[Miyazaki]

Is it just me that noticed it? The commentator on itv surprisingly only seemed to notice Dani Alves!

Seemingly, every time Ballack, Drogba, Malouda, Alves, Henry and Iniesta lose the ball or anticipate losing the ball they go down like they've been shot.

Especially when Puyol got the ball off Malouda, he went down so theatrically. Its just so inappropriate, you're laying on top of another man and you begin the rolling around.

I'm sick of seeing it, especially at such a high level where players should be relying on their skill.

Drogba knew everytime he got the ball there would be no support, so what does he do? An impression of swan lake.

I think Alves is afraid of leather, because as soon as the ball comes within three yards he does a rolling stunt more suited to an action movie than a football pitch.

I really feel for Pepe to be honest and part of me would like to pat him on the back for giving Casquero something to cry about.

[Naaktgeboren]

Alves was beyond pathetic, only thing worse than hiis theoratics was the quality (or lack of) ITV's broadcast, was like watching a C64 football simulator.

Anyone else think Alves looked like something out of Planet of the Apes??

[mooperman]

Originally Posted by CloggyNL

Alves was beyond pathetic, only thing worse than hiis theoratics was the quality (or lack of) ITV's broadcast, was like watching a C64 football simulator.

Anyone else think Alves looked like something out of Planet of the Apes??

ha ha, its all gone a bit Emlyn Hughes Soccer....

[plazmoid]

Once it had happenned a few times the players seemed to realise that the ref was going to give a foul for anything.

imo Malouda was justified to look in pain considering he landed on top of Puyol's knee which tbh i don't fancy doing myself.

Dani Alvez was just horrendous though, anytime anyone went anywhere near him he went down.

[ste v p]

Originally Posted by CloggyNL

Alves was beyond pathetic, only thing worse than hiis theoratics was the quality (or lack of) ITV's broadcast, was like watching a C64 football simulator.

Anyone else think Alves looked like something out of Planet of the Apes??

Agreed, Alves was terrible and when he was rolling around after one of the malouda (?) challenges I was shouting at the TV what i would do to him if he didn't get up! Drogba ran him close mind you, he was almost worth an Oscar. I'm not sure what it is about Chelsea Barca games that always brings out the worst in both teams.

Anyway, decent game other than that but we'll probably see goals in the second leg. Marquez injury was probably cartilage and if so would require an operation.

[kopchoir]

Firstly dont listen to david pleat he is the biggest joke of a commentator going i watched the game and thought barca were the only team who wanted to play football and after chelseas pathetic display i hope they go out

[ed_mcl]

Originally Posted by kopchoir

Firstly dont listen to david pleat he is the biggest joke of a commentator going i watched the game and thought barca were the only tem who wanted to lay football and after chelseas pathetic display i hope they go out

That's the most sensible thing I've ever seen you post!

As for the cheating; it was funny how Ballack was on the floor in apparent agony until Barcelona attacked with Hleb and he was soon up on his feet defending the near post.

[jayden28]

Originally Posted by kopchoir

Firstly dont listen to david pleat he is the biggest joke of a commentator going i watched the game and thought barca were the only tem who wanted to lay football and after chelseas pathetic display i hope they go out

I thought chelsea done ok,what you expecting them to play 3 up front and get hammered 5-0!,im sure the 2 other big english clubs(manu,arsenal) would have done the same.

[reddevil63]

Cech been made MofM says it all. If it wasn't for him Barca would have thumped Chelsea.

As for the diving....

[davepuma]

I thought Chelsea got it right tonight and I'm sure any one of the English CL sides would have done the same and taken the same result. They stifled a talented Barca side and weren't able to take the few chances that came their way. The SB game will be pretty interesting now.

[ed_mcl]

Originally Posted by davepuma

I thought Chelsea got it right tonight and I'm sure any one of the English CL sides would have done the same and taken the same result. They stifled a talented Barca side and weren't able to take the few chances that came their way. The SB game will be pretty interesting now.

I can't for the life of me ever imagine Arsene Wenger with his philosophy instructing his whole team to camp out in their own half and just defend like Chelsea did tonight, not for anyone regardless of how impressive they may have been during the season, can you, honestly?

Chelsea are better than that, so I can't help but feel it was more a case of them being succumbed to the pressures of Barcelona's attack rather than some stroke of tactical genius by Hiddink as some would suggest.

They might not be so lucky at Stamford Bridge if they play that dire anti-football they did at the Nou Camp.

[Naaktgeboren]

I agree, Chelsea did what they had to do last night and I bet Hiddink will return to London with a big smile on his face. No team would travel to the Nou Camp with an all out attacking strategy it would end in tears.

Barcelona did not look as good as they think they are, Messi was contained and now they have defensive problems for the 2nd leg with Puyol suspended and Marquez out.

They will get a different game at Stamford Bridge and to be honest, I can see Chelsea taking it.

[DJT75]

Originally Posted by ed_mcl

As for the cheating; it was funny how Ballack was on the floor in apparent agony until Barcelona attacked with Hleb and he was soon up on his feet defending the near post.

To be fair he did look very uncomfortable after that attack when you watch the replays, but on a general scale the cheating was embarrassing for the entire match.


I'd be disappointed if I were a Chelsea fan, they weren't even in the game. Yes I know it's Barcelona & they're pretty handy ay keeping the ball & attacking but Chelsea didn't even attempt to play them.

0-0 away from home is not a good result. Barcelona need only to get a score draw & they have anything up to 120 minutes to do it in. You need to score away from home, losing 2-1 is not that much worse.

However, I see Chelsea beating them at home anyway

[mabo]

Personally i think Chelsea got their tactics spot on. No team has stopped Barca scoring at home this season so it was still some feat imo. United were hardly a grand attacking force against them last year and in the 06 final Arsenal spent much of the game after scoring camped out in their own half.

As for the diving, Alves was beyond a joke desperately trying to get players booked. Does anyone remember in one of the previous ties when Deco fell to ground as if he'd been shot, only for JT to boot the ball at him while he was writhing around - Deco sprang to his feet and miraculously recovered.

[oj0]

I dont think that anyone would/should have expected Chelsea to go all out with their attack, but at least a tendency to pass over the half way line without it being an endless punt up to Drogba would have been a little more productive. Not even Lampard got forward to support Drogba and it was only due to a very routine Marquez mistake that Chelsea got their only shot on target of the whole match.

I thought that Barca were a little too cute in their attacking play and on several attempts should have just taken the early shot rather than look for the perfect goal but hey, who am I to tell them how to do it, Pep Guardiola looks a rather capable manager on his own and he's only 37!

[mabo]

I think the problem was with a makeshift left back, they didn't want to repeat the mistakes Bayern made in the same situation i.e. giving Messi space to run into. Thus they had to condense the lines of defense and midfield. It wasn't pretty but it worked.

I also don't think it helped that Lampard and Ballack seemed to have quite a heavy touch last night and had the ball pinched too easily when they had possession.

If anything Barca were too good at closing down. In the final part of the game when they were a touch tired it opened out a bit more and Chelsea got forward a few times which made more space for Barca behind.

[plazmoid]

Lampard seemed to be non-existent the entire match and i wasn't surprised at all to see him being taken off.

Drogba should have put Chelsea ahead though.

[oj0]

All this makes me think though, what exactly does Ballack contribute to the Chelsea team?

He surely should have been sent off, missed a decent chance for a header and otherwise looked slow and sluggish. I would be quite suprised if anyone outside of a German team offered anything reasonable for him in the summer.

[mabo]

Originally Posted by plazmoid

Lampard seemed to be non-existent the entire match and i wasn't surprised at all to see him being taken off.

Drogba should have put Chelsea ahead though.

True, they put it down as a great save by Valdez but the first shot was straight at him.

I thought the ref was decent though last night - he didn't cave under the pressure of the crowd and even booked Toure when he asked for a card to be shown.

[BlackCountryBob]

Barca don't seem to have a plan B. Why should they beause plan A has been able to turn over anyone it has come up against previously but I can't help but feel that like how SAF leant that he needed to be able to do something different, Barca need to be able to do this too because for the second year on the bounce they have come up against a physical and committed defensive English team and failed to break them down.

Stupid amount of time wasting though by all the players doing stop drop and roll. Think the ref got wise to it and that is why he let play go on when Ballack was down in the penalty area. However, I think the ref needs to learn what exactly makes a foul though.

[Kawsar17]

Originally Posted by kopchoir

Firstly dont listen to david pleat he is the biggest joke of a commentator going i watched the game and thought barca were the only tem who wanted to lay football and after chelseas pathetic display i hope they go out

I can't stand david pleat, some of his comments and descriptions of players are just rubbish, it's like the commentary from pro evo!

[jonneymendoza]

Originally Posted by jayden28

I thought chelsea done ok,what you expecting them to play 3 up front and get hammered 5-0!,im sure the 2 other big english clubs(manu,arsenal) would have done the same.

no. manu and arsenal never play with 10 man behind the ball. they always attack just like barca. chelsea put 10 man behind the ball and stopped barca from socring. that wont work in the return leg as i doubt chelsea will play soo negetive on their own turff

[ste v p]

Originally Posted by BlackCountryBob

Barca don't seem to have a plan B. Why should they beause plan A has been able to turn over anyone it has come up against previously but I can't help but feel that like how SAF leant that he needed to be able to do something different, Barca need to be able to do this too because for the second year on the bounce they have come up against a physical and committed defensive English team and failed to break them down.

I agree, in the first half, Barca looked really dangerous with Messi, Henry, Eto'o and particularly Iniesta playing some lovely one touch passes. I was extremely impressed by Iniesta, his touch made Lampard's look so wooden (it was particularly bad last night). However, they seemed to run out of ideas and Chelsea looked more comfortable for a lot of the second half. Later on the game started to get stretched and there were chances for both teams.

Originally Posted by jonneymendoza

no. manu and arsenal never play with 10 man behind the ball. they always attack just like barca. chelsea put 10 man behind the ball and stopped barca from socring. that wont work in the return leg as i doubt chelsea will play soo negetive on their own turff

I doubt they will play like that at home. Having said that, it was clear with that 5 man midfield what Chelsea went there for and they got it. Fair play as far as I'm concerned. (and I am a neutral football follower)

[mabo]

Originally Posted by Kawsar17

I can't stand david pleat, some of his comments and descriptions of players are just rubbish, it's like the commentary from pro evo!

Glad it's not just me then. I usually pick which CL match to watch based on which he's not commentating on.

[sdavidsonuk]

Originally Posted by kopchoir

Firstly dont listen to david pleat he is the biggest joke of a commentator going i watched the game and thought barca were the only tem who wanted to lay football and after chelseas pathetic display i hope they go out

ouch, sour grapes methinks

[kopchoir]

Originally Posted by ed_mcl

That's the most sensible thing I've ever seen you post!

As for the cheating; it was funny how Ballack was on the floor in apparent agony until Barcelona attacked with Hleb and he was soon up on his feet defending the near post.

ta

Originally Posted by jayden28

I thought chelsea done ok,what you expecting them to play 3 up front and get hammered 5-0!,im sure the 2 other big english clubs(manu,arsenal) would have done the same.

Ha reds go catalan blues go matalan remember that
It will ocme back to haunt them you have one fo the biggest stages in world football against the best footballing team in the world and you play like az alkmar trying to get a point why not press for an away goal first then play long ball to their goalkeeper

Originally Posted by sdavidsonuk

ouch, sour grapes methinks

Nah not really won old big ears enough times have bigger fish to fry and barca would have rather have played chelsea and not us they will come unstuck barca capable of scoring anywhere anfiled old trafford the bridge is a thunderous atmospheric event

[RMCF]

I think the Barca v Chelsea game highlighted why so many neutral fans can become disillusioned with the game.

Barca always play attacking football, and always try to score. Its the way they have always played football and they have yet to succumb to the boring tactics that so many other teams have. They really wanted to play the other night, but we had one of the top teams from the 'best league in the world' afraid to come out and play them a football match. Instead tactics won the day, and the viewing public lost out.

Now I appreciate that the managers and the players involved don't care one jot about entertaining the people at home, and that Chelsea fans will be delighted, but I just think its a shame that tactics have become so important in the modern game.

If there is any justice I think many neutrals would love to see Barca go through. But the amount of jingoism I heard on ITV and FiveLive the other night was shocking, so perhaps ALL of the English population are meant to cheer on Chelsea.

We had 1 goal in 2 games of supposedly the Top 4 teams in Europe - doesn't say much about the quality if you ask me.

And a question to end on, when the likes of Chelsea complain about teams such as Fulham, Bolton etc coming to SB and 'parking the bus in front of goal', why is this different from them doing it at the Nou Camp?

[Naaktgeboren]

Given the short life of managers, I don't think they give a stuff about entertaining the paying public or how pretty it looks for the neutral fans.

I don't quiet follow your argument that its a shame that tactics are so important....... what would be better, Sunday league style, all the players just turn up on the day and listen to a 5 minute wonder speech by the manager?

Barcelona are an all out attacking team and they have some of the most creative players in the world, if you add that to their home advantage/support, why the hell would any team go to the Nou Camp with an attacking philosophy? I certainly expected that stance against Barca, contain and frustrate them, it was never going to be the prettiest of matches. The tactics in this case worked, they go back to Stamford Bridge with a clean slate with the home support and now Barcelona have to come up with something. There is no way Chelsea will play so neutral at home.

[Eddy.]

Originally Posted by jayden28

I thought chelsea done ok,what you expecting them to play 3 up front and get hammered 5-0!,im sure the 2 other big english clubs(manu,arsenal) would have done the same.

A few years ago, Arsenal gave Barca far more of a game with 10 men than Chelsea did with 11 men.

Chelsea were beyond abysmal. It was like watching Bolton, with 11 men behind the ball at all times, along with the blatant cheating.

[JohnG]

Are Chelsea still trying to claim that they're a big side, even after returning 1,600 tickets for their match at Barcelona ? I can't believe that they didn't sell out for a semi final
As for players rolling around, you can always tell when a player is really hurt these days as they lay there in agony but they are still and not rolling about when they are properly injured!