Thursday, April 19, 2012

Chelsea v Barcelona 1st Leg Champs League Semi


So here goes nothing on the first analysis on this sight.  Chelsea and Barcelona lived up to the excitement and expectations of a clash of two soccer giants vying to go to a Champs League final.  For the first 15 minutes it looked to be Barca’s game.  Unfortunately for them it wouldn’t end up in their favor.
Chelsea almost gave up the first goal in the 9th minute to Alexis Sanchez but, as happened too often in this game, the Catalans couldn’t finish.  Maybe saying he couldn’t finish isn’t fair. It’s probably truer in this instance to say that they were unlucky.  The shot was a beautiful chip that got over Cech’s head but not under the cross bar.  Chelsea’s back line got caught looking for an offside call that wasn’t there and almost paid a dear price for it. 
Was it me or were there ALLOT of offside calls, especially in the first half of play? Not to say they were bad calls but good grief! Barca’s back line is a thing of beauty to watch at times and their offside trap was a textbook showing that all soccer coaches should show young (and maybe even some pro) players.  Really both back lines have to be commended in this game.  Terry and Cahill both had an amazing showing shutting down Messi up the middle, which is NOT an easy thing to do.  And Ashley Cole was one of the hardest working men on the field for Chelsea the entire match both defensively and a few times on offense. In fact his kick off the line of an unreal chip was arguably the play of the game. It was most certainly the defensive play of the game.
I don’t know however that anyone worked as hard on the field as Drogba did at times. What can be said about his finishing that hasn’t already.  With the only goal coming off a great steal by Terry (stolen from Messi no less) combined with a smart and unselfish cross from Ramires, Drogba buried the ball quickly and concisely. He also had some very nice defensive work in the final 15 minutes. OK…. With that said can we please address how many time’s he was laying on the ground grabbing some “injured” body part and screaming in anguish. I understand that drawing a foul and playing things up a bit are part of the game…..but COME ON!  Did anyone else think that maybe he should have drawn a card for diving at some point?? The only injury he actually had was a nut shot towards the last 10 minutes. (ouch…)
The only player that had almost zero influence on this game for Chelsea was Juan Mata. I really like Mata and think he’s been a great addition for Chelsea but whether he was tired from the previous FA Cup match or just off his game he was persona non grata.  He was subbed in the 75th minute for Kalou but I think that was about 15 minutes to late. 
The exact opposite of Mata’s performance was the play of Ramires for Chelsea. He seemed to be everywhere at all times and was an integral part of both Chelsea’s linking play AND shutting down the Catalan attack in the final 20 minutes, not to mention the beautiful assist on Drogba’s goal. He’s not a player I’ve noticed much before but he’s one I’ll be paying much more attention to.
It just seemed that Barcelona couldn’t get properly organized all the way through the run of play. And when they did the finishing let them down. Kudos does have to be given with the way Chelsea shut them down especially in the final 20 minutes by gang tackling and playing 8 stacked back on defense once they had the lead.  Credit has to go to Chelsea for taking their chances when given and making sure Barcelona had as few as possible.
Barcelona did have a few nice chances in the final half of play but just couldn’t finish.  In the 57th Sanchez missed from about 6 feet out when he received and amazing chip over the top from Cesc Fabregas.  To be fair though it was a very tight shot and his first touch wasn’t 100%. One of Barcelona’s biggest problems was set pieces.  The only decent one they had wasn’t until the 87th minute and Petr Cech made a great save off of Puyol’s header.  The last 5 minutes of this game were a heart breaker for Barcelona as they just couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net no matter how many chances they had.
Of course it could be argued that this game may as well have been a 0-0 draw for Chelsea as going to the Nou Camp is NEVER an easy thing.  I’m interested to hear people’s opinions on whether or not Robert Di Matteo should be the full time coach at Chelsea. It seems to me that he’s woken this team up and whatever he’s doing the team is responding. Whether it’s Di Matteo or that it’s NOT Villas-Boas I’m not sure but I believe he’s earned an appointment as the skipper.
Well I guess that’s all for me for now! Please tell your friends and fellow soccer fiends about the new blog and please give me some feedback on what you think. Also please follow me on Twitter @SoccerNutBlog.

Thanks!

Jay N
               

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