The Official Thread of Chelsea FC

[EC Unique]

Good come back for city. May just have secured 2nd for them.

[magpie seanie]

Never a pen in a million years but to be fair citeh showed far more will to win than Chelsea who didn't seem too bothered (Mikel being the worst example, never tried a leg).

[Gazzler]

Will see now what they are made of.

Looks like you got your answer!

I thought City more than deserved to win. Softish peno alright though.

[From the Bunker]

Never a pen in a million years but to be fair citeh showed far more will to win than Chelsea who didn't seem too bothered (Mikel being the worst example, never tried a leg).

So when your hands are up and the ball hits from onto the other it's not a peno? I know it was soft but thems the rules.

That result is a huge moral victory for City.

Still Utds to lose, but Utd can still lose it!

[Captain Obvious]

Never a pen in a million years but to be fair citeh showed far more will to win than Chelsea who didn't seem too bothered (Mikel being the worst example, never tried a leg).

So when your hands are up and the ball hits from onto the other it's not a peno? I know it was soft but thems the rules.

That result is a huge moral victory for City.

Still Utds to lose, but Utd can still lose it!

Nine more wins for City and they will be champions it's theirs to lose.

[AQMP]

Champions League Quarter-Final 1st Leg

Benfica 0 - 1 Chelsea

This one seems to have slipped by unnoticed.  

Generally a poor game, RDM did a Napoli-style AVB with the team selection and got away with it.  Just a couple of small points...IF Chelsea get to the semis I'm still of the opinion that they will be taken to the cleaners by Barca or Milan.  John Terry may be the biggest dickhead in football (with Ashley Cole not far behind) but they were both execellent last night.  Torres actually played well and a quick mention to Paulo Ferreira who started his first game since New Year's Eve and barely put a foot wrong.

[Hashtag]

Personally I thought Torres and Luiz were immense. Luiz never put a foot wrong. He has the potential to be a great centre half if he can cut out his errors and genral fookwittery.
Don't like Daniel Sturridge- headless chicken at times. Very greedy too. No vision. Came on last night and Chelsea lost their shape badly.

[AQMP]

Personally I thought Torres and Luiz were immense. Luiz never put a foot wrong. He has the potential to be a great centre half if he can cut out his errors and genral fookwittery.
Don't like Daniel Sturridge- headless chicken at times. Very greedy too. No vision. Came on last night and Chelsea lost their shape badly.

Overall Sturridge has been Chelsea's best forward this season but I have to agree, recently he looks like he's believing his own publicity.  When he gets near the box he's forgotten to look up an see if there's another player in a better position than him.  I have been a big critic of Torres but if Sturridge could deliver a final pass like him we wouldn't be talking so much about Torres' lack of goals.

[AZOffaly]

I thought Torres was excellent last night. Fair play to him for keeping going, and I'd like to see him do well. _{Back at Liverpool}

[AQMP]

I thought Torres was excellent last night. Fair play to him for keeping going, and I'd like to see him do well. _{Back at Liverpool}[/b]

No, we wont take Carroll off your hands!

[ballinaman]

[ross4life]

My FA cup tip still going strong. I read today the last three times Liverpool defeated Everton in the semi final they went on to lose the final.

[Gazzler]

Terry after saying he knew it wasn't a goal but yet he went off celebrating.
Classy as always John.

[EC Unique]

My FA cup tip still going strong. I read today the last three times Liverpool defeated Everton in the semi final they went on to lose the final.

Going by the semi finals it would be very hard to see that changing.

[AQMP]

What's this thread doing on p5??

Now that my head has stopped buzzing, perhaps a more, ahem, sober reflection.  From a Chelsea supporter's pont of view probably the greatest result in the club's history even bettering beating Real Madrid in the Cup Winners Cup (remember that?) final in 1971 with big John Dempsey getting the winner.

The last 10 mins of the first half were completely bizarre and the second half was more bizarre than that!

Red card for Terry?  100%, no excuses, and he deserves to miss the final for out and out stupidity.

Chelsea's tactics?  Well what other way is there to play against Barca?  It's not complicated, defend like f**k and try to sneak a goal.  I will admit and I have posted in other threads that I thought Chelsea would get sliced apart..and probably the Chelsea of AVB would have been.  But the defensive display was as good as it could have been especially with a makeshift back four with noted liability Bosingwa at centre back.  Though it's worth pointing out that Ivanovic has played centre back for Serbia many times.

Barca?  Well I'm going to court controversy here...after Messi missed the penalty he was virtually anonymous and Barca actually weren't very good in the last 25 mins.  Xavi hit more bad passes during that game than in the rest of his career put together.  Thet looked to me like a team that had run out of steam a bit.

The final??  No matter who it is Chelsea will be underdogs.  Terry will be missing (no complaints)  Merieles (meh), Ivanovic will be a big miss as I said due to his experience at centre back but Ramires' absence is critical.  He was my man of he match last night, from filling in at right back to the Messi-like goal, an absolute lion!  He had a bit of a dip in form from Xmas til AVB was sacked but overall he's probably been Chelsea's player of the season and in the Di Matteo "era" he's been outstanding.  Time for Fat Frank to stop mouthing and step up (though his passes for the Drogba and Ramires' goals were sublime).  Who know Di Matteo might bring himself on in the final!