Standing on the edge…
It seems that there is a bit of a game on this evening.
Having read some missives from Merseyside, there appears to be something of a North / South divide evident between us. So, just to clarify a few points that I’ve read about us Chelsea fans in recent days.
Yes, my real name is Tarquin. The chap I sit next to at Stamford Bridge has a double-barrelled name that sounds like a couple of small villages in the Lake District.
We both run hedge funds and heat our swimming pools by burning £50 notes. And stray members of the working classes (but only when we’re bored with shooting at them).
We will be leaving our offices early today (the resident Arsenal fan is looking after mine – well, what else does he have to do?) and asking the driver to head to a little hostelry near the stadium in order to quaff a few pre-match liveners.
(Cheapo Bollinger only unfortunately – wouldn’t pour it down the WC normally, but the blasted credit crunch has put the vintage Krug on ice and we’re reduced to flushing the turds away with plain old Perrier nowadays.)
Now, much has been made of the terrible din that the locals make in their ghastly little corner of the North where they eat rodents and make love to their relatives. But let me tell you, things can get pretty heated in SW6 when the occasion demands it.
Tomorrow night you’ll see 40,000 expectant fans, most of whom have been avid Blues since at least 2003, buoyant in the knowledge that a nice corporate jolly to Moscow is on the cards.
Copies of the Telegraph and the FT will be made into paper aeroplanes; we’ll wave our plastic flags vigorously and open our prawn sandwiches simultaneously. It creates quite an unholy racket, I can tell you. Swing low, you Chelsea blues!
Of course, none of the above is really true, but just a cheeky play on a few tired stereotypes.
I’m sure that the wags blogging on the Liverpool FC sites this week are being equally as sarcastic when they talk about their honest players that never dive or argue with referees, their fans who wouldn’t stoop as low as stealing or forging tickets for the game or indeed believe that they have some God given right to go to Moscow as it wouldn’t be a ‘proper’ final without them. I mean, you wouldn’t write that stuff seriously, would you?
Rewind for a moment. Saturday was, against general expectations, a cracking day. The sun came out. Avram put some superfine Egyptian cotton around his portly form. Rio made a twat of himself in front of Signor Capello and Ze German was smoother than Leslie Phillips seducing a pair of cashmere slippers.
Above all, it finally showed that despite a season of largely turgid, awful football we can still shine when the occasion demands.
So having successfully annoyed the ability to be a well-mannered and rational loser out of Fergie, we turn our attentions to dear old Rafa, whose face at the mere mention of Chelsea usually looks like Max Mosley’s arse after a night in the dungeon with a half a dozen whip-wielding Frauleins.
Without José to spar with, the Liverpool supremo seems lost and has taken to rambling on about all sorts of conspiratorial nonsense.
“In the last six games in Europe he has refereed, five times the local team have won and once they haven’t. That was Valencia against Chelsea – it’s very curious,” said Benitez of tonight’s match official.
Frankly, you could force feed Alan Green alphabet spaghetti and he’d shit a more coherent viewpoint. But there’s nothing like getting your excuses in early, I suppose. When you haven’t got a ‘famous Anfield European night’ to fall back on, you need to fire the troops up somehow.
Oh bollocks – enough already. I apologise for the frivolous nature of this post. You can read all the proper stats and stuff on the BBC website if that bakes your loaf. Laugh at the pilchards on Sky Sports News, watch Youtube clips of Riise’s spectacular strike in the first leg or Phil Thompson shouting “PENGUIN!” in frustration.
Just do whatever is necessary to get you through today. The truth is, I just need to take my mind off things. I am slightly more tense and uneasy than Ken Livingstone in a synagogue.
The last time we had a chance this good of getting near the big Euro vase, we watched in horror as Claudio Ranieri’s tactical masterplan unfolded (literally) before our eyes.
It was like watching General Custer trying to defend Little Big Horn with feather dusters and a packet of Tunnock’s caramel wafers. Pretty, it was not.
Our Euro heartaches since then have been almost exclusively at the hands of the fourth best team in the Premier League. Liverpool are undeniably in good form at present; this is what happens when you treat most of your games from February onwards like a series of friendlies after you’ve dropped out of the race for everything else. Again.
But tonight, all of that is irrelevant. Tonight is about Avram and the boys.
It matters not that we have often made holding onto a lead look more difficult than nailing bran flakes to a soapy ferret.
It matters even less that our manager occasionally resembles a man who has been covered in strong adhesive and pushed into a branch of Mister Byrite.
What matters tonight is how he and the boys deal with one of the biggest games we’ve ever played in.
Ten years ago, the thought of Chelsea reaching a European Cup final was the preserve of the mentally unstable. Tonight, we stand on the edge of history. Ninety minutes separate us from Moscow and the team that we beat at the weekend.
So roll on 7.45 this evening. Those of us attending, make the Bridge rock like it did on Saturday. Those on the pitch and in the dugout, you know what to do. Make us proud.
- Posted at 01:19 AM · Permalink · Print · 2295 views · Last indexed by Google on the 7th May 2008
- Tags: Avram Grant, Champions League, Chelsea, John Arne Riise, Liverpool, Phil Thompson, Rafael Benitez
“Ten years ago, the thought of Chelsea reaching a European Cup final was the preserve of the mentally unstable. Tonight, we stand on the edge of history. Ninety minutes separate us from Moscow and the team that we beat at the weekend.”
really does sum it up.. not a frivilous post - needed a fix of something fresh regarding the match tmr - KTBFFH
Good post JD! Boys, make us proud tonight!!!!
I am nervous.
for a frivolous you’ve managed to sum up things pretty well.
Tomorrow history will be made in our favour. Its just such a pity that I wont be there.
Come on you Blues. Make us proud.
I can’t fecking sleep.
Really looking forward to tonight’s game.
Christ I hope we spank them, just to leave it them with no doubt that they are an absolute rabble, and that their history is just that!…. History.
Unfortunately, the likelihood is, it will be edge of the seat stuff again, albeit of the ‘Shit on a Stick’ variety!
I’ve just woken up from a quite a vivid dream where we win 2-0! Although I have to admit what I was doing playing, and why only one end of the pitch resembled the bridge, and the other end had a taxi office doorway as a goal is somewhat confusing.
Now before we all start googling Freud in an attempt to find the true meaning of what this all means. In my defence no illegal or legal substances have passed my lips, and what woke me up with a start was the fact Liverpool smashed the taxi office window with a long range shot where we all had to run off and hide.
So you heard it here first a 2-0 win for the mighty blues you can bet your months wages on it.
Typical Scousers…..
Bet they were trying to nick the hubcaps off the taxis!
Good one - this is arguably the most hilarious post of the month, in the world of footy blogs.
The match starts at around 1:00 a.m. in my time zone - I will be deprived of sleep, lets hope, I have a tired SMILE on my face !!
GO BLUES !!
Try 4:00am for me although at least I get the option of sleeping first then waking up !
I would like 2-0 but I suspect it will be a nail biting 1-0 with Ashley Cole clearing off the line again in the 92nd minute or is that Sheva…
Man U were average this morning and Barca not much better… if we can reach the final then I reckon we will go and win it with the momentum we have built up over the last few games. At this end of the season momentum is everything when bodies are getting tired.
If its 2-0 then I fancy Frank to come on and score the second (assuming he doesn’t start of course). Expect some more tributes to Pat if that happens…
I should add for some reason I have the same sense of anticipation as I had before the 97 FA Cup final when we broke our trophy duck after 26 years. To reach the European cup final is a dream I have had ever since the days of watching Liverpool win in the 70s/80s.
To win the Cup Winners Cup in 98 was special particularly Zola’s goal ! but to the win CL would be even better. I can feel the emotion already building (yes I cried in 97 !) however, first we have to beat the aforementioned team to get the chance.
How things have changed from a few weeks ago when we were all so disallusioned with our style of play. I am still not an AG supporter or believe he has much of affect on the team but for now I put that aside to urge my beloved blues onto the one dream we haven’t experienced yet.
KTBFFH
Come on lads, do us proud tonight!
Come on lads, do us proud tonight!
KTBFFH
You heat your swimming pool by burning 50 quid notes? So passé. Round our way we burn dole scrounging scousers, they’re ten a penny and no-one seems to miss them!
Here’s my last bit of serialisation of the inner workings of a Scousers mind, of course if we win I’ll go looking for the excuses, but I draw your attention to the third paragraph which certainly made me howl with laughter. All this from the self proclaimed most knowledgeable fans in football, we certainly bow before you all, such wisdom and insight.
Damn, the mancs know how to win don’t they? It is only up to us to stop them from doing the double, although, we don’t know if they can with the league yet.
I don’t want to start the rafa thing again (and I don’t intend to, so let’s keep this thing low key), but since there was mention of the CL/EPl thing that has sprung up, i just briefly state my view. Again, let’s not start the rafa debate, because i am pointing this out from a different perspective.
Some in the media say they fail to understand why we do so well in CL and yet suffer in the premiership. Although there is some truth in that argument, the reality is, the league is much easier to win than the CL.
If you have enough players, the more the chance of winning it. If winker-wanker is suffering and getting knocked-around (i think not), put shrek or Nani on. If cech has his skull knocked-off, place him with Cudicini. Oh i know, since we are missing dogbreath in the nations cup, let’s just go and buy Anelka for the sake of it.
But with CL, no, it’s basically tactics and the ability to perform the tactics that count. That’s the one thing about tournaments, you see. Greece can be full of average players, but they can still be Champions of Europe. It’s not so much about players, but more about tactics and strategy. The more ideas and analysis you have in your sleeves, the more chance of winning it. If you think the opponent is better than you, just find a way of negating them and sending the game to PK, and then the stakes go up to 50/50 (in theory). You can’t do that in the league. You have to win all the important games in 90 minutes. To do that over the course of a long domestic league with lots of in-betweens, you need to have at least 4 or 5 matchmakers and 3 top class defenders (who you can preferably rotate).
If some say that buying the league is not the liverpool way, then either you have to stop dreaming, or believe in a manager that proves to be a tactical genius and who has the potential to finally work out a formula to win against teams with a lot of good “stock” over the course of one long season.
With his record in the CL so far, Rafa is the best manager in terms of tactics. There is just no doubt about it.
As much as i wish it, i know we will never have the financial backing to buy lots of match-makers. If, we are even worrying that spending 20 million on a striker, or 6 million on a defender is a lot of money, we will never ever be strong enough in terms of a whole squad to fight against the mancs or chelski.
We will only have to rely on the gaffer to find the right tactics and strategy to win over them.
Rafa is really the only man i can look around and say that i can trust being a tactical genius.
He is really the only hope we have, or else, we will have to beg abramovic to come and take us over.
That really for me is the underlying truth to it. Of course, there are anomalies and exeptions but the core of the argument for me is this.
Anyway, on to the chelski game!! Come on you reds!
Comment by Hyde
Frivolous nothing….great post, JD…
Barca looked drab yesterday and Man U looked not much better. Abidal couldn’t make a simple cross throughout the whole game. Every time he went down the left flank he fluffed it. How I wish we played them in the final - Scholes’ goal was wonderful though!
Can’t see Liverpool doing much tonight and our win over the Mancs will have certainly fired up the boys into believing.
Comments about Drogba diving are rich coming from Rafa but let’s hope they inspire all sorts of brilliance from us.
My son’s first game was us beating ManU so his second game should be us beating the Scousers - mind you, he is only 2 weeks old and worries more about his nappy!
Holding the Red Scum will truly make the Bridge a fortress. Roll on tonight & I believe I will be feeling Bluer than ever afterwards….in the good way, of course.
Clive, you really made my day :)
Top stuff JD
Unlike Gareth Southgate who needs the Churchillian speech, that was just what I needed to lift the spirits.
I feel lucky to be going tonight. Not just for the privelege of being at the Bridge for a big game but now I don’t have to listen to Alan Green.
Who cares what folk thing about us lets make sum noise 2nite
‘Frankly, you could force feed Alan Green alphabet spaghetti and he’d shit a more coherent viewpoint.’
Can you put this one on a T-shirt?
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Ze German be thy name.
Thy Champs league come,
Liverpool will be done,
at the shed end as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our needed win.
And forgive us for missed tackles and referees insults,
as we forgive those who foul against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from Avram Grant.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory. Ze German for ever and ever. Chelsea
I don’t really care who wins tonight, i just want to see the sort of game that the occasion demands.But this was a VERY funny post!!
Butterflies in my tummy. Im so worried yet excited. The game is drawing closer.
World heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko will be cheering on Chelsea against Liverpool as he is friends with Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko. (Daily Express)
Couldn’t we ask him to pose as a groundsman for the evening? Just in case, like…
>JD
You’v outdone yourself on this one…
Somehow, i wish that ‘Footy player’ fella was/is real, and that he could show your piece above to the whole team…
The last paragraph made me go emotional/sentimental
well done!
Always Blue!
Brilliant post. It’s really good listening to others feeling the same way I do.
Butterflies in my tummy too! Like all of you. God, I really am nervous. I mean, the fact that we are in a position of advantage to reach the Champions League final, the second leg at the Bridge, it feels surreal. Really. 90 minutes away from the UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL!!! I think we can do it. I dont know how, I dont care how. I just think we will. Hopefully.
Sick of listening to Rafa’s mind games, sick of listening to Phil Thompson telling us about how Chelsea’s indecision will lead Liverpool to Moscow, sick of listening to Ian Rush telling us that there is nothing special about Stamford Bridge. It’s time to prove these bloody bastards wrong. Bitches. Excuse the language.
COME ON CHELSEA! I’m confident we can do it! Hopefully… Come on boys, do us proud tonight!
KEEP THE BLUE FLAG FLYING HIGH
There is no doubt we will do it - yes there will be near misses, yes we will have our heart in our mouth BUT the boys led by the big man from bavaria will show composure.
Drogs will attach his stabalisers for tonight so he will be more weeble esque and will find his shooting boots again to fire us through.
No doubts, no concerns, no worries.
We WILL be in Moscow.
Funny how MAN u needed a mistake by a defender both on Saturday and last night to get the only goals they’ve had!! Still the media goes on without mentioning that fact. That in itself says something about the team at the moment but you wont get a mention of it out of the MAN U press of course!!
Also, it looks like Benitez is under a lot of pressure since he seems to be trying to influence the ref non stop over the last couple of days. Another season without a trophy and what will his excuse be then? Again the media say nothing.
And what about our influencing the ref and giving it back to Benitez? Nothing!!. So if in tnts game the ref does’nt blow the whistle when Drogs is felled like a tree by Carragher et all, where is our PR relations? totally absent. When i read how Benitez talks about Liverpool being superior to Chelsea, why are’;nt we poitning out where we have been the last three years compared to them where it really matters n the Prem? Nothing. As Jose pointed out when there was no support from the board over the Frisk affair! I dont know who I dislike the most, Grant or the gutless Monkeys called the Chelsea Board who put him there. While all us fans are fighting it out with other fans and clubs on behalf of our players and club, the board keep quiet constantly without a single word! It makes me quite sick. It seems, again, jose was right, it is us the fans and the team. no-one else. Directors and owners will come and go but we support our team. That’s what seperates us from the board. How I am really coming to hate Kenyon, Buck and very slowly Roman unless he bucks up his ideas. I feel that we and the players have been left to fend for ourselves and it is disgracefull.
I hope Drogs smashes two in just to F*&^%K up Benitez. Classless Monkey. A loser with a lucky streak in cup games. How great a team is that. Twat!
Oooer. Nervous as frick.
the first 20 tonight we need to be loud - very loud to settle our boys and try to take liverpool off their game - they will come at us very hard and fast to try and nick that away goal.
Singing “There’s Only One Boris Johnson” (before tomorrow’s election) tonight against Red Scousers should do!
Come on the Chels! Thrash these scums up - Trophyless for 2 years in a row after spending £75m this season!
If Boris AND the Scousers win, I’m going postal.
“I am slightly more tense and uneasy than Ken Livingstone in a synagogue.” - LOL!!!
Did you see the Rijcard press conference after defeat? he is not happy with English style. If we win tonight, tomorrow Fat Rafa going to tell the same bollocks! They are so pathetic these losers.
“Frankly, you could force feed Alan Green alphabet spaghetti and he’d shit a more coherent viewpoint.”
Bloody brilliant.
alphabet spaghetti
ain’t seem ‘em around for some time round here…. mmm…..has Alan Green anything to do with it?
Terrific post, JD - if the Observer doesn’t come knocking, they’re fools. ((What? Oh, they are fools? Bugger.)
I hope you win tonight, because I’m simple enough to agree with you - Liverpool only do well in the CL by skimping on the Prem. Arsenal’s this year was an honourable failure - they just didn’t have the squad to go through the whole season - but they gave it their all, and who could honestly say it shouldn’t be them, rather than Liverpool, facing you tonight?
All that scouse stuff about the Prem being easier to win than the CL is just so much bollocks. And, if you look carefully, I think he basically conceded that Liverpool are the Greece of the Prem, which sounds about right to me.
Scholes’ goal was fantastic last night and, in a way, an instance of Virtue Rewarded: if you bring good players through at youth level, and treat them well, they’ll come through with goals like that when all your expensive imports are misfiring. That’s how to run a football club. (Although it would be nice if they could just lose the paranoid persecution complex.)
If only to avoid a Moscow full of skirmishing Mancs and Scousers (and a possible ten year ban for English clubs as a result), but not only for that reason, all together now … Blue is the colour, Chelsea is (y)our name etc. etc.
Go on and marmalise ‘em.
Oh and bloody brilliant post, JD. But this has become a habit by now :)
Cheers for the support SedentaryDave - like the point about the Greece of Europe actually. Aside of anything else, May 21 is the biggest night ever for English club football - the Scousers will be absolutely furious at the injustice of it all if they’re not part of it and us nouveau riche middle class types are… :-)
Buggering hell, I’m nervous.
Good day to one and all,
For one, I am expecting an outstanding performance for the team playing in the blue strip.
JD - what a marvelous article, i do clap and giggle at your script.
Tally-ho to the blue chaps.
KTBFFH.
Terrific post, JD: let’s hope the remainder of the day lives up to it. I can’t make the game (waaaah! — but then given how wound up I am now, perhaps it’s a heavily-disguised blessing) but I should be able to keep an eye on it on TV.
Liverpoo will never stop the Mancs (plus like many of you I’m not even sure I would want them to, which is a hard thought to have to deal with) so it’s up to us.
Drogs’ reply to Mad Rafa’s idiotic mind-game effort –
http://www.guardian.co.uk/foot.....liverpool1
– is very dignified. Frankly, much as I love the Drog, it takes a bit of doing to make him come off as dignified, which shows you how far Mad R. has sunk.
Incidentally, speaking of dignified — did anyone else of a certain age find it odd last night that the quietest, most professional players last night were the Argies? I *love* the way Messi just puts his little head down and gets on with it, and though I hate to admit it, Tevez was very much the same. What happened to the cheating whining arm-waving knee-clutching show-pony Argie stereotype of yore? (Oh, that’s right, it emigrated to Madeira and became incarnate in C. Ronaldo).
Yes forgot to congratulate you on a brilliant post JD, even the missus had a chuckle reading over my shoulder, and she’s not easily pleased. ;-) And you might find this a strange question, but she’s asking (mainly because she’s into her family tree) are you related to the Dyers who live on the Isle of Wight? I apologise for having to post a somewhat dubious question.
Cheers Clive - no rellies on the IOW that I’m aware of; heading there for a few days in the not too distant though, oddly enough…
I love it, I love it, I love it!!!!
A brilliant piece JD and I (for once) have to agree with Alex “you have outdone yourself’.
You have made my day and Now Come on You Blues and make our night!
Carefree………
Oh and thanks for your support SEDENTARYDAVE!
Do us all proud again on Saturday.
Up The Hammers
Damn… I am so fecking nervous!!!!!!!
how sweet it would be to beat the scousers at home(2-0), the thought of this takes my breath away
True Blue for life, time is moving so slow!!!!!!!!!!!!
thank god for the edit function then
Yes
Ian Woosnam said something about golf techniques being important and all that but when you are in a tournament and you stand on the first tee, your only thought should be on cutting the f***ing head off the ball.
Thanks for the reply JD, it’s just that in her quest to unearth her family roots she noticed that Dyer wasn’t a particularly common name. Perhaps your upcoming trip to the IOW is not so much of a coincidence, but more of a genetic homing instinct. ;-)
Anyway at least this trivia is taking my mind off the game tonight, really really nervous, but the law of averages, surely we owe them one in a semi!
First and foremost, the best article I’ve seen on the blog JD, you’ve surpassed yourself.
As for nerves and all that, we will get through this match. We found our mojo on Saturday and we will not be as insipid as last Tuesday. Liverpool will not be a problem tonight - I’ve not felt as confident for a CL semi in previous years.
Probably best to use Superfrank as a supersub today, and stick to Saturday’s team.
Right, I’m out of here as I can stand no more clock watching and pen twiddling. Very best of luck to one and all - enjoy the game (well, as much as you can enjoy what will probably be 90 minutes of sheer torture).
See you all on the other side…
COME ON YOU BLUES!
Without struggle, there is no progress…
Come on Chelsea!
Today I’m feeling very lucky to be a Chelsea supporter. We get to experience this kind of drama and excitement on an almost yearly basis these days. And just think of what this season could have been, at times it seemed like an unmitigated disaster, what with Jose leaving and the team in seeming disarray. And here we are, butterflies in the belly, on the brink of dreams coming true. It’s been a strange ride to say the least. I love this pre-match tension. Let’s get it on.
@JD
Okay now this was really funny…not helping with my state of uneasiness…damn get over with the game already!
Come on Chelsea Come on Chelsea Come on Chelsea
the taxi thing got me going again…
bloody hillarious LOL
Slightly nervous and excited at the same time, just would like to wish lots of luck to all connected to Chelsea Football Club – management, players and fans
May the Blue Force be with us tonight!!!
Let’s rock and roll and put them to bed.
Go Chelsea!
Fantastic post!!!!!!!!
Well the date has been set the destiny. 4 semis in 5 years. God is kind. Lets hope we get the “ounce” of luck to go on to finale. This is our time. Lets do it.
Well my traditional pre-match pro evo means Chelsea look set for an entertaning game. Goals from ze german and kalou put us 2-0 up, before stevie me and a disastrous terry own goal put Liverpool in the drivers seat. However a goal from drogba puts us 3-2 up on the hour, but horror strikes as torres nets on 80 minutes. Deep into stoppage time, a Chelsea corner is hoofed out to essien, who runs to the edge of the box, swivels and plays in superfrank, who sends a stunning 25-yarder into the top corner. 4-3.
Hopefully it won’t be so nail-biting, but will be as entertaining. Prediction: 3-1, ze german, drogba and superfranksupersub, to torres.
I think I know where Hell is. Right now every element is invading every cell in my brain. Can’t eat. Can’t drink. Can’t think. Don’t smoke. Feel shit.
And this is good?
‘Lets rock and roll and put them to bed’
Why did that make me cringe?
Onto the game though. This is one match where Grant has to show he won’t be out- thought by an opposition manager.
They will come at us, and we have looked shaky defensively. That 1-1 draw was a gift and we’d betyer not screw it up.
As long as Grant doesn’t do something really daft, and our boys don’t try to ease their way through, we’ll be fine.
COME ON CHELSEAAAAAAAAA!
(@MAX EDWARDS - Alex at right back. He’s a monster.
bloody hell!!! it’s on Italian TV!!!!!!!!!
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nervous?
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.
.
.
ME?
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.
***throws alphabet spaghetti all around***
Essien moved to right back to make room for Frank. Mikel replaced by Makelele. I’m not thrilled but also not surprised.
COME ON CHELSEA!
Well this place in approx 2 hours will be a place of sheer joy and celebration, or one of solace and despair. Lets hope it’s the former and we stick it to the perennial fourth best team in the Premiership.
@ JD
Fab review, made me smile. Especially the bit about how the scousers and how they see Chelsea fans. Heat our swimming pools by burning £50 notes..I wish!!!
Mine just runs off a bog standard heater!
I’m SO excited about tonight, i’ve got the shakes!!! And butterflies! Anyone would think i was going onto the pitch tonight.
Welcome back SuperFrank..get a goal for us honey!!
2-0 TONIGHT GUYS..BRING IT ON!!!!!!!
COME ON CHELS. DO US ALL PROUD! X X X X
Fat Rafa’s face after Drog’s sublime goal-PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1-0…stay calm..
Get another goal straight after the break and defend like your life depends on it!!
LOVED Didier’s celebration! The slide up the field to Fatty Benitez got me going! Absolute class. That’ll teach the big fat t**t to snipe about one of OUR boys.
Chels are ruling the game so far..
Did anyone see Stevie S***head push AG when he was getting the ball to give to him?! F***ING BASTARD!!
I will not go nuts until we win but from what ive been hearing we are in control, Phil Thompson is crapping himself on SSN
F…..K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why do we have to drop possession and invite the pressure and this is not the first time this season we make this mistake!!! What the hell?! Come on BLUES, Come on!!!!!
SHIT, WE ARE GOING TO LOSE ON PENALTIES IF IT STAYS LIKE THIS
oH F**k, HERE WE GO…extra time!!!
i really do hope avram has a HUGE arse…..!
I can’t take much more of this… If a review’s not posted before Friday you’ll know I dropped dead from the stress of it all.
yeah 30 mins extra time, just what the doctor ordered
@Nick
I am on the verge of heart attack. Damn not the third time in semis, please not!!!!!
compensation?
awwww who gives a fuc*
yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssss!
cool
.
.
.easy
.
.
.collected
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.
together
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.
P…..L…..E…..A……S……E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
aren’t we chelsea fans? life is not supposed to be easy for us
DEFEND, DEFEND FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!!!!!!! COME ON BLUES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
KTBFFH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DIDI
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.
BLOODY
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.
DROGBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!
People
we are in the final
read it again
Oh dear God!
Nick..are you ok mate?
YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Crying my eyes out!!!!!! Never thought i’d see the day….credit Avram Grant, but DROGS…I f*cking LOVE YOU!!!!!
wHY AM I F*****G CRYING???!!!!
Masterful winding up of Drogs by the way Raffa….thanks!!!!
Two poignant moments tonight Frank kissing that arm band, and AG dropping to his knees, kudos to both men for the sheer emotion of it all.
Great bloody team
great bloody manager
the best bloody fans
and we’re in the final!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who would have ever believed this six months ago
sooooooooooo happy!!!!!!!!!
Question…How long does it take to go from HEAVEN to HELL and back?
Answer…..120 minutes!
Words have failed me, be back when i recover
God Bless the the Blues!
Great performance from all of the lads tonight, haven’t a bad word to say about one of ‘em.
J.T was fab, Drogs super, Frank fantastic-i had tears streaming down my face with his celebration..I LOVE HIM!!!! He’s ALWAYS my MOTM, but on the whole..MOTM goes to all of them.
Well done Chels for getting us to the final, i love you all X X X X X X X X X X X
Well done to the home fans..you were all great tonight.
Felt really pleased for A.G tonight too, it was a truly poignant moment when he fell to his knees at the final whistle, well done to him too.
I’m glowing!!! So, so, happy. Hope this feeling doesn’t go away!!
*BIG HUG TO ALL OF YOU GUYS TOO!!* X
We’re in the fri***n’ final!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!
I CANT BELIEVE IT, When we went to xtra time I was SURE that we would go out on penalties, Im so happy that we won I cant even explain, Phil Thompson said that the losing manager should be called an idiot well then Fat Rafa is a moron as if we didnt know that already :), I love JT and Lamps although I didnt see the game I will watch it ASAP and DROGBA no matter how much he falls over no matter how much he talks about us to the press and no matter if he leaves or not In my eyes he will ALWAYS be a chelsea LEGEND, Lets hope for glory in Moscow, I still cant believe we are in the final, KEEP THE BLUE FLAG FLYING HIGH!!!!!!!!!
oh holy hell! Wow. Now here’s a predicament. Go to Moscow, or do a maths, chemistry and classical civilisation gcse?
amazing: no chelsea player got a yellow
@ TRUE BLUE JOE
Boy! Did you miss a brilliant game! I’ve got no fingers left, never mind fingerNAILS!!
@ MAX
No contest!!
I have this weird feeling - could it be that i am starting to like avram!!
could he have started slowly and is he now showing his true colours.
i dont know, i dont really care - we are off to moscow - now where is my passport!
I wasn’t on the rota to write for tonight, but Nick seems in some sort of mental meltdown. Who can blame him. I’ll knock something up after a cup of tea…it would be more but work tomorrow etc……..
Fuck me, what a night and what a game! Will that do…….:-)
I am reminded of those immortal words of the Bard (he was obviously a Chelsea fan) and with apologies to sisters
“We Blues, we happy Blues, we Band of Brothers.”
I don’t think even winning the final could give as much satisfaction as beating those damned Scousers. So many good things about today’s performance. Why can’t we play like this all the time? Has there ever been a week like this?
So jealous of anyone going to the final..
TONY, you’re rich..will you pay for my ticket please?
Fuck me, what a night and what a game!
Sounds like a lyric to a song Tony.
Absolutely unbelievable……..
Rafa should stick to waiting tables, and leave the mind games well alone….. Drogba was absolutely superb.
Frank’s penalty was absolutely wonderful, and he totally dominated the midfield battle with Ballack, meaning that Gerrard and Mascharano were no where to be seen.
Ashley Cole played probably his best game in a Chelsea shirt.
And the fact that they had a bloody good shout at a penalty…. well that just makes it all the sweeter!
Well done lads, it took a while, but finally we are there!
We’re all going to moscow, We’re all going to moscow - la la la la, la la la la.
Oh God. Oh God. I wasn’t even there and I suffered the torments of the eternally damned. Kept sneaking away to watch telly, eventually people gave up trying to get me back. But then I couldn’t watch the last 15 mins, I just couldn’t. I’ve never had that before.
My guts were in such turmoil that I don’t even know if I’m happy now, I just feel so relieved it’s over.
But thankyou, thankyou, a thousand thankyous to Mad Fat Ugly Rafa for deciding that it would be clever to insult Drogba personally the day before the game. Thankyou for being the most useless manager in the game today. I’ll even say thankyou to Stevie G. for single-handedly dragging his team to victory in the CL three years ago, so that Mad Fat Ugly Rafa kept his job until today, when his bungling lack of basic class has cost him not only his last chance of silverware but his last shred of respect. Nice/clever of him to take Torres off too.
I’m so high, i was buzzing for extra time.
I Cant beleive Lamps played, he looked so upset when he scored. R.I.P Pat Lampard.
Que sera sera
whatever will be will be
we’re going to luznikhi
que sera sera!
Think Frank was DESPERATE to play tonight and i’m so pleased that he got his name on the scoresheet.
His celebration had me in tears. I had a feeling he’d get a goal one way or the other. Such a shame that his Ma won’t be there to see him and Chelsea play in Moscow. That must’ve been going through his mind at the final whistle. It went through mine.
His Pa looked so proud of him..
A brief visit before I collapse in a big snivelling, gibbering heap.
Chelsea, you will be the mental and physical ruin of me. But boy, it will have been some ride.
We’re in a European Cup final. Not bad for a bunch of flash buggers that were in the second division not so very long ago.
Sleep well folks, we’ve earned it.
And with that, I’ll bid you all a good night and some very beautiful dreams.
Here, here JD..
Think we’ll all go to bed very happy tonight x
I can’t sleep.
I think we match up better against Man Bloody U than we do against the ‘poo. The ‘poo run around like maniacs in midfield and try and get lots of balls in the box. Man U seem to play a slightly more European style at the moment, and I think we defend better against it.
Really ought to try and sleep. Bed ho. Stare at the darkness a while.
Unbelievable. Wow. Just wow.
Well done to the players, management… Lampard’s penalty was a tearjerker. Avram deserves another season. Whoever still thinks we’ve lost our unity, our spirit, our pride after tonight can think again. Almost in tears at the final whistle… Complete shock. Tonight is the best night and game I’ve experienced as a Chelsea supporter. I feel so lucky… Thankful.
Whatever happens now, we’ve moved one step further as a club and finally broken the Scouse hoodoo, but there’s still more to do. Bring on Moscow. Bring on United.
COME ON YOU BLUES!
@ Lolli - double room OK in Moscow?
Review done. Along with me!