I was merely comparing Benfica with other teams we have played at the Bridge recently...and, hand on heart, I could say that they weren't any better than Bolton. Stoke were better than them. Yes, they had chances and yes, they had one or two decent skillsmen (Aimar in particular) but it was obvious that we were doing no more than we had to and would always beat them. Yuh probably eh realise but our schedule for the next couple of weeks is:
Wigan (H) Saturday
Fulham (A) Monday
Spurs (N) Sunday
Barca (H) Wednesday
Arsenal (A) Saturday
Barca (A) Tuesday
7 big, big games in 17 days. 2 games against the best team in the world and 3 London derbies away from home. 4 if you count QPR on the weekend after the Barca game. That is a hard, hard few weeks and we cannot afford to be playing flat out when we dont have to...that is why we was playing in first gear. Of course Benfica controlled the game, they were the team wid something to prove...we were 2-0 up against a side wid 10 men, we were just playing to cross the finish line wid minimal effort. A Chelsea side playing at their best would have murdered Benfica. Napoli were a much, much better side than dem.
Ryan dread.. I myself does have a tendency to be biased to Chelsea when I ready but I can't agree with yuh assessment at all. Maybe it look different live than on TV, but from what I saw that Benfica side was giving us some worries.
Yuh argument that Chelsea come to play a Champions League 2nd leg in 2nd gear to conserve for harder games to come is a non-starter. Definitely not with a slender 1-0 away lead to protect. Yuh cant justify playing with yuh food there.
In terms of technical ability they were superior by some measure in midfield across both legs. Aimar, Javi Garcia and Gaitan level of control on the ball and touches was beyond anything that Mikel, Lampard, Ramires could offer. In fact look even worse in the 2nd leg with Lampard (instead of Meireles) there because they was just knocking the ball around him.
We were basically sitting back, inviting pressure and then letting them bring the game to us and then hitting them on the break. We were also superior in the physical challenges and won the aerial battles. But i was impressed by the technical ability and some of the combinations that Benfica side was putting together. Lets not forget that in both legs, they started off brightly and had genuine opportunities. Off the top of my head, in the first leg Cech pull off a miraculous save with his foot and in the second leg Cech tip a shot onto the post. If any of those went in, it would have been a different game.
I for one thought that last 5 minutes of the game after Benfica equalize was nerve wracking. Tired see games where one side throw away a thousand chances only to get poison at the death. Happy to be through.
