Chelsea vs Barcelona

[tevezaholic]

k,so we gotta face barca in semi finals and i think we will win,my reason being(alot of u will oppose this)...barca have good attack,but no good defense and when they attack the wingbacks push far up,if chelsea just defend then work a counter attack,we can go onto the empty wings n since from what i saw vs bayern munich barcelona are bad in the air,cross the ball and it should bring a goal and to add to it the CBs will have to spread wid to the wing to try stop the cross if the wingbacks dont get back(they prolly will though),leaving one defender in box,thats what i think the game will be like,please oppose this and say what u think the game will be like and knock some sense into me and make me see different,but right now im see all chelsea(my un-bias opinion)

[NewBornProdigy]

Yeah me thinks Drogba will scored about 45 goals it for Chealsa

But wait and you'll see, if Chealsa score 4 so will Barca, its like battle of the offences, no Cahsley to ty contain Messi on the left will be significant and no areial defence for Barca will be important aswell

[tevezaholic]

yes,u are seeing the game exactly how im seeing it,i told every1 that barca's attack is real good but they have no defense especially in the air..and ur right messi will be a BIG threat wid out ashley(when is bosingwa back from injury?)

and oh yea,today ppl are telling me bout their match vs munich,as far as im concerned chelsea will play a faster game than munich,and chelsea will probably match barcas speed better

[shahensha]

Nah out of the wingbacks, only Alves bombs up the field to attack. Abidal likes to stay back and only moves up to aid in spreading or recovering possession.

Then again Dani Alves is literally the energizer bunny so dont expect the left wing to be free open space to attack.........cause he will hustle back to strip the ball off you...........his speed and never dieing stamina makes him all the more dangerous.

When Barcelona attacks, it leaves 4 players behind for defending and those 4 are Abidal, Puyol and Pique/Marquez with Toure in front of them providing cover.

I imagined the players had this conversation at the beginning of the season

Defenders: "Yeah go ahead. We are Barca. We are all attack. We allow all 6 of you (forwards and midfielders) to attack. We are fine with just 4 staying back to defend."

Ofcourse the Attackers replied: "Why thank you! How about this? Give us that speedy brazillian of yours and we will give you this tough looking african dude.............also since you guys are giving us so many attackers we will help you out by collectively applying tons of pressure when the ball is lost so that you dont have to do all the work.........ofcourse there is a catch, you gotta build up the attack from your end with a calm approach, dont just hoof it forward hoping for a lucky bounce....

Defenders: No worries dude, its a deal then.

Barcelona's primary objective is to control possession. If it is lost, the attackers who are supposed to control possession apply quick pressure to win it back before the opponents proceed further down the field. Expect Henry, Messi and especially Eto'o to pressure defenders and goalie to panic and hoof the ball forward

If the opponents can withstand the collective pressure from the attackers, then they have to face Yaya ( heavily underrated holding midfielder) and then the defenders.

Puyol is good when dealing with aerial threats and Pique after getting some experience in the English league with Manchester is also quite decent when it comes to dealing with crosses.

Lets not forget, there is the Yaya, who ensures midfield control and dominance

[ronaldoR7]

The last time barca played chelsea in the CL chelsea won . But Barcas team from then and now have changed alot . This will be a preety close game but with Guss Hiddink's magic i think chelsea will be going to the finals not Barca imo

[NewBornProdigy]

Nah out of the wingbacks, only Alves bombs up the field to attack. Abidal likes to stay back and only moves up to aid in spreading or recovering possession.

Then again Dani Alves is literally the energizer bunny so dont expect the left wing to be free open space to attack.........cause he will hustle back to strip the ball off you...........his speed and never dieing stamina makes him all the more dangerous.

When Barcelona attacks, it leaves 4 players behind for defending and those 4 are Abidal, Puyol and Pique/Marquez with Toure in front of them providing cover.

I imagined the players had this conversation at the beginning of the season

Defenders: "Yeah go ahead. We are Barca. We are all attack. We allow all 6 of you (forwards and midfielders) to attack. We are fine with just 4 staying back to defend."

Ofcourse the Attackers replied: "Why thank you! How about this? Give us that speedy brazillian of yours and we will give you this tough looking african dude.............also since you guys are giving us so many attackers we will help you out by collectively applying tons of pressure when the ball is lost so that you dont have to do all the work.........ofcourse there is a catch, you gotta build up the attack from your end with a calm approach, dont just hoof it forward hoping for a lucky bounce....

Defenders: No worries dude, its a deal then.

Barcelona's primary objective is to control possession. If it is lost, the attackers who are supposed to control possession apply quick pressure to win it back before the opponents proceed further down the field. Expect Henry, Messi and especially Eto'o to pressure defenders and goalie to panic and hoof the ball forward

If the opponents can withstand the collective pressure from the attackers, then they have to face Yaya ( heavily underrated holding midfielder) and then the defenders.

Puyol is good when dealing with aerial threats and Pique after getting some experience in the English league with Manchester is also quite decent when it comes to dealing with crosses.

Lets not forget, there is the Yaya, who ensures midfield control and dominance

Yes man, thats all good until another team comes along and starts disrupting your game plan... like do you honestly think chelsa are gonna sit with 4 in defence waiting for to counter attack, then when you have 4 exposed they won't counter attack?

And Barca don't seem to be a great defending team, they win the game via offence, but Chelsa do defend well (excluding the last two weeks ) and their attackers can punish you if your complacent enough to leave to few players back

It will be a great game to watch regardless

[Hugh]

Chelsea are going to win, we all know it.

[mint]

Chelsea are going to win, we all know it.

You never know, anything can happen in football, anyway i have a feeling barca will just nick it.

[Hugh]

I don't even need to know how barca have been playing to know that they're going to be ineffectual against Chelsea.

[shahensha]

I don't even need to know how barca have been playing to know that they're going to be ineffectual against Chelsea.

its true, i didnt even need to know how well liverpool has been finally doing in the league to know rafa was going to get trumped by Hiddink anyway.

So who knows? That hiddink fellow scares me more than the whole chelsea team and their noisy fans combined

Nah out of the wingbacks, only Alves bombs up the field to attack. Abidal likes to stay back and only moves up to aid in spreading or recovering possession.

Then again Dani Alves is literally the energizer bunny so dont expect the left wing to be free open space to attack.........cause he will hustle back to strip the ball off you...........his speed and never dieing stamina makes him all the more dangerous.

When Barcelona attacks, it leaves 4 players behind for defending and those 4 are Abidal, Puyol and Pique/Marquez with Toure in front of them providing cover.

I imagined the players had this conversation at the beginning of the season

Defenders: "Yeah go ahead. We are Barca. We are all attack. We allow all 6 of you (forwards and midfielders) to attack. We are fine with just 4 staying back to defend."

Ofcourse the Attackers replied: "Why thank you! How about this? Give us that speedy brazillian of yours and we will give you this tough looking african dude.............also since you guys are giving us so many attackers we will help you out by collectively applying tons of pressure when the ball is lost so that you dont have to do all the work.........ofcourse there is a catch, you gotta build up the attack from your end with a calm approach, dont just hoof it forward hoping for a lucky bounce....

Defenders: No worries dude, its a deal then.

Barcelona's primary objective is to control possession. If it is lost, the attackers who are supposed to control possession apply quick pressure to win it back before the opponents proceed further down the field. Expect Henry, Messi and especially Eto'o to pressure defenders and goalie to panic and hoof the ball forward

If the opponents can withstand the collective pressure from the attackers, then they have to face Yaya ( heavily underrated holding midfielder) and then the defenders.

Puyol is good when dealing with aerial threats and Pique after getting some experience in the English league with Manchester is also quite decent when it comes to dealing with crosses.

Lets not forget, there is the Yaya, who ensures midfield control and dominance

Yes man, thats all good until another team comes along and starts disrupting your game plan... like do you honestly think chelsa are gonna sit with 4 in defence waiting for to counter attack, then when you have 4 exposed they won't counter attack?

And Barca don't seem to be a great defending team, they win the game via offence, but Chelsa do defend well (excluding the last two weeks ) and their attackers can punish you if your complacent enough to leave to few players back

It will be a great game to watch regardless

Nah I was just explaining to tevezaholic how the team defends.

Considering our defence, it is essential that we hog possession and control the midfield. That is our game-plan.

If we lose the ball, there is such greed for it that about three players will pressure the opponent for the ball.......not allowing any opponent to play with it. One cuts of the opponents' movement and the other two cut off the passing angles. The opponent will have no choice but to lose it or play a safe pass back.

If Chelsea do not allow us to play with the ball like we always do, let alone enter their half..........then our strategy will be checkmated and we wont know what to do.

There is no way I want anyone to think I am saying the game is in the bag.......even myself.............a tie, a loss (damn you espanyol), another loss, a tie..........yeah thats what happened to my beloved last february when for once I gloated "its game over man, Barcelona is unstopable!!" the night before....trust me, the one time I gloat...that happens. I am positive its God's way of keeping me humble.

Regardless, it should be an exciting fixture. Hiddink is a mastermind considering how he took minnows like Russia, Korea and Austrailia far in the world stage. He is working with world class players right now so its even easier for him and trickier for us.

What I know for sure that Barcelona will hog the ball as much as possible and all players will apply intense pressure to prevent the opponents from getting a proper sniff of the ball. Basically our gameplan is to not let you play with the ball at all.

If Chelsea attack and play football, then the score-line will be high

If Chelsea defends then the score-line will be low

Apart from that the tie is poised to go either way, but you all know where my support lies.

[bsc]

To be honest, no ashley cole might be a boost for chelski. He's been having a poor seasonand I don't see any way he could stand up to Messi. I'm rooting for Barca, but if the chelski midfield (essien and Lamps) can hold the ball and not give it away, they could dominate. I still think Barca will do them over though. And I don't know what kind of nonsense is going on wiht the chelsea 4-3-3, but Malouda is hopeless. theres no way he deserves to be on that team, and Gus is afraid to do a 4-4-2. I'd even try Kalou and Drogba as the front 2.

[NewBornProdigy]

its true, i didnt even need to know how well liverpool has been finally doing in the league to know rafa was going to get trumped by Hiddink anyway.

So who knows? That hiddink fellow scares me more than the whole chelsea team and their noisy fans combined

That changed quick

But Chealsa are capable of depriving you of possesion, its just down to are they capable of depriving you of scoring an excessive amount of goals and will their front to score when the oppourtunity comes

[shahensha]

lol yeah i dont think it was right to categorize a group of people because of one fellow.......especially when he is not really part of the group to begin with

Chances are Barcelona may not be able to score a single goal similar to the fixture between them and Manchester United.

However, I will guarantee you possession numbers will be in Barcelona's favour like last year. Thats how the team rolls. The defenders need to know how to control the ball and pass it around well. How can the attack be built from the back as tradition demands when the back four is messy with its touches?


But yeah if Chelsea can deprive us of possession....... then they will deprive us of goal scoring chances too. As long as we have control of possession we will keep trying to score a goal.

I concede that Chelsea has a strong defence but they ar4e not flawless. And considering the front three have been scoring goals left and right and iniesta and xavi have been setting them up alot.........atleast one of out maybe 20 chances is bound to go in, right?

However, block off Xavi AND Iniesta, Barcelona wont have a decent half chance at goal at all.

The team under Pep plays as a cohesive unit. Compress towards the ball when defending and expand away from it when attacking. Isolate them by breaking off the passing lanes they use to stay connected and then you have us beat for sure.

I am confident Barcelona will win the tie, but I am not that confident enough to claim it will be a one-sided affairs with plenty of goals.

Its Hiddink. That fellow is too tricky.











Yo tevezaholic, why no poll?

[barcahooligan]

everyone i have heard talk about Barcelona have said that the key to beating them is constant pressure and controlling Messi, but Shahensha is right, if they cut off Xavi and Iniesta as a pair Barca lose that foundation of keep away football.........those two are arguably one of the best duos in football(offensively), along with an Alves/Messi or a Torres/Gerrard

[camposd10]

Now, just throwing this one out there, but there's a lot of talk about Barca having a poor defense.

If I remember correctly, which I do, they've allowed the least amount of goals over the course of their domestic campaign.

And as far as the Champions League, Barcelona has allowed in 12 goals over the course of 13 games(third qualifying round) while Chelsea has allowed in 12 in 10 games. Proportionally, Barcelona are better defensively. And you also have to take into account that 3 of the goals against Barcelona came in a meaningless match, against Shakhtar, where they definitely fielded a weaker side then the traditional starting line up. On the other hand, Chelsea fielded , against CFR Cluj, probably their weakest rivals, their regular first team. And only managed a 2-1 win and 0-0 draw against that team.

I think, overall, Barcelona has Chelsea in terms of quality and their ability to play as a team. While Chelsea certainly has a chance, no doubt, to win the game, with difference makers like Lampard and Drogba, Barcelona's quality is what I think will take them the extra mile in the long run.