polishgenius Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Will be a bit embarassing for Barca if 11 men can't beat Willian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 Good half, thought it was pretty evenly matched actually. Chelsea unlucky not to score Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l2 0 5 5 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Exciting first half. Willian getting 2 posts and Hazard maybe gets a better shot off if he's a little bit taller. Poor Rudiger almost lost his knees when Messi was dribbling past him in the first 10 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan La Cabra Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 That was a better first half than I expected. We have won the ball back really well in the middle of the park, and we have broken quickly when we’ve got it. So far, we have been quick to get back into formation when Barca look to hit us on the break, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 Kante is everywhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Willian deserved that and Chelsea deservedly in front. They have been the better side. Barca have just had loads of possession but created very little. Courtois has not had a save to make. The fact that Barca have resorted to going wide and lumping in crosses (or putting in a cross straight from a corner) despite not having any aerial threat of note shows how well Chelsea have defended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philokles Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Just as I thought Barca had done well this half at nullifying Chelsea’s attacks. To be fair nothing could have warned them Willian was a threat from range and should be closed down. Very good defensive performance from Chelsea. Struck the perfect balance between sitting deep and pressing to give Barca no space in the final third. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 He's handy but being the only one makes it pretty easy for Chelsea's three CBs. ETA. one defensive lapse is all it takes to fuck up all that good work. Messi breaks the hoodoo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 That's a rubbish goal to throw their lead away with. I'm not sure it shouldn't have been a penalty a couple of seconds earlier though. ETA: Well it was outside the box anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan La Cabra Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Terrible way to concede the goal through perhaps the only mistake Chelsea made at the back all night. Still, it shouldn’t take away from what was a smart performance. I didn’t think the false nine would work, but the link up play between Hazard and Willian and the pressing of Pedro caused Barca’s backline problems. It will be interesting to see if we stick with it the second leg. I’d imagine that we’d go with Morata or Giroud, though, as, in the second half, we looked like we lacked a focal point when Hazard began to drop deeper and deeper. Now, all we need to do is beat Barca in the Nou Camp, or draw with at least 2 goals scored. Easy is as counting one, two, three! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l2 0 5 5 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Frustrating goal to let up. First time Christensen has really goofed this season. Hurts more cause we had the lead for a bit. Maybe it's me but this was one of the best games I've seen Kante play in a while. Winning possession all over the place. Hazard and Willian were brilliant. Suarez complaining makes me want to run my head through a wall. Can't stand him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 Twitter tells me Mourinho is going with a midfield three vs Sevilla but Pogba won’t be starting. is he injured? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 35 minutes ago, Mark Antony said: Twitter tells me Mourinho is going with a midfield three vs Sevilla but Pogba won’t be starting. is he injured? That will probably be the official explanation but it's been very very obvious recently that they've had a falling out. #JoseOut #GetHimGone #FuckOffYouStupidWanker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 Mourinho's a dick but, in fairness, I don't really buy into this argument that Pogba can only be effective if deployed in one specific role in a team playing 4-3-3. He's supposed to be one of the best midfielders in world football, it's not asking a huge amount for him to be half decent playing in a 4-2-3-1. On top of that didn't United play him where everyone's talking about him wanting to play against Newcastle and he was awful. I don't know, if it wasn't for him being bought for huge money I think most people would agree he kind of deserves to be dropped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 For me it's not so much that he can't play in a midfield 2 because he can, and when you do that and ask him to play the Sergio Biscuits role he'll do that fine. It's just that playing that role is a complete waste of his talent. He's played in a midfield 2 in the games where we've not been tasked with sitting back though and he's fine then. Also, he's had the odd bad game this season, and he isn't consistent in big games at all yet, but for the majority of the time he's been absolutely brilliant and Mourinho throwing him under the bus for the Spurs game in which no-one played well and Mourinho's tactics were dreadful again is pathetic behaviour. And no, he played the same role in the Newcastle game. He didn't need to be sitting as deep though so he had a bit more freedom, but that was one of his bad games. I'm putting that down partly to confidence though, since that was after Mourinho singling him out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan La Cabra Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 41 minutes ago, ljkeane said: Mourinho's a dick but, in fairness, I don't really buy into this argument that Pogba can only be effective if deployed in one specific role in a team playing 4-3-3. He's supposed to be one of the best midfielders in world football, it's not asking a huge amount for him to be half decent playing in a 4-2-3-1. On top of that didn't United play him where everyone's talking about him wanting to play against Newcastle and he was awful. I don't know, if it wasn't for him being bought for huge money I think most people would agree he kind of deserves to be dropped. Didn’t Pogba play alongside Kante in the ‘2’ in a 4231 during Euro 2016? I think there has been far too much made of Pogba’s ‘best position’ debate and his form in general. He’s missed a fair few games games this season through injury, but prior to that, he was starting to make a big impact. Unfortunately, at Manchester United, Pogba doesn’t have a long list of leaders to perhaps help him through games. At Juve, he had the likes of Buffon, Bonucci, Barzagli, Chiellini, Marchisio and Pirlo helping him out. At Manchester United, he’s probably looked at as one of the leaders. Some may argue that at £89m, a player should be able to do a job without help from others, but his fee doesn’t make him invincible. He still needs someone to help him, or to coach him through games. That’s not a negative, by any means, so long as he is willing to take advice and learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 24 minutes ago, JordanJH1993 said: Didn’t Pogba play alongside Kante in the ‘2’ in a 4231 during Euro 2016? Didn't Matuidi play in midfield too? ETA: Heh, having said I can see why Mourinho's dropped Pogba he's still been kind of a dick about it in the pre match interview which doesn't help. He just can't help it I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan La Cabra Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 15 minutes ago, ljkeane said: Didn't Matuidi play in midfield too? Yeah, I think they started the tournament with Pogba and Kante in the two, then by the knockout rounds Matuidi replaced Kante. Pogba was good that tournament, I thought. But, I suppose, he was playing in a stronger team, against often weaker teams. Players like Kante and Matuidi run around that much they can nearly do the job of two players, which perhaps freed Pogba up a bit, too. ETA: No real need for Man U. to be wearing their away kit in this tie. Usually when a team has white shorts, they just wear black ones along with the red top. Sponsors likely dictating it, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 2 hours ago, polishgenius said: #JoseIn #Getin #ForLongerThanWenger fixed those hastags for you. *runs away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 Yeah this is such a boring fucking game jesus right after I say that the best chance of the game happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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