2011/2012 UEFA Champions League

[Jimmy]

Malouda is really awful. Mata, on the other hand, is looking really sharp. A draw would be a really good result tonight for Chelsea, might as well put Torres on.

[Lineker]

Heck, a 2-1 defeat for Chelsea isn't dreadful. They've got an all-important away goal.

But no doubt the AVB OUT bandwagon shall roll on.

[Jimmy]

Nice of Luiz to give them a goal, though.

[Dingle]

3-1? TORRES ON!

[Lineker]

Damn you Chelsea, making me look like a fool!

[therockbox]

[Lineker]

Awesome clearance off-the-line clearance from Ashley Cole before, btw.

[therockbox]

Gary Neville has been talking shite tonight. 'Just deal with Lavezzi and Cavani...' Yeah, it's that simple. Barcelona? Just deal with Xavi and Messi.

Then he's banging on about Chelsea not deserving to lose tonight, and a minute later he's having a go at Villas Boas. Which is it?

[Lineker]

Regarding our coefficient (assuming Arsenal and Chelsea both fail to progress)

Even if Chelsea and Arsenal both tumble out of the Champions League at the last 16 stage, England's place at the top of Uefa's coefficient rankings (calculated over five seasons) is secure for now. In fact, English clubs will probably still finish top of the coefficient for this year too, because the Europa League counts towards it. Ironically, it is Italian clubs who are struggling - they wil go from four to three CL places next season because Germany have moved above them.

[Guest mr. potato head]

There are different commentators for the 3D broadcast because there are different cameramen and a different director than the normal broadcast, so viewers at home might not be seeing the same things.

[stokeriño]

Sadly my phone lost battery during the match...and afterwards I went to the cinema to remind myself how much Episode I sucks.

My thoughts on the game are...we're almost certainly going out, but Napoli were good and we were quite good, albeit making several mistakes in the process, but most importantly the players actually appeared to try, which is why I haven't the same miserable feeling as I've had for many of Chelsea's shockingly half-arsed performances over the past couple of months.

This obviously reflects more on my slipping standards than anything else, but then I'm pretty sure that ever since the 5-3 Arsenal loss AVB has just been trying to grind through to the end of the season on some kind of autopilot before he begins to truly reshape the squad and playing style in his image.

[IAceI]

Gary Neville is generally the smartest pundit on the go but he was thick as mince last night, as are most British commentators when it comes to working with Napoli.

Napoli can play the ball around a bit and keep some possession but usually their best opportunities come from a quick break, and a cross and shot - typical counter attacking play, so when Neville was banging on at 2-1 about "Chelsea have loads of time on the ball here, it's a matter of time before they score.." then suddenly the seven man Napoli defence feeds the ball out to one of their front three and they break at speed and look dangerous. Then again most people can't seem to comprehend a formation that doesn't consist of two banks of four and a big man and little man partnership up front.

That said, Gary Neville did use the phrase "I've seen milk turn quicker" when describing the Napoli defence, which is definitely my favourite insult for a slow player - so he wins some points back.

Also good that Sky have actually head of Marek Hamsik. That's leagues ahead of BBC in 2010's World Cup coverage when they didn't know who he was.

It's not over for Chelsea, crucially they got that away goal but it will be difficult to beat a defensive minded Napoli who are going to be even more defensive minded at Stamford Bridge. But not impossible. That said I quite look forward to the last eight without an English team because we'll get to see some different teams play, and Sky are going to be all at sea trying to commentate on players they've never heard of. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't just yank the coverage and come back for the final..

PS: Italian football is rubbish, there's never any goals, Serie A is dying etc. etc.

Edited February 22, 2012 by IAceI

[Summers]

:/

[IAceI]

Someone help me decide what I want to watch tonight. Both matches intrigue me and have players that I like to watch playing.

You'd wager this will be the end of Basle's run and I haven't been able to see too much of them this year - they take on Bayern Munich and will have Shaqiri playing I assume, against the team he's set to join at the end of the season and Basle also have the highly rated Xhaka in defence who I'm interested to see play. If they're fully fit I'd assume Bayern will have Robbery on the left and right and probably Schweinsteiger and Tymoshuck who are always a pleasure to watch.

Then on the other hand you have the more balanced match - you'd think - between Marseille and Inter Milan. Marseille are on the most in form teams in Europe right now and Inter Milan are the complete opposite. Based on domestic form this would have a Marseille win plastered all over it but since this is Europe and form partly goes out the window, it could be a really interesting match. Plus I don't see French and Italian football as much as I do German football so this may be a good chance to see two of the biggest names in their respective leagues play.

[MDK]

Gotta be the Basle match, how can you pass up the opportunity to see a possible upset?

[IAceI]

This is very true Myke, and I assume they'll probably assume the mantle of EWB's adopted team for the tournament. I just imagine the other match may be a more interesting spectacle from a neutral point of view.

[Matt]

FC Basel became my adopted team about 2 months ago.

[MDK]

This is very true Myke, and I assume they'll probably assume the mantle of EWB's adopted team for the tournament. I just imagine the other match may be a more interesting spectacle from a neutral point of view.

We're British, we love the plucky underdog!

[DavidMarrio]

Gotta be Basel hands down. Park Joo-Ho is the best fullback in the world!!!!

[The Quasi Juice]

Marseille has never interested me for some reason. Inter has been dreadful this season, Ranieri still doesn't know how to use Sneijder, despite it being really easy. Basel were pretty fun to look at last time, and Bayern just have a great team at the moment so got to go with that game.