Group A - Barcelona, Chelsea, Werder Bremen, Levski Sofia

Barça at home is a different proposition to Barça away, be sure of that.

In any case, if Barça draw against Chelsea, and you win against Levski, you do not NEED to win away to Barcelona. It depends also what you do against Chelsea at home.

toon h wrote:Barça at home is a different proposition to Barça away, be sure of that.

I know, that's why I said it's an almost impossible mission for us...

toon h wrote:
In any case, if Barça draw against Chelsea, and you win against Levski, you do not NEED to win away to Barcelona. It depends also what you do against Chelsea at home.

Oh right, a draw would indeed be enough if we beat Chelsea at home and Barca draw or lose against Chelsea.

chrissicross wrote:

I just thought about it and it's clear we have to win away in Barcelona whatever happens,

Like toonh has just said, you only need to win in Barcelona if you lose to us at home. If we draw or beat Barcelona next and you beat Levski (which is expected with all due respect), you will be ahead of them, thus making it a nicer looking situation for yourself.

Like I said before, I think if we win in Barcelona (which I doubt to tell you the truth), I think Jose will field a weaker side against you, meaning that you should win this match.

a weakened side?

the other day, against Barça, your bench cost about double what Barça's first team cost.

toon h wrote:a weakened side?

the other day, against Barça, your bench cost about double what Barça's first team cost.

By this I meant possibly players like Hilario, SWP, Ferreira etc.

Not necessarily a weak team, but players who are not 1st XI players

S4P wrote:
Like I said before, I think if we win in Barcelona (which I doubt to tell you the truth), I think Jose will field a weaker side against you, meaning that you should win this match.

Sounds good to me. Surely Drogba and/or Essien will appreciate a little break...

1:0 Bremen
(33.) Wagner OG

2:0 Bremen
(35.) Baumann

3:0 Bremen
(37.) Frings

Glückwunsch Bremen!!!

Thanks to Chelsea the group is still close...

Well done Bremen!

brilliant THREE points for Bremen

but really completely expected

Barca LOSING two tonight: FANTASTIC

the GAME OF THE CENTURY will now go down at the Nou Camp when Bremen visit with everything at stake

I hope our Bremer REALISTS now realise that Barca at home are VERY beatable

indeed, so are Chelsea in the Weserstadion

the English and Spanish champions showed nothing special tonight and might be in for a surprise

otto the humble German wrote:brilliant THREE points for Bremen

but really completely expected

Barca LOSING two tonight: FANTASTIC

the GAME OF THE CENTURY will now go down at the Nou Camp when Bremen visit with everything at stake

I hope our Bremer REALISTS now realise that Barca at home are VERY beatable

indeed, so are Chelsea in the Weserstadion

the English and Spanish champions showed nothing special tonight and might be in for a surprise

Chelsea are far better then Bremen but you have a good chance against Barca at the moment.

otto the humble German wrote:brilliant THREE points for Bremen

but really completely expected

Barca LOSING two tonight: FANTASTIC

the GAME OF THE CENTURY will now go down at the Nou Camp when Bremen visit with everything at stake

I hope our Bremer REALISTS now realise that Barca at home are VERY beatable

indeed, so are Chelsea in the Weserstadion

the English and Spanish champions showed nothing special tonight and might be in for a surprise

Otto, the war is over : we dont need your continual anti-ally propoganda at every opportunity This isn't Berlin Radio

Game of the century has already been played tonight. But you obviously missed it

otto the humble German wrote:brilliant THREE points for Bremen

Brilliant because of the way Werder played?

I only saw the goals but with that keeper the Bulgarians would have been able to loose all by themselves..

The Real White Pele wrote:

otto the humble German wrote:brilliant THREE points for Bremen

but really completely expected

Barca LOSING two tonight: FANTASTIC

the GAME OF THE CENTURY will now go down at the Nou Camp when Bremen visit with everything at stake

I hope our Bremer REALISTS now realise that Barca at home are VERY beatable

indeed, so are Chelsea in the Weserstadion

the English and Spanish champions showed nothing special tonight and might be in for a surprise

Otto, the war is over : we dont need your continual anti-ally propoganda at every opportunity This isn't Berlin Radio

Game of the century has already been played tonight. But you obviously missed it

@pele

the hype around the Chelsea-Barca games these days is criminal

once again, neither team lived up to the hype: the only world class elements on display tonight were the diving and the ridiculous physicality + Moaninho's celebrations

the result: both clubs will lose fans world wide "en masse"

my favourite two non-German clubs are Inter and Barca; not for long , I fear though

Chelsea , meanwhile, are just 100% unlikable

pity, they have many excellent players after all

ah, and by the way, I PROMISE you, the winner of the CL 06/07 did NOT play in Barcelona tonight

@ Owen

Bremen are probably marginally better than either Chelsea or Barca now

exception: cheating and diving

problem is: ideally Bremen need 3 points against Chelsea who can just sit back; the tactical constraints suit the London cheats

@ Ole

I only watched Barca tonight and cannot comment on Bremen

the three points were a formality really, but still had to be earned; the three goals could matter in the end

what's the problem with Ronnie these days ?? Deco was very good BTW, as always

otto the humble German wrote:

The Real White Pele wrote:

otto the humble German wrote:brilliant THREE points for Bremen

but really completely expected

Barca LOSING two tonight: FANTASTIC

the GAME OF THE CENTURY will now go down at the Nou Camp when Bremen visit with everything at stake

I hope our Bremer REALISTS now realise that Barca at home are VERY beatable

indeed, so are Chelsea in the Weserstadion

the English and Spanish champions showed nothing special tonight and might be in for a surprise

Otto, the war is over : we dont need your continual anti-ally propoganda at every opportunity This isn't Berlin Radio

Game of the century has already been played tonight. But you obviously missed it

@pele

the hype around the Chelsea-Barca games these days is criminal

once again, neither team lived up to the hype: the only world class elements on display tonight were the diving and the ridiculous physicality + Moaninho's celebrations

the result: both clubs will lose fans world wide "en masse"

my favourite two non-German clubs are Inter and Barca; not for long , I fear though

Chelsea , meanwhile, are just 100% unlikable

pity, they have many excellent players after all

ah, and by the way, I PROMISE you, the winning of the CL 06/07 did NOT play in Barcelona tonight

@ Owen

Bremen are probably marginally better than either Chelsea or Barca now

exception: cheating and diving

problem is: ideally Bremen need 3 points against Chelsea who can just sit back; the tactics constraints suit the London cheats

@ Ole

I only watched Barca tonight and cannot comment on Bremen

the three points were a formality really, but still had to be earned; the three goals could matter in the end

what's the problem with Ronnie these days ?? Deco was very good BTW, as always

Based on what? Bremen's lead at the top of the table? Anyone who watched both games know Chelsea stomped on Barca not once, but twice.

I agree they are very unlikeable though.

otto the humble German wrote:
@ Ole

I only watched Barca tonight and cannot comment on Bremen

the three points were a formality really, but still had to be earned; the three goals could matter in the end

what's the problem with Ronnie these days ?? Deco was very good BTW, as always

The first goal was a own goal, from a very gentle back pass that the keeper failed to control

The second, unmarked German heads it in at a corner

The third, keeper misses up a shot straight at him and lets the ball pass underneath him..

But I was expecting a Werder win, they are a very good team, like a Lyon two years ago (i.e. still lacks experience)

Ronnie is actually getting better, but he is still (in my opinion) suffering world cup hangover and from the fact that the expectations are so incredibly high all the time, so every poor game he has gets magnified a million times. I think he would do well with a 2 week break from all football, just to recharge mentally. I think he is stressed..

@Owen

Chelsea did not stomp on Barca at all, not tonight

both teams were disappointing; was there really a great Chelsea fight-back when they were 2:1 down ???

of course not

they had no idea what to do

I am also falling out of love with Messi ; in German we call him "ein Sonntagsspieler", always good for the glamour stuff, and yes, sometimes he pulls it off, but far too in love with his own skills

as I said, I would rate Bremen higher than either team now

but tactically, Werder are on the back-foot against Chelsea, and the question is also whether those Werder nerves will hold in the GAME of the CENTURY in the Nou Camp

do those Bremen players have the confidence, the routine to be unfazed by 90.000 hostiles ???

they have the game; do they have the balls though ??

Seriously, what planet do you live on?

@ole

I predict Barca to beat Sofia and Werder to draw with Chelsea

Barca vs Werder at the Nou Camp will be THE game

I just hope that our boys come out of the Chelsea game with their confidence intact

and that they will no longer be overawed by the Nou Camp

the last time they met there was a total flop; idiots like Owomoyela were so star-struck they started changing shirts with Ronnie and Co at half-time

from our perspective I hope that the late Chelsea equaliser will put pressure on Rijkaard and the club and make you nervous

it's all for a good cause

otto seriously... less of the bremen hype plz.. it will all come back to haunt you whenever they are visiting st james park and getting knocked out by sibeirski in a few months time..


what do you make of THE ONE being ONE of the worst players on the pitch tonight... never good when you are being outperformed by lampard

@children

the ONE was not good enough today

I was against the transfer to Chelsea right from the beginning though; never made sense to me

besides, the ONE is a football player, not one of those Chelsea Rugby Hooray Henrys

Calm down Otto. Even though the Barca result was almost perfect, Bremen are still facing a virtually impossible task by trying to get points against the two best sides in Europe and with Baumann missing against Chelsea I doubt that Bremen will manage to grasp 3 points.
Chelsea might put out some of their reserves but I don't know how helpful that will be considering their depth.

well you are right on the chelsea point... playing four centre mids clearly makes little sense in trying to gain the best out of them.. it's practically impossible for ballack to be the orchestrator in that chelsea team...Who can he pass to or interchange with.. No wingers....Interplay with drogba and shevchenko , interplay with flump ...

It certianly is not the best environment for his talent... sad but as he choose the money option this is how it is.

klose is yet to score in the CL this season, better defenders than in the german league?

Agooner wrote:klose is yet to score in the CL this season, better defenders than in the german league?

klose has nothing to prove

COTR wrote:

Agooner wrote:klose is yet to score in the CL this season, better defenders than in the german league?

klose has nothing to prove

I know but u still expect "the best striker in the world" to score against levski

I see the MONSTER has been underaverage in the CL. What does Otto have to say about this?

Is the MONSTER a "monster" from MONSTERS INC. (that gay movie for 12 year olds)?

@agooner

I really don't think so. Klose reminds me of Makaay in that he also does whatever it takes to help the team be successful. Of course, he will miss a few chancs (like all strikers) but he will always pass if that increases the chance of the team scoring. Coincidentally Makaay is in top shape and playing incredibly well this season, but he hasn't scored in the CL so far. That doesn't mean he can't as everybody's seen in the last seasons.

I think forwards/strikers should also be judged for whether they help the team win, not just a number of goals. And if you look at that Klose would get top grades.

Ballmädchen wrote:Calm down Otto. Even though the Barca result was almost perfect, Bremen are still facing a virtually impossible task by trying to get points against the two best sides in Europe and with Baumann missing against Chelsea I doubt that Bremen will manage to grasp 3 points.
Chelsea might put out some of their reserves but I don't know how helpful that will be considering their depth.

@ ball

please, not you as well

you were one of my last German hopes on here, who believed in a universal "mia san mia" attitude

I have to agree though that Bremen are NOT going to get three points against Chelsea

the Londoners really just have to sit back and pick us up; tactically treacherous stuff for Schaaf; it should be a draw and then the GAME OF THE CENTURY at the Nou Camp

if our lads have blut's attitude (" oh dear, the stadium is so big, Barca have so many big players and are the outright favourites"), they might as well forfeit the game and go shopping

if Bremen play their game with CONFIDENCE and SWAGGER, it's 50-50

let's remember that they are GERMAN and it becomes 60-40