Chelsea FC: Road to Redemption and Glory

[14Atlas]

Anyone comment on draw to Pompey and questions for Benzema?

[King-Osgood-1690]

Questions for Benzema:

Do you think you will be able to break onto the first team here at Chelsea?

What do you think of the club?

What do you think of the coach?

[14Atlas]

Originally Posted by King-Osgood-NZ

Questions for Benzema:

Do you think you will be able to break onto the first team here at Chelsea?

What do you think of the club?

What do you think of the coach?

thanks I'll make sure those questions are included

[Bayern]

Tough draw against portsmouth mate im sure you can bounce back when you play them at home


nice thread mate its pure class!

[14Atlas]

Originally Posted by FcBayernMunich

Tough draw against portsmouth mate im sure you can bounce back when you play them at home


nice thread mate its pure class!

thanks I wish more people would comment though. any suggestions?

[Rovers_10]

Questions: What made you choose Chelsea, surely there would have been other teams.

Who do you feel you will work well with?

How have you settled into England?

[14Atlas]

Originally Posted by Rovers_10

Questions: What made you choose Chelsea, surely there would have been other teams.

Who do you feel you will work well with?

How have you settled into England?

thanks mate for the questions. Good ones to

[Rovers_10]

Thanks m8.

Just thought of them randomly

[14Atlas]

Originally Posted by Rovers_10

Thanks m8.

Just thought of them randomly

no problem interview either tomorrow or Wednesday

[14Atlas]

UEFA Announce 2008-2009 Champions League Qualifying Rounds
The Union des Associations Europeenes de Football announced today on their website (eufa.com) that the 2008-2009 Qualifying Rounds were to be scheduled in the coming days. No teams from last year are guaranteed a spot, this year all teams have to fight for their place in Europe's biggest club competition. There are to be 64 teams involved divided randomly into 16 groups of 4. Each team will play 6 six matches 2 against every team home and away. The 2 teams at the head of their respective groups are the qualifiers for the UEFA Champions League. Groups are to be announced tomorrow. The 32 teams that do not make the cut for Champions League football shall play in the UEFA Cup completely separate from the CL. This season's UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup will prove to be interesting as they try a new format.

[Bayern]

nice idea with the champions league

[14Atlas]

thanks i got it from a couple threads including King-Osgood's but the format and how teams qualified for the CL and Cup was my idea

[King-Osgood-1690]

nice one mate, new format should be interesting.

[14Atlas]

Injuries at The Bridge!
A.Cole and Deco Sidelined By Injury

Chelsea FC today announced on their website that Deco and Ashley Cole sustained injuries during the Portsmouth match. Chelsea medical and coaching staff had not idea of Cole's injury as he carried on playing. Deco's injury was way more obvious after a crunching tackle right before half. Deco will be out until December and Ashley Cole suffering a minor injury out for 2 weeks. Hopefully these players return to full fitness and while they are gone wish them well. In their Carling Cup match in midweek the replacements have not been named yet by Big Phil but are rumored to be Wayne Bridge for A.Cole who took part in the loss to Aston Villa Phil decides to give him a second chance after a very bad performance. Replacing Deco could be Michael Ballack, Benzema, or Scolari may seek speedy options to get around the defense like Kalou. Although in the Carling Cup matchup Leyton Orient are a League 1 team Scolari will put his best team out there for the game.

[14Atlas]

UEFA Announces Groups
UEFA has announced the groups for the qualifying to the Champions League and UEFA Cup. Since they announced yesterday there have been a few minor changes. The format has been changed to having 8 groups of 8 teams, every team plays each team in their group once with the top 4 in each group qualifying to the Champions League. In other news concerning teams being drawn FC Copenhagen a team from Denmark were kicked out from the teams being drawn after they were charged with match fixing in the Danish league. The groups were all randomly selected by a computer. UEFA have also decided on a 2 match ban for players receiving red cards.

Group A:
-Chelsea FC (England)
-Bayern Leverkusen (Germany)
-Sampdoria (Italy)
-Schalke 04 (Germany)
-Basel 1893 (Switzerland)
-Galatasaray (Turkey)
-Olympiacos (Greece)
-Juventus (Italy)
Prediction- This will prove to be a tough group. It's obvious that 2 of the teams will qualify probably 3 being Chelsea, Juventus, and Schalke 04 but the 4th spot could be any of the teams. Most likely Galatasaray or Leverkusen.

Group B:
-AS Monaco (France)
-FC Twente (Holland)
-Manchester City (England)
-Atletico Madrid (Spain)
-Marseille (France)
-PSG (France)
-Feyenoord (Holland)
-Roma (Italy)
Prediction-With 3 teams from France and 2 from Holland this will alos be an interesting group. In the end it looks at if Roma, Atletica Madrid, Manchester City, and Monaco will be qualifying but there could be upsets in the forecast.

Group C:
-Ajax (Holland)
-Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)
-Lyon (France)
-Stuttgart (Germany)
-Aberdeen (Scotland)
-Celtic (Scotland)
-Fenerbahce (Turkey)
-Deportivo (Spain)
Prediction-The lot of middle to lower ranked teams except for Lyon. For Lyon to win the group would prove very tough indeed with the likes of Celtic, Ajax, Sporting Lisbon, and Deportivo all chasing after them.

Group D:
-Bayern Munich (Germany)
-Slavia Prague/Praha (Czech)
-Inter Milan (Italy)
-Heerenveen (Holland)
-Arsenal (England)
-Liverpool (England)
-Udinese (Italy)
-Brugge (Belgium)
Prediction-Most likely outcome is Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Inter Milan, 4 giant clubs in Europe but could we see an upset and maybe Brugge, Heerenveen, Udinese, or Slavia Prague pull off the incredible?

Group E:
-Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
-Weder Bremen (Germany)
-Barcelona (Spain)
-Wisla Krakow (Poland)
-Manchester United (England)
-Hamburg (Germany)
-St. Benfica (Portugal)
-Napoli (Italy)
Prediciton-It will look as if giants Manchester United and Barcelona will take this group but it will be very interesting who takes 3rd and 4th. My guess is Weder Bremen and Benfica. A very amazing matchup will be Manchester United versus Barcelona.

Group F:
-Fiorentina (Italy)
-Sparta Praha (Czech)
-Real Madrid (Spain)
-Sevilla (Spain)
-Besiktas (Turkey)
-Rangers (Scotland)
-Tottenham (England)
-Rosenborg (Norway)
Prediction-You must admit Real Madrid got the best of the draw looking to take control of this group. But let's hope they aren't to confident as a strong Rangers and Sevilla side will look to take 1st with possibly a large battle for 4th this group is fairly weak with the exceptions of Madrid, Sevilla, and Rangers.

Group G:
-Aalborg (Denmark)
-Lazio (Italy)
-Hertha Berlin (Germany)
-Portsmouth (England)
-Villarreal (Spain)
-Girondins Bordeaux FC (France)
-Panathinkos (Greece)
-FC Porto (Portugal)
Prediction-This group is hard to predict seeing as all the teams aren't the greatest. This group is the lower ranked teams although Porto and Villarreal will prove that they are good its looks as if Lazio would take 3rd but that leaves 4th open once again.

Group H:
-PSV Eindhoven (Holland)
-Espanyol (Spain)
-AC Milan (Italy)
-Valencia (Spain)
-Aston Villa (England)
-Everton (England)
-Anderlecht (Belgium)
-Standard Liege (Belgium)
Prediction-AC Milan the Italian giants will most likely be the victors in this group will PSV, Valencia, with one of the two English team getting in there.

[Bayern]

great update

groups are kind of bunched up but its all good

[14Atlas]

Originally Posted by FcBayernMunich

great update

groups are kind of bunched up but its all good

thanks mate for the feedback

[14Atlas]

updates coming soon including Carling Cup vs Leyton Orient preview, interview with Benzema, and Chelsea TV News featuring Phil Scolari! what did you guys think of the UEFA Champions League qualifying update? first though I have to finish my science lab write-up

[14Atlas]

Originally Posted by njrfcatlas14

Interview VERY soon with Karim benzema get questions in!

for page skippers

[14Atlas]

Chelsea FC vs Leyton Orient
Venue:Stamford Bridge

Team Reports:

Chelsea FC- After that dissapointing draw at Fratton Park Chelsea will look to rebound and beat League 1 side Leyton Orient going out full strength with exceptions to Ashley Cole and Deco who were injured against Pompey. Replacing them will be Wayne Bridge and K. Benzema. Benzema making his first start after his dramatic late goal against Portsmouth. Lampard and Benzema will team up as left/right forwards and Malouda and Cole will take the flanks looking to get crosses in and attack early.

-Cech-
--Bridge--Terry--Alex--Bosingwa--
-Essien-
--Lampard---Benzema--
--Malouda-----Anelka-----J.Cole--

Subs:
-Carvolho (CB)
-Adu (F)
-Drogba (ST)
-Mikel (CM)
-Ballack (CAM)
-Cudicini (GK)
-Kalou (F)

Leyton Orient- The League 1 side would be of utmost happiness to get a replay against Chelsea today being that they are the extreme underdogs in this matchup.

-Morris-
--Granville--Saah--Thelwell--Purches--
--Morgan--Chambers--Terry--Melligan
-Gray--Boyd-

-Players to Watch-

Karim Benzema- After scoring a late goal that saw Chelsea savage 1 point at Fratton Park manager Luiz Felipe Scolari chose to use him as Deco's replacement against Leyton Orient today. Since he has come to the Bridge he has found it hard to fit in to the starting eleven. Hopefully today we see good things come from him.

Adam Boyd- Currently Orient's leading goalscorer (in real life) with 6 goals in 18 appearances (1 as substitute) who with try to lift his team today as they currently sit just 2 points above the drop zone. He will try to be a miracle worker for his side.

Any Predictions? Any Comments on Preview?

[Rovers_10]

4-0 To you

[14Atlas]

Originally Posted by Rovers_10

4-0 To you

thanks for prediction mate

[14Atlas]

i updated squads so they now have Joe Cole (can't believe i missed him in beginning) Karim Benzema, and Phil Senderos. any more predictions and/or questions for the Benzema interview

[Rovers_10]

Was it hard leaving Lyon? @ Benzema

[14Atlas]

Originally Posted by Rovers_10

Was it hard leaving Lyon? @ Benzema

thanks mate interview will be up by tomorrow