What you guys think of our chances in the CL? How would we fair against the likes of AC MIlan, Inter, Barca, and Juvi.
Re: Our Cahnces In The Cl? Regardless of the comments you may get from fans of those teams, i believe we are more than capable of winning the European Cup this season. Our team as is, set up by Mourinho, is tactically suited for continental play. We don't play as a typical English team and thus will be very hard to play against and beat in Europe as we don't have to adjust our style when in Champions league play - it's our natural game and as such sees us in good stead for a run at winning it all this season.
I actually think we are far more likely to win the CL than the league this year. In Europe, teams know that 0-0 isn't going to be good enough against us, so they won't be able to park any buses in front of their goal. This allows us much more space in the midfield, and makes scoring much easier, as we have already seen this season. In the EPL, teams will be more than happy to settle for draws against us, and we've had a bit of difficulty cracking an ultra-defensive shell.
Re: Our Cahnces In The Cl? You said it right here, Chelsea is unorthadox in their style of play and it will bode quite well for them in the CL. However I'd like to see how Chelsea could handle really offensive teams like Barca who focus their strenghts entirely on attacking and controlling the midfield.
Re: Our Cahnces In The Cl? With Robben and Duff on the wings, we're probably a better counterattacking team, especially if they're playing off of Drogba. I'd fancy our chances against a club like Barca, personally.
Re: Our Cahnces In The Cl? Quite true. I, however, wouldn't phrase it the way Canzano did. I would ask it along these lines... "How would a team like Barca, unused to the caliber of defense that Chelsea have this year, fare in their attacking football.Will they be forced to change their tactics, or rather, will they be capable of changing, if they can't break Chelsea down and are continually on the back foot from fleet footed wingers" Arjen Robben. Our 2004 version of Jesper Gronkjaer - except this lad can cross the ball.
Re: Our Cahnces In The Cl? Gronks annoyed the hell out of me because he was sooooo inconsistent. Robben is a much better player because at 19 (or 20) he already has far more technique than Jesper did. Jesper would try to run by people, he couldn't actually dribble past them. And Robben also takes set pieces.
Re: Our Cahnces In The Cl? I do hope he doesn't flatter to deceive. The combination today of him and Duff was outstanding.If we need to play Duff on the right from time to time, well, so be it.
The only gap I see in Chelsea's team (and I admit I haven't seen much) when comparing to other contenders in the CL is in creative midfield. Some other teams seem to be better equiped in that position and this could be very important in those close matches. The fact that you have a player that carrys the ball forward and can pull something out of the hat at any time can be decisive IMO. But so could be other factors... this is just one I particularly pay atention to. Chelsea's strongest points - defence and the big guy Drogba - could make up for this gap. But seeing that Milan has Kaka, (not to mention a very decent defence and Shevchenko up front) Barcelona has Ronaldinho and Deco (and then Eto and Larsson) Juve has Nedved (and it's usual concrete defence) I would give these 3 a slight edge over Chelsea right now.
Well, we have Lampard Robben and Duff, so I'm not sure if that's accurate. As for Juve's usual concrete defense - check how many goals they allowed last year.
you beat me to that one, i think lampard is very underrated int hat area, duff is as creative as it gets and provides some of the best service to strikers inthe world. and robben looks like he can beat anyone in the world in a 1 v1 situation.
Those players are all good, otherwise they wouldn't be Chelsea players, but you must agree they aren't in the same category with the ones I mentioned. The Juve defence thing, you're right... not that brilliant lately. So maybe you could have an advantage. Like I said, between these teams and Chelsea will always be close and it may come down to something as random as having better luck on the day. But it sure feels like they have an extra weapon in having such creative players in midfield. But hey, they don't have Mourinho.
I think you can win it all, but you can also go out in the first knockout round. When it comes to the knockout rounds, the teams get very equal in strength and really luck comes into play. Who's on form on the night, who makes a mistake, etc. makes the difference, IMO.
Re: Our Cahnces In The Cl? Seems a bit daft asking what teams chances are when theve yet to loose a game because, clearly, they have a very good chance indeed. The same could be said about Barnet FC in the same spot. As CobbledFootball also points out when it gets to knockout anyone can get lucky. Arsenal proved last year that being capable and actually winning are two very different things. That said im happy to see any english side doing well in Europe - any team except Trad Brick that is... Well ******** you got so many players now your tactically suited for Guerilla Warfare too! Oh and you signature is cool. Needs editing though: 100 years of PLC 1905 - 2005
Who cares how "good" your players seem to be if they can not work together? Mourinho is picking what he believes is best for the team and I, personally, would not doubt the man. Comparing Chelsea to Real Madrid, they supposedly have much better players but may not even qualify!
Uh, Juve's defense is MUCH better this year than last year. Last year, Thuram played at right back. This year, they have Thuram and Cannavaro at center back. Cannavaro is an upgrade over Leggrotalie to say the least. IMO, Chelsea and Juve are the 2 best in Europe right now.