Well done Chelsea!!! But let's not fool ourselves, Benfica were by far the better team on the night and deserved to win. The only thing Benitez did right was pick the correct team (from the personnel available). He did nothing else - and I mean nothing else - the entire game.
From the first minute we were overrun in the midfield. Jose would've seen that and done something about it at half time (if not sooner). He would've either changed personnel (Mikel on for the largely ineffectual Luiz - thus freeing Lamps (our most dangerous attacking threat on the night) to go forward more). Or else he would've played Ramires deeper to make a midfield three leaving Torres up front and Mata in the hole, with Cashley and Dave bombing up both wings as wing-backs (which would've kept their midfielders on the back foot more as well as given us much needed width).
But what did Benitez do? Nothing. Nada. Zip. We won because of a) luck and b) the now famous plucky Chelsea never-say-die spirit. Benitez will take the plaudits, but anyone who knows anything about football will know that the Benfica manager out thought him on the night and - but for some inexperience in the box - Benfica should've won this game.
Still, any plane crash you can walk away from counts as a landing. So well done the mighty Chelsea. Well done Torres (who knew he still had it in him!).Well done Ivanovic (again!). And well done to Mata for two assists! First team in football history to simultaneously hold the Champion's League and the Europa League trophies.
One team in London? One team in England more like it!
KTBFFH
From the first minute we were overrun in the midfield. Jose would've seen that and done something about it at half time (if not sooner). He would've either changed personnel (Mikel on for the largely ineffectual Luiz - thus freeing Lamps (our most dangerous attacking threat on the night) to go forward more). Or else he would've played Ramires deeper to make a midfield three leaving Torres up front and Mata in the hole, with Cashley and Dave bombing up both wings as wing-backs (which would've kept their midfielders on the back foot more as well as given us much needed width).
But what did Benitez do? Nothing. Nada. Zip. We won because of a) luck and b) the now famous plucky Chelsea never-say-die spirit. Benitez will take the plaudits, but anyone who knows anything about football will know that the Benfica manager out thought him on the night and - but for some inexperience in the box - Benfica should've won this game.
Still, any plane crash you can walk away from counts as a landing. So well done the mighty Chelsea. Well done Torres (who knew he still had it in him!).Well done Ivanovic (again!). And well done to Mata for two assists! First team in football history to simultaneously hold the Champion's League and the Europa League trophies.
One team in London? One team in England more like it!
KTBFFH
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