Lets face it. Whether we like it or not the deep defending tactics of Chelsea were winners over Barcelona in their first leg 0-0 draw at the Nou Camp.
Chelsea was an immovable object in front of goalkeeper Peter Cech who made the saves he needed to. In the end Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o and Thierry Henry were an after-thought as the Catalan stars were rubbed out by space killing Chelsea who had a chance or two on the break through Didier Drogba.
Barcelona continued to remain true to trying to break Chelsea down central and came within a pass numerous times of doing it yet it was hard to over-look the fact that rarely did they use the width of the field .
Even when they had chances Chelsea players harrassed and altered shooting opportunities from the Barca stars.
The final minutes gave the feeling that Pep Guardiola’s squad might just produce a goal but 18 year old Bojan Kirkic headed over the bar while a bizzare sequence saw Michael Ballack injured keep Barcelona on side only to see them not take advantage.
So now the questions will follow the La Liga side who is so revered for their attacking soccer. Can they win at Chelsea and prove out their superiority in La Liga? Lyon of France and Bayern Munich of Germany were dispensed easily but how about this team called Chelsea.
Rafa Marquez for Barcelona went off injured and Carlos Puyol will not be available in the second leg at the Bridge. Mission accomplished for Chelsea while Barcelona will get labeled for the time being for not being able to deal with a hard hitting, space killing English squad. In the end this was not an attacking spectacle but now both teams will have to pick their moment to open up in England. Are we staring at another all English Champions League final with few English players actually playing?
Have your say?
Chelsea tactics stifle free flowing Barcelona…….
April 28, 2009 13 Comments
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Glenn,
It was a great performance by Chelsea’s defense, especially after that 4-4 draw against Liverpool. When you are playing three strikers that have combined for 90 goals on the season, and you shut them down, THAT IS IMPRESSIVE. Now, we have to listen to people talk about how it was not attractive football and Pep is already talking about one side playing football and the other wasn’t, but this is just the first half of a two match series, and Chelsea did their job.
Drogba should have finished the opportunity he had, but you give credit to Valdez for the save he made. Other than that, I think Bosingwa was world class in his defending of Messi (did he play in the second half?) and I think the midfield combination of Mikel and Ballack did a great job of stifling Iniesta and Xavi. Drogba worked his butt off up top and was solid. Again, Guus Hiddink did an amazing job of preparing the Blues for this game and I have a feeling you will see something different in London.
I think Barca loses this game next week. I think the loss of both Puyol and Marquez will be too much for Barcelona to overcome, and if Chelsea plays their 4-4-2 with Drogba and Anelka up top, goals will come. I am predicting a 3-2 Chelsea win in the second leg, and whoever gets out of the Assenal/Manure semi-final will face the best team in the world. Honestly, I am hoping that a giant hole will open up in the middle of Old Trafford tomorrow and swallow all of the United Scum and Dirty Gooners and we will never had to hear from them again!
Call today ugly football, but us Chelsea fans will call it effective and by the end of May, we will call ourselves Champions of Europe!
Ugly football was not the word I used during the entire match. The 30 fouls by Chelsea, that went essentially unpunished by the german crew, to Barca’s 5 fouls was a disgrace to football. Lampard and Terry, the only english players on the field, were absolutely atrociuos. Anti football is sometimes effective but only when horrible refs allow it. Ashley Cole, best left back in the world???? Do you know who Danny Alves is??? We will see if he can contain Messi in England. Barca 1, Chelsea 1. Barca advances.
Coach H, I must say you’re no different then the Man U and Gunners, you have a team that succeeds because of a Russian millionaire, and then you claim Ballack and Mikel were great at stiffling Iniesta & Xavi? More like they were good at fouling them every time and the ref not giving them rightfully earned yellow cards from the start! Puyol gets called for the 1st foul he committed, are you serious? Chelsea doens’t have the talent to sit next to Barca and almost 20 shots to 4 that Chelsea had and 70 – 30% possession proves it, not to mention the 30- 5 fouls comitted, the only 2 chances Chelsea had were from a blunt childish mistake of a player who was obviously not prepared after playing in 2 games a week for a month!
Barca do have Milito, I know he hasn’t been playing a long time, but he was supposed to be trainning in March, so I hope he is ready, Caceres is a good central defender too with interntional experience at the Uruguayian national team, also we could always use Sylvinho as central defender with plenty of Champions experience, hell could even add Keite or Busquets to the middle with Yaya Toure and play with 2 defensive mids to clog the middle and return the favor of locking down Anelka and Drogba, only difference is Barca can make things happen! Barca just needs to tie with goals to go thru, but I hope they beat Chelsea in their own Stamford Bridge so they take a lesson from the best team in the world who actually field players from their country in every line! Valdez, Puyol, Pique, xavi & Iniesta, plus Busquets, Bojan, Pedro ready is proof of what a great “Cantera” we have at Barca, get ready Chelsea, you’re going to get what you deserve!
Are you guys kidding me? Danny Alves? You touched him and he went down like he was shot. He should have been shown yellows for Dissent, Diving, and then that foul where Malouda beat him and all he could do was grab him and drag him down. His antics are worse than any United player I have ever seen. Give me a break.
There were a lot of fouls both way that were not called so don’t tell me how dirty a team Chelsea is and how great Barcelona is. Essien was fouled at least 5 times and was never once given a call. His style of play was completely ruined by the official. Mikel has Toure literally jump on his back and he is called for a foul. 20 fouls whistled on Chelsea and 7 whistled on Barcelona shows that the referee was not partial in this match. It is a UEFA conspiracy led by Platini to keep Chelsea out of the Champions League Final because of his disdain for English Football.
If you don’t like the style of football Chelsea played last night, who cares? Join the long line of Barcelona cry babies that are whining about it. Your powerful offense got SHUT DOWN by a determined Chelsea defense, Petr Cech made some fantastic saves, and your precious Barca could not put the ball in the net when they had the chances. In the Round of 16 and the Quarterfinals, Barcelona had scored a total of 9 goals at home, and Chelsea knew they could not afford that, so they defended with the lives! Plain and Simple.
Chelsea need to come out at the Bridge and play like they used to when they had that long unbeaten streak there. No prisoners. Chelsea 3 Barca 2.
Then we will listen to all of you guys whine about Barca not bot having their starting center backs. The referee missed calls. Chelsea played ugly at the Camp Nou.
Memo to all you Barca whiners, you can join the Assenal and Manure whiners today and watch that game. You might watch a team socre some goals, you remember what those are?
Arrogant whining Bartha fans…what a shock. Last time I checked, Roman Abramovich wasn’t on the pitch yesterday so he’s not the reason Bartha failed. Just like our English rival fans, if its not Roman’s money, or this, or that, it’s always some excuse besides the fact that CHELSEA ARE A DAMN GOOD FOOTBALL CLUB.
Chelsea’s formation and tactics were unorthodox due to injury and suspension so their goal was to live and fight another day and they succeeded. With a nil-nil result, Hiddink outcoached Guardiola, simple as. On 70/30 possession, the world’s best frontline (or so we’re told) couldn’t manage a single goal, and very few chances against a patchwork Chelsea backline, simple as. And its hard to admit Bartha fans but SHREEEK…BARTHA FAILED AT HOME! Given the circumstances, a draw at Camp Nou was a win for Chelsea, simple as.
Bartha are not invincible. They roll other clubs but newsflash, Chelsea ain’t Lyon or Bayern. Fact is English teams have become accustomed to kicking them around for years now (sans 2006). They didn’t anticipate or adapt to Chelsea’s (English) physical style of play and got worked. It took a Messi dive and Del Horno red card at Stamford Bridge last time just to get a draw so I see no reason to think a full squad Chelsea can’t do a crippled Bartha back in London. And mark my words, Drogba is a monster at home and will be a factor in the second leg.
And please, what’s this yak about we don’t field English players? In fact, we currently employ four…THAT’S FOUR English internationals in Terry, A. Cole, Lampard, J. Cole. (who all start when healthy and on every line btw) as well as U21-U17 internationals Mancienne, Sinclair, Woods, Smith, Hutchinson, Mellis. Chelsea recently moved two other English internationals out in Wayne Bridge and Shaun Wright-Phillips so anyone claiming that Chelsea don’t field English players in their starting eleven and reserves has no clue what they’re talking about, or is apparently too busy reading Bartha message board propaganda.
Bartha blew it. It’ll be another ManU-Chelsea final in Rome.
Keep telling yourself all you want about how great Chelsea is, the fact is Hiddink did indeed prepare them well for this game, but for you to say they field a lot of English players in every line is absurd, Anelka & Drogba are French and Ivory Coast players last time I checked, Essien, Ballack and Mikel aren’t English, Alex and Ivanovic aren’t English either, so at best you have 2 defenders and 2 mids if they all start, we have 2 or 3 mids and 2 or 2 spaniards on defense with Puyol and Pique plus the goalie! And the best Forward off the bench who plays all our cup games is the future of Spanish striking!
Chelsea got away with murder with call after call, Essien blocked Toure from the ball illegaly any retard would know that!
Keep dreaming about how good you are, at this pace Man U would beat you easily with a better collection of international stars, you keep thinking that England and the EPL are the almighty of the world, the fact is you take away Mascherano & Torres from Liverpool and you Benitez has nothing, you take away Ronaldo and Tevez, and trust me Rooney doesn’t do no where near as much with all the pressure on him, you take away Essien and dirty Ballack from Chelsea and they’re nothing, I can’t wait for next week so we can eliminate you on your own damn turf!
For you to think that you got screwed out of call yesterday is just plain denial, know you’re a fan, but be realistic, Chelsea fouled all they long, good luck being realistic! You probably think England under Capello are among the best and deserve a seeding in Europe too huh?
The only shot you got came off a huge infantile error, from a player that was obviously not ready and fatigued from playing 2 games a week for a month!
Chelsea the greatest team in the world is laughable, and Drogba is underrated, he may score some goals in EPL because he knows how to be physical and dirty in a very physical league, but I would love to see him succeed at Spain or Germany!
Edwin…in a word…chill. You sound like some infantile teenager running off at the mouth because your team got worked over, which is understandable because…well frankly…YOUR TEAM GOT WORKED OVER!
And stop putting words in my mouth friend. I never said Chelsea field “A LOT of English players ON EVERY LINE”. Those were your words, not mine. I’m well aware of our player’s nationalities and their positions, no doubt better than you sir. My point was to address your ridiculous claims that Chelsea have few English players when its quite obvious to anyone that can read, this claim is blatantly false.
But to be quite honest, it matters not. At the highest level, football is a global game in which the best teams field the best players regardless of where they were born. That’s the world we live in TODAY. If you want to cling to the old-fashioned notion that top clubs are built from the ground up by their academies then all I can say is continue to enjoy your early Champions League exits w/all you home grown talent. I mean good for you if you get some false sense of Spanish nationalism over your club. I’m real happy that you can one up me on how many Spaniards are in the Bartha midfield vs Chelsea’s but did it ever occur to you that some of the players you blather over are at Barca and in La Liga because they can’t cut it in English football? But here’s the really bitter dose of reality for you my friend. Boot the Cameroonian, the Frog, and the little Argentine off your squad and Bartha couldn’t beat Numancia best two out of three. They would be mid table at best in La Liga without their internationals so wake up. Don’t kid yourself, if Bartha could win the treble fielding 11 Uzbeks, THEY’D DO IT IN A HEARTBEAT. You know it and I know it, so please, save the national pride speech for someone else.
And what’s with the anti EPL rant? You would seriously have us believe that by stripping Mascherano, Torres, Ronaldo and Tevez off United and Liverpool that they would simply collapse and English football’s quality would simply evaporate to the level of the Danish league? Not sure if you’re up on your football history but Sir Alex, ManU, and Liverpool were relatively successful clubs long before those shmucks ever showed up. And here’s another newsflash. If for some reason, those players left at the end of this season…and they could btw…United and Liverpool would simply reload and replace them with players of equal quality be they English, German, Spanish or Australian Aborigines as would Chelsea.
I’d say good luck next week but you and your homespun Bartha worldbeaters don’t need luck. What you will need come Wednesday, however, is another long list of excuses why Chelsea kicked your ass and bounced you out of Europe AGAIN!
CAREFREE!
Actually you were the one who said you field 4 players when healthy on all lines, last time I checked the forwards when healthy are Drogba and Anelka, those are not English so no you don’t field English players at every line.
I could careless about what you think I’m doing, what I’m stating is the facts, Chelsea came in too scared to play to score and got lucky on stupid misses by our guys 3 times! But the way that Chelsea hackers like the Natzi and Essien where kicking all game was just wrong! but then Puyol committs a foul on a Chelsea player and automatic yellow, it’s whatever, I don’t make excuses, is just that for you to say that Chelsea is the best team in the world, when they haven’t even been the best team in England is absurd! I love how you get all offended when I talk about your team and the FACTS about them and you try some lame shot at my team by calling them Bartha, is that some lame British insult?
As to why I took the shot at the EPL, I’m tired of everyone claiming how the EPL is this and that when is just like every other league, there’s 4 premiere clubs and that is it! It makes the most money that is for sure, not sure why because it is very lacking in style sometimes. The one things I’ll give the EPL is speed and long range goals, but honestly some of the games in the EPL are horrible compared to some in Germany, France, Spain and even Italy when they are good because they are the worst of the big leagues, but it has more to do with your usual classic arrogant attitude of all English people, probably think that everything English is gold!
And for you’re information I’m not from Spain, I’m part of the best country in the world, the one that kicked the English out of America and then rescued them when Hitler was beating them senseless! But I grew up watching Barcelona and have loved them since I was 5, tried watching English teams but it was just a boring match after another, liked Man U till they got snobby, rooted for the Gunners when Bergkamp was there but also got arrogant and liked Chelsea till they started buying every player possible, so I’ll stick with Everton and Fulham and maybe Aston Villa since there are about 5 US players there, I love Tevez but I can’t support his club anymore specially since they won’t play him!
I’m wondering who are you refering to as the frog?
You realize Bojan can replace Messi not to the same level but certainly to about 70% and he is all but what 18? I’m not saying is wrong to field international players, but to field on average 7 of them is just wrong! And honeslty It’s rare to see Terry, Lampard, J Cole and A Cole at the same time, most of the time I read fixtures is Terry, Lamapard and one of the Coles.
Good luck man, I wonder what you’ll do when Guss leaves?
Oh and yeah Barca till I die, never afraid to defend my team to fan of the nation Maradona schooled!
As to your question about why spaniards don’t make it in the EPL, well there’s a few I can think of but is probably because of how physical and at times dirty the EPL is, although I’m pretty sure Liverpool starts like 4 or 5 a lot in Reina, Torres, Xavi Alonso and I forget the defender’s name, plus Arsenal has Cesc, so it’s changing, but why don’t u see ANY English players in ANY league other than MLS?
I admire your passion but slow down Eddie.
Let me correct you on something son. I’m not at all offended by your jabs at Chelsea or me for that matter. What does offend me, however, is football related stupidity and its abundantly clear that you’re none too short of that. I mean…like dude…you’re all over the map again and you’re flat out wrong on most of your basic points, insults, and mindless rants such that I hardly know where to start.
First, if you want to have a go at England, go right ahead! But before you get carpal tunnel typing all your anti-England/Chelsea noise, you should know I was born and raised right here in HOUSTON. Now how is that for a lightbulb moment? Right about now I’d say you look pretty foolish for dragging the American Revolution and Hitler into a football blog but that’s just me. Word of advice. If you want that kind of off-topic low brow banter, head on over to Big Soccer.
Second, you’re havin’ a laff if you think the Maradona dig got under my skin. Diego Maradona was my boyhood idol, as was Johann Cruyff, and later Romario…and yes, I’m well aware they all played for Bartha. Unlike myopic fans of some clubs, I possess the ability to admire and appreciate players from other clubs as well as other clubs themselves. I have no problem saying Bartha is a great club but for some reason I never hear supporters of other clubs say the same about Chelsea through their streams of jealous broken record “rich owner” grumblings. Go ahead…I dare you to say Frank Lampard is a great player and Chelsea are a great club.
Third, regarding your nauseating “Spanish on every line” argument that led to my even more nauseating “Englishmen on every line” counter argument. You’re leaving out Joe Cole who has been injured most of the season. He’s not a striker but he is a forward. Regardless of being listed as a midfielder in some places, he starts up front on the right wing in Chelsea’s 4-3-3 and plays advanced forward positions when they go to a 4-4-2. So let’s review Chelsea’s TYPICAL STARTING ELEVEN shall we? John Terry and Ashley Cole at the back, Frank Lampard in midfield and Joe Cole up front. End of. There, are you now convinced? Another word of advice, don’t try to one up someone about details of their own club once you’re proven wrong. It only makes you look silly and since I’m only halfway through this post, you already need all the help you can get.
Fourth, and this is probably the most dumbfounded one of all because it ties directly into the last point. Since Bartha started FOUR Spaniards on Tuesday, and Chelsea would have started FOUR Englishmen had Ashley Cole not been suspended and Joe Cole injured, please explain to me where this “few English players” bollocks comes from? I’m just a simpleton Texas Chelsea fan but with 4 for Bartha and 4 for Chelsea, the math looks pretty similar to me. If you’re going to rail on Chelsea for not fielding English players, then get an abacus, or learn to count because it would appear BY YOUR OWN STANDARDS that Bartha apparently don’t field Spanish players either.
Fifth, read before you rant. YOU said that I SAID Chelsea were “the best team in the world”. Not only are you wrong, you’re dead wrong. You won’t find that statement in any of my posts on this thread so please stop you’re nonsensical rabbit chasing when your basic premise is based on something I never said. For someone who keeps mentioning FACTS, try to get yours straight. In fact, right now I DON’T think Chelsea are the best team in the world and I have been highly critical this season of Chelsea ON THIS BLOG and in particular, Scolari before he was sacked. What I do believe is that Chelsea are one of the top three or four clubs in the world and our position in the best domestic league in the world and the CL semi-finals is all the proof you need. This time next week, I look forward to laying claim at being one of the best TWO club teams in the world.
Sixth, “The Frog” I referred to is Henry because in case you didn’t know…HE’S FRENCH and NOT SPANISH. This means your frontline is more often stacked w/three internationals who AREN’T SPANISH which sorta blows the doors off your Spanish on every line argument you seem to be so fond of. Sure Bojan plays but he rarely starts in matches of consequence and barring injury to your big three, next week will be no different. I use the term “Frog” because my former French boss (and Marseille fan btw) used the term to describe himself and his people and I think self-deprecating humor is funny. If a Frenchman can use the term in open public meetings, it seems appropriate enough for me. I also find it far less offensive than say… calling Michael Ballack a Nazi. Don’t you?
Lastly, I use the term Bartha because again…its funny. I have friends FROM CATALONIA mind you who pronounce Barca as “BARTHA” and Barcelona as “BARTHAlona”. Surely a massive Bartha fan like yourself has heard the term from your own supporters so I’m a little taken back that you’d see this as a dig? For the record, I also chuckle when I hear the golfer Jose Maria Olazabel’s name pronounced OlaTHABEL. If you really don’t like the term or pronunciation of Bartha (or Olathabel), might I suggest you take it up w/the Catalan people and not me?
Since I don’t have the time or desire to keep correcting mistakes and misstatements about myself, England, Chelsea, or your own club for that matter Edwin, this will be my last post on this thread. As a usual contributor to the blog, I will be more than happy to weigh in next week regardless of whether Chelsea win or lose. Since you’re a passionate supporter of your club, I expect you’ll be there as well…win OR LOSE.
Barcelona Front Line:
Thierry Henry–France
Samuel Eto–Cameroon
Leo Messi–Argentina
Where is the Spaniard?
Well, it’s funny, you took everything as a challenge from being offended! I just wanted to figure out if you were just hating on Barcelona or what man, chill with your defesiveness towards any question of mine!
I just wondered who the frog is? The Bartha think I was curious, and is merely an accent, just like in Texas you get a southern accent every now and then! Spanish peeps pronounce the s and z in the Spanish alphabet with a th sound, but is more like daffy speaking or a weird duck sounding person, is just a regional accent, I wouldn’t of tought of it since we were posting in English, completely different mind set, and even from Latin American spanish, Castellano is very different in pronounciation!
I never said we Start Spaniards at EVERY line, I said we field them at every line, but you’re right, Bojan is a sub, but he is the first choice, in case you didn’t notice he played almost all the Cup games and when they secured the group in CL!
Next week you can count Valdez, Pique, Iniesta, Xavi and possibly Busquets, if it wasn’t for the yellow silly card, it would be like this saturday, Valdez, Pique, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta & possibly Busquets with Bojan still off the bench!
First, on your 1st correction, I never said you were from England, if fact I was making it clear that I wasn’t from Spain, therefore the rant on England & WWII, sorry man proud to be an American, aren’t you? The English hate us and they usually have a very snobby looking down on the US approach and gloat about the EPL and their inconsistant team, so I make sure I defend my country and challenge the English arrogance! So yeah I’m not sure how you correctd me on your 1st point, I never said you were from England! I just realized I been debating with 2 Chelsea fans, so my apoligies for assuming some things were coming from you, they were also from Wren
Second, your 2nd correction of mine, not sure how you corrected me in anything, I said Maradona schooled them, now are you, or are you not a Chelsea/England & EPL fan? Maybe you’re just a Chelsea & EPL fan, but that still doesn’t make my statement untrue, I said I am a Barcelona fan till I die, and would be afraid to defend my team agains a fan of the nation Maradona schooled, my idol also, and the 2nd national team I support, I’ll let you guess the other one? So maybe you’re not English or a fan of England, but you’re a fan of English football in the EPL & Chelsea, my statement still isn’t false, I’ll defend my team against you, so tell me again how u corrected me in 2nd point?
Third, on your 3rd correction of me you claim I some how left off Joe Cole?
Here’s what I said:
“I’m not saying is wrong to field international players, but to field on average 7 of them is just wrong! And honeslty It’s rare to see Terry, Lampard, J Cole and A Cole at the same time, most of the time I read fixtures is Terry, Lamapard and one of the Coles.”
Here’s another statement where I acknowledged both Coles:
“…so at best you have 2 defenders and 2 mids if they all start, .. ”
Granted Joe Cole is forward, I see him mostly as a mid, but in any case I clearly made him part of their lineup, I said I hardly see both Coles on the field with Lampard & Terry! SO how did you correct me again? Barca hardly fields less then 5 Spaniards in Valdez, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta & Busquets, now that Marquez is getting old and Barca play for 3 tournaments deep every year Pique will be the 6th guy leaving the 3 forwards and 2 outside backs, maybe a Yaya Toure at times but not always! Notice when they do like Tuesday, 2 Spanish came in! Ended up with 6 on the field.
Fourth, on your 4th correction of me you claim Chelsea only fielded 2 because of injuried, didn’t I say you field 4 at best? So where’s the problem, I already told you 4? Barca have been playing with Pique & Puyol, Xavi & Iniesta and half the season with Busquets, then there’s Valdez with a total of 5 or 6, also remember Messi was from the Barca youth ranks, so is not like we bought him, that goes to Henry or “the frog” Yaya, Alves and Abidal, Eto’o nobody wanted him for some weird reason?
So yeah not sure where the correction is but I’ll give it to you, so far 1 out of 4.
Fifth, on your 5th correction of me I’ll consider this number 2, but I’ll rephrase it, you sound like Chelsea are better than Barca they aren’t!
Sixth, on your 6th correction of me you once again claim I said we start a spaniard on every line, I said we field a spaniard on every line, does Bojan not come in about 3/4 of the time for Henry or Messi? Does he not play all of our Cup games and last group games in CL? Did he not start recently when they played Recreativo Huelva? Has he not come in as a Sub in over half the games this month? 5 out of 8!
The whole Nazi label on Ballack is because I have never liked him since he went to Chelsea, I think he is a Nazi on the field, plays dirty and gets away with it like he did on Tuesday, guess you don’t mind the elbow he gave Iniesta, this is a guy who got schooled by Donovan, Beasley and company, never been impressed with him!
So for your last correction of mine, again you are assuming I took offense at it, I didn’t so you were the wrong one just like with the frog term, but you are mixing both 2 different languages and not even the more global version of Spanish with English, the use of th in Cataluna or anywhere in Spain for that matter is just an accent, you were typing Bartha, doesn’t sound the same to someone with no Spanish background, or in my case familiar with both some of the other Latin based languages!
So there, at best you have 2 out of 7, thanks for correcting me, but I believe not only did you make the longest post up until maybe my response to yours, so proves you do have the time, you also didn’t correct me 7 times which doesn’t show much for your debating abilites or the way to count corrections!
I will be here win or lose, and I will be rooting for Tim Howard to beat Chelsea! Didn’t you guys use 2 Barcelona rejects as subs? Althogh Belletti isn’t a reject, Rijkaard is an idiot for letting him go, that’s why he got a standing ovation when he came in, but Deco is the other reason the team fell apart with him & Ronaldinho!
Also didn’t Clint Dempsey single handedly beat you this season?
Are those apporpiate shots at you and your team?
Cheers Coach, love the passion on you side too, oh and btw, I do consider Chelsea among the best, but not in the top 3, they aren’t above Man U yet, kind of even with Liverpool but they’re trashing of Man U & Real speaks as much as their 7 CL cups, but Chelsea is probably about the top 5, in my opinion Inter could of given them a better run if healthy!
Can I buy you some wings and beer when I come to Houston to watch the Dynamo vs Galaxy in the name of good sportmanship?
I did go 111 words past yours, mainly because I tried calling a truce at the end!