.
Today, Chelsea played very well. Midfielders were amazing. They dominated the game,
Ballack was good, Lampard was good as well except his 2 stupid corners. He should know these kind of mistakes can be punished by counter attacks. Mikel was amazing. He was so confident. I was shocked when Mourinho changed him.
I had never seen Sheva tackling by today, but today he was so aggressive and it shows he finally understood how he should play in England.
Valencia did not play well , actually they did nothing except one shot. But it does not mean they are going play like this in Spain. I am sure they will change their style. Valencia knows how to get 0-0 and we will have a tough game in Spain.
I am pretty sure if Chelsea plays like today and Essien and Cole are prepared to play, we will win in Spain.
The best players : Mikel and Carvaliho

Maysam! Your words show confidence and hope. But you have voted that Chelsea will not reach semifinals? I’m puzzled. Anyway, I thought Mikel played well too. When Essien and Cole are ready to play, we cannot accomodate all and the formation’s gotta be 4-4-2 and we might be seeing less and less of 4-3-3 the rest of the season.

Let’s accept guys that we are eliminated.
We cannot beat Valencia with this display. We shouldn’t play with both Ballack and Lamps, there is no creativity at all. Jose shouldn’t have taken off John Obi. Lamps should be taken off.
Take it easy. Life is going on even without the Champions League.

what do you mean m_d? why cant we not beat valencia in Spain? dont you think you sound strange? racing santander beat valencia 2-0 last fortnight at estadio mestalla. that valencia team had morientes too. how many of you expected roma to beat man utd, psv to beat arsenal. come on guys, 90 more minutes to play for. i dont see anything so wrong with chelsea’s display tonight. we were the better team obviously. they had hardly any shots and a got a goal from the moon. dont lose hope. we are beating them at their own den. we’ll be champions!

I think it was a balanced game although we probably should have edged it. As was said earlier i think our midfield was awesome, but going forward we a little bit anxious, pooping shots here and there without being composed to make the right choice of pass or shoot. The only bad i see though was kalou’s contribution. With joe cole back we should be in the semis next week. up chelseeaa!!!

Cech was very bad today

I didn’t get to see the game, but from what I read and saw, it’s disappointing…
If we played better, why didn’t we win?
Also, we underestimate Valencia if we think we can go to their stadium and boss them around. I’m very confident we can win there, but to say it like it’s going to be a pieve of cake, it’s not. It’ll be very difficult, as difficult as playing at Camp Nou.
I see a sixty-five percent chance of advancing to the next round.
By the way, how did Sheva do?

Adonis, Sheva played well and threatened early before he was nearly decapitated by Ayala. Only horrid officiating kept us from going to the spot. I thought Lampard played well in the midfield but was poor on the set pieces. It was odd to see him struggling over the ball. I think we can play Valencia well in Spain. It should be a tremendous game.

hey m_d what is this…
we can win there…
we played very well…and there were some poor performance…but did u see ballack played …it was amazing…
and this is the way he used to play in bayern…
and also the arrival of joe….
we can beat valencia…and then a revenge on liverpool on semi’s….

couldn’e see the match….but disappointed by the result…as lareasy said we really can’t afford both ballack and lampard in midfield..they both are too slow…..absebce of robben and essien is also hurting us…..i hope we defeat them in return leg….

i agree that valencia didn’t play well but still they scored AWAY goal. We played well, but couldn’t win. Normally reverse is the case with chelsea, we do not play our best game and still win, that was not the case today.

Looking at the match & the statistics, i feel we lacked the killer instinct & intensity. We should have killed the game at Stamford Bridge itself. I’m not saying its over, but as always we have made our job harder.

Everyone talking about how MAN U are slipping with their performance day by day, chelsea are no different. With too many games, players may not be in best of conditions to play big matches. Coming Sat, we have another tough match. So this week will be season defining week for us - if we loose points against Spurs, EPL is over. If we can not win in Spain, CL is over.

Looking at Valencia vs. Inter, it will be difficult to score in Spain. I just don’t want the repeat of 2005 semi final.

Hoping for the best.

Blue champions , I don’t think so. Actually I just voted for 1-1 in previous vote, I did not vote this time.(actually I voted late because I did not watch the game live and when I checked the website I thought the vote is for the second leg) I believe we will reach Simi finals in extra time not in 90. As long as Chelsea has Jose Mourinho I am always hopeful.
Midfield_Decider : I don’t know why you think Cech played bad. No body can talk about him because Valencia did nothing so we can not judge about him.
and you said Mourinho should have change Lampard. COME ON! . Lampard is not merely a player on the field, he is a leader, he is a hope. if mourinho changed him today, he would devastate hope in his team.
today, I personally was pleased with the way that we played. And I am very very very hopeful. and I predict 1-1 in Spain, and we will qualify in extra time.

Hey guys,
I’m sick of this overestimation and overrating of Lampard.
Yes, of course, he has had brilliant moments in his career which actually made his name known to all of us. But this guy is not a decent midfielder, accept it. What is he known for? For his goals. But the main function of a midfielder is not shooting and scoring, it’s giving smart and unexpected passes. Yesterday there were a few moments when he could give the ball to Sheva who was in a much better and open position than him. What he did instead was shooting wide over. If he gave those balls we could win the game by 3-1.
As for Ballack, he has started his season very slow but as BC says he is finding himself though we expect much more than this. Yet, unlike Lampard, he is trying to do his job, not the job of others.
As I have been saying all through the season these two static midfielders are very big harm and damage to Chelsea. We need only one of them at a time sorrounded by fast wingers and strong defensive midfielder. Look at Chelsea then. Personally, right now I would prefer Ballack to Lampard. Even England cannot play decently with Lampard and Gerrard together.
Oh, please, don’t start about “Lampard is our leader, he is a hope”. It’s too sentimental for the game like football. This game, first of all, needs logic and right mentality, and only after emotions.
If we are eliminated from Champions League in Mestalla blame this static midfield of two (or the one who plays them).
Give us PirloS and KakaS, take Ballacks and Lamps.

hey guys….people saying it will be 1-1 there and then we will win in extra-time…what does it mean…..if we can score in extra time, y can’t they…..

To get the tour at Mestalla we should start with the midfield of Essien-Mikel-Ballack-J.Cole

Chill guys no need to get frustrated , i can see that it has annoyed most of u cuz we dint win but really the overestimations of a bemusing scoreline by BC(2-0) and the rest was always going to get a bad reception as the result cld never hav been!!!!

We played a good game but not good enough in the opponents box , i expect CFC to qualify none the less but it will be a difficult , scraped win(as always) since the game is at Mestalla!!!!
We r no Manu who thoroughly deserve the EPL title because of the way they play and get the results , on one hand where we scrape through against Watford , Manu run havoc away to Bolton and Spurs like true Champions , games which we hav just sneaked thru , yes they lost yesterday but comon Roma r gonna be pumelled at OT !!!!

I just hope Essien and Cole get back to full fitness if we r to win this tie!!!

And i think JM and Lamps r dating with Ballack providing the third party as a threesome , this can be the only reason both r getting selected for every game , even while plating rubbish!!!

JM is so arrogant and gloated , he surely is gonna make us fall with his pig-headedness he does not need to prove his signings r good , cuz they never r , the amount of money he doles around for crap like SWP , Del Horno , Boula etc. etc. no wonder every team wants more than 10mn pounds in the player we r interested in even if he is worth not even 1 and JM is so arrogant that he dosent even admit his mistake and pick the best performing line-up , m sick of him!!!!

there he goes again joeblue! leave jose alone. he is an incredible manager. he is a winner who has won 2 portuguese league titles, one champions league, one uefa cup, two portuguese cup, 2 premiership, 1 carling cup, 1 community shield - all in the last 4 years. i’ll say it 1000 times - jose mourinho is the best coach in the world and he is the best guy for Chelsea, anyone else would be compromise. look at how he has been winning, look at how strong his teams are and were, look at how the players love him. stop it joeblue, Jose Mourinho is the BEST.

Drogba
Robben

Ballack Essien Lampard

Makeléle

Ferreira Terry Carvalho A.Cole

Cezh

Sub:Cudicini,Boulahrouz,Wayne Bridge, Obi Mikel,Joe Cole,Andriy Shevchenko

Absolutely agree with Joeblue about Mourinho’s mistakes.

I do not understand the negativity surrounding Lampard on here. You say he should pass more and yet he leads the team in assists (14) by a healthy margin over Sheva (9), you say he shoots too much but he puts more of his efforts on frame than any other regular player with the exception of Sheva. He has suffered the third most fouls of any player on the team but committed among the fewest. One of the problems Chelsea has had at times this year is scoring and Lampard has stepped up his output there as well with 20 goals (11 in the premiership). He has done all of this despite dropping well back to aid a back line that has been decimate by injuries. The only midfielder in the world in form comparable to Lamprad right now is Cristiano Ronaldo. Other than him, Lampard is in a league of his own. Leave the foolish suggestions and mundane idiocy elsewhere. CFC would be lost without him.

Hey Trueblue , u surely hav some serious problem agnst freedom of speech and expression , winning so many titles does not mean that he(JM) is the greatest manager in every respect, he is one of the worst managers in the transfer market , he is arrogant and does not admit his own mistakes , ……. why does he still garuntee a place for Ballack??? , Lamps might be the best midfielder for CFC but that does not give JM the liability to persist with him even when he is performing so bad !!!!

i accept he is one of the best man managers and has a winning mentality which he shares with his players but he is pig-headed , right now half of the team plays on merit and the other half i.e Lamps , Ballack and Shev play on past laurels ,this is discrimination to the extreme , if he leaves Maka out cuz of his lack of speed , eh y not Ballack???

He poses too many questions and solves few , he either tries to act too smart or too defensive and feels that as long as he is around , he cant be wrong!!!!! I wld luv it if Guus comes in and we start playing some lovely football under the Dutchman and kick out all the non-performing players!!! How long is Drog gonna save our skin??? When u feel Shev is settled he starts a goal drought , Ballack has been rubbish the whole season , Boula was a disgraceful signing!!! Why did he let Huth go??? Why did he let Duff go for the ever injured Robben??
Why did he let Gudjohnsen go??? Unfortunately he deems himself too smart for his own good and CFC r sinking with him!!!!

Hey fwembt,
Do you realize that you make generalizations? Nobody ignores that Lampard scores many goals. But if he plays bad you should change him. And that is the case for every other player.
Instead of generalizing things watch the highlights of Valencia game again and tell me, how often Lampard gave passes to Sheva or any other player when he is near the opposition box. The answer to this question is also the answer to the question “how comes that Frank scores so many goals?” Of course he will score if whenever he finds the ball near the box he shoots. From so many shots THE ATTACKING MIDFIELDER OF CHELSEA (WHOEVER HE IS) must score a good number of goals. But if he gave more passes instead of shooting I’m sure Chelsea would be scoring much more goals.
As for Sheva, I am sure he is a rare quality despite the hard times he has had recently at Chelsea. I’m sure that he has found his play now and he doesn’t play worse than he did in Milan last year. But, since he is a striker everyone looks at the number of his goals. He is in drought now. What’s the difference then in his display here from that of Milan. The answer is again about Lampard. Chelsea’s selfish Lampard-like midfielders do not give him those passes he used to receive from Pirlo and Kaka in Milan. Everyone knows that both Pirlo and Kaka are better and more creative than Lampard. But the gap could be smaller if Lampard wasn’t so selfish.
That’s it.

I saw the match and Valencia were lucky not to concede more goals.
BC why have I been banned , or my comments been banned lately ?

Anyways I believe that Chelsea has the power and the spirit to overcome this spanish side and refs who are biased .We just need to score and score and score and score . The score can be
2-0,2-1 , 2-2 , 3-3 and we’re thru.

JM has the tactical brains to get us thru this.He’s not that Italian who threw away a 2-0 lead to Monaco a few years back in the CL semis after CFC beat Aresy in the quarters at the idge . And BTW watch that match again if you can, u will will see CFC played wonderful football for those 2 goals and then Raneri’s tactical whatever blew it.

And also ,Guys let us not forget that our team is not a mindless machine and will not always get the results we want
. So like I said last time if we lift the trophy I am satisfied and will accept the thrills and worries, ups and downs anything that comes along the way.
And Hiya there MId -decider ,long time no see !
Droga , Sheva ,Lamps, Ballack Terry and all will get us thru, They’re hungry enough !

Essien recover quickly ! this fan calls to you for an awsome performance at the Mestalla.

Mid-Decider and Joeblue, you have some good points, but if you want to talk selfish, why don’t you talk about Robben? He’s probably the most selfish midfielder in the world, yet everyone loves him. I love him, I think he’s deadly against any defence. He’s probably scored two or three goals, though, and maybe three or four assists. Lampard has a lot more than that. Lampard is also a lot better defensively. Pirlo and Kaka are great players, but you can’t say they’re better than Lampard; the italian game is too different than the english game. As for JM, he’s certainly the best manager in the world. Who has accomplished more than him in the last 5 years? Just look at our home record under him, and you’ll understand how great he is.
I’d preffer to see Essien paring with Lampard instead of Ballack, but offensively, Essien can’t provide that magical offensive pass or perfect header like Ballack.
We are still in all four competitions, people. Stop sounding so desperate. The game in Valencia will be terrific, that’s for sure.
Roman, wouldn’t me advance with a 1-0 score as well?

adonis! man you talk sense! joeblue and the like, please listen to me and adonis.

Lampard is of a different quality. never judge any player immediately after a poor performance by him. okay he didnt play well against valencia. but he has played brilliantly season after season and now he has 20 goals (lesser penalties than c.ronaldo) and 14 assists, that is 34 goals!!! like adonis said lampard is good defensively too. his workrate is much much higher than kaka. may be pirlo is defensively okay but lampard is so good that if given a different role than the current goal scoring one, he will still come good.

M_D, you make very little sense. You argue that we would score more if Lampard passed more and then point out that our second leading scorer is in a drought. That whole “argument” made no sense. A few quick points: 1. The idea behind football/soccer is to score more than the other team. 2. To score more than the other team you must put the ball in the net. 3. Lampard alone has had a hand in 34 goals. There are very few other players in the entire world that can claim that. 4. The point of passing is to set someone up to score. Lampard leads CFC, and most of Europe, in assists and you complain about his passing? That is patently absurd. Don’t call the person leading most of the free world in assists selfish. Pirlo this season has 3 assists, Kaka has 5. Neither player even leads his team. Add their numbers together and multiply by 2 and you get (roughly) Lampard’s assist numbers.

Lampard didn’t have a good game against Valencia, I will be the first to admit that, but he has been nothing short of spectactular this year. I challenge you to find another player who is both the fulcrum of his teams attack and a vital part of the defence. Save your time because you won’t. Pirlo and Kaka play almost all offensively and rarely drop to play defence. Ronaldo is a winger who is as selfish as Robben but possessed with more skill. No one can come close to matching Lampard on both ends of the field and to suggest that someone can shows a contemptible lack of knowledge of the game.

Yes, Roman I’m back. The last time I was regularly writing here was before the Premiership game against Liverpool when I said, if you remember, that if we win we will have a great chance to catch MU and if we lose we can forget about the league title. It was in January, almost 3 months ago and I think I was right about the league title. After that game I forgot about the league. You can say we still have a chance but it’s too late me thinks. I hope I’m wrong but only miracle at this stage can prove me wrong.

And now we are on the edge of going out of the Champions League.

fwembt, and I think you have a little sense. You look at stats but they can be misleading you. Milan this year in their league have had no objective of being the champions. You know the reason. They just played to earn a place in Europe next year. And please don’t say that Lampard is better than Kaka. Everyone knows that he is not. Lampard has scored so many goals because he plays in a safe position surrounded by the best players in EPL. What is more he is never dropped whether he plays well or shit. I only give credit to his strong shot. If he had not his shot he would be nothing. I’m sure that he will be average in another team in other circumstances. He was average for England in the World cup and he is average there now. Gerrard is miles and miles better than him. England play better when there is only Gerrard. And I’m sure that Chelsea would be better too if there was only in form Ballack or Kaka in the midfield. You are counting his assist but most of them are in the games against poor and average teams. I would prefer a midfielder who scores less and has less assits but who gives assists in the big games like Valencia game WHEN HE CAN and who is more creative.
In conclusion, I don’t want to be biased, Lampard is a useful player for Chelsea when he is on his day. I just don’t like his untouchableness. There is no player in the world who can play well every game and Lampard is one of them. And when he is shit he should be dropped like every other player.

PS: Pirlo is better than Lampard too.

I think we will just have to agree to disagree here. I would rather have Lampard than Kaka, Pirlo, Gerrard or Ballack.

Hey mate Romanholiday! I’d never ban you! The spam had caught your comments as it had some objectionable words. I’ve approved them anyway. Keep the blue flag flying high!

Who the hell is saying Lamps is better than Pirlo and Kaka , u make me laugh!!!!
Kak has speed , lamps has none , Kaka is awesome with either foot Lamps is not , Kaka can change a game anytime which he does regularly Lamps cant , Kaka is a hell lot more creative than Lamps , Kaka hardly has an off game unlike Lamps , Kaka is by a million miles more versatile than Lamps!!! That settles this ridiculous discussion , m sure u guys dont want me to criticize our player more than i hav done already!!!!

Gerrard is of another world as compared to Lamps , so is Ballack when he wants to , the only thing Lamps has is a knack of scoring goals which all of these rest can do( Pirlo , Gerrard , Kaka) 20 goals is a hell lot yes , but thats not uncommon for the rest , Mid_decider is absolutely right his performances r never good enough when they shld be i.e the CL matches!!!

I like Lamps but for now we shld not play him when hes playing so rubbish , the team shld be selected on merit , rather than prestige or ability , mind u this is not cricket where superstars keep on in the team even when they perform so bad only on past records!!!!

HEY MID_DECIDER PAL U R ALWAYS THE ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS MY VIEWPOINT , WE HAV A COMMON PATTERN OF THOUGHT , WISH WE CLD MEET UP SOME TIME , M SURE WE WLD GET ALONG DAMN WELL!!!!!!!

Finally there is someone who understood my viewpoint to 100%.

Joeblue, I’m glad that there are people who can analyze the game putting their emotions off, I mean people like you.

Yes, I have to agree that we have a common pattern of thought. I’m happy that we met here. I believe that we can meet in real life too. Why not on a great Champions league match at Stamford Bridge or away? Some day in the future, yes, I wish we will.

I agree with you that Kaka is better than Lampard, but I doubt Pirlo is. Pirlo is a superb distributor of the ball, but defensively he’s rubbish compared to Lampard.
I agree that players need to be played because of merit, but Lampard is our third best player this whole year after Drogba and Essien. (I’m not counting defence/GK, otherwise, Carvalho has been top notch and Cech is a rock.)