Just watched Chelsea-Barca (1-0) on UEFA.com. The quality of the video was terrible. It was very difficult to make out individual players, especially away from the ball. Even on ball, apparently it's vogue in futbol announcing to only ocassionally announce the player touching the pelota, which I find indefensible and infuriating.

The match was better than I'd thought, but not great. Both sides (with a couple exceptions) played with effort, but little creativity. The ball movement in this game was not particularly sophisticated, although in the latter part of the second half, Barca's ball movement and team cohesion measurably increased. Barca was, is, and will be really hurt, I think, by two things: (1) Eto'o's absence -- they're just not as 0-60 dangerous without him and (2) Ronnie's slump. Ronaldinho was virtually invisible in this game, periodically attempting fancy dribbles that were swallowed up by Makelele, Essien, or Boulahrouz.

Chelsea's Essien and Makelele were particularly good. Makelele easily handled Ronnie, and Essien was his normal physical self, winning balls and pressing forward on muscular runs. Chelsea's defense was well organized and gave Barca few chances. Barca's best chance probably came when Messi mishandled a pass from Xavi and, although Messi was past Chelsea's last defender, he had to shoot at an angle that made it easier for Hilario to save. This wasn't his best game (although certainly not a bad one), but I love watching Messi play. He moves like a waterbug and is always a threat.

Drogba's goal was a beauty, a pivot move with a back heel flick past Puyol and then a screamer at goal. That aside, Chelsea's offensive problem is that the midfield and forwards don't link up particularly well. Lampard and Ballack, the supposed playmakers, failed. I mostly blame Lampard, who had all of two nice passes in the game, and who I have never seen play a good game from start to finish. Here he was practially invisible, and probably worse than that, as I'm sure he's getting in Ballack's way. Jose, sit Frank. Particularly now that Joe Cole is healthy.

Poor Shevchenko's timing and positioning is completely off, and it's a shame, because he's a great forward. He hasn't looked like himself at Chelsea at all.

FF

The gods conspire against me. I've been waiting for months to watch Barca-Chelsea, and it turns out (a) I had to travel to Michigan from Wednesday to Friday and (b) the UEFA.com streaming version of the match was plagued with technical difficulties that so far have prevented me from watching. Hey UEFA -- it's 2006, not 1996. Whatsay you deploy some decent streams for your loyal customers?

In any event, I haven't seen Chelsea's win, nor any of the Oct 17-18 matches. I'm going to try UEFA.com again tomorrow to see if it will give me a watchable version of Barca-Chelsea (as well as Arsenal's Russian loss).

A college buddy of FF says I didn't miss much: "For all the star power, a total let-down. I was impressed with Essien, Drogba (fantastic goal), and Messi. Totally absent: Lampard, Shevchenko, Ronaldinho." Not surprised at all with that take. That's been true almost all season. I'll post my thoughts tomorrow, I hope.

Liverpool v. Man U on Sunday...

FF

Barca-Chelsea tomorrow...

FF