Thoughts: 1. Carvalho? 30M. Gallas and Terry playing CB? Priceless. Citeh had exactly one half chance all game, as the home team on good goal scoring form. Cech smothered one shot with his feet, but otherwise I can't recall a moment of genuine threat other than the Barton "shot" that was whistled off for an obvious foul. 2. Lampard runs the show for us. His absence was greatly missed. Did anyone else notice our sudden inability to hit good long balls? He contributes so much to our flow. Shame about his streak coming to an end but very glad to see that the club could do without him. 3. Eidur - you are NOT a good dribbler. Really. Pass or shoot, make up your mind. Citeh were closing down quickly; you have to move the ball or shoot. You cannot simply hold it. And what was that dribble to the right when you were at the top of the box? 4. Essien hasn't quite got the full speed of the English game yet. But I can't wait till he does. 5. Drogba - ugh. Useless today. Yes, that's a penalty at the Bridge, but if you keep reacting like you were shot when you're pushed in the knee, no one will give you those calls. Adriano's going to be fantastic for us. 6. I thought del Horno and Geremi both played quite well; del Horno was unlucky to get that yellow, really. I think the rumors of a rift are nonsense. 7. Robben is getting very close to match fitness. He was probably the difference in the game. 8. Claude looked a step off to me. I think that he, like Desailly, doesn't really enjoy games like these too much. Can't blame him, really, but we don't have good cover at his spot. 9. Cole - what "left sided problem" for England? Overall - great result, not a great game. But, its the ability to win games like these that make you champions. The games where the opponent clearly raises their game for the champions, playing to close you down, harass you and hope to get a jammy goal. Yeah, our goal was somewhat jammy, but we were always more likely to score. That's why we're champions.
Totally agreed. It'd be nice if we could get 'im in January, and just make sure that Didier's plane-flight doesn't take him back to Stamford Bridge after the ANC.
joe cole is simply amazing at the moment - I hope that sven is watching and figuring out how to maximize his impact in germany...ie taking some notes from jose and where he positions him. del boy looked out of sorts? he got used a couple of times, maybe just not match fit yet. serious question here - why not terry/gallas in the center with either ferr/ricardo on the left? or would they simply not be able to pull it off. I always wonder about ricky on the right with del boy on the left also, any insights as to why it's not possible - I'm guessing it has something to do with rickys pace. sorry for the ramble, any thoughts appreciated.
I think pace is precisely the reason for it. Carvalho isn't much faster than Terry. That's why the struggle playing together. Carvalho plays best when partnered with Andrade, who just happens to be a very similar player to Gallas.
In all seriousness, there's no way Adriano's moving in January. We may, unfortunately, have to fight off Real for his signature next year. IF Real wise up, that is.
They did, but I ended up buying a cheapo radio and listening in my hotel room, then watching MOTD. Can I even begin to tell you how fvcking cool it is to watch MOTD live? MG and I spent the day today on the stadium tour which was fantastic. March on Chelsea, I believe this New Year's Eve is going to be a really good one indeed. COME ON CHELSEA!
and what a day it must have been for you at the match - huth and terry partnered in the middle....bet you wanted to play center forward for fulham that day! - roll on joe cole
On a more serious note, once again we see just how hard it can be to break down a team, playing at home, that is steafast in their desire to not let in a goal when playing Chelsea. As an offensive threat, City were quite easily contained, but then, that wasn't their aim from this game - and it almost worked. They made but a single mistake at the back, just one, in a full blooded match of 90 mins. Such is the quality of our side, somebody was there to put it in. There were 4 Chelsea players in the 18 yards box for that mistake, 3 of them inside the 6 yard box itself.
That's a big if, though. And someone who knows us as well as you do should know that nobody calls Real Madrid simply Real (or at least nobody who knows what they're talking about - I can't speak for our Asian glory hunters or Brazilian fans) because it's not very specific. El Real is Real Madrid. La Real is Real Sociedad.
So then, if I want to troll your boards, yet seem innocent, all I have to do is refer to the team as Real... Thanks.
Fortunately for us. I think if Adriano has a good world cup he'll be willing to leave Inter since they're a basket case and since he'll have established his place in the Brazil side. Its your penance for calling your forum "the best club ever". Honestly, if you're EL Real, you don't need to say that. del Madrid al cielo was certainly sufficient. Of course, my idea for our forum tagline came too late - "have you ever seen Chelsea win the league?"
I don't think most of our posters would care. Or even know, for that matter. But I'm very anal when it comes to these things.
That wasn't my idea. I think it was the result of a forum poll - which speaks volumes about the posters in the Real Madrid forum, really.
Saw the match on tape delay, this is the first chance I've had to post. Man, I cannot get over how much Cole seems to be improving almost every match. This guy has turned from a periphery, luxury, 80th minute sub to one of the best players on the team. I know a lot of it has to do with form, but still. He's a much smarter player now, it's remarkable. And nice to see the Gallas-Terry partnership back together, another clean sheet
Joe COle has been playing like this for awhile....around midseason last year i think, I remember the Barca second leg he had a hell of a game. He just runs non-stop all over the pitch, and even gets back and tries to wint he ball back. It is funny, I went from thinking he was probably going to be sold off(and made my own mistake in thinking he might need to be), to him being one of my three favorite players at the club.
So it would only bother the Chelsea-obsessed trolls such as yourself? Even better! Go for it, Clan! Do tell us all about what other fun have you've had with your anus recently...We're all...umm...ears...