Foreign Matches 2011/2012

Chelsea have half their first team out for the final

Chelsea is officialy the most luckiest team on the planet!! officially

who have they lost?

anybody feeling sorry for cesc>????

lol i am not!!! pmsl!!!!!!

Cesc played absolute garbage today along with Messi.

Ivanovic, Terry, Mereiles and Ramires all out

cooorrr thats a huge list to be missing....

i think cesc has joind what he was thinking would be a revelation...

i also think real madrid have other ideas...

that move of his could become very unlucky...

Amazing result and fully deserved. A man down, conceded a penalty, and they still scored two in the Nou Camp.

Michael Foster wrote:who have they lost?

anybody feeling sorry for cesc>????

lol i am not!!! pmsl!!!!!!

Haha, Fabregas, come to Barca they said, you'll win trophies they said...
So much for that. Not sure if they're still in their domestic cup but if not then Barca will be going trophiless this season...

if the rest of europe followed this idea to beat barca...they will fall..

in a way they are like arsenal few ides to pluck from when the going gets tough...

Jason Morrison wrote:

Michael Foster wrote:who have they lost?

anybody feeling sorry for cesc>????

lol i am not!!! pmsl!!!!!!

Haha, Fabregas, come to Barca they said, you'll win trophies they said...
So much for that. Not sure if they're still in their domestic cup but if not then Barca will be going trophiless this season...

haha....

honestly thats what sprang to mind when i started laughing!!!!

a great big fall awaits the golden sphinter of fifa.....hahahahaha!!!

i missed the barca pen...did messi try one of those chips into goal?

In the words of Fergie... Football. Bloody hell!

Barca play Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final. Every chance of losing it if they play like they did today

Michael Foster wrote:i missed the barca pen...did messi try one of those chips into goal?

No he blasted it against the bar.

Am I the only one pissed off that Chelsea won? I can't stand them. Today we have seen a victory for negative tactics because let's face it with our without ten men they played exactly the same for 180 minutes. 11/10 men behind the ball and on the edge of their own penalty box for 170 of those minutes and probably two of the worst football matches I've seen in terms of free flowing quality football. I understand that sometimes teams have to play that way to get results but I don't think I've ever seen a game of this magnitude ever played like that and I never want to again.

How many times over the years have we complained about teams playing against us the way Chelsea did both at Stamford bridge and tonight at the nou camp? I really hope bayern or Madrid absolutely rip chelsea apart in the final.

Richard Wallace wrote:

Michael Foster wrote:i missed the barca pen...did messi try one of those chips into goal?

No he blasted it against the bar.

Am I the only one pissed off that Chelsea won? I can't stand them. Today we have seen a victory for negative tactics because let's face it with our without ten men they played exactly the same for 180 minutes. 11/10 men behind the ball and on the edge of their own penalty box for 170 of those minutes and probably two of the worst football matches I've seen in terms of free flowing quality football. I understand that sometimes teams have to play that way to get results but I don't think I've ever seen a game of this magnitude ever played like that and I never want to again.

How many times over the years have we complained about teams playing against us the way Chelsea did both at Stamford bridge and tonight at the nou camp? I really hope bayern or Madrid absolutely rip chelsea apart in the final.

People can complain all they want, but it's perfectly legitimate, so long as they don't cheat by kicking players off the pitch or something the way Stoke usually do. To be fair, I really don't think opponents have much of a choice anyway against Barcelona, it's not a matter of choosing to play negative football, it's a matter of Barcelona being so good that the opposition just can't get the ball off them and are forced to defend. Even more so if they're down to ten men.

I do want Chelsea to lose in the final, but that's more to ensure qualification for us rather than any dislike towards them. I don't mind them too much. I really dislike Barcelona though, it's about time they were brought down to earth.

Chelsea played negatively but Barca weren't very creative either. The last few minutes were like the same highlight being repeated over and over again except of course for the goal scored ironically at the other end.
I'd also like to see Chelsea get ripped off in the final but don't see it coming if they play like they did against Barca over the course of the two legs.

Alex Hadjicharalampous wrote:

People can complain all they want, but it's perfectly legitimate, so long as they don't cheat by kicking players off the pitch or something the way Stoke usually do. To be fair, I really don't think opponents have much of a choice anyway against Barcelona, it's not a matter of choosing to play negative football, it's a matter of Barcelona being so good that the opposition just can't get the ball off them and are forced to defend. Even more so if they're down to ten men.

I do want Chelsea to lose in the final, but that's more to ensure qualification for us rather than any dislike towards them. I don't mind them too much. I really dislike Barcelona though, it's about time they were brought down to earth.

Chelsea obviously got their gameplan spot on, there's no doubt about that but they were very lucky to get through. I think they only had three maybe four shots on target in the two legs. Barca hit the post as many times as chelsea hit the target.

I'm not entirely sure I agree that barca were 'so good that Chelsea were forced to defend'. It was a case of 'we'll park the bus and get our share of luck on the counter' from a Chelsea perspective.

Anyway here's to a Chelsea mauling in the final.

Bayern/Real both are much clinical infront of goal than Barca RIGHT NOW. Chelsea will get thrashed in the final(given they don't get every bit of luck going their way again)

Richard Wallace wrote:

Michael Foster wrote:i missed the barca pen...did messi try one of those chips into goal?

No he blasted it against the bar.

Am I the only one pissed off that Chelsea won? I can't stand them. Today we have seen a victory for negative tactics because let's face it with our without ten men they played exactly the same for 180 minutes. 11/10 men behind the ball and on the edge of their own penalty box for 170 of those minutes and probably two of the worst football matches I've seen in terms of free flowing quality football. I understand that sometimes teams have to play that way to get results but I don't think I've ever seen a game of this magnitude ever played like that and I never want to again.

How many times over the years have we complained about teams playing against us the way Chelsea did both at Stamford bridge and tonight at the nou camp? I really hope bayern or Madrid absolutely rip chelsea apart in the final.

Don't pretend like we didn't play that way for 70 odd minutes at Emirates last season when we beat them. Inter beat them this way as well. Yeah it sucks when teams do it against us but the onus is on Barca/Arsenal to find a different game plan when teams park it.

DaveToffy wrote:

Richard Wallace wrote:

Michael Foster wrote:i missed the barca pen...did messi try one of those chips into goal?

No he blasted it against the bar.

Am I the only one pissed off that Chelsea won? I can't stand them. Today we have seen a victory for negative tactics because let's face it with our without ten men they played exactly the same for 180 minutes. 11/10 men behind the ball and on the edge of their own penalty box for 170 of those minutes and probably two of the worst football matches I've seen in terms of free flowing quality football. I understand that sometimes teams have to play that way to get results but I don't think I've ever seen a game of this magnitude ever played like that and I never want to again.

How many times over the years have we complained about teams playing against us the way Chelsea did both at Stamford bridge and tonight at the nou camp? I really hope bayern or Madrid absolutely rip chelsea apart in the final.

Don't pretend like we didn't play that way for 70 odd minutes at Emirates last season when we beat them. Inter beat them this way as well. Yeah it sucks when teams do it against us but the onus is on Barca/Arsenal to find a different game plan when teams park it.

I don't think we went out in that game v Barca looking to park the bus and defend. It's just that they put us on the back foot early on, and we struggled to keep possession.

That said, I don't have an issue with Chelsea winning. I would prefer both teams out there to play football. But it's a great story of a lesser team fighting hard in tough circumstances to get the result. I think it is another element of what makes football the most popular game in the world.

Chelsea are not as good as Barcelona, that much is obvious, but I can't understand this about them being a huge underdog and how this is fairytale stuff.

They had a 50 fucking million pound substitute come off the bench to score. They have spent hundreds and hundreds of millions of pounds on their squad over the years and just last night they had over 100 million pounds of players on the bench. Hope they get destroyed in the final, scumbag club.

I read this somewhere and felt it was spot on:
"Great result by Chelsea. But best performance in the Champions League? No. That will be when a team beats Barcelona by playing football."

http://soundcloud.com/yourfilm_mn/gary-neville-torres-reaction

Thebest thing about the match last night was Neville's reaction to the Torres goal haha that's a noise only his missus should hear.

Mario Leontiou wrote:Chelsea are not as good as Barcelona, that much is obvious, but I can't understand this about them being a huge underdog and how this is fairytale stuff.

They had a 50 fucking million pound substitute come off the bench to score. They have spent hundreds and hundreds of millions of pounds on their squad over the years and just last night they had over 100 million pounds of players on the bench. Hope they get destroyed in the final, scumbag club.

This, I agree very much.

Subrat007 wrote:I read this somewhere and felt it was spot on:
"Great result by Chelsea. But best performance in the Champions League? No. That will be when a team beats Barcelona by playing football."

So were Chelsea playing hockey last night or something? The aim of the game is to put the ball in the back of the net more times than your opponent, it doesn't matter how you do it as long as it's within the rules of the game. Over 180 minutes of football Chelsea did it 3 times, Barcelona 2.

We really have to stop being so petty regarding this, some teams play in a different way to others, and if it brings them results then fair enough. The onus was on Barcelona to find a way to break Chelsea down, they couldn't, so tough. Why play them at their own game and lose?

Don't get me wrong, I don't want Chelsea to win anything, I just feel that the way they played the game was perfectly legitimate, and if some people think it's boring or whatever, then they can choose not to watch it. It was an outstanding performance to go away to one of the best teams in the world, play with ten men for so long and still score two goals, draw with them and knock them out.

By the way, not having a go at you Subrat, I'm just tired of this argument. The same thing happens at the Emirates so much, and if Arsenal can't break Bolton down or whatever other team parks the bus then it's our own fault, not theirs for doing the best they can to get something out of the game.

Jonathan Prendergast wrote:

DaveToffy wrote:

Richard Wallace wrote:

Michael Foster wrote:i missed the barca pen...did messi try one of those chips into goal?

No he blasted it against the bar.

Am I the only one pissed off that Chelsea won? I can't stand them. Today we have seen a victory for negative tactics because let's face it with our without ten men they played exactly the same for 180 minutes. 11/10 men behind the ball and on the edge of their own penalty box for 170 of those minutes and probably two of the worst football matches I've seen in terms of free flowing quality football. I understand that sometimes teams have to play that way to get results but I don't think I've ever seen a game of this magnitude ever played like that and I never want to again.

How many times over the years have we complained about teams playing against us the way Chelsea did both at Stamford bridge and tonight at the nou camp? I really hope bayern or Madrid absolutely rip chelsea apart in the final.

Don't pretend like we didn't play that way for 70 odd minutes at Emirates last season when we beat them. Inter beat them this way as well. Yeah it sucks when teams do it against us but the onus is on Barca/Arsenal to find a different game plan when teams park it.

I don't think we went out in that game v Barca looking to park the bus and defend. It's just that they put us on the back foot early on, and we struggled to keep possession.

That said, I don't have an issue with Chelsea winning. I would prefer both teams out there to play football. But it's a great story of a lesser team fighting hard in tough circumstances to get the result. I think it is another element of what makes football the most popular game in the world.

I respectfully disagree. I think our gameplan was pretty clear... stay disciplined & play compact, press the midfield, defend in numbers behind the ball. Nasri and Walcott started particularly deep for this purpose as we knew we couldn't match Barca's domination of possession early on (we had galantly tried that year before and were punished for it). Once they began tiring in the second half - Wenger knew they would and we are a better conditioned team - hit them quickly on the break (introduction of Arshavin for Song).

It works on the odd occasion against Barca and I have no problem with teams using this tactic to beat them.