Chelsea -v- Inter CL Match Thread etc etc

SlickRic

irish-stew wrote: »

so do i, and i dont even support chelsea

just the pantomime beforehand.

the shaking of all the Chelsea players' hands, beautiful.

the pose in the dugout with his feet up, brilliant.

the biscuit eating before his interview, priceless.

i'd say i can't wait to see him back in the Premiership, only he's probably going to Utd.

Bodhisopha

kryogen wrote: »

i disagree with certain players listed there also

Eto'o for one has been very poor since his move and was awful going forwrd again tonight, Pandev, Milito is a good goalscorer, but i dont see him as a guy who is gonna make the attack tick, Sneijder, yep he is in great form and is a real threat, Maicon, can be great going forward alright, but if you can occupy him you take him away

but in rebuttal to the main

the dual threat of Ribery and Robben on opposite sides of the field poses more problems then Inter imo

there you go, thats one team apart from Barca

Fair enough points but i still disagree. While certain players may be off form, excuse the cliché, class is still permanent. Eto'os first touch and finish were top class.

If you can occupy anyone you take them away, it's easier said than done.

I'll add, all Sneijders best work tonight was pretty much one touch, two at most.

Johner

Headshot wrote: »

I do watch inter and AC Milan every weekend, why would i be defending them tbh, im not a fan of there's what so ever, like I said before tonights performance was inter's best of the season and shows to me anyway their serious contenders, can it not be that inter made chelsea look poor ?

barca in the same groups of inter were poor enough too, liverpool have been poor in groups stages but when they get to the knockout stages its a different game altogether

Fair enough, I don't think they will come close to winning it. United will crush them over two legs, same as Barca, I'd fancy Lyon and Bayern against them as well.

Ush1

It's quite simple. To beat Inter Barca and United have their respective tools.

Barca can outpass them letting Inter resort to constant fouling as they did in the group stages. United can simply rush and muscle them in midfield with Fletcher and Park.

Chelsea can't do the Barca thing, so they should have went the United route and rushed them in midfield. They didn't at all. Mikel doesn't cover near the amount of ground as Essien, and Ballack and Lampard couldn't either. Inter ended up having time, and the game came to Inters pace and level.

BERBA

Headshot wrote: »

I do watch inter and AC Milan every weekend, why would i be defending them tbh, im not a fan of there's what so ever, like I said before tonights performance was inter's best of the season and shows to me anyway their serious contenders, can it not be that inter made chelsea look poor ?

barca in the same groups of inter were poor enough too, liverpool have been poor in groups stages but when they get to the knockout stages its a different game altogether

Think the dark horses could be arsenal , When RVP due back?. They would prob be suited to play utd in a final like barca last seaspm rather than play em over 2 legged qtr / semi final

UnitedIrishman

Johner wrote: »

Good thing we are playing Blackburn so.

My brain is mush at the minute.

Could have sworn I saw ye down to play Spurs when we play Liverpool.

Headshot

Johner wrote: »

Fair enough, I don't think they will come close to winning it. United will crush them over two legs, same as Barca, I'd fancy Lyon and Bayern against them as well.

funny thing I wouldnt be to confident from a utd point of view but who knows anway

ironingbored

ironingbored wrote: »

I think it matters. As a Juventus fan I would be very disappointed if there weren't any Italian players in the team.

Fair enough. Its not something that would bother me personally, but then again I'm a sheffield wednesday fan, we don't tend to have too many non-english there...

kryogen

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Fair enough points but i still disagree. While certain players may be off form, excuse the cliché, class is still permanent. Eto'os first touch and finish were top class.

If you can occupy anyone you take them away, it's easier said than done.

I'll add, all Sneijders best work tonight was pretty much one touch, two at most.

i know Eto'o has the quality, but he is quite steaky and seems to have been on a bad streak for too long now

he fluffed a couple of chances before he scored too, the finish however was class and of course if he is on form he can hurt any team

I agree with Sneijder, would have liked us to move for him in the summer, he is a very intelligent player and i am happy to see him enjoying his football again after his bad spell in Madrid

i used united as the analagy also because we have played inter last year and Maicon was not a factor, i see no reason why we couldnt keep him out of the game again if we play them

i should state actually, i do think on their day that Inter are capable of beating anyone, i just see them as easier to stop, maybe its cause i think united are better equipped to deal with them at the moment, Chelsea were missing a couple of key players in key positions on the pitch tonight and it showed

hopefully we would have our key players fit for whoever we draw

deisedevil

Ush1 wrote: »

It's quite simple. To beat Inter Barca and United have their respective tools.

Barca can outpass them letting Inter resort to constant fouling as they did in the group stages. United can simply rush and muscle them in midfield with Fletcher and Park.

Chelsea can't do the Barca thing, so they should have went the United route and rushed them in midfield. They didn't at all. Mikel doesn't cover near the amount of ground as Essien, and Ballack and Lampard couldn't either. Inter ended up having time, and the game came to Inters pace and level.

Mikel, Ballack and Lampard didn't boss midfield like they should have done. That made a huge difference. Anyone think that Inter deliberately bypassed Chelsea's midfield by going down the wings, particularly with Maicon, and with long balls in behind Mikel thus making him a wasted player in front of the defence. I think it would have made more sense to have brought Kalou on for Mikel rather than Zhirkov and had both Malouda and Kalou running at Inter.

redout

Sneijder had a quite poor passing game for a midfielder to be honest.

He only had 67% success rate when he came off.

When you compare this to the likes of Xavi and Scholes who nearly always end up in the mid to late 80's it looks poor.

deisedevil

redout wrote: »

Sneijder had a quite poor passing game for a midfielder to be honest.

He only had 67% success rate when he came off.

When you compare this to the likes of Xavi and Scholes who nearly always end up in the mid to late 80's it looks poor.

Very surprised to hear that, seemed to me like he had done far better than that but can't argue with the stats.

kryogen

yeah, saw that stat when he came off

he does try a lot of killer passes i guess

Ush1

redout wrote: »

Sneijder had a quite poor passing game for a midfielder to be honest.

He only had 67% success rate when he came off.

When you compare this to the likes of Xavi and Scholes who nearly always end up in the mid to late 80's it looks poor.

Don't know how clearer it can be that Chelsea made them look better than they are.

UnitedIrishman

redout wrote: »

Sneijder had a quite poor passing game for a midfielder to be honest.

He only had 67% success rate when he came off.

When you compare this to the likes of Xavi and Scholes who nearly always end up in the mid to late 80's it looks poor.

Very very different types of players.

When Inter don't have the ball Sneijder does very little and even when they do get the ball, he still doesn't get on the ball as much as Cambiasso or Motta. He's there to provide the final ball or switch the play or a through ball to set someone on their way.

In a way he's a very lazy sort of player but you can put up with him if he's putting passes through for the likes Pandev with a backheel or a lobbed through ball for Milito. He's also lethal from set pieces.

starbelgrade

redout wrote: »

When you compare this to the likes of Xavi and Scholes who nearly always end up in the mid to late 80's it looks poor.

Depends how many passes you make though - 67% of 100 passes completed is better than 80% of 5 completed passes.

Bodhisopha

redout wrote: »

Sneijder had a quite poor passing game for a midfielder to be honest.

He only had 67% success rate when he came off.

When you compare this to the likes of Xavi and Scholes who nearly always end up in the mid to late 80's it looks poor.

I wouldn't read too much into the stats. You watched the game. He was the biggest threat by a mile.

Pro. F

Chelsea were poor tonight (and overall in the two legs) but you have to give credit to Jose and his team. Inter worked so hard and played so intelligently. They had an answer for everything. Lucio and Samuel are looking great and that's all down to Jose's organisational skills imo. Tonight Sneijder's abilities were able to be used to make the team tick which is key to their attack. I still have doubts about Inter but I think Mourinho has shown now that he has made a team that you just can't write off - a typical Mourinho team.

Chelsea's problems for me were:
A badly organised defence - JT making mistakes and unsettling everybody.
An unbalanced attack - Anelka, Lampard and Ballack need to be supported by the whirlwind of Essien, they really suffered without that.

redout

starbelgrade wrote: »

Depends how many passes you make though - 67% of 100 passes completed is better than 80% of 5 completed passes.

Pretty sure it said 31 passes completed beside the 67% pass success. That means he gave the ball away on average 15 times which is poor.

Headshot

Louder version here

starbelgrade

redout wrote: »

Pretty sure it said 31 passes completed beside the 67% pass success. That means he gave the ball away on average 15 times which is poor.

He set up Eto with the pass that killed the tie off. That's the only stat worth mentioning.

Ush1

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2010/03/16/1836346/top-10-reasons-behind-chelseas-disappointing-champions

Johner

Ush1 wrote: »

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2010/03/16/1836346/top-10-reasons-behind-chelseas-disappointing-champions

All very good points tbh.

Mars Bar

Headshot wrote: »

Haha! At least he had the manners to try and chew most of it...

Oh my, he is a handsome man...

magma69

mars bar wrote: »

Haha! At least he had the manners to try and chew most of it...

Oh my, he is a handsome man...

Jose Mourinho isn't half bad looking either.

Mars Bar

magma69 wrote: »

Jose Mourinho isn't half bad looking either.

:P

redout

starbelgrade wrote: »

He set up Eto with the pass that killed the tie off. That's the only stat worth mentioning.

Well if you are that way inclined then I suppose so.

I would be concerned with the amount of times he gave the ball away which is extraordinarily high at this level and could prove costly against a team performing at a higher level than Chelsea this evening. I am sure that Mourinho would be a bit concerned about it himself and will try and have it rectified.

starbelgrade

Jose is so special, I bet his custard creams are hand made by minnions with real custard filling.

Mr Alan

redout, i think that stat is somewhat skewed cause it includes crosses he'd have made that got cleared by a defender, may still have been a great ball though. Also includes a few killer passes he did that were either just overhit or just about intercepted. No shame in that. He was great tonight, don't think there can be any disputing that.

del88

redout wrote: »

Sneijder had a quite poor passing game for a midfielder to be honest.

He only had 67% success rate when he came off.

When you compare this to the likes of Xavi and Scholes who nearly always end up in the mid to late 80's it looks poor.

It allso depends on the type of pass he was trying to play....there's a big difference between trying to play a defense spliting pass and laying it off to the left back.....he was inters main play maker.

Dave!

psst, CHD...

starbelgrade

Mr Alan wrote: »

He was great tonight, don't think there can be any disputing that.

Computer says, "No".

Mr Alan

you're computer is quite clearly broken

kryogen

Mr Alan wrote: »

you're computer is quite clearly broken

i would hope he was being sarcastic though

starbelgrade

Mr Alan wrote: »

you're computer is quite clearly broken

Either that, or your sarcasm detector is.

leninbenjamin

Mr Alan wrote: »

redout, i think that stat is somewhat skewed cause it includes crosses he'd have made that got cleared by a defender, may still have been a great ball though. Also includes a few killer passes he did that were either just overhit or just about intercepted. No shame in that. He was great tonight, don't think there can be any disputing that.

I really like Sneijder, admired him long before he went to Madrid. But that success rate is quite telling though. He's a final third player, that's where his ability to spot the killer pass as opposed to retention counts. He should be looking to play higher up the field and provide assists. Unfortunately Inter lack creativity and there are times where he has to drop much deeper than you'd like and frequently start the moves. This is why he can appear somewhat inconsistent, his instincts are a bit too adventurous for the deep lying play-maker.

CHD

Dave! wrote: »

psst, CHD...

....Dave? yeah....

kryogen

CHD wrote: »

....Dave? yeah....

Berba is a legend

Dave!

Just wanted to say hey

CHD

kryogen wrote: »

Berba is a legend

Dave! wrote: »

Just wanted to say hey

oh, hey

kryogen

CHD wrote: »

oh, hey

just taking a shot at what Dave! wanted to say to you

dreamers75

del88 wrote: »

It allso depends on the type of pass he was trying to play....there's a big difference between trying to play a defense spliting pass and laying it off to the left back.....he was inters main play maker.

hes inters only playmaker, agree with redout shocking game.

In the CL knockouts if you cant make the magiv pass you dont give the ball away, he did numerous times.


Do like him as a player tho just think tonight he was stifled playing in front of Mottoa and Cambiasso.

Smegball

How can anyone say Sneijder had a shocker ? Christ he was brilliant and was the best player on the pitch by far, apart from Cambiasso who was absolutely excellent at stifling the Chelsea midfield. The man seems to pop up everywhere to mop up and his distribution once he got the ball wasn't just sideways or backwards. He was also spraying some perfectly weighted forward passes to the likes of Sneijder and Etoo.

dreamers75

Smegball wrote: »

How can anyone say Sneijder had a shocker ? Christ he was brilliant and was the best player on the pitch by far, apart from Cambiasso who was absolutely excellent at stifling the Chelsea midfield. The man seems to pop up everywhere to mop up and his distribution once he got the ball wasn't just sideways or backwards. He was also spraying some perfectly weighted forward passes to the likes of Sneijder and Etoo.

cos he didnt do the 2nd part of your post and keep the feckin ball?

Its the CL yah kinda expect players to do what cambiasso did not what sneijder did.

kryogen

Sneijder played very well tonight

he made the pass that decided the tie, and he put Milito and Eto'o in other times too and they failed to score

he tries the killer pass alot, but he is the play maker, he has to try the defence splitting passes, he isnt the water carrier of the team.

comparing him to Xavi or Scholes is not fair cause they are different types of midfielders

he is best used in the final 3rd, but due to inter lacking creativity he has to drop deeper alot

how anyone could say he had a shocker is beyond me tbh

and for the record, redout didnt say he has a shocker

dfx-

I haven't seen the match other than the goals (depressing night in Tallaght instead) and haven't looked through the thread (see: depressing night), but great win for Platini and potentially even greater win for Barcelona that Chelsea are out.

kryogen

not sure why its important to Barca that Chelsea are out, its important to united alright, not for the right reasons imo

LuckyLloyd

BERBA wrote: »

harsh?

Nope. Entirely fair.

LuckyLloyd

eZe^ wrote: »

They really aren't better than the Inter teams of the past 4 years. They just finally lived up to the hype in a K.O round. Did you watch them at all vs Barca in the group stages? They were absolutely fcuking awful in both ties, Samuel was an absolute beast at the San Siro though.

Sneijder was immense today, he's the most direct midfielder in the world at the moment, his passes are so bloody incisive, it's like he surveys the field before the ball's coming his way and reacts perfectly once it reaches him. Lovely player, Real were mad to let him go to be honest.

Eto'o, SOOOO glad to see Samu progressing, he was awful in attack today, REALLY awful, but I've said many times that he is a very very streaky finisher. However, he was immense in defence, he tracks back as effectively as Rooney imo, the amount of times he was hassling even Drogba, great to see. His goal was very well taken, on a good day he would have scored a hattrick tonight.

Motta - LOL!!!!! He provoked Drogba the ENTIRE game, I remember at Barca his sole purpose was to kick people around the park and protect Xavi/ Deco/ Ronaldinho. He made Drogba kick him by essentially rugby tackling him in the box. Hahaha, he's such a limited player, but is so streetwise and effective when needs be.

Is there any regular Serie A watchers that could tell me about Walter Samuel? I remember him always being an alright defender (regularly putting in 7/10 performances, but never an absolute rock), but this season everytime I've watched him he's been absolutely immense. He essentially single handedly kept a clean sheet against Barca at the San Siro in September.

Inter completely deserved that, and in 3 ties against English opposition they finally made it count, this team isn't that much better than last years. Sneijder has been brilliant, but Inter were due a big KO performance like that. I think Chelsea approached the game badly, their midfield was sooo static, and didn't link up with Drogba/ Anelka enough. They weren't positive enough.

I'm loving the variance in teams in this season's CL, no country is dominating, it's been a really enjoyable CL so far. (Although we'll see if it can top last years for me later )

Himself and Lucio are very inconsistent. Plenty of poor performances this season, indeed Samuel was out of favour for a period before Christmas. When they're good, they're beastly so to speak. You can point to a handful of crushing performances from either of them this season - Lucio at home against Chelsea being the pick of them of course.

LuckyLloyd

kryogen wrote: »

this Inter team is not actually that much better then the last few

Sneijder has made a difference to them unquestionably, but they are a team that can be nullified easier then say, a Barca for example

Ill give the example of my own team v inter

if we were to shackle Sneijder with Flecther and make sure Evra keeps pushing up to make sure Maicon is forced backwards they would be pretty toothless tbh

Eto'o has been having a mare of a season, sure wasnt that his first goal of 2010 tonight?

I really don't agree with this at all. This team is a quantum leap forward from the Mancini sides for two reasons: much better coaching and them actually having to win the title the last two seasons as opposed to having it handed to them by default. On top of that, I think them losing the likes of Zlatan and Adriano is a huge plus point. As a squad they seem to have bought into Mourinho's way of things a lot better as time has rolled by. This Inter side is a lot meaner and tougher than last year's version, and would beat the **** out of the Mancini teams in a fight (:)).

Add in that touch of class from Sneijder and you have a very tough proposition altogether.

Chelsea weren't good last night, but they were much the better team in the San Siro. It is easy to wave aside the way that game went. When Chelsea equalised, a lot of teams (and certainly previous Inter teams) would have thrown the towel in. Instead this Inter side provided a response, created some pressure, got the winning goal. Utd and Barca are very, very good so they could well get past Inter in a later round. But I'm not sure it will be an easy ride...

At the end of the day, the likes of Lucio, Zanneti, Cambiasso, etc are aware of they way they are perceived across Europe. The best of the rest in Italy who can't cut it at the higher levels. I think the two games against Chelsea showed an experienced team that is desperate to prove some opinions wrong, and a group playing with a lot of pride. There is a lot of pain amongst the Italian teams during the last few years. They need to win these ties. And that counts for a lot.