Chelsea....oh, Chelsea!

[Shaggy]

I remember seeing Iniesta when he first broke into the Barca team and thinking wow this boy has talent. Love watching him play.

And me. To be fair it wasn't hard to make a call on him. He oozes class.

[dww]

Well I'd say the three players that possibly get the most hype are Messi, Xavi and Iniesta. I don't see how anyone can argue that they aren't brilliant players.
As I said, as an attacking RB there aren't any better than Alves out there IMO - yeah he's not great defensively but then he plays for Barca so they don't give a ****

Those three + Eto'o and Henry produced about 3 shots on target over two matches against Chelsea. They are very good players but they are painted as near gods all too often and they were broadly speaking pathetically ineffectual, just as they were against United last season.

Against well organised physical defenses they have shown an abject lack of willingness to get involved in a battle and a failure of imagination, width, pace and speed of thought. If players like Benayoun or Kuyt put in such half arsed performances in a big game they would be slaughtered. They have all the talent in the world but none of them at the minute have done anything to deserve the sort of place in footballing culture afforded to the likes of Zidane in recent times.

[Reece]

And me. To be fair it wasn't hard to make a call on him. He oozes class.

I didn't believe he was Spanish though - he was/is as pastey as me

[PTP]

Those three + Eto'o and Henry produced about 3 shots on target over two matches against Chelsea. They are very good players but they are painted as near gods all too often and they were broadly speaking pathetically ineffectual, just as they were against United last season.

Against well organised physical defenses they have shown an abject lack of willingness to get involved in a battle and a failure of imagination, width, pace and speed of thought. If players like Benayoun or Kuyt put in such half arsed performances in a big game they would be slaughtered. They have all the talent in the world but none of them at the minute have done anything to deserve the sort of place in footballing culture afforded to the likes of Zidane in recent times.

good post - though I would take henry out of it maybe, he is on the tail end of his career, and imo whilst at Arsenal was easily in the top three in the world when he was on form. And I do like messi - the rest of them are all wank tho

[Reece]

Chelsea's Jose Bosingwa has launched an attack on referee Tom Henning Ovrebo, branding the Norwegian a 'thief'.

The Blues will not have the chance to gain revenge on Manchester United in this season's Champions League final after losing out to Barcelona on away goals.

Andres Iniesta's stoppage time goal levelled Michael Essien's first-half goal and sent the Catalan side into the final to face United.

But Chelsea were left fuming with Ovrebo's performance as they feel the referee failed to give them at least three clear-cut penalties.

After the game, striker Didier Drogba could not control his emotions and called Ovrebo a "disgrace", and Bosingwa has now echoed the Ivorian's frustration.

"This referee was bought. I do not know if he is a referee or a thief. There are no words to describe the person that was on the pitch here," he told RTP after the game.

"The way he refereed the match was not the most correct one. He should never referee again.

"We are all sad, but we have to raise our heads high again. There is nothing to say about Barcelona's goal, but there were penalties that were not awarded."

[PTP]

"the referee was bought!" big words, thats what i felt hiddink was trying to say but stopped himself when interviewed after the game - the chelsea players clearly feel that the ref cheated or was bribed! - Interestingly i don't think it was by barca either, but more a uefa conspiracy

[wiw]

They're all fantastic every week in La Liga though. I think their problem is that they have a fixed style and way of playing and are reluctant to deviate from it. Any team in the world would struggle to break down Chelsea with every man back? Against Utd on a bigger pitch they will give another masterclass in passing and movement and goals I'm certain of it

[rudedog]

I didn't believe he was Spanish though - he was/is as pastey as me

I was thinking with his pale, waxy complexion he looked terminaly ill.

[Shaggy]

good post - though I would take henry out of it maybe, he is on the tail end of his career, and imo whilst at Arsenal was easily in the top three in the world when he was on form. And I do like messi - the rest of them are all wank tho

Xavi is the best passer of a football in the world.

[fah-q]

Souness made a good point, no team wins the ball back so quickly like Barca. They close down very quickly.

[dww]

They're all fantastic every week in La Liga though. I think their problem is that they have a fixed style and way of playing and are reluctant to deviate from it. Any team in the world would struggle to break down Chelsea with every man back? Against Utd on a bigger pitch they will give another masterclass in passing and movement and goals I'm certain of it

The second best team in la liga are Real and they looked **** against us so arguably they are flat track bullies. I'm sure AZ look amazing every week in Holland too.

Their possession passing was a joy to watch but in the final third they were terrible. On the evidence of last night a bigger pitch will do them no favours as they used wide areas incredibly poorly. They barely even looked out there and when they did they took too much time to make the ball as it was always a second option for them. They put no pressure whatsoever on either Chelsea football. The age old criticisms of Arsene Wenger teams seem to apply doubly to the current Barcelona team they have all the silky touches and skill but try to do too much.

[PTP]

They're all fantastic every week in La Liga though. I think their problem is that they have a fixed style and way of playing and are reluctant to deviate from it. Any team in the world would struggle to break down Chelsea with every man back? Against Utd on a bigger pitch they will give another masterclass in passing and movement and goals I'm certain of it

- i shall stop being silly now - Yeah I agree, they are similar to arsenal in my eyes, and get away with it in la liga as they have a bit more class and experience than arsenal, and rarely you see a team defend like chelsea did last night! - they pass and move like the liverpool groove, but it was nearly there downfall last night. I noticied that from corners and set pieces they just were not a threat, and most of the time took a short corner and then tried to walk the ball into the box - whilst watching I thought, ****ing hell if i was a chelsea player i'd just keep kicking it out for a corner - I also couldn't help feeling that if they had someone like peter crouch on the bench, and were prepared to chance there style slightly when things aren't working they would benefit - i'm not suggesting that they need to hoof the ball forward to a big man all the time, but sometimes, certainly in games like that you need to be able to mix it up a bit.

As DWW said above, for me last night confirmed one thing, that whilst barca a brilliant 'footballing' side - the english teams are just so much stronger - i feel you have the 'big four' in england, and then barca, and then you can forget about the rest right now! - which worries me as I do feel there is still a bit of a hatred towards the english from europe/uefa - and the faceless suits won't want to see the english clubs dominating every year and will start pulling strings to somehow even the playing field - maybe last nights referee points to this

[dww]

good post - though I would take henry out of it maybe, he is on the tail end of his career, and imo whilst at Arsenal was easily in the top three in the world when he was on form. And I do like messi - the rest of them are all wank tho

Fair point about Henry. I think you are over harsh on their players but they have a huge problem with physical play and lack the bravery to use their skill. When Messi ran at Chelsea they had all sorts of problems (same with Iniesta) but they did it so rarely.

I think their problem is that they have a fixed style and way of playing and are reluctant to deviate from it.

This is true but I don't see how this isn't a huge failing in the team.

[PTP]

Xavi is the best passer of a football in the world.

Well to quote my friend Reece! - you obviously don't watch Liverpool every week!

[Reece]

I was thinking with his pale, waxy complexion he looked terminaly ill.

Imagine how I look with my shaved head then