CL Semi Final - Post Match Musings

[Joe Le Toff]

Should've gone 442, as i said a million times, Torres was stifled, sure he got one chance and scored, but if he'd had crouch alongside him, he'd have been a constant menace to them, as would crouch.


Tactics were wrong for me, mentality was wrong and we didnt have the luck to bail us out.

Agreed.

[Woobus]

Proud of the lads, Cech won it for Chelsea at the leg at Anfield with some world class saves. We were terrible in the first half but really showed out character in the second half. We were the better side over the two legs, wasnt for a silly OG and an offside goal we would be going to Moscow. Roll on next season cant wait.

[Shaggy]

Yep, I'm proud of 'em too. Really gutted and fed-up this morning - this is not a feeling we're used to - but we need these moments to appreciate the glorious moments.

Can't wait for next season.

[Vermilion]

Proud of the lads, Cech won it for Chelsea at the leg at Anfield with some world class saves. We were terrible in the first half but really showed out character in the second half. We were the better side over the two legs, wasnt for a silly OG and an offside goal we would be going to Moscow. Roll on next season cant wait.

You took the words right out of my mouth, it must have been whe.....oops no.

[MrMichael]

Cleaned up some of the bitching early in this thread, one or two people should be ashamed of themselves.

We have to stick together.

Kuyt is most effective when he can hassle and force mistakes. On a field like that with the rain, hes mitigated as he cant turn and run and turn and run. One surge and theres no turn on that field to keep hassling. But for Skittles injury, surely it would have been Crouch for Kuyt - ill get to Crouch later though. Kuyt remains an effective squad player based on the circumstances. However I think 10 million is far too much to pay for an effective squad player

I do think people criticising his performance last night should remember the previous 3 games in the competition where he was probably the best player on the pitch. I can never remember Crouch having a great game against Terry, and the Skrtel injury made a big difference. I think Rafa kept Kuyt on simply due to his fitness, which in the context of the game was probably the right decision. The substitutions last night did seem a bit confusing, but our hand was really forced early, and I don't think Rafa was then able to change the system enough with 2 subs to accommodate Crouch; the choice of Babel's pace was correct at the time.

Gutted, but we made a great fist of it and were bloody close. We've demonstrated once again that we are genuinely one of the very top European sides, and the fact that under Rafa, not winning the top club competition in the world is a slight disappointment to us, shows how far he's taken us in the last few years.

[Joe King]

The injury to Aurelio was key to the tie. If he wasn't injured, Riise wouldn't have been on the pitch and well, you know the rest.
Skrtel and Torres being forced off was a shame as well. I don't think Rafa would have taken Torres off for no reason especially when we had the opportunity of winning the game.

[Darkon]

The injury to Aurelio was key to the tie. If he wasn't injured, Riise wouldn't have been on the pitch and well, you know the rest.
Skrtel and Torres being forced off was a shame as well. I don't think Rafa would have taken Torres off for no reason especially when we had the opportunity of winning the game.

No the key to the tie is that chelsea had Essien back, he made the difference between an average chelsea side and a great chelsea side like last night...

Riise where a bit late on the goal, but don't forget that Pepe should never allow the ball to get in at the short corner from that angel - he made a mistake as well!

Don't forget that hyypia made a stupid penalty, that we could have been without etc...

This can't all be put down to riise... The team has not played well enough over two legs -simpel as!

[tsb]

As was said earlier, 4231 was the problem I feel last night. Against Derby and Fulham it'll work but not against the best. Torres badly needed support last night and Crouch would have been perfect as Terry and Carvalho would have been distracted away from their job on Torres.

[Reece]

As was said earlier, 4231 was the problem I feel last night. Against Derby and Fulham it'll work but not against the best.

Well it worked against Inter and Arsenal in previous rounds.

[badpiggy]

i've skipped ahead and bot really read too many posts. saw the odd cut at rafa or some players but i'm going to stay positive after this one for a couple of simple reasons

1. chelsea have a lot of better players than us
2. skrtel going off left rafa with a serious problem when it came to substitutes later in the game
3. it was a titanic if aesthetically unpleasing game - not one player shirked his responsiblity and the harsh glare of a champions league semi-final exposes any of your flaws. i say this in particular about kuyt - endless running but he just hasn't got that extra level in him.

[zimbo]

Hicks in the dressing room after the match... Hope it was just to say goodbye. He's becoming a right Jonah for the big games.

It'd be just awful if he was, say, eaten by a giant whale or something.

Just awful.

[Joe Le Toff]

Gutted, but we made a great fist of it and were bloody close. We've demonstrated once again that we are genuinely one of the very top European sides, and the fact that under Rafa, not winning the top club competition in the world is a slight disappointment to us, shows how far he's taken us in the last few years.

Very good point - to be honest i havent looked at it like that because im still as sick as f**k.

[bigfooty]

Well it worked against Inter and Arsenal in previous rounds.

It worked against Inter because their defenders were not nearly as athletic as Chelsea / Arsenal / Man Utd.

Torres did Materazzi for pace and that was that. We were outplayed in the away leg using the formation but pace again got us out of trouble on the break.

Against Arsenal away it was the same, we were hanging on at times and Torres had a very quiet game in the away leg.

And we went 4-4-2 against Arsenal in the home leg, granted it didn't work that well at times but that was more down to Gerrard abandoning the left.