How Do Chelsea Overcome Barcelona?

[Creampuff 22,628]

I've said it multiple times, I hate watching Barcelona, when they're just knocking it around for 20 minutes doing nothing with it I just don't see why someone wouldn't prefer to watch teams that go for the adventurous through ball.

[Ribz2009 12]

disagree, i think when a team like barca spend so much time going sideways and backwards it ruins it for the neutral.

sure you could argue that chelsea could have pushed the back line up higher, but look where that got AVB. When they came up against a fast passing side like Arsenal they conceeded 5 goals.

Barceloan don't play as cautiously as that against lesser La Liga teams, sometime barca just seem terrified of losing possession, so much so they would rather play a safe, 5 yard pass sideways or backwards, then try a riskier through ball in the final 3rd.

i dont see how you find barcelona last night ruined it for the spectator and not chelsea, bizarre infact... drogba was barely in the barca half except for his goal, infact im sure most of the time he was deeper than ramires and mata..

barcelona HAVE to play sideways and back because of the 9-10men behind the ball tactic team use against them, its a common sense way to play simple as that..sure it can get a tad boring in games but its alot to do with how the opponent sets up than barcelona IMO

[Ricky_ 893]

i dont see how you find barcelona last night ruined it for the spectator and not chelsea, bizarre infact... drogba was barely in the barca half except for his goal, infact im sure most of the time he was deeper than ramires and mata..

barcelona HAVE to play sideways and back because of the 9-10men behind the ball tactic team use against them, its a common sense way to play simple as that..sure it can get a tad boring in games but its alot to do with how the opponent sets up than barcelona IMO

nonsense, your acting like barca were forced to play like that by chelsea.

barca play like that vs nearly everyone, the more they fear the opposition, the more cautious and ball-hoggy they become.

like i mentioned before, its liek when you play an absolute cunt in a game of fifa or pro evo and he just passess aroudn his midfield and back 4 to annoy you. sprinting after them gets tiresome.

i prefer direct, agreesive football with a mix of passing, 1-2's long balls and crossing. you never get that from barca.

[AW-WATP 112]

Game was boring as fuck last night.

[Ribz2009 12]

nonsense, your acting like barca were forced to play like that by chelsea.

barca play like that vs nearly everyone, the more they fear the opposition, the more cautious and ball-hoggy they become.

like i mentioned before, its liek when you play an absolute cunt in a game of fifa or pro evo and he just passess aroudn his midfield and back 4 to annoy you. sprinting after them gets tiresome.

i prefer direct, agreesive football with a mix of passing, 1-2's long balls and crossing. you never get that from barca.

they WERE forced to play like that, thats why di matteo and his players are getting so much credit for sticking to the game plan which was shut barcelona out and try and steal a goal..correct?

but even at that, barcelona had more than enough chances to win and probably should have

[TheKingObv 10,642]

i dont see how you find barcelona last night ruined it for the spectator and not chelsea, bizarre infact... drogba was barely in the barca half except for his goal, infact im sure most of the time he was deeper than ramires and mata..

barcelona HAVE to play sideways and back because of the 9-10men behind the ball tactic team use against them, its a common sense way to play simple as that..sure it can get a tad boring in games but its alot to do with how the opponent sets up than barcelona IMO

Fucking spot on. Some people on here are too dumb to realise this

[Ricky_ 893]

they WERE forced to play like that, thats why di matteo and his players are getting so much credit for sticking to the game plan which was shut barcelona out and try and steal a goal..correct?

but even at that, barcelona had more than enough chances to win and probably should have

no they weren't... heres an idea, play someone in the box. try having someone in the traditional striekr role rather than every fucking player in midfield.

this photo went up as a joke earlier today, its entitled "Chelseas amazing tactics for keeping a clean sheet vs Barcelona, it's called 4-4-2"

most would agree this is typical of last nights game? yes?

barcelona always have lots of players in close vinicity of the ball - its a defensive thing as much as a possession thing, because if they lose it, within seconds they surround the opponent like piranahs.

the attackers come very deep, into midfield, and the back line pushes very high up the pitch - so they completely overload midfield and constantly go sidewards and backwards, hoping to open up space for someone to run into.

your delusional if you think Barca only played liek this against Chelsea, they play in the same way they always play.

[Ribz2009 12]

no they weren't... heres an idea, play someone in the box. try having someone in the traditional striekr role rather than every fucking player in midfield.

this photo went up as a joke earlier today, its entitled "Chelseas amazing tactics for keeping a clean sheet vs Barcelona, it's called 4-4-2"

most would agree this is typical of last nights game? yes?

barcelona always have lots of players in close vinicity of the ball - its a defensive thing as much as a possession thing, because if they lose it, within seconds they surround the opponent like piranahs.

the attackers come very deep, into midfield, and the back line pushes very high up the pitch - so they completely overload midfield and constantly go sidewards and backwards, hoping to open up space for someone to run into.

your delusional if you think Barca only played liek this against Chelsea, they play in the same way they always play.

when did i say they only did this against chelsea? chelsea definetly never played 4-4-2..and they only made 17 passes in the barca half all game which tells me they sat deep in their own half as a game plan and not because barca pushed them deep

[Ricky_ 893]

when did i say they only did this against chelsea? chelsea definetly never played 4-4-2..and they only made 17 passes in the barca half all game which tells me they sat deep in their own half as a game plan and not because barca pushed them deep

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/04/19/chelsea-1-0-barcelona-drogba-tactics/

they played a system which was sort of half way between 4-4-2 and 4-3-3.

When they didnt have the ball, Ramires was doing alot of tracking back (and possibly man of the match last night), Mata and Drogba were moe outballs.

the reason they were restricted to so few passes was because the had such little possession. they reason they had such little possession was because Barca tapped the ball around midfield the whole game.

Barcelona, even by their standards, went for a ball-hoarding approach.

im not sure what you expect of chelsea? to push up the pitch and chase barca relentlessly to try and get more possession? the only team capable of doing that is Madrid. Barca could try taking more chances and playing some direct football, rather than playing like shitebags scared to lose possession with a forward pass.

take a look at the Barca pass patterns:

thats them on the right, it's hard to tell, but about half of those blue arrows are going backwards. the red ones that dominate the final 3rd are failed passes.

[Grindhouse 97]

Very good points Ricky

Can argue about possession, attempts and passes all night but the truth is the ball upto ramires before he squared it to drogba for the goal was the best pass of the night

[Ricky_ 893]

Very good points Ricky

Can argue about possession, attempts and passes all night but the truth is the ball upto ramires before he squared it to drogba for the goal was the best pass of the night

lampards to ramires? yeah it was outstanding vision.

but im afraid my pass of the night award has to go to the 1 & only iniesta for his pass to Sanchez (the one he hit the bar with) - unreal how he used the momentum and weight on the ball to play tha over the top pass, first time, and split the chelsea defence wide open.

Fabregas's flick over to Sanchez in the 2nd half was a close 3rd aswell.

[blueboy94 54]

No doubt that Chelsea's performance was an excellent display of defending, but they required a lot of luck to keep Barca from scoring. Sanchez missed a sitter and hit the bar, Fabregas had a 1-on-1 and virtually an empty net which he managed to fuck up and Pedro hit the post.

Take nothing away from Chelsea though, very well disciplined.

The good thing about the result is that next weeks game has huge significance. Chelsea will probably use the same system but I can't see it being as effective at the Nou Camp. An away goal could make things interesting however....

[Cammy. Watp. 492]

Regardless of what happens in the next leg ( I still think barca will go through ) I think this current side Is the greatest ever. I'm not going to pretend I witnessed great sides like Real of the 1950s but it really is quite incredible they can play a semi final away and have 80 % possession! They may have lost but they were desparately unlucky and on another night they would have scored 3 or 4.

My point isn't relevant to the debate going on but it is quite laughable the amount of criticism they come under after a defeat even when they are still favourites to progress. The current Barcelona team really are quite incredible and for those saying they are "boring" possibly need they're heads checked. They get 20-30 shots EVERY game yet they just pass it about without having this so called "plan b".

Them not having a "Plan b" is really just a made up theory by people who don't like Barcelona trying to wind up those who do. They don't need a plan B. They do not need one. They cannot be expected to win every game they play. They're plan A and only philosophy they know has brought them 3 consecutive league titles and 2 champions league titles in 3 years and as soon as they lose a few games they don't have a plan b? Laughable.

[BraveheartGordon 77]

Chelsea defended very well,sat deep and played it smart.

But the relative small pitch at Stamford Bridge helped them,

with the massive Camp Nou pitch in the second leg I would say

Barcelona are favourites but an away goal would change that,

All depends on the Chelsea defence though,If Chelsea go with Luiz,

and Cahill as centre backs Barca will cut through Chelsea like a

knife through butter.

Its An old cliche but if ever the first goal being most important

was true its in this second leg.

[ClintonGrey 365]

Fuck all this pish.

The only stat that matters, indeed the only thing that matters is that Chelsea won 1-0, deal with it.

[King Jela 20,361]

Fuck all this pish.

The only stat that matters, indeed the only thing that matters is that Chelsea won 1-0, deal with it.

Correct.

[Ribz2009 12]

Aye I hate people discussing football games

[messiah10 58]

i dont see how you find barcelona last night ruined it for the spectator and not chelsea, bizarre infact... drogba was barely in the barca half except for his goal, infact im sure most of the time he was deeper than ramires and mata..

barcelona HAVE to play sideways and back because of the 9-10men behind the ball tactic team use against them, its a common sense way to play simple as that..sure it can get a tad boring in games but its alot to do with how the opponent sets up than barcelona IMO

its not as if messi and sanchez are faster than terry and cahill so they couldn't have played the ball in behind...

[JamieD 18,932]

https://twitter.com/#!/barcastuff/status/193250316181975040

[The Godfather 71,874]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhYU_znLSRk&feature=related

[Yata 161]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhYU_znLSRk&feature=related

Apart from the bit at the start which is from an advert this video is quality.

Some of the dives I was pishing myself at, i remember having my hand smashed apart during football once, broke all my bones and severed two tendons and I can tell you, I was not rolling about, would have hurt even more

[messiah10 58]

i was starting to get bored of barcelona and now i fucking hate them

[The Godfather 71,874]

i was starting to get bored of barcelona and now i fucking hate them

They do grate on the old nerves

[messiah10 58]

They do grate on the old nerves

just a tad

[Yata 161]

If anyone I am more convinced, if there ever was a time Chelsea need to cheat more than usual it's now.

They need to go the whole whack, diving, feigning injury,bad fouling ect.

If they can get barca down to 10 men they have the job nearly done