Well done Chelsea. Now please, do this to Cityhahahah
Well if Tevez plays our chances our smaller without a doubt. Its basicly like starting the game 1-0 down.
The Chelsea Thread
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Well if Tevez plays our chances our smaller without a doubt. Its basicly like starting the game 1-0 down.
markodragojevic
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I just cant believe Mancini took him back after what he did. I remember when Mancini said there is no way back for Tevez...
Well the team look a little bit stale so he has had no choice. Makes him look weak as a manager though.
Huh?
Post above mine that i deleted
Deleting any post criticising Garry Neville? Abuse of power there!
Muhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
SThompson93
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My Evil knows no ends....
Ah, OK.
Chelsea 4-1 Napoli: Napoli unable to defend crosses
March 15, 2012
The starting line-ups
Chelsea produced an impressive display to qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals.
Roberto Di Matteo chose a rough 4-2-3-1 system, with Daniel Sturridge wide on the right, and Ramires tucked in on the left.
Walter Mazzarri named his expected side – Juan Zuniga in ahead of Andrea Dossena was the only small debate in his selection. Zuniga got the nod, but then had to move to the right once Christian Maggio picked up an injury, and Dossena came on down the left.
This was an entertaining game with either side being ‘ahead’ in the tie at two separate points – Chelsea came out on top, though it wasn’t a particularly enthralling tactical battle.
Napoli leave two up
The major point of interest in the first half was that Napoli left both Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani very high up the pitch, in a sense replicating the tactics used by Basel last night at Bayern, but also continuing the strategy from the first leg, where Lavezzi played very high up and exploited the space in behind Branislav Ivanovic.
But Lavezzi often remained quite central when Chelsea had the ball – as did Cavani. There was no attempt for Napoli to retreat into the 5-4-1 shape they often form without the ball, presumably as they wanted to offer a continued attacking threat.
To a certain extent they did – Napoli broke well in the first half, although their decision-making in the opposition half was often poor, and a couple of sloppy passes let them down.
But further back it caused problems. Marek Hamsik dropped deep and played as an extra midfielder, but on the opposite flank Napoli had little protection, with Walter Gargano forced to move across to that side. If he couldn’t, then the wing-back would move up the pitch and deal with the danger, and the relevant centre-back would move across into the full-back position. In theory that worked OK, but Napoli were terrible at putting pressure upon the man with the ball in the wide zones. The first goal, for example, came when Ramires was given all the time in the world to put a cross into the box, and Didier Drogba was exactly the man to thrive on this opportunity.
Napoli won 6-3 at the weekend against Cagliari, but all three goals they conceded were headers scored by Joaquin Larrivey, a basic number nine – this is suddenly something they’re vulnerable to (which is bizarre considering their system, which features three centre-backs and decent width on both sides). Morgan De Sanctis also flapped at an early corner, indicating he wasn’t happy with the ball being delivered from wide either.
But the problem continued, with John Terry completely free to head in at the start of the second from a corner. Even the corner had been conceded when Hugo Campagnaro headed behind under no pressure, suggesting poor communication – then from the corner, Gokhan Inler’s marking was non-existent. Lampard’s third came from a penalty, conceded after yet more poor marking from a corner.
Despite this clear weakness and Chelsea taking advantage, the home side weren’t doing their best to exploit the problems. Di Matteo persisted with right-footed Ramires on the left (granted, he provided the assist for the goal, but he’s hardly a classic winger, and certainly not on the left) and Sturridge on the right. Even more strangely, Fernando Torres replaced Sturridge later on, and started off playing on the right – again, he wasn’t likely to provide good service for Drogba.
It took until extra time for Di Matteo to realise the potential. He removed Juan Mata, who had been quiet, and introduced a player comfortable playing down the left, Florent Malouda. Ramires went to the right, and Torres went upfront. 4-4-2. Now Chelsea had two players in more comfortable wide roles, and two strikers in the box to get on the end of crosses. Chelsea were now more direct – see De Sanctis’ error for Torres’ missed open goal (from a narrow angle).
Eventually the fourth did come from a cross, of sorts. The combination of Drogba and Ivanovic wasn’t what the formation had intended, but the move did come after Ramires went down the outside on the right.
Other features
The game wasn’t all about Chelsea delivery from wide areas, of course. Napoli were surprisingly shapeless throughout the game, particularly in extra time when they seemed to tire quickly. Inler’s goal was excellent, but he gave the ball away too often, both with passes and failed dribbles. Walter Gargano was also disappointing, with a pass completion rate down at 67% compared to his usual 82%, although he would argue that his job was to prompt quick attacks with direct passes.
Chelsea did all the physical aspects of the game well – they won over two-thirds of the aerial duels, Ramires provided great energy from midfield and continued driving well into extra-time, and the substitutes gave them more freshness – Napoli’s two (tactical) changes came in extra-time when Chelsea were sitting deep behind the ball, and they didn’t enjoy the benefit of fresh legs.
Conclusion
Napoli broke well in the first quarter of an hour, but even then they didn’t look at their best with the ball. They needed to score in that period, because the constant balls into the box from Chelsea were defended terribly, and the limitations of three fairly average centre-backs (with the slight exception of Paolo Cannavaro) were highlighted. These are midtable Serie A players competing in the knockout round of the Champions League, and unfortunately they weren’t up to scratch. Like Basel, their gameplan depended upon sitting deep then breaking – but you have to be able to deal with the constant pressure, and defend the penalty box well.
However, Drogba was excellent. This was the old-style Drogba – the target of route one balls and crosses compared to the neater, tidier link-up man Andre Villas-Boas wanted:
March 15, 2012
The starting line-ups
Chelsea produced an impressive display to qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals.
Roberto Di Matteo chose a rough 4-2-3-1 system, with Daniel Sturridge wide on the right, and Ramires tucked in on the left.
Walter Mazzarri named his expected side – Juan Zuniga in ahead of Andrea Dossena was the only small debate in his selection. Zuniga got the nod, but then had to move to the right once Christian Maggio picked up an injury, and Dossena came on down the left.
This was an entertaining game with either side being ‘ahead’ in the tie at two separate points – Chelsea came out on top, though it wasn’t a particularly enthralling tactical battle.
Napoli leave two up
The major point of interest in the first half was that Napoli left both Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani very high up the pitch, in a sense replicating the tactics used by Basel last night at Bayern, but also continuing the strategy from the first leg, where Lavezzi played very high up and exploited the space in behind Branislav Ivanovic.
But Lavezzi often remained quite central when Chelsea had the ball – as did Cavani. There was no attempt for Napoli to retreat into the 5-4-1 shape they often form without the ball, presumably as they wanted to offer a continued attacking threat.
To a certain extent they did – Napoli broke well in the first half, although their decision-making in the opposition half was often poor, and a couple of sloppy passes let them down.
But further back it caused problems. Marek Hamsik dropped deep and played as an extra midfielder, but on the opposite flank Napoli had little protection, with Walter Gargano forced to move across to that side. If he couldn’t, then the wing-back would move up the pitch and deal with the danger, and the relevant centre-back would move across into the full-back position. In theory that worked OK, but Napoli were terrible at putting pressure upon the man with the ball in the wide zones. The first goal, for example, came when Ramires was given all the time in the world to put a cross into the box, and Didier Drogba was exactly the man to thrive on this opportunity.
Napoli won 6-3 at the weekend against Cagliari, but all three goals they conceded were headers scored by Joaquin Larrivey, a basic number nine – this is suddenly something they’re vulnerable to (which is bizarre considering their system, which features three centre-backs and decent width on both sides). Morgan De Sanctis also flapped at an early corner, indicating he wasn’t happy with the ball being delivered from wide either.
But the problem continued, with John Terry completely free to head in at the start of the second from a corner. Even the corner had been conceded when Hugo Campagnaro headed behind under no pressure, suggesting poor communication – then from the corner, Gokhan Inler’s marking was non-existent. Lampard’s third came from a penalty, conceded after yet more poor marking from a corner.
Despite this clear weakness and Chelsea taking advantage, the home side weren’t doing their best to exploit the problems. Di Matteo persisted with right-footed Ramires on the left (granted, he provided the assist for the goal, but he’s hardly a classic winger, and certainly not on the left) and Sturridge on the right. Even more strangely, Fernando Torres replaced Sturridge later on, and started off playing on the right – again, he wasn’t likely to provide good service for Drogba.
It took until extra time for Di Matteo to realise the potential. He removed Juan Mata, who had been quiet, and introduced a player comfortable playing down the left, Florent Malouda. Ramires went to the right, and Torres went upfront. 4-4-2. Now Chelsea had two players in more comfortable wide roles, and two strikers in the box to get on the end of crosses. Chelsea were now more direct – see De Sanctis’ error for Torres’ missed open goal (from a narrow angle).
Eventually the fourth did come from a cross, of sorts. The combination of Drogba and Ivanovic wasn’t what the formation had intended, but the move did come after Ramires went down the outside on the right.
Other features
The game wasn’t all about Chelsea delivery from wide areas, of course. Napoli were surprisingly shapeless throughout the game, particularly in extra time when they seemed to tire quickly. Inler’s goal was excellent, but he gave the ball away too often, both with passes and failed dribbles. Walter Gargano was also disappointing, with a pass completion rate down at 67% compared to his usual 82%, although he would argue that his job was to prompt quick attacks with direct passes.
Chelsea did all the physical aspects of the game well – they won over two-thirds of the aerial duels, Ramires provided great energy from midfield and continued driving well into extra-time, and the substitutes gave them more freshness – Napoli’s two (tactical) changes came in extra-time when Chelsea were sitting deep behind the ball, and they didn’t enjoy the benefit of fresh legs.
Conclusion
Napoli broke well in the first quarter of an hour, but even then they didn’t look at their best with the ball. They needed to score in that period, because the constant balls into the box from Chelsea were defended terribly, and the limitations of three fairly average centre-backs (with the slight exception of Paolo Cannavaro) were highlighted. These are midtable Serie A players competing in the knockout round of the Champions League, and unfortunately they weren’t up to scratch. Like Basel, their gameplan depended upon sitting deep then breaking – but you have to be able to deal with the constant pressure, and defend the penalty box well.
However, Drogba was excellent. This was the old-style Drogba – the target of route one balls and crosses compared to the neater, tidier link-up man Andre Villas-Boas wanted:
It was a great night at Stamford Bridge. The players showed up and worked hard and eventually got the much deserved win. Its not like we dominated the match, Napoli had several chances but ultimately some gritty defending by the likes of Luiz paid off.
I thought the match really depended on which of the 'big' strikers performed well. Cavani had a couple of decent chances but it was Drogba who stole the show. He constantly terrorized the Napoli defence with his muscular brutality. Lavezzi was very good as well but he did not get enough support from the other Napoli players.
Juan Mata cut a quiet figure for most of the match. Whenever he got the ball, he was closed down very early by the Napoli players. The problem is that Juan Mata is constantly forced to come deep to get the ball which ultimately limits what he can do. He is best when he gets the ball in the final third but the lack of a deep-lying playmaker in our team is really hurting our player. We could be so much better if we had someone who can just stay deep and spray out passes to a attacking 4 in the final third.
I thought Ivanovic was very good as well. Made some great incisive runs down the right and defended well.
All in all, a great night to remember at Stamford Bridge where we overturned a 2 goal deficit against a team many believed would massacre us. The Quarter Final draw is on Friday and hopefully we get either Marseille or APOEL
Friday is a important day for another reason as well as it is the first leg for our FA Youth Cup Semi-Final against Manchester United. A win in the FA Youth Cup along with a win against Leicester City in the FA Cup would round off a great week for the club. Oh yeah and hopefully getting APOEL in the Champions League to put the icing on the cake
I thought the match really depended on which of the 'big' strikers performed well. Cavani had a couple of decent chances but it was Drogba who stole the show. He constantly terrorized the Napoli defence with his muscular brutality. Lavezzi was very good as well but he did not get enough support from the other Napoli players.
Juan Mata cut a quiet figure for most of the match. Whenever he got the ball, he was closed down very early by the Napoli players. The problem is that Juan Mata is constantly forced to come deep to get the ball which ultimately limits what he can do. He is best when he gets the ball in the final third but the lack of a deep-lying playmaker in our team is really hurting our player. We could be so much better if we had someone who can just stay deep and spray out passes to a attacking 4 in the final third.
I thought Ivanovic was very good as well. Made some great incisive runs down the right and defended well.
All in all, a great night to remember at Stamford Bridge where we overturned a 2 goal deficit against a team many believed would massacre us. The Quarter Final draw is on Friday and hopefully we get either Marseille or APOEL
Friday is a important day for another reason as well as it is the first leg for our FA Youth Cup Semi-Final against Manchester United. A win in the FA Youth Cup along with a win against Leicester City in the FA Cup would round off a great week for the club. Oh yeah and hopefully getting APOEL in the Champions League to put the icing on the cake
Chelsea have signed a three year-deal to play in a U-19 Competition known as the NEXTGEN series.
I am presuming this competition is a step up from the English Reserve League as the clubs participating include the likes of Ajax, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Sporting Lisbon. All these are famed academies which have produced some of the finest players in the world. If clubs do field their best youth team in this tournament, then this will be a good gauge as to where our youngsters stand alongside Europe's best youth academies.
Also it will also provide more opportunities for our youngsters to gain competitive match practice which can only be a good thing.
Source: Chelsea FC
I am presuming this competition is a step up from the English Reserve League as the clubs participating include the likes of Ajax, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Sporting Lisbon. All these are famed academies which have produced some of the finest players in the world. If clubs do field their best youth team in this tournament, then this will be a good gauge as to where our youngsters stand alongside Europe's best youth academies.
Also it will also provide more opportunities for our youngsters to gain competitive match practice which can only be a good thing.
Source: Chelsea FC
First post in here since the 1st leg where I may have said a few things to upset others and underestimated Napoli, I guess this is an apology. Wouldn't want to be known as someone who wears blue blinkers
Apology accepted, and congratulations on the result and performance. I don't think you can go all the way at this moment in time but reaching the CL quarterfinals is not exactly an easy feat.
B
BlueHeart26
Guest
erm, no.
Surprised Napoli even made it past the group stage considering they hadn't been in the competition for 21 years, so to score 4 goals over two legs against chelsea is a brilliant achievement.
Can't believe how nervous Torres looks when facing goal, far to many touches in the box every time. The Torres of old would have buried that open goal chance.
Can't believe how nervous Torres looks when facing goal, far to many touches in the box every time. The Torres of old would have buried that open goal chance.
mccollio09
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Big congratulations to Chelsea, have to admit I was kinda hoping Napoli would get through but you won me over in the end with your attacking play. Great game to watch, was end to end. Napoli disappointed a little in that they took a few too many pot shots (admittedly, one of them went in) from long range, this was never going to undo the Chelsea defence. Stark contrast from the first leg where Lavezzi, Cavani and Maggio just played through you, it seemed they didn't even attempt the same style of movement in this leg.
BTW, don't know if this has been mentioned, Ivanovic has been nothing short of exceptional since Di Matteo took over.
BTW, don't know if this has been mentioned, Ivanovic has been nothing short of exceptional since Di Matteo took over.
Ride The Walrus
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Champions league for the Youth team basically. We were in it this year. Got spanked by Ajax in the semi, 4-0, even though we played better.
Isn't it 6-0?