José Mourinho
cocknose
It's tactics. Teams aren't going to go out and do that every game as you well know. Why would Chelsea go to Barcelona and try and take them head on when we know we can't? We could contest for the ball, but that would leave spaces in our defence that Barcelona would easily exploit. So we do what we can to win, not because it's easy to stick 11 or in this case 10 men behind the ball and soak up pressure (which it's not), but because it's all we could do to match them, and it worked.This debate isn't about the performance but rather the approach, and so in that regard the inept display by Barcelona is as relevant to this point as the courageous showing by Chelsea - in other words, very little. The only reason these metrics of ball possession and shots are meaningful in this context is that illustrate the intent of both sides; one wanted to score, the other wanted to defend.
Rather than a contest for the ball, Chelsea turned it into a contest of territory to give themselves an inherent advantage when it came to defending. If every match was carried out like this, then I wouldn't have become a fan of this sport and I'd imagine many would share that sentiment.
Also, I don't think it's fair to say one wanted to score and the other wanted to defend. Of course Chelsea wanted to score, and did, we just wanted to do it in a way that was safe. So we aren't going to turn out and try and make 700 passes back and forward because it wont work.
I don't know, whoever we get will be a tough game. But I've said since before the Barcelona games, if we could beat them then we can win it. Beating them at home and drawing 2-2 at the the Nou Camp can't all be luck. We had a plan and it worked.I was really hoping for Barca to make it through. Its a fantastic acheivement for Chelsea to beat them like they did, but I dont think they'll pull off another miracle against Bayern or Real. Tomorrow will pretty much be the decider. Should be a fantastic game, though.