By dixon9
April 5 2007

G14 Champions League. The stress is getting a bit much really. Any avid football fan wants his team to win every competition possible doesn’t he/she? The problem is, the further your team gets in every competition, the more difficult it becomes as the fixtures just pile up and up.

As the fixtures increase in frequency the more likely your team is to pick up injuries, and, it’s more likely that the teams you face, will have played less games than you and be more rested etc etc whinge whinge!. 

But what am I moaning about?  Surely I should be grateful that my team STILL has a shout in 3 more competitions instead of just waiting for the weekend for a league game against Sheffield Utd or somebody and also having nothing to play for?  Well, yes I am grateful –  but it’s stressful stuff! 

If we had key players in Essien and Robben available I wouldn´t be so worried about tonight’s match BUT I can just see it now – there’ll be some bad decision or some controversial incident that will result in a goal for them and the away leg will be that much more difficult. 

There’s a part of me that thinks maybe if we get knocked out of one of these competitions we’ll have more chance in the other two (FA Cup and PL) , get some of the press pressure off, let the vulturous, miserable, envious oppo fans get their smug jibes out the way (despite the fact they can only dream of getting as far as we have done this season) and …..  BUT WHAT ATTITUDE IS THIS?  Thankfully, our players are in up beat mood and have a team spirit second to none despite all the continual press bias against us and the media’s general persecution of anything that is Mourinho/Abramovich or Chelsea in general.  NAAAH! F**K EM!  WE ARE CHELSEA!

 

Anyway……………

Valencia come to London under a bit of a cloud after some ugly scenes marred the end of their last match against Internazionale at the Mestalla resulting in “super fast sub” David Navarro and Julio Cruz receiving long suspensions.

Then there is the Latin gamesmanship mentality which, whilst we PL clubs cannot claim to be little angels ourselves, we still haven’t reached the lofty heights which they have achieved on the continent:

"The pure English mentality that we have in the Premiership is that nobody cheats - well, almost nobody!” said Mourinho.  “People try to be correct, respect opponents and when you go to Uefa competitions sometimes it's a bit different and you have to be ready, to be intelligent.”

"I showed them for example one image in video of Valencia against Inter. In minute five there was a duel with (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic, and (Santiago) Canizares sprints 50 metres and Ayala sprints 50 to try to make a mess around Ibrahimovic.”

"But when I look at Valencia I see a team that plays very well, a team that likes to play good football, a coach who is a correct man, so what happened in the Inter game happens once in a lifetime and I'm not afraid of it. They will come to play football, not make a fight."

Some of the Valencia players and club staff have already claimed that we are not the Chelsea of the previous 2 seasons.  Mourinho responded in typical fashion:

“When I read some articles I laugh because people say this Chelsea is not so good or playing as well as in previous seasons - those people are stupid or pretend to be stupid.”

“For me the work my players are doing in the circumstances is brilliant work.  Some of them are playing every single game and,  for the team to survive these players have to give everything they can.”

"Against Tottenham I will play again with my best team, I am not going to think about Valencia the week after.” (Spurs will be knackered anyway after playing on Thursday night!).

"We are in all the competitions, we don't choose competition x to give up, the competition will choose us. We have to give our best in all the competitions."

"Even if we don't do it [win another competition] I will have only good words for my players and only good feelings about my commitment and what I did to help my team to have success so I think we can all sleep well."

And when asked if he would think the season a success if we don’t manage to win any more pots?

"Yes, I would.  The problem is when people think I could do more that I rested on my laurels - that is not the case. I think we are doing really well to be in this position and we feel we can do even more."

So what about “Los Ché”?  Well, they themselves have their injury problems and suspensions (although with regard to the latter it isn’t usually a good idea to run onto a pitch, punch opposing players from behind or otherwise, and then run off with UEFA and millions watching your every move on TV!).  Valencia are without 7 players (although 2 of these are from suspension and another 3 are bit part squad players): 

Fernando Morientes has a shoulder problem, Ruben Baraja, Edu, Mario Regueiro, Jaime Gavilan are also injured whilst defenders Carlos Marchena and David Navarro are banned for their part in the “Thriller in the Mestalla.”

Mourinho wasn’t very sympathetic:  “You are talking about a lot of those who are squad players - You could have all of those back in if I could have Essien and Robben back.”   If only!  I’d accept that as well!

Up front they will have a fast, dangerous trident in the form of David Villa with wingers Vicente and Joaquin.

Canizares feels this trio will play a big part in tonight’s match:  "The absence of Morientes is a blow for us but I'm convinced our attack will create problems for the Blues."

So what about all these rumours on us signing Villa? "He is a great player and yes," Mourinho said, "he could play in a big team. But Chelsea don't want to sign him. We have two excellent forwards and from what I hear about the price, they are asking silly money for him."

Apart from their forwards there is also David Silva who is very pacy and skilful, David Albelda who is in good form, Santiago Cañizares in goal and experienced centre-half Roberto Ayala.

Then of course, we have our old friend Asier del Horno who makes his first  return to Stamford Bridge since leaving us after his girlfriend preferred life in Spain – could be an interesting battle between him and Wright-Phillips.

Roberto Ayala is a bit of a hard man and will be partnered by left-back Emiliano Moretti and it will intriguing to see how they fair against the Drog and Sheva.

For our part Obi Mikel will likely feature in midfield in place of Essien, young Lassana Diarra will fill in again at right-back and….and… and….Joe Cole will almost certainly be on the bench!  Despite being fit, being match sharp is another thing – we’ll have to see how he does when and if he comes on although he reckons he´s been training really hard.  So good to see him back though!

On a lighter note, the Spanish press has been up to their usual overboard hysteria, reporting that we had sabotaged the away dressing room and so they have named it the "rathole"!  It only had apparently, "three showers" and the insult of "one mirror"!  So, after the pre-match conference Mourinho returned to the astonished journos announcing triumphantly "two mirrors, 10 showers" and left the press room punching the air!

Chelsea from:  Cech, Cuducini, Ferreira, Diarra, Geremi, Terry, Carvalho, Boulahrouz, A Cole, SWP, Lampard, Ballack, Obi Mikel, Makalele, J Cole, Kalou, Shevchenko, Drogba.

Valencia from: Canizares, Miguel, Ayala, Moretti, Del Horno, Angulo, Albelda, albiol, Vicente, Silva, Villa, Joaquín.

I reckon we’ll go 4-4-2:  Cech, Diarra, Ferry, Carvalho, A Cole, Makelele, Obi Mikel, Lampard, Ballack, Drogba and Shevchenko.

 

SWP and Joe Cole will probably come on at 65 mins.

 

Prediction?  2-1 to us.