We`re beautifully positioned. Nobody is expecting us to do anything but scrape a draw at absolute best, the media are drooling at the prospect of watching Messi and Co smash us to bits and give Evil Chelsea a righteous footballing lesson, plus Brana Ivanovic is fit and ready to put a shift in at Right Back.
There is no pressure, its all on Barca. If Mikel, JT and Ash put in a performance like on Sunday then we`ve got a game on our hands. Not saying we`ll beat them, or even that I wouldn`t snap your arm off for an ugly 0-0 draw tonight, but they have to come at us and win. We`re very capable of nicking something on the break at their place and they know it.
This the final hurrah for the likes of Drogba, Kalou, Malouda, Essien, Mikel and a few others and frankly I`m not even bothered if we lose. I`m deliriously happy just to have got to the semis and there would be no shame in going out to the greatest club side I`ve ever seen. What I`d love is for it to be a really ugly, spiteful, snappy affair with lots of tackles flying in and Barca not being shown any respect or allowed any time on the ball. They are used to teams rolling over for them in admiration and fear – we won`t do that (I hope) and we can use their nonsense cheating, diving and feigning injury against them. If anything gets the Bridge crowd rocking and rolling it is opposing teams cheating. Especially them. The more they do it, the louder and more hostile we`re going to be. I guarantee Sergio Busquets will be up there alongside Dean Saunders, Stephen Hunt, both Ferdinands, Shaun Derry, Thierry Henry, Steven Gerrard etc in our collective pantheon of most hated and despised players of all time by FT tonight. I can feel myself getting wound up just writing this!
My expectation is that we`ll line up Cech, Ivanovic, JT, Cahill, Cole, Mikel, Lampard, Ramires, Sturridge, Mata and Torres. Mata and Ramires switching deep and moving out wide and pulling Busquets over to cover, leaving Torres to run at Puyol and Pique. Torres` movement will – if we can get him the ball – cause problems for them I think, and Alves`s lack of pace will be targeted by Ramires. Going to need a massive shift from Lamps and Mikel in the middle to shut them down though. The idea is that we rest the Drog (notice how all the talk has been about us as a long-ball team and Drogba-centric?? Mindgames!) for Arsenal and the away leg, play Torres and then bring him on to do his battering ram shock & awe thing at a tiring Barca defence if we`re leading. I`d play Kalou instead of Sturridge as he tracks back and is better without the ball but Studge got a rest on Sunday so hopefully will be fit and fresh to get out wide and pull their Left Back across to cover him. Most teams double up on him now but Barca won`t do that so if he has the beating of their LB (no Abidal so Keita or Adriano unless Pique moves across and Mascherano plays CB) for pace there is room behind him. I`ll be really interested to see how deep Barca play. My guess is they`ll push up – Torres has looked excellent against teams that do that. It`s his speciality.
Exciting stuff. As long as we play with pride and do not let ourselves down it should be an enjoyable evening, even if we lose.
CAREFREE.
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