Barcelona’s New Record Will Worry Shaky Chelsea Defence

[SystemBlueBob 0]

http://soccerlens.com/barcelonas-new-recor...-defence/27506/

As Thierry Henry slid the ball into the back of the net the Nou Camp erupted and one Czech man sat somewhere near south London watched on in horror. He, like the thousands of others watching, had witnessed Josep Guardiola’s side destroy another La Liga rival.

The 4-nil drubbing of Sevilla now takes their season total goals to a staggering 92 surpassing the record previously held by Johan Curyff’s dream team. Petr Cech will have been watching and you can rest assured that what he saw would have made him very uneasy ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League Semi Final next week.

With Andres Iniesta lobbing the keeper from outside the area, Eto smashing one in, Xavi adding an outstanding third and Henry rounding off the performance the plaudits were lining up and pundits rushing to their thesaurus to come up with new ways of saying how impressive the Catalan giants are at the moment.

Now they begin preparations for the arrival of Chelsea on Tuesday night. Spain’s second most successful side will be looking to take a lead into the second leg in London and have every right to be confident. The simple fact is that you can not stop them from scoring. Having smashed four past Bayern Munich in the first leg of the quarters it would be a brave man that bets against them taking the trophy this year.

Despite having lost to English opposition on several occasions over the last few years their goal scoring prowess speaks for its self and the recently rocky Cech will not be looking forward to lining up against several of the best players in the world. Chelsea can be caused further worries by the fact that fans’ favourite Lionel Messi was rested for the Sevilla game and he will be eager to build on his reputation against an English side.

The Londoners’ main concern will be the fact that they conceded four at home to Bolton and four at home to Liverpool recently. They can not afford to let this happen against Barca, they simply wont be able to pull it back against ‘keeper Victor Valdes who himself has set new records this season for clean sheets. Drogba and Anelka will be looking to take an away goal back to Stamford Bridge and they really need at least one if they are hopeful to progress.

[Manson17 0]

Ugh, this makes me feel so uneasy. This is going to be such a hard game. And every player needs to do their job 100% especially the defence. NEED to watch Messi number 1. As for the midfield, I feel Essien has already won that battle. Ughh I wish cech was in better form and that we had Ashley.

[chelseapaul 0]

Have faith my antipodean friend.

[EskWeston 696]

We all know the Spanish league isn't a patch om the Premier League at the moment. Barca should be just as worried about us we them. We can beat anyone, including the magical Barcelona, don't expect Barca to run us ragged because they will not!

Barca are getting such massive hype it is unbelievable, this may work in our favour as there are now expectations of us in this game and we can go out and try and prove a point.

[warnie_666 1,081]

And We've conceded the least no. of goals in the league and have the Best defense in Europe.. So Bring em on.

Edited April 24, 2009 by warnie_666

[bombayblue™ 55]

The article says we conceeded 4 at home to bolton.. just pointing out

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Don't give a fuck about their attacking exploits to be honest. Only one stat matters; who scores the most goals on the night.

[Badboy 1,526]

I would play this system

cech

bosingwa terry carvalho a.cole

Mikel essien

s. kalou Lampard Malouda

Drogba

[Badboy 1,526]

With that team we would cut the threat of xavi and andres iniesta and would have support for the dog in lampard malouda and kalou.

[carefreeluke 27]

We all know the Spanish league isn't a patch om the Premier League at the moment. Barca should be just as worried about us we them. We can beat anyone, including the magical Barcelona, don't expect Barca to run us ragged because they will not!

Barca are getting such massive hype it is unbelievable, this may work in our favour as there are now expectations of us in this game and we can go out and try and prove a point.

So not true!

As for Barcelona they are the best team in Europe at the moment but they are not as strong as some people seem to think they are. Obviously they have the best player in the world Messi who we know is going to be hard to stop. Eto keeps scoring despite not playing that well. And Henry is playing well also but is nowhere near as good as he was in his Arsenal days. Xavi and Iniesta are up there with the best midfield players in the world but have played nearly every game this year for Barca and will soon tire. The defence is their weakest point and that is why i think Drogba will play a key part for us. Physically we should win the battle in midfield which will give us an advantage. Not forgetting that we have the 2nd leg at the Bridge so we have every chance of getting through.

[kbchel 2]

Chelsea wont be smash!!!

messi is not rested, he is injured!!!

ballack essein and lamps with their experience will easily neutralize their smaller counterpart like xavi and iniesta..........

besides look at barca's match fixture valencia away, Chelsea home, real madrid away, Chelsea away

it will be barca's biggest 2 weeks!!!

while Chelsea can afford to rest players for full ham and west ham

[warnie_666 1,081]

Id be disappointed if we dont score by set piece.

We have, Ballack, JT , Alex, Drogba, Ivanovic as the Aeriel threat. Barca have Puyol, Marquez, Abidal and Yaya? and Henry? Alves? Cant see how they will stop us at set pieces.

I am beginning to be more confident about this tie than I was two weeks back.

All we need is an away goal and play narrow to close gaps.

[Laylabelle 9,408]

Yeh get an away goal and if we go say 2-0 up dont suddenly switch off and mark the posts!!!

[SystemBlueBob 0]

Truth be told, Barcelona is getting all the press it seems.....good, I like it

Well, I don't mean ALL the press but they seem to be getting a LOT of the positive press about their style

I would rather them get it all truth be told. Let us come in the underdogs

[warnie_666 1,081]

Barca almost lost the game vs Valencia today. The referee and the linesman saved their arse and they got a draw.

I hope the refereeing at Nou Camp is fair. We can beat them. I am very confident.

[Alee. 182]

A win at Nou Camp, and we can buy our tickets to Rome..

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Barcelona are under all the pressure. They are favourites. This suits us.

[Alee. 182]

Shaky Chelsea defense my butt ! Absolutely brilliant Defensive performance. Edited May 1, 2009 by ChelseaBoi