That's right, lad. We can beat them!

I?m delighted that Dynamo Chelski got knocked out. I?ve watched Barcelona all season, they are the best FOOTBALL side I have ever seen. The Sputniks have ?assembled? one of the most expensive squads ever & they still had to play defensively because they were terrified of Barca. Money well spunked.

I would expect them to dominate possession against us, but we?ve beaten better teams to get here. If by some quirk of fate we do get beat, we?re still a better club. They really do have some of the biggest, most odious tossers playing for them.

No, I?m not jealous, would you rather do things our way or theirs? Drogba, passionate? He sounded passionate when he was angling for a move before Hiddink got there, he?s a prick. They haven't got a backbone never mind a backlash.

It seems a bit silly to criticise a team for trying to maintain a strong defence when they’re playing, as you described them : "the best FOOTBALL side i have ever seen". Playing to your own strengths rather than those of the opposition tends to be a common strategy in football, I’ve noticed.

"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight at Wembley, we shall fight on the goal lines and sidelines, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air.

We shall defend our goal mouth, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the football-grounds, we shall fight on the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!"

COME ON YOU BLUE BOYS!!!!

Calm down Al

Before their game on Wednesday I wanted Chelsea to win for 1 reason only. Because they would face ManU a few days before us and that would put them at a disadvantage.

As the game wore on and Barcelona fizzed the ball around and effectively played all the football, my view changed. The football fan in me just wanted the best team to qualify and over the 2 legs that was definitely Barcelona as it was ManU against Arsenal.

Never mind the incompetence of the referee on the night ? yes he was actually worse than Colina in Villarreal. Chelsea over the 2 legs played far too defensively.

When it comes down to it, we have had to face them all this season so what if Chelsea are that bit fresher? We owe them from last years League Cup semi-final. Also remember their fans letting the whole country think they had great support at Goodison when the entire ground was singing "Your support is fucking shit" except the few hundred Chelsea fans who silently watched. Gobshites, total gobshites.

They have some of the most horrible players in the Premier League ? Drogba is the worst diver and rolls around every single game feigning injury trying to co referees, he is worse than Ronaldo. Ashley Cole what a horrible little shit he is ? on and off the pitch. Oh and I am not very keen on our England Captain who blubbers like a baby when he misses a penalty ? tart.

Fuck Chelsea ? I can?t stand them!

The way I see it, beating a wounded, detirmined Chelsea side would be the only fitting way of rounding off our thus far rebarkable cup run, and sealing the tag of "most deserving cup win ever"... COYB!!

Well said Dan, for that, it is true, the most deserving cup win......ever
NSNO

Paul,

Something tells me you don't like Chelski very much!!! And there?s me thinking they were your second team...

We have all the media inferring that we are going to suffer some sort of Chelsea backlash. We even have the Chelsea players, Ballack and Drogba, saying that they are going to win the cup because that's all they have left to win.

Utter rubbish the lot of it. Yes, I agree that them having to play a Champions League Final 3 days before the Cup Final would have done no harm to our chances but at the end of the day the match will be won based on which team performs best on the day.

One thing I do know is that, win or lose, I am glad I support a proper football club, which has proper decent players that we can relate to as opposed to Chelsea, a prefabricated team full of overpaid tossers.

I am also certain that come May 30th we will have more support than them, our players will have more desire than them and our club will show more dignity than them. With a bit of luck and a performance from the players, the cup will be ours ...

I expect us to have the backing of most of the footballing public come the Cup Final, as there really is a huge outrage at Chelsea’s behaviour during the game against Barca on Wednesday, never mind the longstanding widespread dislike of Chelsea for their arrogance and the perception that they have bought their way to the fore on what I can only describe as the back of decades of hard labour from Russian peasants, if I can say so without casting aspersions of how Mr Abramovich came by his fortune.

Damn straight, Paul.

The idea that the winner of the match will be based on whether Chelsea want to win or not is laughable.

So their players are suddenly determined are they? If they think we are going to roll over and let them pat us on the head like a good boy then a big surprise awaits Chelsea on May 30th. Let them believe that and get complacent...

Not only can we win but we will win and there is not a thing the boorish, biased top 4 obsessed media can do about it except sob into their prawn and avacado sandwiches and weep as Captain Pip holds aloft the FA Cup.

Even though I hate Chelsea, the way they went out was a disgrace and it brought back bad memories of Collina ruling Big Dunc's goal offside in the second leg against Villarreal!!!

The world of football in Europe and the UK is increasingly looking like the Eurovision Song Contest in my eyes.

Kev Clarke - Sorry not with you on that one. Chelsea played to a game plan devised by the astute Hiddink. You play to your strengths and try to spoil the oppositions game. That’s how you win titles!

By your logic, most people should actually be hoping that Chelsea beat us in the cup as they are (consistently) a better footballing side than us. Well bollox! It’s about who does enough on the day. That’s why we love watching football. If the best team on paper always won then it wouldn’t be worth watching and we’d win fuck all! Stop spunking all over Barca and realise that it’s about more than stroking the ball around and doing stepovers.

I hate Chelsea’s (read Big 4’s) arrogance as well, but you even said - "I would expect them to dominate possession against us" - That’s what Barca did against them and you took that as a reason why Barca should progress. So how do you apply the same logic to the FA Cup final?

Barca are an incredible football team and highly entertaining to watch, but like the Big 4, they think that gives them the God given right to win every game and tournament. Oh how dull that would be.

If Chelsea got into the CL final, even if we win at Wembley, the general public (certainly the media) would simply say that we win ONLY because Chelsea has faded (just like the semi-final when everyone was saying that we won largely because ManU fielded a reserve team). So, rather than moaning, it now offers a great opportunity to shut their mouths up and win the MOST DESERVING FA Cup ever. COYB.

Chelsea deserved what they got. They were disgracefully negative at Barca and far too sloppy in the home leg. And debate the referee all you want, there wasn’t one call that he got definitively wrong, just a bunch of borderline calls that could be argued both ways. I wouldn’t have given any of the penalties except maybe the Pique handball, and even that wasn’t set in stone.

I think the world will be behind Everton in the FA Cup final. Everyone loves an underdog, and what a story it would be. We’ll send out one player who could crack the Chelsea starting lineup (Lescott) and maybe two or three that might be named to their bench. And imagine Chelsea without Drogba, Lampard and Terry... think they’d accomplish what we’ve accomplished without Yak, Arteta and Jags? This will be an earthshaking victory.

With all due respect Mike it’s a good job you aren’t a ref.

Maybe watch the game again and squint your eyes a bit and imagine it’s Everton. You’ll be screaming for every one of those penalties! Whether you feel they were penalties or not (after watching all the replays and slow motion etc) on another day all of those would have been given, maybe not all in one game but out of the 5 or so shouts you’d expect to get one.

Anyway, who gives a fuck, they’re out and the better side probably did go through. Let’s see if we can completely ruin their season by winning the cup!

COYB!!

That’s pretty funny, Neil, because actually I am a former pro and college ref. You’re right, as a fan I would have been screaming for any of those penalties, and any or all might have been given, but as a ref I could see a legitimate reason to deny each one. The clearest was actually when Drogba’s jersey got grabbed, but he went down so fast and so unconvincingly that I would have let it go. It’s unusual that Ovrebo wouldn’t give one after denying two or three, but a ref is actually supposed to make each call on its own merits without regard to previous decisions.

Anyway, Chelsea acted so despicably afterwards that they deserve whatever bad luck they got. The ref got death threats. That side doesn’t deserve to lift a cup this season. It’s up to us to make sure they don’t!!

Paul Caslin, was it not for an alleged foul by Marcus Bent that Big Dunc?s goal against Villarreal was disallowed, not offside?

Anyway, back on point. We?re sure to win the cup, Chelski?s season will be over by then, it?s late in May and their players would rather be on the beach, whereas for our lot it?s the biggest game of their lives and I can see us just swarming all over them. COYB!!

Ha ha! Al Reddish, loving the Churchillian address. I?m not concerned about Chelsea?s prospects having improved by their exit from the CL. From the third round, I?ve been convinced our name is on this cup. The course we?ve chartered since and the way we?ve arrived at the final has only reinforced this.

I don?t expect it to be easy. On the contrary, I believe we?ll have to endure similar agonies to those we experienced with Man United. Long periods without possession chasing shadows. When we get the ball we must keep it better ourselves. That?s something we need to keep improving.

Everything starts with the defence replicating their form in the semi. We know Yobo is a definite change but maybe Jacobsen is making a late run on the rails for the right back berth? Whatever it?s imperative they stand firm as did the guys in the semi. I think Joseph Yobo, exemplary professional, superb athlete and proper man will have the drama queen, Drogba?s number all day long.

The Felli?s got to be cute and ignore the provocation. He?s got to withstand the illegal challenges and not retaliate. Nev has got to keep them marshalled against the Chelsea midfield. We have to choke supply to Lampard, Essien and Ballack. If we do that ultimately we?ll prevail and the cup will be on it?s way to Goodison. Have no fear men.. and women. That cup is ours it is written in the stars. COYB ? the originals, accept no imitations.

When the day comes and our beloved team walk out on the Wembley turf to the battle we have awaited for so long, just remember what we and our team are all about: Pride, dignity, history, sportsmanship. There will be no diving, no berating of the referee, and certainly no complacency.

That being said, IF the unbelievable happens and it doesn?t go our way, I just hope that all the Blues that are there stay until they kick us (I say us, I still don?t know if I?ve got my ticket yet) out.

Let?s show the FA, the United Kingdom and the world what a proper fan is all about (not getting up out of your seat and leaving like the Man U crowd). We shall applaud the victors who ever they may be. So let?s stand up and be counted and COME ON YOU BLUES.

Mike Gaynes, not sure you?re right on implying that all of Chelsea?s penalty shouts were borderline. Having refereed in the UK and my native Australia (for about 15 years), the general ruling on handballs is that if a player has his arms spread wide apart and the ball strikes him on the arm (accidently or not), then it is handball. If this was not the case, then we will have defenders standing like scarecrows everywhere, if you get my drift. In my opinion, Chelski had two stonewall penalty decisions turned down.

Anyway, I?m glad that Chelsea will be well rested come May the 30th. I have full belief in our team that they can pull it off. I think we have closed the gap somewhat to the top 4 this season, despite not been able to beat any of them in normal time. I predict a real arm-wrestle in the final and possibly extra time.

Nick X, I?ve also got my badge and the only one I?d have given was for the Pique handball but even there you could make a (not very convincing) case for ?ball to hand?. The second ?handball? was shoulder with a hint of armpit as the player turned his back.

Drogba was lucky to only get a yellow for the post-whistle abuse and, as captain, Terry should also have been booked for his response. I?ve not much time for the England set-up but how/why he?s captain is beyond me. He?s not even worth his place in the squad.

I do not like Chelsea any more or less than the next Evertonian yet at the same time there?s been a lot of tripe written about them on this page. Barca played a pretty interpassing joined-up yet bloodless anaemic kind of football beloved by so many on this site. Chelsea showed that a bit of bloodand thunder was far more effective.

That Chelsea got beat does not hide the fact that they created ten times the number of Barca's shots on goal and, whatever you say about Diver Drogba, they should have been awarded at least one penalty.
In the Cup Final I strongly hope our pattercake stuff also includes a bit of crash bang wallop.

Forget the talk of them being wounded and having nothing else to win - when we won the cup in 95 United were in the same position. Chelsea, or any other team, have no divine right to win anything. Lets just get at them on the 30th!

If we play against them in the Final the way we played in the game at Stamford Bridge then they needn?t bother turning up, The Cup is OURS.

Giles Smith ? Loveable Chelsea Scribe...

Ever since we got through to the final, I have been recalling the article written by the above journalist, or columnist, as I think he likes to refer to himself as. Here?s an extract of his wit and wisdom after the first leg in the League Cup last season:

"It's a scenario that, one feels, could really have favoured Everton last night. As the whistle blew on the gutsiest and most enthralling Chelsea performance of the season so far, Everton's officials would have had the statutory two-minute grace period in which to discuss whether to exercise their option on a second leg or not.

And almost certainly, they would have emerged from their meeting and said, 'You know, we were played off the park for the best part of an hour tonight ? made to look utterly League One by a side supposedly well below full strength. And then, of course, fate played into our hands when the referee sent off one of your players for committing a one-footed sliding tackle which made no contact with our player at all."

I remember this being discussed here last year but how sweet it would be to teach Mr Smith the meaning of respect.

I?m loving all this fighting talk, COYB!!! I remember that article by Smith, tosser, just like the rest of them. Thinking about how genuine our club and fans are makes me feel proud, really proud to be a part of the Blue family. I?m looking forward to Wembley. Wouldn?t it just be amazing if we won? We deserve it. COYB!!!