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By Akorede Kameel Just after the game I heard the pundits in the studio saying there was a sound of thudding music from PSG's dressing room in the Stamford Bridge and I asked myself, why not if not? I need no one to tell me before I know that such sound was nothing but a sound of a victory party. Not only have Chelsea gone out of the Champions League at the last 16 stage for the second successive season, the misery was also compounded by injuries to Diego Costa who did his best in the game before he went out and Eden Hazard who looked lost in front of goal after playing like he's being forced to stay on at Chelsea. The Blues can now only win the FA Cup and to be without one of the players mentioned above or both would be a serious setback before Saturday's quarter-final at Everton. What direction does the club go in now? I think for the start of a new manager, he has to stake his claim on the team by letting few players leave while he gets new ones in the summer. There's no gain in saying there is need for a clear-out because that's exactly what the team needs to come back to their normal level next season. It's hard to believe this is the same team who were so good for so long in winning the title last year. If I want to find excuses, then I will say Paris St-Germain were able to rest most of their key players at the weekend having virtually already won the league but it was opposite for Chelsea that had a tough game against Stoke City. There is no amount of excuses that can take away the fact that the club failed massively to build on last year success and as a result has gone very backward this season. Huge spending is required in the summer if they want to genuinely compete at this level. For Paris St-Germain, it was such a monumental effort in both the first and second half looking at the way they dominated possession. There was no energy for Chelsea at the start of the second half and once you drop off for this PSG side they will punish you. You can say they're a real outside bet to win this season's Champions League but not the favourite. Teams in Europe will want to avoid them? Don't think so. Barcelona will definitely be happy to play them than Bayern Munich but there is one thing in them that I cherish, the hunger to win the competition, if that will be enough is yet to be seen. PSG are just on another level to Chelsea at the moment, you can not blame the men in blue for that. The result shows that English football is seriously lacking in Europe. What is the answer to that? Sign quality players to compete with the ones ruling the European football.
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By Akorede Kameel It is no news that John Terry missed Chelsea's past five games including the last-16 first leg defeat to Paris St-Germain. The same player who is the captain of the side will again miss the Wednesday's Champions League last-16 second leg tie with PSG at Stamford Bridge because of a hamstring injury he sustained in February. But striker Diego Costa and Pedro are both fit after missing Saturday's Premier League draw against Stoke. Paris St-Germain are having concern about one or two of their players too, which has prompted Blanc to hint that both Blaise Matuidi and Marco Verratti could miss the fixture although both players were named in the travelling squad but the manager will have to make a late decision on the fitness of Verratti whether to play him or not. Now that the fantastic captain isn't playing, Guus Hiddink must fashion out a way to stop the attack of his opposing team which I think will be very difficult to do. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani are two great strikers that are very good in the air for aerial balls and luckily for the two, both scored for PSG while John Obi Mikel claimed an away goal for Chelsea. So, with Terry not playing, I don't see the central defensive pair of Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic coping with the threat of the attacking force of the French champion. The blues have got no choice than to attack right from the first minute of the game and hope the defence will be solid enough to reduce the pressure resulting from any counter attacking game. When you are in search of a goal, you will push your opponent behind the ball but they will be waiting for you to make a mistake especially in the midfield to take advantage of and hit on a counter with long ball to the striker. It will be good to see how Chelsea line up their defence but whatever that happens, Costa must show he's capable of causing lot of problem for PSG defenders. For the first twenty minutes of the first leg, PSG took the game to Chelsea, playing some of their best football of the season. Chelsea held off the first wave of attacks and conceded the opening goal, however, when the away side pressured the PSG back line, David Luiz and Thiago Silva didn't cover themselves in glory with some of their defending. This is to point out that PSG defence too can be vulnerable, but I think as weak as both of the defence lines may be, the part of the field where much battle will be is the central midfield and which ever team that claims this area will have upper hand than the other. Having said that, Chelsea have scored in the past 22 champions league home games, the last time the blues failed to score was in the 1-0 defeat by Manchester United in April 2011 and 57% of their CL goals this season have been scored from set-pieces (8 out of 14). On the other hand, PSG have the best defensive record in this season's CL with two goals conceded in seven games, they are also yet to conceded a goal in the second half of a CL game in 2015/16 season. One thing is sure, this particular fixture will give fans runs for their money. |
By Akorede Kameel After twelveth successive season on the horizon without the Premier League title, a miracle required in Catalonia to stay in the Champions League, no wins in their last five games, increase growing supporter unrest. Arsene Wenger's season is unravelling at a rate of knots but just this evening his stuttering Arsenal side have got a good win in an FA Cup replay against Hull City. The gunners will now host Watford in another FA Cup tie at home for the first time since 1987, when they lost 1-3 to them in the quarter finals. Obviously this victory is not a turning point, but if you saw the game tonight, then no one could deny it was a very professional gunners performance. Confidence for Walcott and Giroud. Not that total great performance but the main men have turned up for Arsenal. Finally after a few months, gunners fans can beat their chests and say bring on the next game. Don't get it twisted, the coming weeks will be much more difficult for Arsenal. Talking about the game proper. After their Emirate show which has given many people the opinion that it was not going to be a ride for the gunners, again Hull City's FA Cup adventure is ended by Arsenal. The score line really isn't a good reflection of Hull City's performance but you can't take anything away from Arsenal who were clinical. David Myler will have a bad night after his silly mistake. If you ask me or if you've been following Steve Bruce's conferences before this tie, it's promotion that's always been the dream for the Tigers this season. Hull were very poor in the second half, it was a walk in the park for Arsenal - not that we saw a dominant gunners because they were very average in the first half, but they scored from every one of their chances in the second half. On the negative side of it, there were three Arsenal players who went off injured tonight. Mertesacker (cut eye), Gabriel (hamstring), Ramsey (thigh) are the latest #afc casualties. According to reports, the club hope to patch up Mertesacker in time for the weekend game. This is how the FA Cup quarter-finals matches will be played this weekend: Friday 11 March: 8:55pm in Nigeria time, Reading will slug it out against Crystal Palace while on Saturday 12 March: 6:30pm in Nigeria time, Everton will test their ability against Chelsea, not forgetting the big one on Sunday 13 March: 2:30pm Nigeria time where Arsenal will attempt to beat Watford at the Emirate and at 5:00pm Nigeria time, Manchester United and West Ham will play against another at the Old Trafford. |
missKiffy:I like your comment pa.. |
I can't but laugh when I read people on here put blame of every incident on PMB. Somebody who can't sleep in his/her house will soon blame PMB for it. Hahaha. |