Valencia 2-3 Chelsea

First Leg: Wednesday, 4th April
Second Leg: Tuesday, 10th April

Just a week to go till the match that really could go either way. Valencia have a lot of class in attack, with Villa and Morientes, but we have a lot of class in defence, with Cech and Terry for example.

Imo Mikel has to play this game. I have a feeling Jose will go with the 4 usual suspects (possibly Robben instead of Maka), but imo Mikel has been playing well lately, and deserves a start.

Hopefully Sheva can continue his excellent finishing we've seen in the last couple of matches, and Drogs can get the better of the Valencia defence, after he failed to find the back of the net against Porto. Expect Frank Lampard to show his true class and pop up with a goal. Expect Del Horno to get a 'welcome back mother f'cker' reception.

Prediction (optimistic):

1st leg: 2-0
2nd leg: 1-1

I hope Del Horno defends like he did against Messi, and "accidentally" slide tackles Mourinho.

Just 6 days to go until it all kicks off can't wait.

To be honest earlier I sawnValencia winning this over two legs but Sheva seems to be back in form and the return of Cech and Terry makes me less sure now...

I think Chelsea will probably do it, though being at home for the first leg is bad luck

kas wrote:I hope Del Horno defends like he did against Messi, and "accidentally" slide tackles Mourinho.

It was stupid, it was rash, but it was never a red card. That incident won Barcelona the Champions League

The tackle before was


Back on topic, I still think this is an evenly balanced tie. Valencia can beat anyone on their day, they certainly have the individual talent as well as the tactics to win a big knockout match. It's just the psychological side, since this is one of the biggest matches for this particular Valencia squad.

This is definitely the 1st leg that I'll be watching over all the other ones.

I was fortunate enough to get tickets for the 1st leg.

Seems like there's been a big cock up with the tickets for this match. Luckily I got mine early this time.

Morientes was injured in Spain's match against Iceland today, and he'll be out for 4 weeks, so he'll miss this tie. Lucky Chelsea, Valencia will almost certainly go with Villa up front on his own (they probably would have anyway but it takes away one of Quique's options).

Excellent news for us, but with all due respect, I'd rather it were Villa who's out than Morientes.

lampard.... ....fit?

well if the first game is at SB then it might not have changed much because he often plays villa only upfront in tough away games. it can be crucial if valencia have to get goals at home after the first game.

Ricardo Jol wrote:lampard.... ....fit?

Hopefully.

Likely line-up:

---------------Cech-----------------
Diarra--Carvalho--Terry--A Cole
-------------Makelele---------------
------Essien---------Lampard------
--------------Ballack----------------
--------Shevchenko-Drogba-------

S4P2 wrote:

Ricardo Jol wrote:lampard.... ....fit?

Hope fully.

Hope or fully ...?

He's out for the weekend apparently.

Ricardo Jol wrote:

S4P2 wrote:

Ricardo Jol wrote:lampard.... ....fit?

Hope fully.

Hope or fully ...?

No hopefully.

Will miss the Watford game, but that might actually work to our advantage as it means Jose will be forced to play 4-3-3.

I'd prefer to play 4-3-3 against the likes of Watford, because with all due respect, it should be a 3-pointer with little trouble (although they pushed Arsenal hard)

Valencia is a game where we'll need to keep it tight (even if we are at home, and 1-0 is a good result imo), so have no problem with Jose picking 4 CMs for that game.

As long as the Chef, Cech, Ricky Carvalho and Flumps are fit for Valencia to give me a good result in the battle with LRD I am happy. All my cards are played on Chelsea....

I hope you absolutely hammer LRD.

You've got my backing all the way ricardo

Yessss! I have at least one supporter....!

It will be very difficult to beat him because his squad is very good!

Injury update: Essien out, Bridge back for tomorrow's game. Joe Cole is also back, but is unlikely to play any part in the match.

Jose has confirmed that Bridge will definitely be involved.

1-0

Drogba.

So what will Valencia's likely lineup be?

------------Canizarez------------
Miguel--Ayala--Marchena--Horno
-----------Albeda--Albiol-------------
Angulo---------Silva---------Vicente
-----------------Villa---------------

With Morientes out doesn't leave much on the bench attacking wise other than Joaquin. Perhaps one of Vicente (probable) or Silva will be benched.

With Essien out, I expect us to go:

----------------Cech-------------
Diarra-Carvalho-Terry-A Cole
--------------Makelele-----------
-----------Mikel----Lampard----
---------------Ballack------------
----------Drogba-Sheva--------

Target Man wrote:1-0

Drogba.

I'm gonna be confident and say 2-0. Drogba and Lampard.

Even 0-0 is an OK result imo.

Essien will be a big miss. More so than Mori for Valencia (who I'm not a huge fan of anyway)

I'm only speculating on the Valencia side, but I thought I would do, since I don't think there are any Valencia fans on here.

Two well matched teams (on paper) so hoepfully we will see two good games.

S4P2 wrote:With Essien out, I expect us to go:

----------------Cech-------------
Diarra-Carvalho-Terry-A Cole
--------------Makelele-----------
-----------Mikel----Lampard----
---------------Ballack------------
----------Drogba-Sheva--------

By the looks of that squad it promises to be ONE UGLY game. All the balls through the middle , Chelsea struggling... 70th bring on Kalou to break open the game. Urghh.

Calidad wrote:So what will Valencia's likely lineup be?

------------Canizarez------------
Miguel--Ayala--Marchena--Horno
-----------Albeda--Albiol-------------
Angulo---------Silva---------Vicente
-----------------Villa---------------

With Morientes out doesn't leave much on the bench attacking wise other than Joaquin. Perhaps one of Vicente (probable) or Silva will be benched.

I think valencia will line-up this way:

------------Canizarez------------
Miguel--Ayala--Albiol-------Horno
Silva--Albelda--Marchena--Vicente
---------angulo--------------------
-----------------Villa---------------

Incase Albelda doesn't make it, i expect Albiol to move into midfield with Moretti replacing him at CB.

Silva on the right?

S4P2 wrote:

Target Man wrote:1-0

Drogba.

I'm gonna be confident and say 2-0. Drogba and Lampard.

Even 0-0 is an OK result imo.

You've never experienced a game in the Mestalla then mate, 0-0 or a away goal for Valencia ='s Chelsea out.

Marchena is banned

Calidad wrote:Silva on the right?

yep, can play there too.

EDIT: On second thought, he might just play Angulo on the right and play silva in midfield( because chelsea have a lot of players in that area) but with a licence to move forward and help Villa- a support striker if u like. It's still not certain he will do that though because he prefers Angulo in that role.