Valencia 2-3 Chelsea

Now we have to listen to Mourinho for ever.

Great, just great!

Brilliant!

BoBo Vieri wrote:3 epl teams in the semifinal - matching serie a and la liga now

Serie A and La Liga have 3 teams in the semi's aswell???

Chelsea were by far the better team in the 2nd half.

Kimbo wrote:

BoBo Vieri wrote:3 epl teams in the semifinal - matching serie a and la liga now

Serie A and La Liga have 3 teams in the semi's aswell???

sarcy?

I feel cheated out of an enjoyable night by Valencia tonight. Where were they second half. Ayala, Moretti and Canizares were the only performers - apart from that they were awful. Flores could be out of a job?

Chelsea have repeatedly shown a quality only true champions have: They have turned a couple of difficult and important matches around this season, against some of the best teams on the planet. No matter what you think about Mourinho, but this is what makes Chelsea so dangerous, their morale and fighting spirit.

I hate 90% of the Chelsea team but well done to them tonight. Fantastic spirit. Fantastic performance. Fantastic winning goal. They look like champions already. But then theres Liverpool.

Valencia's second half performance reminded me of our's against chelsea in the quaters 3 years ago.

WOW! Chelsea EARNED their ticket to the semifinal with their second half display. Valencia had them, but let them live. EPL have finally matched La Liga and Serie A by placing three teams in CL semifinals. That's quite an achievement!

Now, I'm gonna watch the Cristiano Ronaldo show on ESPN Deportes. Don't tell me the final score.

Puro wrote:EPL have finally matched La Liga and Serie A by placing three teams in CL semifinals.

Seria A and La Liga have 3 teams in the semi's aswell???

Agooner wrote:Valencia's second half performance reminded me of our's against chelsea in the quaters 3 years ago.

I thought the same. I was even more shocked that night. I was so so sure you would win.

Player ratings then?

Canizares - 8
Miguel - 5
Ayala - 7
Moretti - 7
Del Horno - 4
Joaquin - 6
Albelda - 5
Albiol - 5
D.Silva - 5
Morientes - 6
Villa - 5
Angulo - 6
Viana - 6

Cech - 6
Diarra - 6
Carvalho - 7
Terry - 7
Cole - 7
Mikel - 7
Essien - 8
Lampard - 7
Ballack - 8
Shevchenko - 8
Drogba - 8
Cole - 8

Makalele and Kalou to late to rate.

Fair?

One thing about us: We never know when we're beaten. Imo, the decision to bring on Joe Cole swang the game massively in our favour.

Looked comfortable for 30 minutes before a world class cross matches by a world class finish from Morro, who managed more in 5 minutes (hitting the post, scoring then having one cleared off the line) than Villa managed in 180 minutes.

Don't be harsh on Canizares guys. Sure you can blame him for the Essien goal, but he made 2 stunning saves tonight. The header from Drogba looked in all the way. I'd be proud if Cech reached that. And the save from Ballack was almost Banks-like. World class save.

Anyway, ratings:

Cech 7 - No chance with the goal, beaten with Morientes' shot. Comfortable otherwise.
Diarra 5 - Looked poor and out of his depth tonight. Struggled.
Carvalho 7 - Brought the ball out of defence well. At fault more than anyone for the 1st goal imo.
Terry 7 - Dealt with Villa again. Comfortable.
A Cole 7 - Supplied width and put in a super cross for Drogba for the header.
Mikel 7 - Again, comfortable. Terrific tackle on Miguel to save us from going 2-1 down.
Essien 7 - Hit the winner. Booked early on, but looked comfortable at both RCM and RB.
Lampard 6 - Didn't produce the goods. Set pieces were better though.
Ballack 8 - Very unlucky with the header near the end.
Drogba 7 - One of his quieter games imo. Fantastic header but was guilty of maybe trying to do it all sometimes.
Shevchenko 7 - See Drogba.

Joe Cole 8 - Gave us a bit of flair that was desperately missed 1st half. Changed the game imo.

Kalou N/A
Makelele N/A

@S4P

Spot on about Canizares. I think your goal was simply a breathtaking finish from Essien. Perhaps he could have got a block in but that easily could have just deflected into the net. Canizares was back to his best tonight - stark contrast to last week.

Wow, S4P rating Ballack highest. Now I have seen everything....

He was awesome tonight. As was Sheva IMO. Back to how they were expected to have played all season.

Canizares - 7
Miguel - 5
Ayala - 7
Moretti - 7
Del Horno - 4
Joaquin - 7
Albelda - 5
Albiol - 5
D.Silva - 5
Morientes - 7
Villa - 5
Angulo - 5
Viana - 5

Cech - 7
Diarra - 5
Carvalho - 7
Terry - 7
Cole - 7
Mikel - 8
Essien - 7
Lampard - 5
Ballack - 8
Shevchenko - 7
Drogba - 8
Cole - 8

blutgraetsche wrote:Wow, S4P rating Ballack highest. Now I have seen everything....

Now come on blut, I have said I will judge Ballack next season (particularly in the EPL) along with Sheva, Kalou, Mikel etc. I said before he's had great games (Blackburn was his best performance before tonight), but he's guilty of being a bit too lazy at times, compared to Lampard, Essien, Drogba (even Sheva) who work tirelessly. Tonight, I thought Ballack was exceptional. His control, his distribution, his quick thinking. Superb tonight, let's hope we see more of this

Ballack may look "lazy" (some say the way he moves is "arrogant" even), but it has been proven quite often now that he is the player who runs most in your team (something like 7km and more a match).

The difference to the beginning of the season is that your team is finally starting to gel, and Ballack, the flexible and versatile player he is, is fitting in finally, despite the rather difficult situation for him to play with Lampard who is very similar. Your players don't ignore him that much anymore, he is actually part of your game.

Give him a few months, and he'll show what he is really capable of. I have been saying this for ages now.

I still maintain Lampard and Ballack can play together.

Just a few weeks ago, Lampard was playing superbly whilst Ballack was badly out of form. In the last couple of games, Ballack has been getting better, whilst Lampard has been playing worse. All we need now is for them to play well at the same time

Lampard wasn't awful tonight, surprisingly. A lot better than last week I thought. Three or four lovely balls and the deliveries into the box from corners, particularly first half, were top draw. There were plenty of stay passes to level it out though.

Maybe that's 'proof' that they can't play together? You can see it this way also. It's either Ballack or Lampard playing well, not both.

This said, Mourinho is probably one of the few managers in this world who could make them work together well. Both players have to forget about their egos, and put the team first. Especially Lampard needs to (sorry, but that's just the truth). Ballack has proven that he can do that already for die Mannschaft, where he plays in a more defensive role and loses some of his goalscoring threat.

Unintentionally, I think you've hit the nail on the head there blut. I think we would be better off putting Lampard at the top of the midfield and having Ballack just behind him covering the left side (not a left winger of course, but as a LCM). Lampard scores more goals than Ballack, yet Ballack is the more creative player. It would work better to have it like this:

-----------Mikel-----------
----Essien-----Ballack----
---------Lampard---------

than this (the current setup):

-----------Mikel-----------
----Essien-----Lampard--
----------Ballack----------

Actually, I have been saying this myself for months now, Lampard does not score more goals than Ballack, especially not internationally ( ), but Lampard is much weaker defensively, so he needs to play up front indeed. But instead of playing that Diamond midfield, play a double pivot 4-4-2 instead, with Ballack in the center being helped out by Mikel, while being the more "attacking" of them two. Similar to the system die Mannschaft plays, with Frings covering his back when he moves forward. Ballack = central midfielder in the best sense, a modern central midfielder who is strong both defensively and offensively, he needs to play in the centre.

----Mikel----Ballack---
Essien-------Lampard (or rather Cole)


That would be a killer midfield.

As much as you may hate him, you cannot drop Lampard. Even when he's badly out of form, he seems to deliver goals (20 this season) and crosses from set plays (the ball into Ballack was a beauty, as was most of his service tonight).

I don't hate him, I would just play him for Drogba or Sheva instead, because he is an excellent centre forward, not necessarily a midfielder....

Seriously, if you want to keep the diamond, put Lampard behind the strikers. Ballack will not be most effective on the wings, but he'll still do just fine.

S4P2 wrote:As much as you may hate him, you cannot drop Lampard. Even when he's badly out of form, he seems to deliver goals (20 this season) and crosses from set plays (the ball into Ballack was a beauty, as was most of his service tonight).

I doubt Jose will drop him, people tend to forget he is a quality player .. OK, the deflections come but the Lampard of two seasons ago can emerge.

He won't and should not be dropped, don't get me wrong. I just think that the diamond doesn't do both players a favour. But if it has to be the diamond, put Lampard up front.