should be too negative about this result, we have our away goal which is very important.
Obviously we weren't in top form, we were outplayed a bit in the 2nd half due to our lack of form and not totally because of their strengths.

- Cesc and Costa: our key players of the season haven't started a game in 2-3 weeks.
Cesc came on against Everton but he was ill after that for 3 days, so injured and sick. Have you ever seen him misplacing so many passes? Costa hasn't played for 3 games in a row, last time he was injured he had the same thing, needed some game time to come back to his best. Burnley will be a good game for him to regain his fitness and for Cesc to add some assists to his total.

- Hazard: PSG clearly had a game plan for Hazard: kick him, foul him, stop him with 3 man. It was so clear that even Zlatan had fouled Hazard once where he should have been given a yellow card, same goes for Luiz. Hopefully from now on people will receive cards for this kind of play, Eden indeed need some protection from the refs.

- Cahill: Not sure what it is with him, last season he was very stable and solid at what he does. Now he is making mistake after mistake, he might be having a confidence problem, Zouma should start to get some away games too and must start against Spurs in the final.

- Counter attacks: counter-attacks has always been the biggest weapon of Mourinho teams. Somehow our current team doesn't perform very well at it yet, our latest counter attacking goal in a big away game was Schurrle's goal against City, no? (miss him) I think Cuadrado can help us with this aspect when merged into the team, we basically have all the ingredients for this play. (Cesc, Costa, Hazard)

- Mourinho set-up in away games: I still think the team we saw yesterday is the best team we have for big games, I'd only replace Zouma with Cahill. We need Ramires next to Matic to cover the ground which Cesc can't do in big games. Unless we have an upgraded version of Ramires, he should always play. Cesc is very good, he just need one pass or one brilliant moment to decide a game. We haven't lost one difficult away game with this midfield trio: Everton 3-6, City 1-1, Liverpool 1-2 (Rami played on the wing but helped those 2). Wtih Cesc in the pivot in those games, we've seen us being dominated in midfield (United 1-1, Spurs 5-3, Newcastle 2-1). Against Spurs in the final, we definitely need Ramires-Matic-Cesc.

We will finish this at home, have some confidence.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

I thought the game was decided in the midfield and for that I first have to take back some of my pre match talk about that cunt of a referee Cuntey Cakir, he was awful. @Fulham Broadway You were right! That asshole fucked us big time.

People say our counter attack was shit and we couldn't get anything going forward in attacking areas, yes this is true but ask yourselves WHY? Well for starters every time we tried to break out either Luiz or Verratti fouled cynically and only got carded ONCE in the very late stages of the game! In the 78th minute! How some can continuously foul ( 6 times in luiz's case) and not once be cautioned is unreal! That to me was the difference and you can point to a number of factors as to why they weren't awarded. I can start by saying PSG had only Rabiot on the bench who could play in those areas and had they had rightfully been carded early we would've had the run of the midfield and Blanc would've been forced to make a change. That, for whatever reason didn't happen! We couldn't get out and the ref allowed them to pile up the fouls without seeing yellow.

Hazard alone was fouled 9 times in the match! That is more than any other player in the the UEFA champions league this year. They say he gets no protection in England, try he gets no protection period because he's Chelsea. 9 fouls is a ridiculous amount most of them cynical.

I thought the only player for PSG who gave us real problems in the midfield was Blaise Matuidi! He had a fantastic game for PSG and basically bossed our clone Ramires all game. In the return fixture Ramires needs to play with a tad more edge, he only had 3 tackles and 2 fouls. I thought his influence in breaking up plays and interrupting flow was missed, he seemed like a passenger all game.

I'm not disappointed with a score draw mainly because I've seen this movie before and I know Jose will have the boys well up at home! The bridge is a fortress and we will not break there... just a little put off at the fact we weren't allowed to play our football and that in a game so big the officiating was so poor.

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

Thank you all for reacting to that subway clip.

Why do some knuckle-dragging morons keep using football to push their medieval ideas?

It's a game ffs, and it's 2015. You should be able to bring your family to any stadium in the modern world without having to fear they'll have to deal with this shit.

[The Chels 2,502]

Some analysis here: http://www.zonalmarking.net/2015/02/18/psg-1-1-chelsea-psg-dominate-down-the-left/

Think these few quotes sum up Jose's tactics nicely:

• "Chelsea’s main attacking approach – arguably their sole attacking approach – was relying on Eden Hazard’s pace on the left."
• "... neither [team] pressed well when they lost possession"
• "The more the game continued, the more it became obvious that PSG were only truly threatening down that left flank."

These problems have been evident throughout the season, especially in the big games. No rehearsed or organised counter attacks (instead relying solely on Hazard), poor pressing and our right flank being vulnerable defensively. It's hilariously predictable.

[obiwan92 217]

Yeah, I'm surprised people are so shocked by the result. The GREAT Barcelona with some of the best attacking talent on the planet just lost there. It's not easy to play there. No team has won at PP for years!

[LAM09 6,751]

Yeah, I'm surprised people are so shocked by the result. The GREAT Barcelona with some of the best attacking talent on the planet just lost there. It's not easy to play there. No team has won at PP for years!

They have a GREAT attacking trio, but their defence isn't anything to shout about. I think we could have won the game if we went for it, but I knew Mourinho would be delighted with a score draw. We're in the driving seat now.

[obiwan92 217]

They have a GREAT attacking trio, but their defence isn't anything to shout about. I think we could have won the game if we went for it, but I knew Mourinho would be delighted with a score draw. We're in the driving seat now.

No guarantee that PSG wouldn't have countered if he had pushed forward. I wouldn't be so confident at our defense when it's not that great even when the entire team is defending.

[LAM09 6,751]

No guarantee that PSG wouldn't have countered if he had pushed forward. I wouldn't be so confident at our defense when it's not that great even when the entire team is defending.

The best form of defence is attack.

[obiwan92 217]

The best form of defence is attack.

I would have loved another 6-3, honestly.

[LAM09 6,751]

I would have loved another 6-3, honestly.

The tie would have been over then.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

normally I loathe this channel but this needs to be posted.

[Open 45]

That's just French police. When I went to Marseille a few years ago there were a lot of Chelsea in one bar. We wasn't doing anything wrong, the locals were loving us. Filming us singing and stuff.

Along come the French police, kettle us in, tear gas us for no reason and then take us to the ground. It was similar in Madrid, except they decided to get their batons out and batter us for no reason.

The racism is completely inexcusable though, there's no defending that. After the Anton Ferdinand thing we played Genk away and there was quite a lot of racist chanting there. Luckily the papers only picked up on "Anton Ferdinand, you know what you are" but there was a hell of a lot worse that night http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/8864068/Chelsea-should-apologise-for-deplorable-Anton-Ferdinand-chants-say-anti-racism-campaigners.html

French police are renown for their violence far wider than just against English fans, there was a situation late last year in the group stages when Ajax came to PSG that banned all non-ticketed Dutch supporters in Paris which obviously didn't go down too well. Authorities handed out a special bracelet so-to-speak to allow them into the cities, while threatening to hand out twelve month stadium bans and fines up to 30,000 euros to anyone caught without a ticket. There were also similar situations with Bayer Leverkusen and Dortmund fans travelling to Paris being treated like criminals and the police was awfully condescending in general. I think Everton were met with large amounts of hostility in Lille too.

WHAT??!!

Drogba, Desially, Essien, Cole, Makelele, Canoville, Babayaro, Weah, Kalou, Malouda, Mikel, Ramires, Willian etc.

You can't be racist and have a deep love for this club, sorry...

To racists, supporting black players at your club is like betting on a horse and then cheering on that horse when it races. They support the horse in its endeavors, but they aren't going to suddenly start treating all horses like humans. There's really a limited mental capacity. They probably feel conflicted about it but are willing to let it go because of their devotion to the club. Either way this is that last thing we needed. Any excuse to put the club in a bad light will be relished by the media now, all down to a small minority of our away support failing to realise how ignorant they are.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

To racists, supporting black players at your club is like betting on a horse and then cheering on that horse when it races. They support the horse in its endeavors, but they aren't going to suddenly start treating all horses like humans. There's really a limited mental capacity. They probably feel conflicted about it but are willing to let it go because of their devotion to the club. Either way this is that last thing we needed. Any excuse to put the club in a bad light will be relished by the media now, all down to a small minority of our away support failing to realise how ignorant they are.

I'm not so sure that's true. Pretty sure at another European away game a few years ago Daniel Sturridge was abused when coming onto the pitch when one of our "supporters" said 'they're bringing on the monkeys'

I can also bet Paul Canoville doesn't share your opinion when they 'supporters' wouldn't count any of his goals. so if the team drew 1-1 they called that a 1-0 loss because 'the monkey' scored.

Agree that this is a bad stain on the club but I do think we all need to take ownership of this and make sure that whoever the perpetrators are get dealt with. This is our problem, not just the club's.

[Open 45]

I'm not so sure that's true. Pretty sure at another European away game a few years ago Daniel Sturridge was abused when coming onto the pitch when one of our "supporters" said 'they're bringing on the monkeys'

I can also bet Paul Canoville doesn't share your opinion when they 'supporters' wouldn't count any of his goals. so if the team drew 1-1 they called that a 1-0 loss because 'the monkey' scored.

Agree that this is a bad stain on the club but I do think we all need to take ownership of this and make sure that whoever the perpetrators are get dealt with. This is our problem, not just the club's.

I believe that it is definitely possible to be racist and still be a "fan" of athletes of other races. It's an admiration that's rooted in racial bias and stereotyping - it is still racist. It's the argument that stems from seeing coloured athletes as objects that provide a service than against any ordinary person practicing their sport. Donald Sterling had a plantation style of views. You're rooting for the blacks the same way you would root for a rooster in a cock fight. Racism doesn't often come as blind hatred of another race, but rather bigoted stereotypes. For example, there's a particular caricature of black men as the 'black buck' which received a recent bump in news coverage recently during the Michael Brown case in the US. The idea that black men are good athletes--indeed, intrinsically better than white men--is common among racists. The flip side of this belief is usually that they're lecherous, criminal, ect.

The club have already issued an appeal for witnesses to step up to help identify those persons involved, so hopefully that'll work someway into incorporating the wider picture - and not just the club's, as you said. A friend of mine was on the train with them AND I do believe he sent additional footage to the Met police. Whether their actions result in life time bans remains to be seen, I wouldn't be too surprised if they were already banned from home matches. Perhaps the club could order the group, if ultimately found guilty, to hand in their passports to a local police station each time we play abroad. It's laudable to see action being taken so swiftly without no nonsense half-apologies, just promises of bans and strong anti-racism that has no place in our society.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

I hope we go for a win at the bridge rather than a 0-0 result

[The Chels 2,502]

I hope we go for a win at the bridge rather than a 0-0 result

God, hopefully not. I'd be fully expecting another Iniesta moment (shudder) if we did.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

tbh we're lucky it was outside the stadium, otherwise because it's us, UEFA would give us a 10,000 year Champions League ban as well as reducing our Champions League squad to 2 permanently...

Seriously, though, what really winds me up is all of the plastic Tottenham Daily Mail plastic trolls calling us all racist for the reaction of about 3 people.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

God, hopefully not. I'd be fully expecting another Iniesta moment (shudder) if we did.

Yeah, I dont think my heart can handle another iniesta moment, it took me more than 5 years to get over than stuff so hopefully we kill the game off early