Napoli V Chelsea UEFA Champions League Round of 16, 21st February K/O 7:45PM SS1

Owen_S

Don't think that Terry would have coped much better with those attackers, they are truly top players unlike many of the over-hyped strikers in Europe.

Morzadec

Didn't see the game unfortunately but caught the highlights there. Credit to Napoli, they looked very very fired up, loved that celebration for the 3rd goal.

But Chelsea's defence looked awful. Were Cahill and Luiz as bad as they looked on the highlight reel? They looked incredibly uncomfortable beside each other. Is that the first time they've played together? If at all possible they should have avoided being paired together, and moved Ivanovic into the centre. From what I have seen he is twice the defender of either of those.

Looks like Cahill may have been found out at this level, although it's harsh to judge him so early on, and I'm sure a lot of defenders would look bad beside Luiz who constantly looks like a disaster waiting to happen...

Morzadec

mike65 wrote: »

3-1 to Napoli then 1-1 next week.

Part one completed!

MoscowFlyer

Well that was a thoroughly entertaining game of football. Great stuff. Can't wait for the 2nd leg.

Comical third goal

The_Kew_Tour

MoscowFlyer wrote: »

Well that was a thoroughly entertaining game of football. Great stuff. Can't wait for the 2nd leg.

Comical third goal

A pure FIFA 12 goal right there!

Sgt Pepper 64

Enjoy it gloaters - Chelsea will be back dont you worry
We could have easily won that game, Napoli looked as bad as us at the back and were gifted 2 goals

I suspect that most of you are now watching thursday night euro football or maybe just dreaming of it?

When the seagulls follow the trawler, then the capt should always keep his hat on because of the ****e coming his way

See you on the 14th - yes you will because your team probably got knocked out ages ago :P

grenache

Absolutely buzzing after that, atmosphere in San Paolo was electric, very poor Chelsea support there and those that were barely made a sound. Then again they would never be heard over that vocal storm of Napolitans. We had to stand on our seats to watch the game, crazy Italians, but i didn't mind. Had to be careful when celebrating though

3:1 was a fair result. Awful mistake from Cannovaro for Chelsea goal, very poor defensively in first half. Thought Ramires and Boswinga cut through Napoli too easy at times. That said, we had great joy down the right wing with Maggio, put in some lovely balls. Inler needed to be more bossy in the middle, although he put Cavani's goal on a plate for him with a perfect cross. Second half i thought we were much more compact. We sat back and let Chelsea have possession, they couldn't break us down, Campagnaro was our best defender on the night, but both Cannovaro & Aronica stepped it up in second period. Zuniga also started to track back and help out Cannovaro, something he elected not to do in first half. Big improvement from Gargano too in second half, he stopped giving the ball away. Pocho ran his little heart out, deserved his two goals, he dragged Luiz and Cahill all over the place, gave plenty space to Cavani to exploit. Thought El Matador was excellent on the ball too, never gave it away, and skipped past black shirts with much ease at times.

We could have done with Hamsik's late chance going in (he was not good tonight), but we'll take 3-1 for now. I know Napoli can score at the Bridge.

Best chants of the night included "You're going home Chelsea, rich and losers". And the always popular "Fcuk Off Chelsea" (funny when you hear it from Italians) Now i'm off for a few cold Peronis and to find myself some Napolitan totti.

The_Kew_Tour

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Enjoy it gloaters - Chelsea will be back dont you worry
We could have easily won that game, Napoli looked as bad as us at the back and were gifted 2 goals

I suspect that most of you are now watching thursday night euro football or maybe just dreaming of it?

When the seagulls follow the trawler, then the capt should always keep his hat on because of the ****e coming his way

See you on the 14th - yes you will because your team probably got knocked out ages ago :P

Enjoy the 14th cause if ye continue the way yer playing there be no CL football at Bridge for quite some time.:p

kryogen

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Enjoy it gloaters - Chelsea will be back dont you worry
We could have easily won that game, Napoli looked as bad as us at the back and were gifted 2 goals

I suspect that most of you are now watching thursday night euro football or maybe just dreaming of it?

When the seagulls follow the trawler, then the capt should always keep his hat on because of the ****e coming his way

See you on the 14th - yes you will because your team probably got knocked out ages ago :P

Your on the sauce again aren't you

Sgt Pepper 64

grenache wrote: »

Absolutely buzzing after that, atmosphere in San Paolo was electric, very poor Chelsea support there and those that were barely made a sound. Then again they would never be heard over that vocal storm of Napolitans. We had to stand on our seats to watch the game, crazy Italians, but i didn't mind. Had to be careful when celebrating though

3:1 was a fair result. Awful mistake from Cannovaro for Chelsea goal, very poor defensively in first half. Thought Ramires and Boswinga cut through Napoli too easy at times. That said, we had great joy down the right wing with Maggio, put in some lovely balls. Inler needed to be more bossy in the middle, although he put Cavani's goal on a plate for him with a perfect cross. Second half i thought we were much more compact. We sat back and let Chelsea have possession, they couldn't break us down, Campagnaro was our best defender on the night, but both Cannovaro & Aronica stepped it up in second period. Zuniga also started to track back and help out Cannovaro, something he elected not to do in first half. Big improvement from Gargano too in second half, he stopped giving the ball away. Pocho ran his little heart out, deserved his two goals, he dragged Luiz and Cahill all over the place, gave plenty space to Cavani to exploit. Thought El Matador was excellent on the ball too, never gave it away, and skipped past black shirts with much ease at times.

We could have done with Hamsik's late chance going in (he was not good tonight), but we'll take 3-1 for now. I know Napoli can score at the Bridge.

Best chants of the night included "You're going home Chelsea, rich and losers". And the always popular "Fcuk Off Chelsea" (funny when you hear it from Italians) Now i'm off for a few cold Peronis and to find myself some Napolitan totti.

Maybe your seat still wasnt high enough cos you were awful, if we hadnt been so wasteful in front of goal and given you 2 goals, we would have slaughtered you AND GARY NEVILLE AGREED :P

Enjoy anyway cos you wont be there next season and neither will most of your team! Hamisk was very ordinary - wondered what all the hype was about.

Jelle1880

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Maybe your seat still wasnt high enough cos you were awful, if we hadnt been so wasteful in front of goal and given you 2 goals, we would have slaughtered you AND GARY NEVILLE AGREED :P

Enjoy anyway cos you wont be there next season and neither will most of your team! Hamisk was very ordinary - wondered what all the hype was about.

I guess that's what happens when you only watch English football.
Hamsik is class.

Neville only agreed because he saw another English club being eliminated

carlop

grenache wrote: »

Absolutely buzzing after that, atmosphere in San Paolo was electric, very poor Chelsea support there and those that were barely made a sound. Then again they would never be heard over that vocal storm of Napolitans. We had to stand on our seats to watch the game, crazy Italians, but i didn't mind. Had to be careful when celebrating though

3:1 was a fair result. Awful mistake from Cannovaro for Chelsea goal, very poor defensively in first half. Thought Ramires and Boswinga cut through Napoli too easy at times. That said, we had great joy down the right wing with Maggio, put in some lovely balls. Inler needed to be more bossy in the middle, although he put Cavani's goal on a plate for him with a perfect cross. Second half i thought we were much more compact. We sat back and let Chelsea have possession, they couldn't break us down, Campagnaro was our best defender on the night, but both Cannovaro & Aronica stepped it up in second period. Zuniga also started to track back and help out Cannovaro, something he elected not to do in first half. Big improvement from Gargano too in second half, he stopped giving the ball away. Pocho ran his little heart out, deserved his two goals, he dragged Luiz and Cahill all over the place, gave plenty space to Cavani to exploit. Thought El Matador was excellent on the ball too, never gave it away, and skipped past black shirts with much ease at times.

We could have done with Hamsik's late chance going in (he was not good tonight), but we'll take 3-1 for now. I know Napoli can score at the Bridge.

Best chants of the night included "You're going home Chelsea, rich and losers". And the always popular "Fcuk Off Chelsea" (funny when you hear it from Italians) Now i'm off for a few cold Peronis and to find myself some Napolitan totti.

Sounds great, enjoy the night. I'd love to be there.

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Maybe your seat still wasnt high enough cos you were awful, if we hadnt been so wasteful in front of goal and given you 2 goals, we would have slaughtered you AND GARY NEVILLE AGREED :P

Enjoy anyway cos you wont be there next season and neither will most of your team! Hamisk was very ordinary - wondered what all the hype was about.

You may have snuck a draw, but there was no point tonight where you looked like slaughtering us.

And maybe Napoli won't be in the Champions League next season and we may lose a couple of players, but that won't be an issue. A club with passionate support and a proud history has struggled through far worse and will survive far more serious problems than that down the line. The reason is because nights like tonight make the suffering worthwhile.

Blackpitts

what can I say at the end of this magic night? I'm speechless and delighted that my team Napoli has proven many people here wrong about so many things (ie italian football, the value of Cavani and Lavezzi and the neapolitan supporters).

Let me say one last word, ManC fans went to Naples and they came back safe, this is the Chelsea squad wandering across the city this morning and they were welcomed. So cut the effin stereotypes please!
http://napoli.repubblica.it/sport/2012/02/21/foto/sorpesa_il_chelsea_se_ne_va_a_spasso-30251221/1/


forza napoli!

Sgt Pepper 64

carlop wrote: »

Sounds great, enjoy the night. I'd love to be there.




You may have snuck a draw, but there was no point tonight where you looked like slaughtering us.

And maybe Napoli won't be in the Champions League next season and we may lose a couple of players, but that won't be an issue. A club with passionate support and a proud history has struggled through far worse and will survive far more serious problems than that down the line. The reason is because nights like tonight make the suffering worthwhile.

Missed a chance to go 2-0 up, and then anything could have happened.

All football fans know that chelsea are a shadow of themselves at the moment, so enjoy the moment but dont fool yourself anything more than that

Renn

Missed a chance to go 2-0 up, and then anything could have happened.

But what happened was that Napoli scored three and Chelsea one.

KeithAFC

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL. Love the Italian crowd. Well deserved win by Napoli. I love the way they counter attack.

carlop

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Missed a chance to go 2-0 up, and then anything could have happened.

All football fans know that chelsea are a shadow of themselves at the moment, so enjoy the moment but dont fool yourself anything more than that

I'm guessing you mean the Ramires chance to make it 2-1, which I'll admit was a bit of a turning point, but I could just as easily say Cavani missed a great chance to make it 1-0 too.

I'm not 'fooling myself' at all. I don't think Napoli are going to win the CL or anything this season, but I do think they have proven themselves, both against City and Chelsea, to be a side worthy of the CL knock-out stages and domestically they have absolutely no reason to fear anyone.

Blackpitts

KeithAFC wrote: »

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL. Love the Italian crowd. Well deserved win by Napoli. I love the way they counter attack.

I love the way stadium San Paolo shouts the name of the scorer out loud!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj1g6ZB-rJ0

grenache

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Maybe your seat still wasnt high enough cos you were awful, if we hadnt been so wasteful in front of goal and given you 2 goals, we would have slaughtered you AND GARY NEVILLE AGREED :P

Enjoy anyway cos you wont be there next season and neither will most of your team! Hamisk was very ordinary - wondered what all the hype was about.

Would you like some lemon juice, or are those grapes sour enough for you?

You say Napoli were awful and "chelsea slaughtered us". I had a Juve fan to my left, an Inter one to my right, and both thought Napoli deserved to win. It's funny that you mention "chelsea gifting napoli two goals." By your logic if Cannovaro had not gift wrapped your goal, we would have beaten you by even more than two goals.

I've never read such rubbish and clutching at straws. You really should accept your beating with dignity. You'll come across far better if you do. I thought Chelsea played well at times tonight, but were not the better team on the night. The scoreline does not lie.

The_Hustler

You really should be more dignified Sgt. We lost. We were terrible defensively and could have lost by more.

kryogen

Jelle1880 wrote: »

I guess that's what happens when you only watch English football.
Hamsik is class.

Neville only agreed because he saw another English club being eliminated

Hmmmm, Hamsik can be class alright, but he is too inconsistent to be above criticism at the moment anyway buddy.

redarmy

plastic ...;)

kryogen

^^^^^^^^^^^^

I don't get it.

spiralism

Chelsea deserved what they got tbf. Couldn't defend for ****e and shipped 3, which was no surprise when you compare their backline to Napoli's forwards. Better defences have struggled against Hamsik-Cavani-Lavezzi. Only for Cech, Napoli would have scored 5. Chelsea's opener came from a bad mistake though Lavezzi's goal for 3-1 came from a gaffe as well so it cancelled out. They may count themselves lucky that they're still in the tie after tonight, 2-0 at Stamford Bridge is very possible tbh but i dunno will they manage a clean sheet at home after watching tonight.

So much for Serie A being ****e, what a load of nonsense that notion was. Italian football is back on the rise...

TerryTibbs!

Some amount of muppets who know sweet feck all posting here. We have clueless Chelsea fans, gloating opposition fans, Napoli fan who is chasing totti but is posting in here and thankfully the odd level head.

Bring on second leg. If we go through it will be kind of special which is good. If we go out we can concentrate on getting back in, which is important for a team in transition. Straight back in despite the faults. It is only going to get better.

grenache

TerryTibbs! wrote: »

Some amount of muppets who know sweet feck all posting here. We have clueless Chelsea fans, gloating opposition fans, Napoli fan who is chasing totti but is posting in here and thankfully the odd level head.

Bring on second leg. If we go through it will be kind of special which is good. If we go out we can concentrate on getting back in, which is important for a team in transition. Straight back in despite the faults. It is only going to get better.

You do irony well Terry

Jelle1880

KeithAFC wrote: »

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL. Love the Italian crowd. Well deserved win by Napoli. I love the way they counter attack.

It's awesome, somehow I always think they are surprised at a goal and go 'Oooooooooooooooooh'

GavRedKing

All I can say is the better team won on the night, Napolis counter attacking was brillant to watch at times and in Cavani, Hamsik and Lavezzi they have real quality that can threating any back line.

Well done Napoli.

One saving grace is that the Napoli back line are fairly slow, an early goal in the return leg at the Bridge and we'll be setup for a comeback but at this moment I can only see one team going through from this as we're likely to conceed also.

I said earlier 2-1 wouldnt be too bad, 3-1 is a tougher ask, and will test the team to there limits and we've being found wanting far too often this year.

Going to make for a very interesting return leg in 3 weeks time.

Rekop dog

I think people will go massively ott about this being a major decline for EPL and rise of Serie A, when in truth it's only a smallish shift, if that. Like I'm delighted that Serie A has done so well and restored some pride after they underperformed so badly last season but there's still a worrying enough trend in the league in recent years where a lot of the talent particularly young have been leaving the league and not being replaced by similar quality, unless Udinese continue performing miracles in bringing the best South American kids to Europe first. Genuine world class players like Pastore, Sanchez, Balotelli, Eto'o have all left recently. I think during the glory days the ratio of quality players brought in compared to sold out of the league was way higher than it is currently.

On Napoli, don't think they were at their best last night, although part of this may have been tactical as they were playing more lowish % long balls than usual in the hope of creating even faster counter situations where they'd always fancy their chances with their abitity up front and Chelsea defensive problems. So Chelsea where always going to retain lots of possesion this way but Napoli were happy to soak up the pressure and hit them on the break when they could.

Excited for them going forward in the Cl because imo they'd have the best chance out of the remaining teams left to challenge the Spainish pair. Don't think anyone is good enough defensively this season to 'do an Inter' on Barca so adapting a we'll score more than you strategy is probably the most effective. Now you'd still massively favour Barca/Madrid in this situation too but anything can happen in a one off game and the old cliché luck favours the brave is apt for Napoli.

carlop

Rekop dog wrote: »

I think people will go massively ott about this being a major decline for EPL and rise of Serie A, when in truth it's only a smallish shift, if that. Like I'm delighted that Serie A has done so well and restored some pride after they underperformed so badly last season but there's still a worrying enough trend in the league in recent years where a lot of the talent particularly young have been leaving the league and not being replaced by similar quality, unless Udinese continue performing miracles in bringing the best South American kids to Europe first. Genuine world class players like Pastore, Sanchez, Balotelli, Eto'o have all left recently. I think during the glory days the ratio of quality players brought in compared to sold out of the league was way higher than it is currently.

On Napoli, don't think they were at their best last night, although part of this may have been tactical as they were playing more lowish % long balls than usual in the hope of creating even faster counter situations where they'd always fancy their chances with their abitity up front and Chelsea defensive problems. So Chelsea where always going to retain lots of possesion this way but Napoli were happy to soak up the pressure and hit them on the break when they could.

Excited for them going forward in the Cl because imo they'd have the best chance out of the remaining teams left to challenge the Spainish pair. Don't think anyone is good enough defensively this season to 'do an Inter' on Barca so adapting a we'll score more than you strategy is probably the most effective. Now you'd still massively favour Barca/Madrid in this situation too but anything can happen in a one off game and the old cliché luck favours the brave is apt for Napoli.

I think Bayern and Milan would be better equipped at the 'we'll score more' strategy, especially the former.

Napoli played Barca already this season (it was pre-season, but I think they had their strongest team out) and got hammered. I just think the defense would be too weak to cope with the quality of Barca and Madrid.

Nalz

Rekop dog wrote: »

Inler is a cracking player tbf, hasn't had his best game tonight but has a very good all round game. Gargano does a lot of work that goes unnoticed too.

I was talking about the game tonight. Pitch didn't help things I suppose.

I made 60 quid last night off Napoli winning (50 caps at 6/5) so can't complain, but some of the football was rubbish.

Rekop dog

carlop wrote: »

I think Bayern and Milan would be better equipped at the 'we'll score more' strategy, especially the former.

Napoli played Barca already this season (it was pre-season, but I think they had their strongest team out) and got hammered. I just think the defense would be too weak to cope with the quality of Barca and Madrid.

Possibly, they'd probably have a bigger chance of being completely embarrassed by Barca than Milan or Bayern due to their appraoch, but still think they've the clearest identity and attacking ruthlessness to take advantage of any Barca defensive weakness and win the odd time. I wouldn't be fooled by Milan's group games with Barcelona in terms of Milan's competitivness, don't think Barca were anywhere near top gear in those games.

That_Guy

Just saw the highlights there. Comical defending for the third goal.

Sgt Pepper 64

That_Guy wrote: »

Just saw the highlights there. Comical defending for the third goal.

Not really, he was unlucky, he booted it away, but it rebounded into the attacker

rub of the green stuff

Gerty

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Not really, he was unlucky, he booted it away, but it rebounded into the attacker

rub of the green stuff

Have to disagree there. He looked like he was trying to do to much with maybe lobbing it over Cavani's head, maybe passing it to Cole.

He has to put that ball out of play at the very least. And he could have done that. Maybe comical is going too far, but unlucky isn't the word for it either.

Renn

Unlucky

Leiva

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Not really, he was unlucky, he booted it away, but it rebounded into the attacker

rub of the green stuff

Nah .

He should have put his foot through it and put it into row H .

Sgt Pepper 64

mixednuts wrote: »

Nah .

He should have put his foot through it and put it into row H .

he wasnt going to put it across the face of goal to his right, and the player was behind him and just caught up at the moment he kicked it out to the left.
he could of kicked it straight ahead i suppose for a corner

It was good chasing down, but then how unlucky to catch the attacker in the chest and then bounce down nicely for him to shoot?
Could have hit his hand, gone out of play gone anywhere really

Fizman

Some of you are being way too kind on Luiz for that third goal. He was diabolical for it.

Johner

Well done Napoli, Cavani and Lavezzi were brilliant and would get into most teams in Europe, have to say I'm not sold on Hamsik, every time I watch him he looks average enough. Both defences were very bad.

As for the second leg I think we could easily score 3 or 4 against that defence at the Bridge but then again so could Napoli. I don't think its over yet but it will be a tough task. I think we will need to score at least 3 becaue I'm pretty sure Napoli will score at least 1.

Blackpitts

Jelle1880 wrote: »

It's awesome, somehow I always think they are surprised at a goal and go 'Oooooooooooooooooh'

go to 00:15, you can clearly hear "tiiiraaaaa...goooooooool!!" (shoot!! goal!!)

http://it.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/video/videoid=1757072.html

GavRedKing

Johner wrote: »

Well done Napoli, Cavani and Lavezzi were brilliant and would get into most teams in Europe, have to say I'm not sold on Hamsik, every time I watch him he looks average enough. Both defences were very bad.

As for the second leg I think we could easily score 3 or 4 against that defence at the Bridge but then again so could Napoli. I don't think its over yet but it will be a tough task. I think we will need to score at least 3 becaue I'm pretty sure Napoli will score at least 1.

I'd jump at the chance at Hamsik if he came available, hes a great calming influence in CM but he can play, wide or behind a striker.

He'd be perfect for our CM role I reckon, he'd be creative too, much more so then any of our current CM.

I thought Meireles would be the answer but after a good start to his career hes faded away recently, hope he can re-discover some form because he has the right attributes to paly there for us.

Jelle1880

Blackpitts wrote: »

go to 00:15, you can clearly hear "tiiiraaaaa...goooooooool!!" (shoot!! goal!!)

http://it.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/video/videoid=1757072.html

Ha, brilliant

CL song before kick-off, goosebumps.

grenache

gavredking wrote: »

I'd jump at the chance at Hamsik if he came available, hes a great calming influence in CM but he can play, wide or behind a striker.

He'd be perfect for our CM role I reckon, he'd be creative too, much more so then any of our current CM.

Will swap you him for Mata

The_Hustler

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

he wasnt going to put it across the face of goal to his right, and the player was behind him and just caught up at the moment he kicked it out to the left.
he could of kicked it straight ahead i suppose for a corner

It was good chasing down, but then how unlucky to catch the attacker in the chest and then bounce down nicely for him to shoot?
Could have hit his hand, gone out of play gone anywhere really

He should definitely have kicked it ahead for a corner.

Blackpitts

Jelle1880 wrote: »

Ha, brilliant

CL song before kick-off, goosebumps.

ha!

and the first goal from the Curva B...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLB3_OFB-F0

Jelle1880

Must be one of the best nicknames for a player, 'El Pocho' (The Chubby One).

Blackpitts

Jelle1880 wrote: »

Must be one of the best nicknames for a player, 'El Pocho' (The Chubby One).

actually he was named by his brother after his lost pet, a puppy called "pocholo"

GavRedKing

grenache wrote: »

Will swap you him for Mata

Eeeehhhh I was thinking more along the lines of cold, hard cash.

grenache

Jelle1880 wrote: »

Must be one of the best nicknames for a player, 'El Pocho' (The Chubby One).

It's a good one alright but there are a few other Napoli players with entertaining nicknames:

Morgan De Sanctis - Il Pirata (The Pirate)

Christian Maggio - Superbike

Edinson Cavani - El Matador



and my personal favourite..........

Juan Zuniga - Apocalypto