So who is the CL favourite now??

Chelsea are at home first, second leg's at Anfield 1st may

S4P2 wrote:I know what you're saying Luis, but we've won twice in our last 5 visits to Anfield (admittedly both in the Prem).

For what it's worth, I think Liverpool will be a very tough opponent. Will they be easier than Valencia? Nope. Will they be more difficult to beat than Valencia? Again, no. Liverpool are a different type of opposition to Valencia, so you cannot compare the 2.

You know all about playing in Anfield against Pool though, you visit it ever season.

Chelsea WILL beat Liverpool, trust me.

I think Chelsea will win the tie

bluenine wrote:Yeah, they seem to have channeled that friction to perform better. But there was friction. I saw Sheva crossing quite a few times just slightly longer than what Drogba would have wanted... and I saw Drogba ignoring Sheva's runs a few times. Maybe I am only seeing what I am trying to see, but the friction is obviously there - see Sheva's reaction after the goal!!

And Lampard is just stiuffling Ballack, not deliberatly (like in the case of the strikers), its just the formation is not as deadly with both Lamps and Ballack in it. IMHO, Ballack is more quality, and more likely to perform in europe. Perhaps Mourinho should only play Lampard in EPL, not in the CL...its very similar to the Gerrard-Lamsps situation for england... just that in this case, the DM is not being sacrified, its the winger. What do you think??

S4P2 wrote:@ bluenine

I wouldn't say the players were trying to 'out do' each other. For once, I think the players forgot about their egos and helped each other. Drogba, Sheva have been guilty of being selfish in the past, and maybe they were a bit guilty of this last night in the 1st half. But in the 2nd half, we saw very few 'optimistic efforts' and more team efforts.

Still, I think 15 wins and 3 draws in the last 18 games suggests they all can play together.

Believe me, I wasn't initially in favour of the Ballack-Lampard partnership at the start, however I think when you're on course to win 4 trophies in a season, you have to say it's been successful.

For all the talk of Sheva failing, he's scored 14 goals this season. It shows he has no problem with the CL (3 goals so far), but maybe he has a problem with adapting to the Prem, however anyone who has seen recent Chelsea matches will tell you that he's looking more comfortable in the Prem.

Like I said to kas last night, if Jose wants to play this diamond, and have Ballack-Lamps playing at their very best, he should setup like this:

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

But I'm not gonna question his tactics and team selection

Kimbo wrote:

S4P2 wrote:I know what you're saying Luis, but we've won twice in our last 5 visits to Anfield (admittedly both in the Prem).

For what it's worth, I think Liverpool will be a very tough opponent. Will they be easier than Valencia? Nope. Will they be more difficult to beat than Valencia? Again, no. Liverpool are a different type of opposition to Valencia, so you cannot compare the 2.

You know all about playing in Anfield against Pool though, you visit it ever season.

Chelsea WILL beat Liverpool, trust me.

I'm confident we will too.

Difficult 1st leg with no Essien though, but maybe this will tempt Jose to start Joe Cole.

We will have kewell back by then, probably won't make that much difference though

Kewell make a difference? doubtful in the extreme

Tweedle wrote:Kewell make a difference? doubtful in the extreme

He probably wont even feature TBH, he will feature in the final should we get there......and limp off injured

I have seen them play in EPL many times S4P (why does everyone assume I don't watch EPL, like I have a choice living in London!!).

I would prefer a chelsea to plaqy Robben instead of Lampard, and move ballack in Lampards place right behind the strikers.

Re Sheva, no one in his right mind will ever doubt his ability. and slowly he is adapting to the EPL, like you pointed out. I was talking about his link up play with drogba, if those two can get alomng well, they can be even more lethal. But it still looks like they are competing against each other, rather than working with each other. I think its more about Drogba afraid of losing his position as Chelsea's first choice striker than anything else.

Anyways, there is so much quality in the squad that they can go all the way in all competitions even like this. No wonder why Mourinho does not want to change anything. Yesterday second half was Chelsea's best performance in europe that I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot of them!

S4P2 wrote:

bluenine wrote:Yeah, they seem to have channeled that friction to perform better. But there was friction. I saw Sheva crossing quite a few times just slightly longer than what Drogba would have wanted... and I saw Drogba ignoring Sheva's runs a few times. Maybe I am only seeing what I am trying to see, but the friction is obviously there - see Sheva's reaction after the goal!!

And Lampard is just stiuffling Ballack, not deliberatly (like in the case of the strikers), its just the formation is not as deadly with both Lamps and Ballack in it. IMHO, Ballack is more quality, and more likely to perform in europe. Perhaps Mourinho should only play Lampard in EPL, not in the CL...its very similar to the Gerrard-Lamsps situation for england... just that in this case, the DM is not being sacrified, its the winger. What do you think??

S4P2 wrote:@ bluenine

I wouldn't say the players were trying to 'out do' each other. For once, I think the players forgot about their egos and helped each other. Drogba, Sheva have been guilty of being selfish in the past, and maybe they were a bit guilty of this last night in the 1st half. But in the 2nd half, we saw very few 'optimistic efforts' and more team efforts.

Still, I think 15 wins and 3 draws in the last 18 games suggests they all can play together.

Believe me, I wasn't initially in favour of the Ballack-Lampard partnership at the start, however I think when you're on course to win 4 trophies in a season, you have to say it's been successful.

For all the talk of Sheva failing, he's scored 14 goals this season. It shows he has no problem with the CL (3 goals so far), but maybe he has a problem with adapting to the Prem, however anyone who has seen recent Chelsea matches will tell you that he's looking more comfortable in the Prem.

Like I said to kas last night, if Jose wants to play this diamond, and have Ballack-Lamps playing at their very best, he should setup like this:

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

But I'm not gonna question his tactics and team selection

IMO its between Chelsea and United, though I really would not like to have Liverpool in the final (if Man U get there).

No-one claims you don't watch the EPL bluenine - just that you overrate Serie A

bluenine wrote:

Anyways, there is so much quality in the squad that they can go all the way in all competitions even like this. No wonder why Mourinho does not want to change anything. Yesterday second half was Chelsea's best performance in europe that I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot of them!

This season has been brilliant considering the injury problems (not gonna use it as an excuse 'cause every team has had injury problems - but with Cech out for 3.5 months, Joe Cole out for more or less 8 months and JT out for 2.5 months), it's an amazing achievement to still be in with a good chance of winning 3 more competitions. Even if we lose all 3 competitions, I will still hail this season as a successful one, given the injury to Cech, Terry, Joe Cole, Robben etc.

It's why I laughed when people said the 04-05 team was better than this team.

S4P2 wrote:

It's why I laughed when people said the 04-05 team was better than this team.

I still think it was. That team played better football as well.

Parks lives wrote:

S4P2 wrote:

It's why I laughed when people said the 04-05 team was better than this team.

I still think it was. That team played better football as well.

Played better football (with guys like Duff, Joe Cole, Robben all fully fit), but not a better side.

That team could not grind out the results in the way this team does.

Believe me, 1-0 down to Valencia at the Mastella, the 04-05 team would not have come back.

But they were never in positions to need to come back.
You nearly always scored the first goal.

My point is parky, if you took Cech, Terry, Joe Cole out of that 04-05 team, it would not have won the Prem that season imo (certainly if there had been another challenger like there has been with United this season).

When we went behind we found it very difficult to come back (Liverpool in the CL, Newcastle in the FA Cup are prime examples).

I think it would have, Joe Cole was hardly a regular in 04/05. You also had Gallas there back then as well.

Liverpool was unfortunate, Newcastle was just rash management.

Joe Cole looked very good when he came on at half time with Chelsea trailing from what I saw last night.

Great news for Chelsea and England to have the little Wizzard back

I Am Weasel wrote:Joe Cole looked very good when he came on at half time with Chelsea trailing from what I saw last night.

Great news for Chelsea and England to have the little Wizzard back

Joe Cole changed the game and produced a mint turn which led to our goal.

@ parky

This isn't sour grapes because I think Gallas did a superb job for us, but Carvalho has been every bit as good this season as Gallas was in 04-05 and possibly better.

Joe Cole played more than his fair share of games and along with Robben was injury free.

I know how good Carvalho has been.

What I'm saying is, if Terry got injured in 04/05 you would of had a partnership of Gallas-Carvalho, which is obviously much better than Carvalho-Essien.

Joe Cole did play alot but in that season, Robben and Duff were first choice. So for me you would of coped with it even better.

Cech would of been a blow but thats for any team in any season as he is that good.

Chelsea. Not because I'm jumping on the bandwagon (was Liverpool before this round of matches) but because a 90th minute winner away to one of the most solid teams in Spain is more than just something that qualifies you for the next round. It gives belief, confidence, and unity.

2 (tied): Milan, Liverpool, Man. Utd.

With Milan, Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool anything could happened. All four can win it.

It's funny because if Liverpool meets Milan it will be like the last final. If Chelsea meet Liverpool it will a remake of last year as well.

chelsea to win it i believe

You still have doubts?

Alive and Kicking wrote:With Milan, Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool anything could happened. All four can win it.

It's funny because if Liverpool meets Milan it will be like the last final. If Chelsea meet Liverpool it will a remake of last year as well.

bluenine wrote:You still have doubts?

Alive and Kicking wrote:With Milan, Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool anything could happened. All four can win it.

It's funny because if Liverpool meets Milan it will be like the last final. If Chelsea meet Liverpool it will a remake of last year as well.

bluenine wrote:You still have doubts?

Alive and Kicking wrote:With Milan, Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool anything could happened. All four can win it.

It's funny because if Liverpool meets Milan it will be like the last final. If Chelsea meet Liverpool it will a remake of last year as well.

What makes Man U lesser favorites than Chelsea?

injuries and a thin squad.

I think people are really underestimating Milan here. They have a better chance that what people have predicted above, but I guess some of that is probably coz I posted this poll before their game with Bayern.

Infact I think Milan have a better chance of beating Chelsea than ManU. Milan play the kind of game which can trouble Mourinho, while ManU's attacking game might just suit his tactics a bit more.

Its anyones game, at this stage anyone can beat anyone quite easily. Most games are very close to 50-50.

I hope....

1 Chelsea (because they never won it)
2 Milan ( it means we will get a "two countries Final")
3 and last...Man U (because they play the most attractive football of all team)