Had a zoom board meeting from 3-6 Still had my phone. Still nerve wracking as shit but frankly, we fucking smashed 'em. Let's get 3 this weekend and get that double.
this one was more nerve racking watching. Not sure following along can do justice to how good some of our chances to score were. Go rewatch it or at least rewatch the extended highlights. Absolute domination
Watched the 1st half before a meeting I had to participate in, just finished the 2nd half. What a win. This club never ceases to amaze me, never saw this final coming this year given everything. Kante man what a guy
Not to say I wasn't melting down but I was way less nervous during this than I was during the Barca semis of 12 and 09 or Liverpool in 05 where I was basically catatonic. Just much more confident in this squad to not have the meltdown which is what it felt like Madrid would need to get back into the tie.
Nothing makes me happier than a Rudiger marauding run down the pitch and then him just saying fuck it and staying there to press after a turnover
Someone on Reddit said his run into the box on Timo’s bad pass looked like Ed, Edd, and Eddy. I’m still laughing about it.
I had my doubts about Havertz (not as a player but as an investment) but he was incredible as a 9 today. That's his position. Position solved.
This stands out to me because I felt like Lamps was still a little technically raw. I felt like lesser teams would often tactically foil him. Tuchel seems to relish in the technical aspect while not getting too cute or having paralysis of analysis
There is talk already of people wanting the final moved and that turkeys covid issues could make it a possibility. Playoff final is that say at wembley. I’m sure that could be moved but Tottenham hotspur stadium is also an option. Imagine lifting the champions league trophy in Tottenham’s stadium. Lifelong banter.
I will own up to this one. With the injury problems and looking like he was starting to slip a bit I thought it was time to cash in. Happy to be wrong. He really ripped up the Real midfield
No judgment, I wasn’t trying to call anyone out. We all were at least considering that it might be the smart move.
I just don’t see how it would work with this current group. Even if Real Madrid took a big loss on him. If Chelsea strike out in the striker market and tuchel decides that he will go with havertz/Werner up top, could a 1 year hazard loan be the stopgap option?
Meh, that's bait. If he can't see the logic of being a supersub when we need height and can't get anyone going off the bench, he's immature. Low key loving Jorginho's performance yesterday too.
This is dumb. And a little out of context. What kind of competitor wouldn't want to start in a semi-final?
The media wants so badly for there to be discontent in the ranks, but we’re still alive in two cups and in the hunt for top 4. I wouldn’t blame Pulisic for being frustrated but we are going to have to rotate and I think he gets that. Ultimately if you’d have the choice you’d want to start the Champions League game, but only so many can. Separately, am I the only one who thinks the links to Lukaku are insane? I just don’t see it. I know the man scores goals and we need a goal scorer, but I just don’t see the fit with this squad.
It was so nice seeing that doofus look he has after giving up a goal for a change He was massive yesterday for them. Should have 5-0. Not sure I’d trade him for Mendy though. Mendy has been all world this season.
No Sub, but I was able to click the link and get to the article: Spoiler Chelsea Is Terrifying, Even When It Can’t Finish Its Chances 24 LUIS PAEZ-PUMAR May 7, 2021 9:01 am Clive Rose/Getty Images There should be no negatives to take away from Chelsea’s dominant Champions League semi-finals performance against Real Madrid, the competition’s standard-bearers and final boss. Over the two legs played in the last week, Chelsea bodied and battered the reigning Spanish champions, walking away with a 3-1 aggregate victory and into an all-English final against Manchester City. But … doesn’t it seem like it was still too hard for the Blues? There was no way to watch the first 85 minutes or so of Wednesday’s game without thinking, “Boy, Chelsea sure is missing a lot of chances!” That has really been the story of the club’s season, particularly since Thomas Tuchel took over. The German manager has set up the team perfectly in pretty much every game—and especially against Real Madrid; he completely out-coached Zinedine Zidane across two legs—but he can’t kick the ball into the goal for his players. The story of Timo Werner’s poor finishing this season has been well-chronicled, and his propensity for being offsides at all times called back a goal early on in the second leg. Werner made up for it, somewhat, in the 28th minute, after his countryman and strike partner Kai Havertz hit the crossbar with a filthy chip, allowing Chelsea’s no. 11 the easiest finish he’s had all year. CBS commentator Clive Tyldesley said it well: “Too many misses this season, but he couldn’t miss that one.” I want to throw in a special shout-out here to that filthy, disgusting, just plain rude turn by N’Golo Kanté in the lead-up to the goal. Poor Nacho had no chance to do anything about it. Really, that was the story of the entire match. Chelsea dominated the midfield in transition, allowing Real to have 68 percent of possession and then turning on the jets the other way. It’s hard to say a team got outplayed when it controlled so much of the ball, but all of Los Blancos’ limp passing added up to basically nothing. Their only stellar chance happened right before Werner’s goal from a half-turn strike by Karim Benzema that needed a similarly stellar Edouard Mendy save. Other than that, though, the majority of the chances fell to Chelsea, and it’s fair to say that a team with better finishing would have, and should have, won by a lot more than two goals across both legs. Wednesday’s game had even more woodwork doinks, shots that sailed way over, and generally beautiful build-ups that amounted to nothing. Defector is a pro-Christian Pulisic shop, so I must say here that his introduction for Werner only ratcheted up the Chelsea pressure more, and it was his assist to that finished the tie up. Like Werner in the first half, there was no way that Mason Mount could have missed this chance, and maybe that’s all Chelsea needed on the day: basic finishes that in no way taxed the attacker: It’s been a wild season at Stamford Bridge. Frank Lampard’s managerial stint was a nightmare for Chelsea fans, even after a summer that signaled the club’s intentions to be at the top of England. That didn’t quite materialize domestically, though bringing in Tuchel has seen the Blues climb from the mid-table into a decent shout for a Champions League spot. The club might not need that, though; all that stands in its way on the search for both its second Champions League title and an automatic qualification spot is a Manchester City side that rode some finishing luck of its own into a tighter-than-it-seemed 4-1 aggregate win over Paris Saint-Germain. Chelsea beat City last month in the semi-final of the FA Cup, in another Tuchel master-class. Will Chelsea be able to pull it off again at the end of the month and raise the most prestigious trophy in Europe? If it finishes like it did on Wednesday, it’s going to be difficult, but if they also play as well on the break as it did against Real Madrid, it might not matter whether they score one goal or seven. More than that, though, Chelsea is a team that absorbed the typical first-season struggles of its summer purchases—no mention here of Hakim Ziyech, who came on as a substitute late on—and still managed a Champions League final berth. If those debut jitters get ironed out this summer, the Blues have the right set-up and the right manager to become England’s next stunning force of nature.
Strong boom cycle in the boom-bust continuum. Not looking forward to the Saturday afternoon plummet and the inevitable “Is Tuchel the Right Fit at Chelsea?” articles.
the expected goals and impact in the box has really come on as of late and he may not be far off from finding his form. His form is still someone who will almost always underperform XG but not to the extent that he has this season.