closed Chelsea 1-1 Barcelona

[cosmicway 1,333]

The critics don't know football.
First Barcelona have been a regular visitor to the British isles the last 3-4 years and they were having a ball against the likes of Arsenal-MU-City.
In our last but one match at the Bridge in 2012 we were outplayed conclusively. True we won 1-0 and in the return leg we held on to it thanks to the heroics from Czech-Didier-Torres, but in that 1-0 win they lost a trainload of chances and everybody described it as a weird result.
In contrast Antonio devised the perfect system to neutralize Barca and evidently he could n't make it so we had possession as well !
Tibot as I said should be asked to pay for watching the match for free but we were betrayed by one single instance.
I still can't get over it because we could be through to the stage of eight with mathematical certainty.
Now it's not over and in the remaining 90 minutes Barcelona will have to fight real hard to beat us - if they do.
I believe they have an advantage but not a big one.

[communicate 2,703]

44 minutes ago, BlueLyon said:

But letting them attack all the time at campnou wont be good idea. If we concede, thats almost game over. 

Obviously we must not go all out attack, but when we are in possesion, we need to keep the ball and attack them, not just hoof and pray. The last thing we want is give barca chance to attack us all night. 

I know we will have about 30-40 percent of the ball,  but we have to show determination every time we have it. Not just hoof and pray, that way we will only win if we have extreme luck infront of goal and barca bad day in attack

I am not talking about defending for 90 minutes, but to be patient.  Attack early and in spurt otherwise be conservative.

If we are an offensive juggernaut like Pool or City who can blitz team at will then I probably will try my luck against this poor Barca team.

[Jase 43,479]

8 hours ago, Fernando said:

I think they are right we are lucky. That formation is hot and cold. 

If they can produce something similar or better at the Camp Nou then you can say something. 

Otherwise it was another Atletico performance where even Baka was amazing! 

Yes, the False 9 formation has produced more negative results than positive ones in the past but to put Tuesday's game plan down to luck is just pure stupid. It's not as if Conte just threw the players and asked them go play against Barcelona. He would have planned and prepared the team to the tiniest of details. To not give him any sort of credit for getting things right is pathetic.

[cosmicway 1,333]

2 hours ago, Jason said:

Yes, the False 9 formation has produced more negative results than positive ones in the past but to put Tuesday's game plan down to luck is just pure stupid. It's not as if Conte just threw the players and asked them go play against Barcelona. He would have planned and prepared the team to the tiniest of details. To not give him any sort of credit for getting things right is pathetic.

This system failed badly when Willian was not playing - after his injury.
Willian is the form player now along with Eden. Moses-Zappacosta-Pedro are not of the same standard.
With Morata out of form and before Girou's arrival, Antonio had to try it.
But against Barca the system was "contain and hit" and you don't need a 9 for that. It was the best system for the occasion.

[Leif 6,006]

I think 1-1 is most likely next time, followed by 2-1 Barcelona, followed by 3-1 Barcelona, followed by 2-1 us.

[bigbluewillie 1,930]

Just as long we don't PSG it.

We've got a chance slim but a chance.