<IMG SRC="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/KingAckee/Football%20Logos/chelsea-fc-logo200.jpg" height="200" width="200" border="0" title="Chelsea FC"><IMG SRC="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_B1JtfOpd85I/SaqzJBmQxcI/AAAAAAAAJ5Q/UgnMjoapCIQ/s320/atletico+madrid+logo+brand+escudo.png" height="200" width="200" border="0" title="Atletico Madrid"> Venue: Stamford Bridge (London, England) Match Times & TV Listings: 07:45 PM BST (Local Time) 02:45 PM EST 11:45 AM PST UK TV: LIVE ITV1 || ITV HD US TV: LIVE Setanta Sports USA || DirecTV || (Replay: 8:15PM Setanta USA) CN TV: LIVE Sportsnet Ontario Chelsea News: Live on Big Blue Official Chelsea FC Website Latest Chelsea News on Soccernet Team Talk Chelsea BBC-Chelsea Latest Chelsea News From Google Latest Chelsea News from EuroSport Latest Chelsea News from Newsnow Group D Table: Code: [U][B]Pos. Club Wins Draws Losses Points[/B][/U] 1. [B]Chelsea[/B] 2 0 0 6 2. Porto 1 0 1 3 3. APOEL 0 1 1 1 4. [b]Atletico[/b] 0 1 1 1 Scorers (2 Goals): 2: Anelka History: First ever head-to-head meeting between the two clubs.
first time first poster AM have some really good attacking players, i think theyll score but their D is shyte so i think well win this one i just want ot see some good play leading to a win should strengthen our side defensively
The matress makers are in a bit of disarray at the moment. Though the thought of going up against Aguero is a bit scary, more so given Carvs' form on Sunday but if Bos is fit I want to see Ivan next to Terry. The sooner Alex gets back to full fitness the better. It's also a shame that Drogba's ban is finished after this but he would enjoy playing against Atletico's defense.
I like our chances against AM's defense even with Anelka and Kalou (Studge?) starting up front and on a normal day our backline should be able to handle their attack. This would be a perfect game for Percy to his head out of his ass. Would love to see Joey start and Mikel if he is fit. I see a 3-1 to us. I hope.....
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/20102009/58/champions-league-bosingwa-sidelined-chelsea.html? Bos out with the injury he picked up at Villa.
Two things... A. Atletico is having a horrible start to their domestic league capaign and are currently 15 is their table. This would be a great time to face them as any. They have been sluggish and just cannot find that team chemistry they had a year and a half ago. Chelsea should come out of this with a win, but it won't be an easy win... B. Every so often, a team doing poorly domestically some how, somewhere find what it takes to upset a giant in Europe despite their poor domestic form. It would be a huge mistake to take them for granted as they will try to make up for their deficiencies being shown in La Liga by giving us a hard time at home. Complacency can be our worst enemy.
I really feel Atletico will get hammered. Nothing is going their way CL or domestically. Their new look defense is weak, and Resino is feeling the heat. Anelka for the hat trick(he is on my fantasy team). 3 pts baby!
This should be a good game to score a few goals - Atletico is terrible defensively. I didn't get to post about the Villa game, where I actually thought we played pretty well, but our finishing let us down. How many one on ones did we have with Friedel? Better finishing would have won us the game. I look forward to continuing that. This is considerably different from our failures under Scolari, when we'd spend half hour periods without being able to muster a shot on goal. As ManUtd showed by nearly losing against Sunderland, these are not easy games. We need to keep playing well and let the chips fall where they may.
Missing Browsingwa is not a good thing. But we've won our other two matches with the 'ic at right back so I'm still confident.
Granted, PhysioRoom is far from gospel but they have him back for this game but I highly doubt he is. Maybe against Blackburn?
Also, better organisation in defence. .. and on that front I saw a headline today that might be relevant for this game. http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/new...-in-Chelsea-defeat-inquest-article195139.html Michael Ballack plays his part in Chelsea defeat inquest Michael Ballack has revealed his part in the dressing room inquest that followed Chelsea’s latest away day defensive disaster. Back-to-back defeats on the road at Wigan and now Aston Villa have put a massive question mark over Chelsea’s title credentials. And Ballack, absent through injury at the weekend, believes it was an obligation on him as a senior professional to talk through the set-piece blunders and ensure they are put right for their Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid. Ballack said: “I wasn’t involved, not in the team, but I know the problem. “I was there on Sunday and we spoke about it. Everybody has to make an impact on the situation, me too. “We sat down together at Cobham and watched the game. We saw who made the mistakes. We’ve spoken about the game, we’ve trained on set-pieces and special situations, but it’s all about individual mistakes. “That happens in football, but that’s what we have to cut out.” And Ballack, 33, added: “We speak with each other. We have no problem criticising each other in the dressing room. A good team with strong players has to do this. "We’ve done that, then we shake hands and get back on to the training pitch and try to do better. Sounds quite positive. Let's just hope it has some effect.
Atletico are having a horrid season so far, I can only hope we can capitalize on this and bounce back from defeat at Villa.
All this talk of Madrid's season, let's not forget what Roma's season was like before they met us. We need to concentrate on our season.
Obi reportedly back. I think it is time to give Joey a full run-out and Sturridge a start if we go with two strikers, then again I don't speak much Italian. But if I did, assuming a diamond is de rigueur: -----------Cech -Ivano---Carv---JT----Ashley ----------Obi ----ESS-------Lamp- ---------Joey ------Anelka---Sturidge The diamond seems to work better with Balllack, but I'd give more time to heal, and Ess more time to adapt to the right role and with Obi shut down Aguero and Forlon and Simao. If Kalou, Deco and Malouda all start, look for breaking reports of a man's head exploding p.s interesting to compare stats between Deco and the "near as good" Joey http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=7976&cc=5901 http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=12693&cc=5901
I just kept nodding and saying, "Yep" to myself whilst reading your post sir. Given Boz's injury that was the lineup I was thinking of too.
Confirmed: Cech, Belletti, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Essien, Ballack, Lampard, Kalou, Deco and Anelka. Bench: Hilario, Carvalho, Bruma, Zhirkov, Malouda, J.Cole and Sturridge
Belletti at RB? Simao is no mug and is very clever at getting inside. Hmmm not sure I like that one. Ivan back in the center? Been solid but not as good as he was last season. I expect Atletico to score first. Aguero and Forlan can score from nothing. I don't think we'll be able to keep them quite. Essien will be key because Atletico are a top counterrattacking side and both forwards are clever enough to drop into pockets and Jurado the #9 attacking mid is clever (a bit like Benayoun in his style). Assuncao is a very tenacious player and good DM and he will follow Lampard closely, I think Deco would be better suited at the tip because he has the ability to dribble in close quarters and knows how to get fouled. Hopefully he'll cut out the mistakes. The upsets yesterday show that anything can happen in these 2 leg one-off matches. Chelsea must keep vigilant and be industrious in maximizing the chances we get by getting the goals. EDIT: Well I see that Raul Garcia and Cleber Santana are playing. Seems Atletico are going to take the United tactic of playing us.