You're welcome man. We also started a thread in the main Barca forum for discussion:

http://www.footytube.com/forums/barcelona/barcelona-chat-24237/

I'll admit I'm sorely disappointed with yesterday's result. But we did play quite well we just were unlucky to not get the result.

I'm kind of surprised Puyol and Pep received so many mentions. Good for them :)

their best bet would be to play with luiz (if fit) as a defensive midfielder and try to man mark messi. i would go with a 4-2-3-1 formation with essien and luiz sitting deep to break up play.

-------------cech-------------
Ivanovic---terry---cahill----cole
---------luiz-----essien------
Mata--------lampard----------Ramires
------------drogba-------------
ramires would be of the left wing simply because he is very pacey and decent defender, he will be needed out wide to deal with alves, mainly because cole is losing his pace. attack wise chelsea's fullbacks should got forward with every chance possible, with essien and luiz staying back to cover of necessary. mata and ramires would then lurk in and around the 18 to support drogba with lampard also coming in for support.
when defending, mata and ramires should be playing like fullbacks, because against barcelona teams tend to play narrow and get punished by the barca fullbacks. this would allow the original 4 defenders to operate across the 18 yard box with a line of luiz, essien and lampard in front of them, and drogba on the edge f his own half waiting for the long ball to counter or hold up play. i do not support long ball football but in this case it might be necessary.

I didn't watch the Chelsea vs Spurs match, from what I have heard the critical blow for Spurs was putting so much pressure and responsibility on Modric with only Parker to kind of assist him while VDV was doing his own thing. Where Spurs lost the match (to my understanding) was in the midfield.

That is a battle which I don't think anyone is good enough to win or naive enough to challenge.

Tactics wise I can't really speak much about Chelsea but I can guarantee you that it is going to take a whole team effort to win against Barca at Stamford Bridge and it is going to take even more than that to win the tie.

Double post

Somere, I'm not familiar with you (yet). Welcome!

I like your idea of Luiz playing DM because he can man mark Messi and offer dribbles forward. Unfortunately though, he most likely won't be fit. In which case, who would play alongside essien? I'm very interested to see who di matteo plays and what tactics he employs, especially considering he has mentioned Barca's 'weaknesses'

My biggest concern is corner kicks and set pieces. Terry, Drogba, Cahill, Ivanovic, etc. are all quite good in the air and we will have our hands full if we concede too many situations like that.

Somere is basically the United supporter who are among those who follow the youths most closely.

I've said before in the barca chat what I think of this match so no need to repeat myself

My guess would be a 3-0 win for Barca.