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Amazing FA Youth Cup Comeback – 3 down at Half-Time (With Video)

The Chelsea Youth team came back from three goals down at half time to beat Nottingham Forest in the FA Youth Cup, in what was a thrilling second half performance.

This was a truly amazing game and full credit must go to the Chelsea fans who sang their hearts out from whistle to whistle, urging the team forward.

FamousCFC.com was at the City Ground with around 30-50 Chelsea fans amongst a crowd of around 2,000 who were making their voices heard and getting behind the team.

First Half

Chelsea really struggled in the first half, with Nottingham Forest playing a direct style and testing Jamal Blackman regularly.

Nottingham Forest made this pressure pay with three goals to make it feel like we were dead and buried.

Two of the Forest goals were from the top draw, including a wonder goal from Jordan Palmer-Samuels, however the blame for the second goal lies with Jamal Blackman and the defence.

Half Time

The first half was men against boys with Nottingham Forest dominant and deservedly ahead.

We were down but our hardy travelling fans kept the faith and as the second half kicked off we were chanting “We’re going to win 4-3, We’re Gonna Win 4-3”

The Comeback

Chelsea came out with the manager’s team talk ringing in their ears and it showed

We pulled one back early in the half through Lucas Piazon and hope grew and I couldn’t stop myself having a cheeky tweet predicting we would win 4-3.

Then Islam Feruz stole the show with two goals and we went delirious as the equaliser went in as you can see below.

With ten minutes to go both sides were pushing for a winner and with three minutes to go Kiwomya pounced on the rebound from Lewis Baker’s strike to seal a victory and some amazing scenes.

Summary

This was a pulsating game and no one could have predicted our amazing comeback at half time, full credit must go to the players.

Thank you for an incredible 90 minutes of football.

Napoli First Leg – Detailed Match Analysis

Introduction

Chelsea will need to invoke the spirit of famous European nights of yore at Stamford Bridge in three weeks’ time as we go into the second leg of the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League with a 3-1 deficit to Italian side Napoli.

The Blues were left ruing defensive errors and some missed chances as the hosts came back from a goal down in front of a boisterous crowd at the San Paolo stadium. The game proved to be a case of two dodgy defences but Napoli were clinical in their finishing and they go into the second leg with a sizeable advantage. The Blues will take some hope from the away goal, which means a 2-0 win at the Bridge will see us through to the quarterfinal stage.

Selection Analysis

Under-fire Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas started with a 4-2-1-3 formation with Florent Malouda and Daniel Sturridge either side of Didier Drogba in attack, with Juan Mata in a free central role. Fernando Torres dropped to the bench. The three forward players pushed right onto the Napoli defenders who played their usual 3-4-3 system. This was an astute tactical ploy by the Chelsea boss, as he looked to exploit the weakness of the ageing, slow and error-prone Napoli defence.

However, there was a big question mark about selection in other areas as he left out the experienced trio of Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Michael Essien. This was criticized by many fans before kickoff and proved to be the wrong decision. In recent games, there has been an evident lack of leadership in the team, which cost us in the 3-3 draw against Manchester United at home. With captain John Terry being ruled out for up to 2 months with a knee injury, the Chelsea manager should have realized the importance of having calm experienced heads who have “been there and done that” for Chelsea for many years.

There wasn’t even a question of inferior quality as the manager bizarrely persisted with compatriots Raul Meireles in defensive midfield and Jose Bosingwa at left-back. The latter, however, had to be replaced by Cole in the 12^th minute after pulling up with no contact. Napoli started with their usual attacking trident of Marek Hamsik, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani, with a bank of four midfielders behind them.

First Half

The first chance of the game came on 10 minutes when Branislav Ivanovic was caught upfield and Gokhan Inler crossed to Cavani in an area where Ivanovic would be expected to mark him. His right-footed effort was saved by Chelsea ‘keeper Petr Cech. If Chelsea had thought Napoli would be relatively easier opposition, they were much mistaken. The Serie A side appeared dangerous attacking from their left, with Daniel Sturridge slightly reluctant to track back. Lavezzi was being given a lot space to cut in from that side into central areas, although none of Napoli’s front three restricted themselves to a particular position. Chelsea had most of the possession but Napoli looked dangerous on the counter-attack, with Raul Meireles looking all at sea in his defensive midfield position as he was completely over-run by the fluidity of the attackers.

By the 22^nd minute of the game, Cech had been tested thrice, coming up with two good saves and a powerful punch from a corner. At the other end, Chelsea looked to release the ball quickly with the front three imposing themselves physically on Napoli’s three-man defence. The first goal of the game came in slightly fortunate circumstances as Napoli captain Paolo Cannavaro made a hash of clearing a poor cross from Sturridge. The ball fell kindly to Mata who calmly side-footed a volley from 10 yards to send the 1200 travelling Chelsea fans into celebration mode. Chelsea had a 1-0 lead at the 27^th minute, against the run of play.

Soon, there was another opportunity for the Blues but Sturridge selfishly ignored Mata who was free in the middle and elected to take on his marker, but it only got Chelsea a corner. The corner saw a great chance missed as centre-back David Luiz got rid of his marker Cannavaro, but headed over. He would have been disappointed to miss the target.

Napoli soon got back into the game, though. Lavezzi picked up the ball on the left side, cut inside and curled the ball past Cech on 38 minutes. Meireles wasn’t even able to get close to the Argentinian forward. Cavani was booked for over-celebrating the goal. Meireles himself was booked soon after for a rash challenge in the middle of the park, and will miss the second leg for accumulating three cards in this season’s competition. Most people who have watched Chelsea recently will feel this will give us a better chance.

Chelsea had a quick chance to regain their lead as Ramires strolled past a couple of Napoli defenders and shot over from the edge of box with his weaker left foot.  Napoli’s second goal came in first half injury time as Inler’s cross floated in between Cahill and Ivanovic for Cavani to score. There was a suspicion of hand-ball from the Uruguayan. The Blues still managed to produce one more chance before the break as Ivanovic advanced the length of the pitch unopposed into the box, but was eventually crowded out by the defenders.

Second Half

Chelsea would have gone into half time disappointed with the shambolic marking that was allowing Napoli’s best attackers so much space in dangerous positions. However, most fans would have felt that there was a good chance we could break through the dodgy Napoli defence.

This hypothesis almost came to fruition early in the first half when a move involving Drogba and Mata ended with a Malouda effort which was saved by ‘keeper Morgan De Sanctis. At the other end, Napoli’s forwards were continuing to find space and the dangerous Lavezzi was brought down by Cahill, who entered the referee’s book on 55 minutes.

Chelsea were again the side with more possession as Napoli looked content to play on the counter. A couple of decent chances fell to Mata and Malouda, but their volleys didn’t find the goal. A good run by Drogba off Cannavaro was found expertly by Malouda, but Drogba found himself crowded out by two defenders with De Sanctis rushing out.

The spell of domination was soon deflated as the hosts doubled their advantage. A hopeful long ball was snatched off Luiz by Cavani and with Cech off his goal-line, he slipped in Lavezzi who finished into an empty net for the second goal of his game in the 64^th minute.

The Chelsea manager responded with a double substitution; Meireles and Malouda leaving the field for the more pedigreed duo of Lampard and Essien. To be fair to Malouda, he had done a good job. Chelsea were unable to create any proper opportunities from this point, though. In fact, Napoli had a great chance to effectively seal their progress with a fourth goal, but a Maggio shot from Hamsik’s pullback was cleared off the line by Ashley Cole. The last minute of the game saw Lampard shoot wide from a Drogba flick on.

Final Analysis

There would be much disappointment in the Chelsea camp at the failure to beat a Napoli side that looked decidedly shaky at the back. However, we had to pay for individual errors once again.

We will again be without John Terry for the return leg. Villas-Boas sounded a hopeful note following the game, but he will need to look at his team selection. He will also need to assess the merits of alienating his most experienced players midway through the season with the club still involved in three major competitions. Stamford Bridge has seen some famous nights in European competitions and it will be important for the fans to turn up and support the team throughout the 90 minutes.

There is still hope.

Win or Lose Up The Blues

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Down But Not Out – We Can Overcome Napoli At Stamford Bridge

We may have lost tonight, yet the tie against Napoli is far from over even if we will have a great deal of work to do when the Italians visit Stamford Bridge.

Juan Mata’s away goal on 27 minutes gave us a lead in the tie but most importantly it gave us an away goal which will be vital given our two goal deficit.

We will need to step up our game and put in a world class performance (which we are capable of) to overcome a Napoli side that will be brimming with confidence.

We are still on our day a world class football team, we can beat any team on our day and this includes Napoli.

With our performance today things could have been a lot worse but our winless streak is now five games and with each passing moment the moaning, complaining and ranting increases a few decibels.

The Task Ahead

The result tonight means that we will need to score twice in the return leg, something that will not be easy against an Italian side that will undoubtedly set up to frustrate us and play on the counter.

To beat Napoli we are going to have to find a way to break down an organised defence and neither Didier Drogba or Fernando Torres, look like providing us a cutting edge at the moment maybe it is time to explore alternatives?

I believe we can turn this tie around, we will just need to be at our best, we are in a rut, the only question is how far will we sink before we pull ourselves out and get back on track?

Win or Lose Up The Blues

Keep The Blue Flag Flying High with this ultimate app for any Blues fan.

Download on your iPhone here  http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ktbffh-true-blue-app/id498138842?mt=

Or on Android – http://ow.ly/91BPx

Napoli v Chelsea – Line Ups & Open Thread

Kick-off is only a few hours away now and I have never felt so much tension around the first knockout round of the Champions League before.

It really feels as if this tie means more than just progression to the next round, it is the high water mark in the Chelsea career of Andre Villas Boas.

For tonight’s game we have done a full round of previews and gathered a great deal of information on Napoli

• Tactical Preview and Analysis
• History and Information about Napoli
• Torres or Drogba?

Possible Starting Line Ups

Chelsea (4-3-3)

Čech, Ivanović, David Luiz, Bosingwa, Cahill, Ramires, Malouda, Meireles, Mata, Drogba, Sturridge

Chelsea subs : Turnbull, Cole, Mikel, Essien, Lampard, Kalou, Torres

Confident about the game, share your thoughts and predictions by leaving a comment

Keep The Blue Flag Flying High with this ultimate app for any Blues fan.

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Drogba Is Back What Now For Fernando Torres?

With Didier Drogba back from the African Cup Of Nations the window of opportunity for Fernando Torres to shine in a Chelsea shirt with selection guaranteed has passed.

During Drogba’s absence meant that Torres has started all nine of our fixtures so far in 2012 and whilst his overall play has been solid he has not scored once.

This is not acceptable when you play for one of the world’s top clubs even if the service he has received has not been perfect.

Recalling Drogba

This leaves AVB with little choice but to recall Didier Drogba to the starting line up as soon as possible, despite any jetlag or fitness concerns the Ivorian may have after a busy month.

Drogba offers strength and a battering ram going forward, which will increase our chances of scoring when our orthodox attacking game is so weak.

This return of Drogba is good news, but it delivers a damning verdict on Fernando Torres and his position in the squad.  He should be our first choice striker given his fee, yet even when gifted a chance by the football schedulers he fluffed his lines.

Continued Fan Support

Chelsea fans have continued to show him universal support, yet with Drogba fit to play him ahead of the Ivorian may test this ongoing patience to breaking point.

Sadly for Torres there is no doubt in my mind he will go back to bit part player under AVB and what happens in the summer is anyone’s guess.

Keep The Blue Flag Flying High with this ultimate app for any Blues fan.

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