Comment deleted by Site Moderator
Thanks lads it means a lot
comment by soccerlol (U7650)
posted about an hour ago
You're mean a lot to use
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Champions League final against Bayern Munich. I said earlier in my selection that it annoys me when people say we were lucky. We played the final with four first-choice players suspended – John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Ramires, and Raul Meireles. We had Gary Cahill and David Luiz, both of whom had hamstring tears and had not trained for several weeks. Their first training session was the day before. Also to add to that we were playing away from home – that being playing Bayern Munich in Munich. So there were big, big problems to solve from a coaching perspective.
We did not know how David and Gary would react to the training because they had only trained once in weeks. If one or both of them felt after the warm-up before the final they could not go on, Paulo Ferreira was the first player to play and if both of them did not make it then Michael Essien was the second player to play. The consequence of that was two substitute places would become available so Toddy Kane and Nathaniel Chalobah were ready to get changed in the dressing room 10 minutes before kick-off. So from a planning point of view, it was really difficult for a coach but both Gary and David made it and incredibly, through extra-time as well.
My abiding memory of that day is that we had practised penalties in four different goals with four different goalkeepers on two pitches during the week, and the reason for that was if you take penalties against the same keeper all week, the keeper gets to know where the penalty goes and in the end the practice becomes a bit pointless as the players don’t take the penalties where they really want to take them because they know the keeper knows. So we kept rotating them round the goalkeepers and we made our list of the takers, and our list was delivered on the day.
My head was in such a spin when we came to take the fifth one, I could not actually remember who we had agreed to take it. I turned to the centre-circle to see who was emerging with the ball and obviously Didier was that man and I just remember a calmness enveloping my body. If there was one man on the planet who I wanted to have hold of that ball at that point, it was him.
THE GREAT GAME
My choice for the fourth game is the 2012 second leg in Barcelona. The first game had been very tactical, the second game was just emotional and in my opinion, the greatest achievement by any group of men on a football field ever! I say that with a bit of Chelsea bias but also with thought to what I am saying. At one stage of the game we were two goals down in front of nearly 100,000 people against arguably the best club side the world has ever seen with arguably the best player the world has ever seen, and they were on top form and we had 10 men.
The two centre-halves who had started were both off. We had a right-back playing centre-back, we had a right winger playing right-back and to have got from that point in the first half to arriving at the Champions League final was in my opinion nothing short of incredible.
The Ramires goal just before half-time was in my opinion the most important goal ever scored in Chelsea history because it meant in the second half we did not have to score. We could try to defend which was difficult but possible. If in the second half we had needed to open up and push players forward to get the goal it would have left space and ensured we conceded again, and then we’d have been in real trouble. So at half-time we went from 4-4-1, which had been our formation after the sending-off, to 4-5-0, playing without a forward. Drogba played on the left and ended up more or less as a left-back.
It meant we did not get out of our half for 45 minutes. It was the longest 45 minutes of all of our lives. My neck was fixed on our penalty area because the ball never left it, the only time it did was when Ashley Cole with his right foot hoofed a clearance 60 metres down the pitch and all I remember is this white and yellow flash and suddenly realising there is nobody near him, and then it was, ‘Jesus! Fernando Torres only has the goalkeeper to beat’.
On reflection, having to play with 10 men, the players were dead at the end having given everything, and if we had played those players at Arsenal, for sure we would not have won the Barcelona tie.
BIG DECISIONS
Choice number five was a game that did not involve Chelsea so that may seem a bit bizarre but I think this is an important game in Chelsea history for two reasons. The match was Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munich in Berlin, the German Cup final one week before we played Bayern Munich in the Champions League final.
We played Blackburn the next day after that German Cup final which was our final league game of the season and Mr Abramovich kindly provided his private jet for me and Robbie to travel to the Borussia Dortmund-Bayern game. We finished training on the Saturday and got picked up from Cobham and went to the airport and it was more-or-less door to door to the stadium and we were back later that evening. So firstly it was an incredible trip from that perspective but secondly we established two things for the Champions League final.
We played 4-3-3 against Barcelona in the semis, with Juan Mata and Ramires wide with Didier up front on his own. The midfield was Raul Meireles, Frank Lampard and Mikel but for the final we had some suspensions. We watched what Dortmund did against Bayern and they won 5-2. They played 4-4-1-1 with Shinji Kagawa behind Robert Lewandowski and their two wide players were like soldiers. Defensively they were magnificent.
That Bayern team had Philipp Lahm at right-back who was not just an attacking full-back but he was scoring goals, and they had Arjen Robben on the inside so on that side of the pitch it was a real problem defensively. We decided on Mata behind Drogba as our version of Kagawa behind Lewandowski, and behind them we would play with two banks of four and we would really try to tie down the defensive areas, and it was the first time we brought up the name of Ryan Bertrand as someone who could maybe do that job in front of Ashley Cole, because when Robben went inside and Lahm went outside, Cole and Bertrand would both be defensively capable and if they ended up in each other’s position then it would not be a disaster. So those two aspects were established on the back of that game we saw in Berlin.
In the Blackburn game we were able to give Ryan a little feel of playing there and later that week we tried it in training. Ashley and Ryan were friends, they enjoyed it, you could see there was a spark, and it became quite clear early on that it would be the way. It was a massive call for a manager as this would be a Champions League debut out of position in a Champions League final, but it proved to be a good call and is one of the reasons I am choosing this German Cup final game.
Biggish shltposting again
comment by Gazza (U1266)
posted 9 hours, 55 minutes ago
The 3-4-3 switch was arguably the most decisive (and potentially influential) tactical decision in the PL that I can remember.
How we do when Conte is almost certainly not going to be able to produce another bit of magic like that is something of an unknown. I doubt we retain the title but I think we'll be in the mix. I'm hoping we can produce a fun CL run as well. Maybe win a cup as well.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
More than that Gazza. Conte's tactical use of Fabregas last season was magnificent.
In open play, this was by far Fabregas's most influential and best season for Chelsea.
comment by Randomer - Don Antonio's Premier League C... (U5245)
posted 11 minutes ago
Biggish shltposting again
----------------------------------------------------------------------
comment by SWTN - Judas is number 1 (U7916)
posted about a minute ago
comment by Gazza (U1266)
posted 9 hours, 55 minutes ago
The 3-4-3 switch was arguably the most decisive (and potentially influential) tactical decision in the PL that I can remember.
How we do when Conte is almost certainly not going to be able to produce another bit of magic like that is something of an unknown. I doubt we retain the title but I think we'll be in the mix. I'm hoping we can produce a fun CL run as well. Maybe win a cup as well.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
More than that Gazza. Conte's tactical use of Fabregas last season was magnificent.
In open play, this was by far Fabregas's most influential and best season for Chelsea.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nah Conte is sheet
Wearing a Barcelona shirt in Saudi Arabia could land you with a fine of up to £120,000 and a 15-year prison sentence, due to the club's continued ties with Qatar Airways.
comment by SWTN - Judas is number 1 (U7916)
posted 7 minutes ago
comment by Randomer - Don Antonio's Premier League C... (U5245)
posted 11 minutes ago
Biggish shltposting again
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
comment by Oscar. #TeamFury, 2017 RETURN OF THE MACK! (U12980)
posted 11 minutes ago
Randy had his weetabix this morning, mug
----------------------------------------------------------------------
7 a day son
comment by SWTN - Judas is number 1 (U7916)
posted 7 minutes ago
Wearing a Barcelona shirt in Saudi Arabia could land you with a fine of up to £120,000 and a 15-year prison sentence, due to the club's continued ties with Qatar Airways.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pretty reasonable
Even if it's an older unicef shirt?
So what's happening in regards to the Qatar world cup then?
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The Haven
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posted on 11/6/17
Gongrats Randy.
posted on 11/6/17
posted on 11/6/17
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 11/6/17
Thanks lads it means a lot
posted on 11/6/17
You mean a lot to us
posted on 11/6/17
comment by soccerlol (U7650)
posted about an hour ago
You're mean a lot to use
----------------------------------------------------------------------
posted on 11/6/17
Aww fck
Anyways morning
posted on 11/6/17
lol
posted on 11/6/17
CHELSEA
posted on 11/6/17
The Champions League final against Bayern Munich. I said earlier in my selection that it annoys me when people say we were lucky. We played the final with four first-choice players suspended – John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Ramires, and Raul Meireles. We had Gary Cahill and David Luiz, both of whom had hamstring tears and had not trained for several weeks. Their first training session was the day before. Also to add to that we were playing away from home – that being playing Bayern Munich in Munich. So there were big, big problems to solve from a coaching perspective.
We did not know how David and Gary would react to the training because they had only trained once in weeks. If one or both of them felt after the warm-up before the final they could not go on, Paulo Ferreira was the first player to play and if both of them did not make it then Michael Essien was the second player to play. The consequence of that was two substitute places would become available so Toddy Kane and Nathaniel Chalobah were ready to get changed in the dressing room 10 minutes before kick-off. So from a planning point of view, it was really difficult for a coach but both Gary and David made it and incredibly, through extra-time as well.
My abiding memory of that day is that we had practised penalties in four different goals with four different goalkeepers on two pitches during the week, and the reason for that was if you take penalties against the same keeper all week, the keeper gets to know where the penalty goes and in the end the practice becomes a bit pointless as the players don’t take the penalties where they really want to take them because they know the keeper knows. So we kept rotating them round the goalkeepers and we made our list of the takers, and our list was delivered on the day.
My head was in such a spin when we came to take the fifth one, I could not actually remember who we had agreed to take it. I turned to the centre-circle to see who was emerging with the ball and obviously Didier was that man and I just remember a calmness enveloping my body. If there was one man on the planet who I wanted to have hold of that ball at that point, it was him.
posted on 11/6/17
THE GREAT GAME
My choice for the fourth game is the 2012 second leg in Barcelona. The first game had been very tactical, the second game was just emotional and in my opinion, the greatest achievement by any group of men on a football field ever! I say that with a bit of Chelsea bias but also with thought to what I am saying. At one stage of the game we were two goals down in front of nearly 100,000 people against arguably the best club side the world has ever seen with arguably the best player the world has ever seen, and they were on top form and we had 10 men.
The two centre-halves who had started were both off. We had a right-back playing centre-back, we had a right winger playing right-back and to have got from that point in the first half to arriving at the Champions League final was in my opinion nothing short of incredible.
The Ramires goal just before half-time was in my opinion the most important goal ever scored in Chelsea history because it meant in the second half we did not have to score. We could try to defend which was difficult but possible. If in the second half we had needed to open up and push players forward to get the goal it would have left space and ensured we conceded again, and then we’d have been in real trouble. So at half-time we went from 4-4-1, which had been our formation after the sending-off, to 4-5-0, playing without a forward. Drogba played on the left and ended up more or less as a left-back.
It meant we did not get out of our half for 45 minutes. It was the longest 45 minutes of all of our lives. My neck was fixed on our penalty area because the ball never left it, the only time it did was when Ashley Cole with his right foot hoofed a clearance 60 metres down the pitch and all I remember is this white and yellow flash and suddenly realising there is nobody near him, and then it was, ‘Jesus! Fernando Torres only has the goalkeeper to beat’.
On reflection, having to play with 10 men, the players were dead at the end having given everything, and if we had played those players at Arsenal, for sure we would not have won the Barcelona tie.
posted on 11/6/17
BIG DECISIONS
Choice number five was a game that did not involve Chelsea so that may seem a bit bizarre but I think this is an important game in Chelsea history for two reasons. The match was Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munich in Berlin, the German Cup final one week before we played Bayern Munich in the Champions League final.
We played Blackburn the next day after that German Cup final which was our final league game of the season and Mr Abramovich kindly provided his private jet for me and Robbie to travel to the Borussia Dortmund-Bayern game. We finished training on the Saturday and got picked up from Cobham and went to the airport and it was more-or-less door to door to the stadium and we were back later that evening. So firstly it was an incredible trip from that perspective but secondly we established two things for the Champions League final.
We played 4-3-3 against Barcelona in the semis, with Juan Mata and Ramires wide with Didier up front on his own. The midfield was Raul Meireles, Frank Lampard and Mikel but for the final we had some suspensions. We watched what Dortmund did against Bayern and they won 5-2. They played 4-4-1-1 with Shinji Kagawa behind Robert Lewandowski and their two wide players were like soldiers. Defensively they were magnificent.
That Bayern team had Philipp Lahm at right-back who was not just an attacking full-back but he was scoring goals, and they had Arjen Robben on the inside so on that side of the pitch it was a real problem defensively. We decided on Mata behind Drogba as our version of Kagawa behind Lewandowski, and behind them we would play with two banks of four and we would really try to tie down the defensive areas, and it was the first time we brought up the name of Ryan Bertrand as someone who could maybe do that job in front of Ashley Cole, because when Robben went inside and Lahm went outside, Cole and Bertrand would both be defensively capable and if they ended up in each other’s position then it would not be a disaster. So those two aspects were established on the back of that game we saw in Berlin.
In the Blackburn game we were able to give Ryan a little feel of playing there and later that week we tried it in training. Ashley and Ryan were friends, they enjoyed it, you could see there was a spark, and it became quite clear early on that it would be the way. It was a massive call for a manager as this would be a Champions League debut out of position in a Champions League final, but it proved to be a good call and is one of the reasons I am choosing this German Cup final game.
posted on 11/6/17
Biggish shltposting again
posted on 11/6/17
posted on 11/6/17
comment by Gazza (U1266)
posted 9 hours, 55 minutes ago
The 3-4-3 switch was arguably the most decisive (and potentially influential) tactical decision in the PL that I can remember.
How we do when Conte is almost certainly not going to be able to produce another bit of magic like that is something of an unknown. I doubt we retain the title but I think we'll be in the mix. I'm hoping we can produce a fun CL run as well. Maybe win a cup as well.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
More than that Gazza. Conte's tactical use of Fabregas last season was magnificent.
In open play, this was by far Fabregas's most influential and best season for Chelsea.
posted on 11/6/17
comment by Randomer - Don Antonio's Premier League C... (U5245)
posted 11 minutes ago
Biggish shltposting again
----------------------------------------------------------------------
posted on 11/6/17
comment by SWTN - Judas is number 1 (U7916)
posted about a minute ago
comment by Gazza (U1266)
posted 9 hours, 55 minutes ago
The 3-4-3 switch was arguably the most decisive (and potentially influential) tactical decision in the PL that I can remember.
How we do when Conte is almost certainly not going to be able to produce another bit of magic like that is something of an unknown. I doubt we retain the title but I think we'll be in the mix. I'm hoping we can produce a fun CL run as well. Maybe win a cup as well.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
More than that Gazza. Conte's tactical use of Fabregas last season was magnificent.
In open play, this was by far Fabregas's most influential and best season for Chelsea.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nah Conte is sheet
posted on 11/6/17
Wearing a Barcelona shirt in Saudi Arabia could land you with a fine of up to £120,000 and a 15-year prison sentence, due to the club's continued ties with Qatar Airways.
posted on 11/6/17
comment by SWTN - Judas is number 1 (U7916)
posted 7 minutes ago
comment by Randomer - Don Antonio's Premier League C... (U5245)
posted 11 minutes ago
Biggish shltposting again
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
posted on 11/6/17
comment by Oscar. #TeamFury, 2017 RETURN OF THE MACK! (U12980)
posted 11 minutes ago
Randy had his weetabix this morning, mug
----------------------------------------------------------------------
7 a day son
posted on 11/6/17
comment by SWTN - Judas is number 1 (U7916)
posted 7 minutes ago
Wearing a Barcelona shirt in Saudi Arabia could land you with a fine of up to £120,000 and a 15-year prison sentence, due to the club's continued ties with Qatar Airways.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pretty reasonable
posted on 11/6/17
posted on 11/6/17
Even if it's an older unicef shirt?
posted on 11/6/17
So what's happening in regards to the Qatar world cup then?
posted on 11/6/17
Page 40022 of 62211
40023 | 40024 | 40025 | 40026 | 40027