Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2011/2012

grumpymunster

I would like to see us past Benfica first but we should really.

Barca are still the darlings of UEFA and are very hard beat as a result. Given a level playing field we would have an excellent chance but what are the odds of getting a level playing field against Barca. Remember RvP sending off nearly as bad as the penaltys we didnt get that awful night.

Sgt Pepper 64

grumpymunster wrote: »

I would like to see us past Benfica first but we should really.

Barca are still the darlings of UEFA and are very hard beat as a result. Given a level playing field we would have an excellent chance but what are the odds of getting a level playing field against Barca. Remember RvP sending off nearly as bad as the penaltys we didnt get that awful night.

I'm still nervous about tonight

Still not sure if Torres or Drogba is the way to go!

GavRedKing

Has to be Torres, his determination and fight inthe last few games has been top class.

Plus factor in his performances too and he should be starting, keep Drogba for the EPL game at Fulham and rest Torres.

Jagera

Torres without a shadow of a doubt. I wouldn't mind if we didn't see much more of Drogba for the rest of the season. All respect to him & all but he's a spent force.

LanceStorm

Jagera wrote: »

Torres without a shadow of a doubt. I wouldn't mind if we didn't see much more of Drogba for the rest of the season. All respect to him & all but he's a spent force.

See I often think like this but then it was only a few games ago he gave us a season changing performance against Napoli and he was a hero for us!

thebison

Torres - Benfica
Drogba - Wigan
Torres - Fulham
Drogba - Spurs

Then it gets tricky

greendom

Jagera wrote: »

Torres without a shadow of a doubt. I wouldn't mind if we didn't see much more of Drogba for the rest of the season. All respect to him & all but he's a spent force.

Drogba was an absolute monster in the return leg against Napoli. It's unlikely that you'd still be in the competition without him. A mis-firing force maybe, but to label him spent is very unfair.

jcf

is the match tonight on RTE ?

Caveman1

jcf wrote: »

is the match tonight on RTE ?

Yeah it's on rte & UTV

kev1.3s

Drogba has always been unbeatable on his night but when it's not his night he's uninterested and of very little effect, I agree that he was immense against napoli but bad Drogba is showing up more and more often these days and when that happens you might as well play with 10 men. For me Torres has been a model professional since the departure of AVB although it's worrisome that he needs such ego boosting to produce his best form hard work unselfish play which is probably a result of poor confidence make him a far better striker at the moment.

Caveman1

Just been mentioned on sky that el Classico is on in between the two champions league semi final ties, that evens things out with us having the fa cup semi final on, well if we qualify tonight of course

GavRedKing

Caveman1 wrote: »

Just been mentioned on sky that el Classico is on in between the two champions league semi final ties, that evens things out with us having the fa cup semi final on, well if we qualify tonight of course

True, just seen it and was going to mention it.

Barca, if they stand any chance of retaining their Spanish league crown have to win that game and they'll be sending out their best available squad which could play into our hands.

Couple that with some rough tackling could see a Barca player being far from fit for the Semi final 2nd leg.

grumpymunster

kev1.3s wrote: »

Drogba has always been unbeatable on his night but when it's not his night he's uninterested and of very little effect, I agree that he was immense against napoli but bad Drogba is showing up more and more often these days and when that happens you might as well play with 10 men. For me Torres has been a model professional since the departure of AVB although it's worrisome that he needs such ego boosting to produce his best form hard work unselfish play which is probably a result of poor confidence make him a far better striker at the moment.

Drogger was woeful for the first 30 minutes against Napoli, he came to life after scoring and was then awesome for the rest of the game. Unless something like that happens it is akin to playing with 10 men. I would start with Torres for certain he has been playing very well of late.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

GavRedKing

Aquila wrote: »

Anyone hear whats the squad likely to be played tonight?

This is what I'm guessing. ( from match thread )

Although, Danny could be dropped and Ramires played wide, and Lamps in the middle to give us more balance and less chance of been over run.

---

Cech

---

Ivan---Luiz---Jt---Cole

---Mikel---Ramires----

Sturridge--Mata--Kalou

---

Torres

---

Caveman1

Just a bit of news away from tonight's game, Chelsea u15s are playing in the Nike cup, they play in the final tomorrow, they've gone through the whole competition with a 100% record and not conceding a goal, they play Celtic in the final, we've already beat them 2-0 in the group stages, best of luck to them KTBFFH !!

GavRedKing

gavredking wrote: »

Aquila wrote: »

Anyone hear whats the squad likely to be played tonight?

This is what I'm guessing. ( from match thread )

Although, Danny could be dropped and Ramires played wide, and Lamps in the middle to give us more balance and less chance of been over run.

---

Cech

---

Ivan---Luiz---Jt---Cole

---Mikel---Ramires----

Sturridge--Mata--Kalou

---

Torres

---

Well my 2nd team mentioned is playing. Hope we can do it lads. A win would really help us for the season.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

Dozen Wicked Words

Much harder work watching them than it should have been (as usual!!) but great to get through into the semis, to get done by dodgy refereeing, as we always seem to, against Barca.

LanceStorm

delighted with the result, was nervy but feck me what a strike to finish the tie!

I think we can do a job against Barca, dont have to play them off the park just have to beat them!

Caveman1

We were very poor tonight, we had plenty of chances to put the game to bed but we couldn't do it, Benfica were unlucky not to get a result, we really need to up our game or Barca will have the game finished after the 1st leg

Panthro

Didn't see the whole match, many yellow cards? Last thing we need is an understrength team going in against Barcelona. And I reckon we will take them!!

Sgt Pepper 64

Pretty amazing result considering everythings that gone before

The SEMI FINALS for crisssakes!

Roman must of thought it would be AVB leading us there, but its a funny old game!
Out of the four remaining we really do look the odd man out, but hey, we're there.
I just hope we can give Barca something to think about
Playing badly and yet winning - that seems to be our style!

smallerthanyou

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Out of the four remaining we really do look the odd man out, but hey, we're there.

Definitely but those three are a good bit ahead so anyone was going to look odd. They may be better than us but every dog has it's day and we've been waiting a hell of a long time for ours!

1mcampo1

GavRedKing

Bring on Barca. We should have been out of sight and had ramires scored i reckon we woukd have hit them for 3 or 4.

Job is done. Back to the league. Lets take it one game at a time and see where it takes us. These last 6,7 weeks could yet be brillant in an otherwise frustrating season.

Well done RDM. Another victory under his belt.

the_doctor199

Bit of a frustrating one to watch tonight, so many chances, just couldn't score. If you said to me a few months back we'd be in the semis in Europe I'd likely have laughed in your face, funny old game.

On another note, I'm in Barcelona for the second leg, anyone know, bar touts outside, where\how I can get tickets? (Booked the trip back in November, worked out well, eh!)

Soby

the_doctor199 wrote: »

Bit of a frustrating one to watch tonight, so many chances, just couldn't score. If you said to me a few months back we'd be in the semis in Europe I'd likely have laughed in your face, funny old game.

On another note, I'm in Barcelona for the second leg, anyone know, bar touts outside, where\how I can get tickets? (Booked the trip back in November, worked out well, eh!)

http://g.co/maps/3svgv

Just from past experience there was a place roughly where that "B" is on the map that sold tickets . I had to use the Irish bar "A" to find it , which I left marked for your enjoyment

GavRedKing

The thing about the Barca game is going to the 2nd leg in the Camp Nou we have to bring at the very least a goal lead and hopefully without conceeding.

1-0 or 2-0 would be brillant going out there but tis going to be very tough, I can see a very defensive side been sent out at Camp Nou with a lot of counter attacking.

Our home record is excellent in the UCL in recent years so hopefully a seige mentality will help us through and players that got robbed in the Semi's against Barca the last time will remember it and use it against Barca as extra motivation.

Mourhino can do us a favour by beating them in the El Clasico but I wouldnt hold my breath.

He also said he didnt think it would be a Real V Chelsea final so he expects Barca to go through.

GavRedKing

No body is giving us a hope against Barca it seems.

Benfica manager says they deserved to go through. :eek:

Mourinho saw his own side ease into the final four with an 8-2 aggregate victory over Apoel Nicosia, and they will now face final hosts Bayern Munich in the next round.


But should Mourinho's side go through, the Portuguese does not expect to find his old team waiting in Munich.


Asked why he had told Telemadrid that Barcelona would advance, he said: "Because they are very good. Barcelona aren't the favourites, they are super-favourites."


He added: "Let me be honest, I don't think the final will be a Real Madrid/Chelsea final. It could be Bayern or Barcelona, I just don't think it will be Real Madrid v Chelsea and we know why."


However, interim Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo is not so pessimistic and is looking forward to pitting his wits against Barca.


Chelsea secured progress to the last four last night by seeing off Portuguese side Benfica 3-1 on aggregate.

Chelsea boasted a 1-0 lead heading into the quarter-final second leg at Stamford Bridge and looked to be cruising through after Frank Lampard's first-half penalty was followed up by Maxi Pereira's 40th-minute dismissal for two bookable offences.

However, Benfica attacked after the break and forced a nervy ending when Javi Garcia nodded home five minutes from time.

Raul Meireles netted in stoppage time to settle proceedings and set up a semi-final encounter with reigning champions Barcelona.

"It will be exciting to play two games against probably one of the best teams in the world," Di Matteo said.

"We will find a strategy that will suit our players and our team to face Barcelona.

"I think it will be a combination [of playing to our strengths and attempting to cancel out their players].

"They obviously have some individual players that are a big threat and very dangerous, but we also have to play our game and play to our strengths."

One blot on Chelsea's evening was an injury to captain John Terry.
The 31 year-old looked superb in central defence but had to be replaced in the 59th minute by Gary Cahill.

"He got a knock on his rib and that's why we had to take him off," Di Matteo said.

"We'll assess him and see how he is. We hope that he is going to be okay."
While Chelsea move onto bigger and better things, the visitors were left to rue what could have been.

Benfica manager Jorge Jesus felt his side deserved to progress and was quick to dismiss Chelsea's prospects of overcoming Barca in the next round.

"I am really proud of my players," he said. "Over the two games we proved we were much the better team. I can't understand how we're out.
"What hurts me is that we've knocked out better teams than this Chelsea.
"That's what leaves me with a certain sense of revolt. I may be wrong but I believe Chelsea have no chance against Barcelona."

Caveman1

gavredking wrote: »

No body is giving us a hope against Barca it seems.

Benfica manager says they deserved to go through. :eek:

Sour grapes from the benfica manager, although they played well Chelsea were the better team over the two legs, I thought we made hard work of it last night but when we got the 2 goal lead we obviously weren't gonna go crazy trying to get another goal.

The Barca game is a tough one, whatever the outcome I think they'll be close games, all the talk of Messi is annoying me already, I hope I don't jinx us but he's always been terrible when he's played Chelsea hopefully that continues.

Players looked pretty tired last night hopefully we rest a few for the Wigan game, I hope Romeu gets an opportunity at the weekend too, he could play a very important role against Barca if he's match fit.

GavRedKing

Phil McNulty, BBC : Revenge

Revenge, they say, is a dish best served cold. And Chelsea were already preparing one that has been lying at the bottom of the freezer for three years in anticipation of the latest Champions League semi-final meeting with Barcelona.

After the Blues' nervy 2-1 win (3-1 on aggregate) over Benfica in the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday, Frank Lampard spoke of "unfinished business" with Pep Guardiola's Catalan artists, while caretaker manager Roberto di Matteo revealed some of his players still felt "hard done by" after their last brush with the Spaniards.

As [EMAIL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17620491"]Di Matteo talked of devising a strategy to cope with Lionel Messi [/EMAIL]and the magical midfield carousel of Xavi and Andres Iniesta, it was also clear that settling old scores will weigh heavily as a factor.

Those of us present at Stamford Bridge on that balmy - make that barmy - May night in 2009 will understand why the fires of injustice still rage within those players who so nearly toppled a Barcelona side that went on to outclass Manchester United in the final in Rome's Stadio Olimpico.


After a brilliantly disciplined goalless first leg at the Nou Camp, Michael Essien's goal took Chelsea to the edge of another all-Premier League meeting with United until Iniesta intervened spectacularly with seconds left.
It was insult added to the injury of a series of penalty claims, several before and one after Iniesta's goal, all rejected by Norwegian referee Tom Ovrebo.

The hurt has not left Stamford Bridge and it was already starting to spill out after Lampard's penalty and a spectacular Raul Meireles goal - separated by Javi Garcia's late header that sparked a short outbreak of panic at Stamford Bridge - secured the west London side's victory over Benfica.

Chelsea, however, will need to be armed with something more potent than a grievance if they are to somehow find a way past a Barcelona side that look vastly superior to the one in Di Matteo's charge.

Barcelona have improved and won the Champions League twice since the 2009 meeting while Chelsea have gone backwards, but the scale of what Di Matteo and his players have achieved must also be acknowledged and to dismiss their chances out of hand would be disrespectful.

Di Matteo, cold-eyed and businesslike in the extreme after this win, has lost once in nine games since taking over from Andre Villas-Boas.

For Chelsea even to be contemplating this semi-final might have been beyond their sphere of expectation a few weeks ago.

And for all their struggles to get the job done on Wednesday, they will be the envy of Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal - not to mention those clubs like Spurs and Liverpool - when they fight Barcelona for a place in the final.

Chelsea have also reached their sixth Champions League semi-final in nine years, an achievement to admire even if that success has not been transformed into winning the tournament or more than one final appearance.

There is little doubt, though, that they will have to produce performances far beyond anything they have hinted at this season if they are to play either Real Madrid or Bayern in Munich in May.

It is hard to imagine Barcelona coach Guardiola losing sleep over much of what he would have witnessed at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea had to wait until Meireles's spectacular strike in the dying seconds to subdue a Benfica side reduced to 10 men when captain Maxi Pereira was sent off for a second yellow card five minutes before the interval.

Di Matteo made the perfectly understandable assertion that Chelsea must play to their own strengths against Barcelona while being aware of the brilliance they will face themselves - and Benfica were able to flag up a few warning signs.

The Premier League side conceded possession and territory in a manner that suggested they were having a dry run for a confrontation with Barcelona. Benfica were unable to apply the finishing touches to the promptings of the enduring Pablo Aimar, wasting a succession of chances that came their way.

If Aimar, fine player though he is, could have so much influence against the likes of Jon Obi Mikel and Lampard, then what damage will Barcelona be able to do?

It is hard to imagine Barcelona, with Messi at their heart, being as over-generous, although some regular Nou Camp observers claim - to raised eyebrows outside Spain - that they also have a weakness in failing to punish opponents.

Chelsea must perform with iron discipline, tighten up defensively on what was offered up against Benfica and, when the opportunities come, take them.

Di Matteo must decide whether the brawn of Didier Drogba can be used in the hope of reawakening the beast to bother Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique or whether the speedier thrusts of Fernando Torres would be Chelsea's best bet.

Drogba was one of those most publicly wounded by Chelsea's exit against Barcelona in 2009, marching on to the turf at the final whistle after being substituted, clad incongruously in flip flops, to confront the officials before making his feelings clear via a television camera.

If Di Matteo can use any tool to drag one more great performance from the striker who has so often been Chelsea's Champions League talisman then their chances will be greatly improved.

They must also wrestle with a fixture schedule that sees an FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham at Wembley and a meeting with Barcelona in swift succession while a fight for a place in the Premier League's top four goes on.

And Chelsea may also believe that they are due a change of fortune in a tournament that has thwarted Roman Abramovich's mighty chequebook at every turn, whether it via a "ghost goal" at Liverpool, a penalty missed in Moscow or officialdom against Barcelona.

They will certainly need luck on their side against the Catalans because all logic - and all footballing evidence this season - suggests their Champions League journey will come to a halt at the semi-final stage.

All the cards will need to fall in their favour and they must produce a pair of their finest performances in recent memory to reach another final. The desire for revenge alone will not suffice.

grumpymunster

Great result last if an indifferent performance. According to the dithering old buggers on the RTE panel we really should not turn up for the semi.

It really is time RTE put at least Dunphy and Brady out to grass. Dunphy trys to be controversial for the sake of it and Brady is just pathetic. Brady also has such a strong Chelsea bias it is incredible what happened when he was younger did Chopper Harris eat his rabbit or something. For a man (?) who is involved with a club who have won nothing for 7 years to be making such comments is sad in the extreme.

SlipperyPeople

Can't stand watching Chelsea on RTE as they clearly don't know anything about the players and you also have to sit through all the anti chelsea remarks brady comes out with being an arsenal man. They only seem to have knowledge about Man Utd and when they get stuck with chelsea they struggle. Last nights coverage began at 7:30 while usually for UTD games the coverage starts at 7.

GavRedKing

There will be a LOT of Barcelona fans on the match threads when they roll around.

TBF there is a few genuine Barcelona fans on here and their dedicated thread is a credit to them who post in there reguarly.

I'd love if we could go and beat Barcelona, mainly for the joy of stopping them retaining it but also to right the wrongs of that night at the Bridge.

We need another 2 huge performances from our players if we are to beat them, the performance inthe Nou Camp was heroic and to come away with a 0-0 was huge, different now though as the 2nd leg is at the Nou Camp but I'm still confident we have a chance to beat them.

RDM will hopefully be drilling it into the players mentaility that mistakes will costus against Barcelona, look at Milan, Mexes turns and loses it to Messi who runs and eventually gets a penalty.

The other 2 goals include a deflected pass/shoot that fell to Iniesta and a very dodgy penalty, while AC had a perfectly good goal dis-allowed and a stone wall penalty denied, Barca arent invincible and we can and will punish them with Mascherano at CB and Puyol at LB.

Lukker-

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/05042012/2/terry-played-cracked-ribs.html

Hopefully he's fully fit for Barca. Can't see him sitting it out regardless.

cgpg5

hungoverbunny wrote: »

Can't stand watching Chelsea on RTE as they clearly don't know anything about the players and you also have to sit through all the anti chelsea remarks brady comes out with being an arsenal man. They only seem to have knowledge about Man Utd and when they get stuck with chelsea they struggle. Last nights coverage began at 7:30 while usually for UTD games the coverage starts at 7.

Even John Giles saying that Bayern won't be good enough for Real, what basis is he going on? He couldn't even remember Robben's name for crying out loud. Goes to show their ignorance and the way they brushed off Chelsea Barca as a no contest was poor imo. Chelsea have every chance I feel, and I'm not even a Chelsea fan. Barca have no defence and they looked vulnerable when Milan ran at them. Barca were awful in San Siro and Milan should have had a lead going into Camp Nou. Could've been different then.

The Benfica manager is a joke, there is no way Benfica deserved to progress, when Chelsea went 2 up on agg, Benfica went all out as they had nothing to lose all the pressure was on Chelsea then. Chelsea still could and should have scored at least 4 with some of the chances they had.

grumpymunster

cgpg5 wrote: »

Even John Giles saying that Bayern won't be good enough for Real, what basis is he going on? He couldn't even remember Robben's name for crying out loud. Goes to show their ignorance and the way they brushed off Chelsea Barca as a no contest was poor imo. Chelsea have every chance I feel, and I'm not even a Chelsea fan. Barca have no defence and they looked vulnerable when Milan ran at them. Barca were awful in San Siro and Milan should have had a lead going into Camp Nou. Could've been different then.

The Benfica manager is a joke, there is no way Benfica deserved to progress, when Chelsea went 2 up on agg, Benfica went all out as they had nothing to lose all the pressure was on Chelsea then. Chelsea still could and should have scored at least 4 with some of the chances they had.

Did not hear the bit about Munich not being good enough for Real, I owuld have thought that semi will be very hard to call, looking forward to it actually could be a cracker.

Switched over to Sky to see the bits of the Chelsea game they showed after the RM game and they seemed to be looking at the same match as me but certainly not the one brady was watching. If we had been 3 up on the night 10 or 15 minutes into the second half no one could have argued. But if you dont kill a game off the opposition gets some belief and throw caution to the wind. Luiz did make a mistake for the goal, though I thought the initial foul against him was a little harsh, but so did Petr. Then it was always going to be OMG stuff for the remainder.

I really dont think I will watch football coverage on RTE again until they get some pundits who are not totally past it or just plain biased.

GavRedKing

Lukker- wrote: »

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/05042012/2/terry-played-cracked-ribs.html

Hopefully he's fully fit for Barca. Can't see him sitting it out regardless.

He'll play anyway and I think we need him, he threw in some important blocks around the box last night.

Blatter

hungoverbunny wrote: »

Can't stand watching Chelsea on RTE as they clearly don't know anything about the players and you also have to sit through all the anti chelsea remarks brady comes out with being an arsenal man. They only seem to have knowledge about Man Utd and when they get stuck with chelsea they struggle. Last nights coverage began at 7:30 while usually for UTD games the coverage starts at 7.

Yeah, I definitely though Brady came across as extremely bitter towards Chelsea.

He's a clown TBH. He also has an anti Madrid bias that he struggles to hide. He said he thinks Bayern will win because they'll have 'too much firepower for the Real defense'. Erm, What about the firepower of Ronaldo, Higuain, Benzema, Kaka, Ozil and Di Maria against the Bayern defense, which is weaker than the Real defense, you absolute numpty.

GavRedKing

Anyone vote for player of the year?

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/PlayeroftheYear/0,,10268,00.html

I'd say it will be close between Ivanovic, Sturridge and Mata.

killwill

gavredking wrote: »

Anyone vote for player of the year?

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/PlayeroftheYear/0,,10268,00.html

I'd say it will be close between Ivanovic, Sturridge and Mata.

I would reckon Mata should get it for ye. Amazing player.

GavRedKing

killwill wrote: »

I would reckon Mata should get it for ye. Amazing player.

He got my vote anyway, although my 2nd choice would have been Ivanovic.

Blatter

Sturridge is another one who deserves a shout.

Himself, Ivanovic and Mata are probably the only three that deserve a mention!

Dozen Wicked Words

I would hope Ivanovic gets it, week in week out solid defensively and a terrific crosser of the ball.

bullpost

Minds games from Mourinho. Wants Chelsea to raise their game because he knows thats what it will take to get past Barca.

gavredking wrote: »

Mourhino can do us a favour by beating them in the El Clasico but I wouldnt hold my breath.

He also said he didnt think it would be a Real V Chelsea final so he expects Barca to go through.

grumpymunster

bullpost wrote: »

Minds games from Mourinho. Wants Chelsea to raise their game because he knows thats what it will take to get past Barca.

Think he was having a sideways swipe at the refs that Barca normally get mainly.

GavRedKing

Blatter wrote: »

Sturridge is another one who deserves a shout.

Himself, Ivanovic and Mata are probably the only three that deserve a mention!

Ahem v v v

gavredking wrote: »

Anyone vote for player of the year?

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/PlayeroftheYear/0,,10268,00.html

I'd say it will be close between Ivanovic, Sturridge and Mata.

GavRedKing

bullpost wrote: »

Minds games from Mourinho. Wants Chelsea to raise their game because he knows thats what it will take to get past Barca.

I'd rather go out to Barca now then lose to Jose in the final TBH.

That would be a sickener.

growler

Just saw the Mourinho interview there and I don't think he was writing Chelsea off in football terms so much as flagging UEFA's & their officials' on-going love affair with Barca and unwillingness to give Chelsea much in this competition. He does love a good conspiracy theory after all !