Comments on: Chelsea 4-0 Bordeaux – Champions League – Live Blog

By: Brian W

Brian W — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:44:21 +0000

The competition is a crapshoot. United didn’t win the thing since 1999, yet they have enough finances. Real Madrid hasn’t won since 2002, yet they have the finanes to do so.

Blaming Chelsea for consistently making strides year after year to progress in the competition is shortsighted and hypocritical. There are plenty of good clubs that SHOULD win but don’t because it is a knock out competition. We will get one eventually, but we truly are more concerned with winning the league. As far as your argument for real trophies, two league titles, the FA Cup, Carling Cup and UCl runner’s up isn’t bad for a 4 year span.

By: Daniel Chung

Daniel Chung — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:18:06 +0000

I wasn’t intending to belittle the efforts of Vic in his blogging. My comment about CFR Cluj were more in jest toward Roma and of course ESPN or even SKY would never think to televise a match that would draw little interest of fans worldwide (outside of ..is it Cluj-Napoca?). Having said that, perhaps my sarcasm was lost. It’s the fact that little clubs like Cluj-Napoca can make it into the UEFA Champions League that gives it an “FA Cup-esque” feel to the competition.

Now Brian. A club of Chelsea’s financial and on-field prowess would certainly have had a Champions’ League title (by now). But we’re two seasons removed from the year they last lifted the Premiership trophy let alone the Champions Cup. Dumb comment? When they finally justify the money that is provided at their disposal with real trophies then I might concede that point. Last season was the first time they made it to the finals. Five seasons and that budget to get to the final??

By: Brian W

Brian W — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:43:03 +0000

I do believe them because they are being honest. They know the perils of the league. The UCL is a crapshoot competition in which the best team rarely wins. However, the Premier League title crowns the very best in the country. The players, first and foremost, want to wrap up that league title before they even think about winning Europe.

How would you have felt if you had won Euorope last season but lost the league? It wouldn’t be a complete victory at all. I, and most Chelsea supporters, want both titles at once, as they are truly a crowning achievement.

The players want the league. Anything else is gravy, and anything else is really less important. The Premier League is where it is at, hands down.

By: Victor Li

Victor Li — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:00:17 +0000

Brian. If you honestly think that the players and coaches would rather add another Premiership title to their cupboard instead of the one major trophy that has eluded them (especially given the way that they lost in the Finals last year), then there’s nothing I can say to change your mind. Of course the players and managers have to say that. Heck, Scolari even said that the Carling Cup was just as important as everything else, and we all know that’s not true. They can’t devalue the League title, since that would upset the fans and the media. Can’t take everything these people say at face value.

By: Brian W

Brian W — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:40:07 +0000

Vic…both the players and manager have said it before, and I will repeat it again: the Premier League title is our top priority this season. The only ones who favor the UCL more are Roman and the board. Please get your facts straight before claiming we would piss it all away for European glory – we would not, most certainly not us fans.

Daniel: A dumb comment. Chelsea shined in the final last year outside of the 30 minute mark and outplayed United for most of the match. They rarely fail in the spotlight, so perhaps you need to brush up on your history a bit more to see the truth.

By: Victor Li

Victor Li — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:32:01 +0000

Dan, hindsight is always 20-20. I had never heard of CFR Cluj until the draw came out. I also had Roma as the heavy favorites. I don’t blame ESPN for going with Chelsea/Bordeaux. Got to cater to the market. I’m sure it was between that match and the Liverpool/Marseille match (they had Barcelona/Sporting on tape delay).

Too bad I couldn’t have watched Cluj upset Roma. Roma have always relied way too much on Totti. You think they would have learned from the last two years, but I guess not. Oh well.

As for Chelsea, we’ll see if they’re for real this weekend. They do look good, though.

By: GT

GT — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 08:58:53 +0000

Daniel, most people just call it CFR Cluj and they are from Romania, they won the Romanian league last season and became one of the few (or only) non-Bucharest club/s to win the league.

By: Daniel Chung

Daniel Chung — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 04:52:27 +0000

Vic… should have blogged live the CFR Cluj-Napoca vs AS Roma match instead. Then you would have blogged a little bit of history tonight. How many of us have even heard of CFR Cluj-Napoca (nay, how many of us even know what country this club is from?)? I know… ESPN probably dictates what matches you can blog live (so shame on ESPN for not having the vision of seeing the potention of mighty CFR Cluj-Napoca). In fairness to AS Roma, they’ve been playing like amateurs without Francesco Totti.

Chelsea are doing what Chelsea normally does best. Thrash the crap out of teams in the group stage only to fail in the spotlight. Granted they went to the final last season and came whiskers away from beating Man Utd, but they never seem to convince that they can actually win the whole lot.

By: Liverpool_Fan

Liverpool_Fan — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:03:50 +0000

easy*

By: Liverpool_Fan

Liverpool_Fan — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:03:16 +0000

We performed badly against Marseille but Stevie’s first goal made it almost seem like it wasnt 90 minutes I wasted from my life. Maybe we were suffering a hang over from the match on Saturday still good result.

Another great performance by Chelsea can’t really say anything else, just really east for them