Afterthoughts - Barcelona 1st Leg
So last night the blue boys held Barcelona to a 0-0 draw and became the first side this season to stop them scoring at home which is no mean...
https://www.chelseadaft.org/2009/04/afterthoughts-barcelona-1st-leg.html
So last night the blue boys held Barcelona to a 0-0 draw and became the first side this season to stop them scoring at home which is no mean feat considering Eto'o, Henry and Messi have scored 90 goals between them this season.
But was it a good result for us with the second leg in mind? Now we know what we need to do at the Bridge. We need to score and keep a clean sheet. If they score then we need to score two so its important that we score first next Wednesday night.
I thought at times we were too defensive, we sat too deep and allowed Barcelona to gain possession and create. The one thing i will say is that we mainly restricted them to long range shots which Cech was comfortable with and when he was called up he was outstanding.
Yes they missed a sitter towards the end when Bojan headed over the bar but apart from that and the block from Eto'o, we were comfortable in the second half.
Drogba in my mind should of scored in the first half when he got onto the fluffed back pass from Marquez and should of placed the ball rather than go for power. But i still believe we will score at the Bridge and a couple at that.
I thought Bosingwa did really well with Malouda in marshaling Messi as Messi was quiet. JT and Alex did well against Eto'o and Ivanovic after a shaky start did well against Henry. I was however, slightly gutted about our midfield and how deep they played. Now don't get me wrong here, Defensively they were fantastic but we should of pushed on more like we did at Anfield.
I thought because of how deep we played we left Drogba isolated for the majority of the game and we were left with Cech playing long balls upto him from goalkicks hoping he will able to win the ball and bring the midfield into play but this never happened. So as a result our possession was wasted and more often than not they just got hold of the ball and attacked us again.
By the end of the game i had enough of Dani Alves and all his play acting and trying to get people in trouble. I think if he tries it at the Bridge there will be a different attitude towards him from the referee. The good thing is that Marquez is injured and Puyol is suspended for the 2nd leg and this is key and where we will be able to attack their weakness at the back.
All in all i am happy with the 0-0 last night. But again would of liked us to of played higher up the pitch and supported Drogba a bit more. Let's hope it happens in the second leg.
Come on the Chels!
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But was it a good result for us with the second leg in mind? Now we know what we need to do at the Bridge. We need to score and keep a clean sheet. If they score then we need to score two so its important that we score first next Wednesday night.
I thought at times we were too defensive, we sat too deep and allowed Barcelona to gain possession and create. The one thing i will say is that we mainly restricted them to long range shots which Cech was comfortable with and when he was called up he was outstanding.
Yes they missed a sitter towards the end when Bojan headed over the bar but apart from that and the block from Eto'o, we were comfortable in the second half.
Drogba in my mind should of scored in the first half when he got onto the fluffed back pass from Marquez and should of placed the ball rather than go for power. But i still believe we will score at the Bridge and a couple at that.
I thought Bosingwa did really well with Malouda in marshaling Messi as Messi was quiet. JT and Alex did well against Eto'o and Ivanovic after a shaky start did well against Henry. I was however, slightly gutted about our midfield and how deep they played. Now don't get me wrong here, Defensively they were fantastic but we should of pushed on more like we did at Anfield.
I thought because of how deep we played we left Drogba isolated for the majority of the game and we were left with Cech playing long balls upto him from goalkicks hoping he will able to win the ball and bring the midfield into play but this never happened. So as a result our possession was wasted and more often than not they just got hold of the ball and attacked us again.
By the end of the game i had enough of Dani Alves and all his play acting and trying to get people in trouble. I think if he tries it at the Bridge there will be a different attitude towards him from the referee. The good thing is that Marquez is injured and Puyol is suspended for the 2nd leg and this is key and where we will be able to attack their weakness at the back.
All in all i am happy with the 0-0 last night. But again would of liked us to of played higher up the pitch and supported Drogba a bit more. Let's hope it happens in the second leg.
Come on the Chels!
What do you think about my post? Do you agree or not? Or do you have your own opinion on this? Why not post a comment now and get involved on the site.
Know any Chelsea fans that would interested in this post? Click the link below and mail it to them or introduce them to my site! Let's spread the word amongst all Chelsea Fans to come and check this site asap!
fully agree on Alves. this guy was more interested to get our players sent off rather than play. really a blessing we did not get him but opted for Bosingwa.
ReplyDeletewe were too conservative in the 1st leg. set really deep and we did not get into our usual passing of the ball. more often we lost it and gifted possession of the ball back to Barca. when we did get hold of the ball, the players had no where to run and no one to pass to, instead running into a few of Barca players and losing possession.
lets hope we show the attacking side of Chelsea in the return leg. We HAVE to anyway =)