closed Chelsea 1-1 Barcelona

[El P. 1,354]

Courtois - Azpilicueta, Christensen, Cahill - Moses, Drinkwater, Kante, Alonso - Willian, Giroud, Hazard.

That's the line up we will see tomorrow, only thing different could be Fabregas instead of Willian.

[Kendrick 339]

I really don't care losing 0-1 on both matches. I just don't want it be a tie for them to remember (like Barca-Bayern\Arsenal). It also means Messi can't score.

It would be nice though to see some sort of attacking threat from us during those 180 minutes.

[LeonDavis23 371]

Think we'll be brave and lose 3-1.

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Strike 7,258]

3 hours ago, El P. said:

Courtois - Azpilicueta, Christensen, Cahill - Moses, Drinkwater, Kante, Alonso - Willian, Giroud, Hazard.

That's the line up we will see tomorrow, only thing different could be Fabregas instead of Willian.

Pedro was taken off early in the second half on Friday. Possibly saving him for Barca?

Also, I am certain Morata will start. He is our best striker and the effort he puts in by running the channels and closing down defenders will be needed vs Barca

Giroud will be an excellent foil to bring on in the latter stages if the game is on the edge or if Chelsea has to go for goals

[Pizy 18,429]

I just keep repeating in my head "please don't get embarrassed, please don't get embarrassed." Losing to one of the 2-3 best sides in Europe in a hard fought, narrow defeat would be sad in the moment but not unexpected. If we just get hammered, let them have 80% of the ball, play like cowards who are scared of the occasion, and lose by 3-4 goals at home it'll be depressing and that same feeling of Chelsea being in crisis is back.

And then we have United, City, and our kryptonite Crystal Palace all in a row. Things could look pretty fucking grim in a couple weeks time depending on results. 

[Cosmin 2,484]

How times have changed since we last played them at the Bridge. 

Except for Cahill, all of these guys are gone. I get the chills seeing Cech, Terry, Lampard, Cole and Drogs.

Maybe that team wasn't better than the current one, in terms of quality, but its spirit and personality was levels above. 

[Iggy Doonican 4,186]

Tiemoue Bakayoko didn't train today. Every cloud.

[!Hazard! 3,394]

2 hours ago, Jason said:

 

At this point I'm very confused about who's actually fit and who's not. I thought Barkley was out for weeks or months and yet here he's training normally. Morata was supposed to be out for quite a while, possibly the whole season, and then suddenly he played in the next game. Luiz has been suffering from mystery injury, or "injury", and now after terrible performances, Bakayoko seems to be having the same problem.

Is this all just mind games or Conte's way of dealing with non-performing players?

[Kieran. 6,317]

Anyone else want to see Giroud start over Morata? 

[LAM09 6,791]

 

 

 

I think some people here haven't watched barca play for a while and I watched them against Eibar last week and against Madrid in el classico.

They are no longer the old Barcelona team who will boss the game the way City does to team. They don't press up high, they even tend to sit deep. I am talking about  against eibar here.

They are not a possession based team at all,  they looks very weird almost dysfunctional a times. With the ball they can still look pretty good because when you have Messi and Suarez as your front 2 you will always has a chance.

Without the ball, suarez and especially Messi barely run at all. They defend with 8 player sitting deep and then launch counter attack. 

 

 

They didn't need to exert themselves over the weekend. I agree with the fact they are a completely different beast now and aren't anywhere near as attacking as they once were.

 

The first goal tomorrow will be a deciding factor in the tie. Barca haven't been behind in many games this season, so it will be interesting to see how they fair should we take the lead.

 

Anyone else want to see Giroud start over Morata? 

 

I do. We all know Barcelona struggle against physical teams, so he is the ideal choice in that regard. Morata is more suited to the away leg where we are hopefully still in with a shout and looking to hit them on the counter.

[communicate 2,703]

26 minutes ago, LAM09 said:

 

 

 

 

 

They didn't need to exert themselves over the weekend. I agree with the fact they are a completely different beast now and aren't anywhere near as attacking as they once were.

 

The first goal tomorrow will be a deciding factor in the tie. Barca haven't been behind in many games this season, so it will be interesting to see how they fair should we take the lead.

 

 

 

I do. We all know Barcelona struggle against physical teams, so he is the ideal choice in that regard. Morata is more suited to the away leg where we are hopefully still in with a shout and looking to hit them on the counter.

Yea, they are a completely different team. I was shocked when I watched el clasico. 

I am not that confident against barca because we are not really in great form right now. Yes winning against wba is great but wba is at the very bottom of epl and hull is simply not at our level.

We can definitely lose the game but I will be surprised if we got destroyed. They are simply just not that kind of team anymore.

[LAM09 6,791]

17 minutes ago, communicate said:

Yea, they are a completely different team. I was shocked when I watched el clasico. 

I am not that confident against barca because we are not really in great form right now. Yes winning against wba is great but wba is at the very bottom of epl and hull is simply not at our level.

We can definitely lose the game but I will be surprised if we got destroyed. They are simply just not that kind of team anymore.

Hope our big players turn up tomorrow and we end up with a positive result.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

I just hope we put a good fight and make the club and fans proud, whatever the result. 

We dont have much chance, lets be honest, but it would be nice to see one of those classic european nights when we define the odds. 

Whatever happens, come on blues!

Edit: Oh and I hope for fair refereeing. 

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Sounds like Luiz didn't even train this weekend or today so he's definitely out! with that in mind I think we need to try something different for this match and possibly play Willian a little deeper in the midfield to help build attacks and take away gaps for Barca to exploit.

http://lineupbuilder.com/?sk=g0wx9

I feel this lineup is currently our best and possibly the best way to break Barca's first wave of the press. They do attack in two fazes but the first wave is usually the one that puts teams under the most pressure.

My worry is whether or not Willian has the awareness to snuff out danger and stay with runners off the ball. Can he be disciplined enough to take away the passing lane and adept enough to transition to attack? Seems like a tall order for a guy who has never been deployed in this fashion but it could be the best tactic to get our best players on the field while utilizing our best shape. 

I mean can Willian really be any worse than Drinkwater in this defensive role? I agree Danny has the right sort of discipline and patience but what else really?

[The Chels 2,502]

Eulogise it for character or whatever, but truth is we were crap in 2012 and got extremely lucky. Our previous sides like the 08/09 one deserve that praise and recognition (restricted one of the best Barcelona sides in history to precisely ZERO shots on target before that Iniesta goal), but history only remembers the winners. 

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,920]

26 minutes ago, iceboy said:

Shame. If this happen. Conte inviting the pressure.

He wouldnt dare.

[Henrique 9,133]

This game is Conte first real test as Chelsea manager.