Why not?
Printable View
These are unreal scenes. I love that club. Everything that used to be great about football and then brought into the 21st century.
Here's the regs:
http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/...9_DOWNLOAD.pdfQuote:
Originally Posted by UEFA
Seems he could be suspended for his 3rd yellow.
I dunno what he's on.
Great stuff. Fans going mad, players just sat down in front of the stand to take it all in. A big mutual love in basically.
Meanwhile we are looking at John, Liam, Eamon and Bill.
The B league tonight. I see that Ivanovic has made an amazing recovery after that savage assault which resulted in a 10 match ban for the offending player.
The wonders of modern medicine.
Fenerbahce got a penalty before half time, at first it looked soft but replay showed the ref got it right, but the penalty was missed which kinda indicates the ref got it wrong and justice was done.
I'm watching Basel v Chelsea. Chelsea are winning without really offering much. Some of the passes the Basel players hit are so imaginative - miles ahead of the stuff we see produced around here.
I used to say the same about Eastern European teams. They find angles we never see in "our" football.
Chelsea for the most part, controlled the game and gave Basel no space. It was limiting but effective and smart enough by Rafa on the night. The Salah threat was virtually nullified.
Desperate penalty award though. You'd hate to see that happen against a team you like, at this level of competition.
I suppose Hatchetman Luiz's goal when he should have been off the pitch balanced that out.
0-1 would have better than 1-2. The Basel wall for that free kick had a gap that you could drive a truck through. Some really sloppy defending by them.
I didn't think the Luiz tackle looked that deliberate, 'it just happened that my foot followed through and made contact' defence.
I had thought Basel were good enough to beat Chelsea, they were disappointing on the night, not a patch on their other good European performances.
Yeah, that's a good point actually. 2-1 makes the away goal active.
I thought it was a very efficient performance by Chelsea and clever tactically on Rafa's part. As good as Basel are, if Manchester United or Spurs had approached them in the same manner I think they would have beaten them fairly comfortably - Spurs over two legs and United in the groups.
That Basel front three will be picked off in the summer I fancy.
In Basel's case, they probably would have handled the tie better if they had the away game first.
I think Streller is a bit on aged side but Salah would be of interest to many. It would take a hefty cheque to prise him from Basel's hands.
I dont really rate that Basel team at all. They looked average, lethargic and devoid of any real ideas of how to get at Chelsea. It was a case of hit it to the quick man Salaah and hope something happens. There was no invention and apart from the quick Egyptians there was very little attacking movement, bar the occasional run up the pitch by Dragovic, they were very static. Tactically I think they were naive, they couldnt even hold out for a draw when they had been gifted a penalty in the 88th min, and worst of all they gave away a free kick in such a crucial area, it was shades of QPR v Wigan the other week. It was naive to do a risky challenge against the Chelsea player (Ramires?) there, better to try and shield him out wide or force him to pass it. Having conceeded it they gave everyone an excellent demonstration of how not to defend a free kick. The wall totally collapsed and the shot was really hit without much pace at all, the keeper got a fair hand on it but it just flapped passed him despite it not really being a hard driven shot, it was a inside foot from Luiz it wasn't as if they were beaten by a wonderful free kick. The defending was so comical it was almost as if they were trying to engineer puns about walls having holes like Swiss cheese and the keeper having wrists made of Lindt chocolate. If the Irish team set up to defend a crucial set piece like that in the last minutes of the game (or at any point in the game in all honesty) I would be livid.
Chelsea haven't been impressive in Europe away this season (lost at Steaua, drew in Prague, lost away to Rubin, as well as at Juventus and Shakhtar in the CL) and last night was easy for them. I saw the Chelsea v Steaua return leg in London and the Romanians had a lot of attacking movement, they dragged the Chelsea centerbacks and midfield in all different directions and really had them on the rack at times, Basel were nothing like as effective last night. The Swiss now have a mountain to climb and their away form is Europe is patchy at best with only one win at Sporting Lisbon, the other away results are fairly average (D Genk, L Videoton, D Dnipro, L Zenit, D Spurs) and they will need a sensational result to get to the final now.
Well lets just say things will have to go like clockwork for them if they're to have any chance.
I'd be fairly neutral on the subject.