BIG EARS

By dixon9
February 18 2008

Athens holds special albeit distant memories for Chelsea for it was in this city where we won our first European trophy, the European Cup Winners Cup in 1971 against Real Madrid. Tomorrows opponents are the less illustrious but tough Olympiakos who are our next obstacle in the dream of being the first London club to win the European Cup.

We travel off the back of our 3-1 win against Huddersfield in the FA Cup where Lampard notched his 100^th and 101^st goals for us – how many midfielders today have achieved that? 

This will be the first time we have met the Greek side.  They have qualified for the knock-out phase for the first time and are unbeaten in their last four home matches in the competition. 

Still, we are one of the few unbeaten sides in this season’s European campaign (We are joined by Man Utd and Barcelona) and realistically only need a draw to be reasonably safe of progression into the quarter finals. 

It won’t be an easy match though.  Olympiakos are notoriously tough at home with quite a partisan crowd behind them and it remains to be seen just how many of our lot will make it out there due to many cancelled flights to Athens over the last 2 days because of all the snow they’ve been having there.

Ledesma, Antzas and Patsatzoglou are all significantly one game away from suspension (they won’t fancy coming back to the Bridge with those missing so maybe they might be that shade less “competitive” shall we say – maybe we could sneak a win? (With no away goals for the return leg would be nice).

For our part, Essien could be suspended if he goes in the book so IF we are ahead with a few minutes to go, I won’t be surprised if he kicks the ball away when he shouldn’t.

Olympiakos should play Leonardo in place of their principle defender Pantos, and apparently former Newcastle and Portsmouth striker LuaLua is doubtful.

We have the luxury of an almost complete and fit squad.  Lampard is almost 100% and Terry surprised by lasting the whole game on Saturday, but, if media reports are correct, both Lampard and Terry will be left out of the squad - probably being rested for Sunday. 

With Terry playing I felt a bit sorry for Alex not starting on Saturday but maybe he’s being kept fresh for either this match or Sunday in the League Cup Final against Spurs? 

Drogba wasn’t even on the bench so I’m sure he’ll start.  I was hoping we´d see the first debut of the Drogba/Anelka spearhead but again, if media reports are correct, Anelka won´t start - maybe on the bench to come on at 65 mins?

Shevchenko will not travel due to lack of match fitness and was in fact due to play up front for the reserves tonight with Di Santo but the game was unfortunately postponed.

I was quite a bit off predicting the line-up for the Huddersfield match – we have SO MANY options now it’s almost an impossible task.  In fact, take a look at this “team”; Cech, Belletti, Alex, Carvalho, Ashley Cole, Makelele (celebrates his 35^th birthday today by the way!), SWP, Ballack, Joe Cole, Drogba and  Malouda - none of them played on Saturday whilst Essien and Anelka were late subs. 

An away match against a difficult side may see us go a bit cautious which is a shame as I would like to see us “test out” a rumoured new formation in place of our 4-3-3 which accommodates both Drogba and Anelka:

                                  Cech

                    Essien               Mikel

                   Drogba                 Anelka

Still, I imagine it’ll probably be 4-3-3:

Cech, Belletti, Carvalho, Alex, A Cole, Ballack, Essien, SWP, J Cole, Drogba, Malouda.

 I’ll go for a 1-2 win.  

Grant: 

“I saw them when they played against Real Madrid, they are a very good team and we know LuaLua is a very good player. All the teams that we could have played, they were about the same level.” 

Easy draw? 

'Werder Bremen and Lazio may have thought like this and Werder Bremen lost home and away against Olympiakos and Lazio lost at home. 

Chelsea a “Big Club”? 

'I think Chelsea is a big club but if you want to be really big we need to be at least in the final of the Champions League, and then more and more. You cannot say we are bigger if we don't get tot the final so this is our target. We want to do it this year” 

'We need to go step by step, but that's what we want. I personally will not rest until we get it, and we have a game we want to win and then go into the last eight. We need to do our job tomorrow, if we think too far we can lose the moment, so we need to concentrate.' 

Re injures and a now almost full squad available: 

'I think it's good for me as a manager, it wasn't easy playing in the last three months without so many important players and we've seen what happens sometimes when important players are missing,'

'It was very important in December and January to use the squad properly; we missed a lot of players with all the injuries, and trusted this squad. We are still in all four competitions and now there are more opportunities. It's good for me, good for the team and good for the players also.' 

'You can say headache but I don't know what is more of a headache, this or what I had before?"  It is part of the life as a manager; we are a big club and try to fight for the competition. We have a big squad and want everybody to be fit. You can't call it a headache, it's a situation.' 'I know who will play, how we play and who will be on the bench. As a manager you have to prepare yourself for any situation on the pitch and I am ready for this, but of course I need to tell the players first. 

'I don't think there is a first team, you need to keep them fresh, but the situation is good now. The players that return from injury or Africa are in good shape, and will be better with time."

Anelka AND Drogba together? 

'My opinion is there are no two strikers the same, I have never seen it and this is what is exciting in football.   It gives the opportunity to play with both of them together, but we have good players. Everybody asks if Anelka can play with Didier and Ballack with Lampard. Two good players can always play together if they are willing to work for the team.' 

Sheva?

'Shevchenko is not here because he is not 100 percent so we prefer to leave him and play with the reserves and make him ready. 

'We did the same with Ballack three months ago and we hope it will help his condition. If you remember he was very good before his injury and we hope to see him again like this.'

Champions League Last 16: Olympiakos Preview

Discussion started by 50 Years Over 100 Years , 18/02/2008 23:32

50 Years Over 100 Years
18/02/2008 23:32

Champions League Last 16: Olympiakos Preview

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dixon9
19/02/2008 02:57

From the Guardian:


Evidence of the freakish snowstorm that hit the Greek capital on Sunday, and resulted in the Chelsea's flight being forced to circle Athens airport for two hours before the runway was cleared

for the plane to land, was apparent yesterday. Groundsmen at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium had left sizeable drifts across the final third of the pitch, and the area cleared of snow for Chelsea's training session was sodden.



.



"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.

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