Ballack and Shevchenko

Jose Mourinho Roman Abramovich signed Ballack and Shevchenko to help Chelsea finally win the Champions League, but ironically, both these two players were injured for Chelsea's semi-final 2nd leg match against Liverpool which they ended up losing 4-1 on penalties.

My question is what difference do you think these two players could have made yesterday if they were both fit?

Two penalty takers if I stand correct so it would have improved the the Chelsea squad

Cue Otto to bang the drums about German penalty takers....

Ricardo Jol wrote:Two penalty takers if I stand correct so it would have improved the the Chelsea squad

the shevchenko who's had penalties saved in both a champions league final and world cup ko match? not the best option, methinks.

ballack would obviously have scored a pen though.

cech is not a penalty killer

you need a german keeper

ballack is the best penalty taker in the world

and for the 90 minutes ballack had more influence to the game than other players, he is defensevly very intelligent and is behind lampard the most dangerous midfielder

so lampard was yesterday alone, with ballack i think lampard has more options for the offence, because not all focused on him alone


one question: was bohluaruz injured, i think essien in midfield and boula as defender should be the better choice

Ballack would have made a difference for me. Even though Obi Mikel did well yesterday and is a good player overall, Ballack would have been a big plus for Chelsea with all his big game experience. I don't think Shevchenko would have started yesterday had he been fit.

The Chelsea side out yesterday was weaker than last seasons side for me. William Gallas was a huge player for Chelsea, as well as Hernan Crespo and Eider Gudjohnsen who could always bring something to the Chelsea attack.

I can see some more big money signings from Chelsea this Summer.

debaser wrote:

Ricardo Jol wrote:Two penalty takers if I stand correct so it would have improved the the Chelsea squad

the shevchenko who's had penalties saved in both a champions league final and world cup ko match? not the best option, methinks.

ballack would obviously have scored a pen though.

allright, then we only have ballack left Liverpool would have been only 1 penalty up against Chelsea.... So Kuyt wouldn't be the last penalty man...!

Cesc wrote:Ballack would have made a difference for me. Even though Obi Mikel did well yesterday and is a good player overall, Ballack would have been a big plus for Chelsea with all his big game experience. I don't think Shevchenko would have started yesterday had he been fit.

The Chelsea side out yesterday was weaker than last seasons side for me. William Gallas was a huge player for Chelsea, as well as Hernan Crespo and Eider Gudjohnsen who could always bring something to the Chelsea attack.

I can see some more big money signings from Chelsea this Summer.

Mikel was class yesterday, it was Makelele who let us down. This really is his last season.

I though Obi Mikel was all hype. I can now see why he was so sought after.

Bring in a top class defender and then move Essien into defensive midfield.

Ricardo Jol wrote:Two penalty takers if I stand correct so it would have improved the the Chelsea squad

Liverpool are like the Germans when it comes to penalties.

I thought Ballack was missed , imagine for Lampard and I could imagine a better performance.

I didn't even realise Lampard played. And for all the unjust accusations that Liverpool just ''hoof'' the ball, isn't that exactly what Chelsea did yesterday to Drogba?

Kaká wrote:I didn't even realise Lampard played. And for all the unjust accusations that Liverpool just ''hoof'' the ball, isn't that exactly what Chelsea did yesterday to Drogba?

To be honest, Chelsea did pass the ball well in midfield , and forward to Drogba .. Mikel was on top of his game.

Rai Mihawk wrote:

Kaká wrote:I didn't even realise Lampard played. And for all the unjust accusations that Liverpool just ''hoof'' the ball, isn't that exactly what Chelsea did yesterday to Drogba?

To be honest, Chelsea did pass the ball well in midfield .. Mikel was on top of his game.

Mikel was on fire, the boy is definetly worth that 12 million. Now lets hope for a goal return.

I've been critical of Makelele in the past few months, but he was world class last night. Didn't let Gerrard make any of his 'trademark' bursts, because he was always in the right position.

Plus I think yesterday may have been a perfect chance for Sheva, with Liverpool focusing so much on Drogba, but it's just another 'what if' moment.

We didn't take our chances in the 1st leg when we were on top, and we didn't create anything in the 2nd leg. We're out and deservedly so.

S4P2 wrote:I've been critical of Makelele in the past few months, but he was world class last night. Didn't let Gerrard make any of his 'trademark' bursts, because he was always in the right position.

Really? He lost the ball so many times, when he had control of it, he looked uneasy in making the pass. There were a few opportunites for Liverpool that had escalated from Makas mistakes.

Makelele kept everything simple, and along with Mikel seemed to be the only player who wanted to keep the ball on the floor. I think he misplaced 1 pass all night, and was never hurried, nor bullied off the ball.

I wouldn't have had Shevchenko take a penalty

to be honest i thought that Essien, Drogba or Terry should have stepped up

Cesc wrote:I can see some more big money signings from Chelsea this Summer.

It'll be difficult for them this year...I know I say this every year, but this year all the big clubs in Europe will really be going all out to make big signings. Probably only Man. Utd., Arsenal, and Valencia will stay relatively quiet.

Otherwise we'll have Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Inter, Milan, Liverpool, Chelsea, Bayern, etc. all with plenty of cash and needing some urgent signings ranging from 3-4 (Barcelona and Inter) to as many as 6-7 (Milan).