Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2012/2013

GavRedKing

Zenit did also spend a boat load in the summer so they would have been expecting to go through at AC Milan expense in that group.

They'll be a tough team for anyone in the EL if they send out their first team.

GavRedKing

maximoose wrote: »

I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I was following the commentary of that match on eurosport app (damn AC Milan ruining my accumulator!) and it mentioned that he wasn't happy when he was substituted and made a few "I've had enough" gestures

AC left me down to, had them for a draw in a 4 fold.

I was flciking between a few matches so didnt see anything, I know nobody wnats to come off but its not like he got whipped at the 55th minute.

Comes across as a pre-madona IMO, although there could be bad blood between and Hulk has just had enough.

what a day

Hulk done a Robinho IMO, he should have gone to a better league instead of taking a big pay day with Zenit. Leave him to rot, i wanted him to come to Chelsea as i did Robinho but both ended up taking the wrong choice. He is the type of player we need IMO but feck him we will get some one with more potential and a hell of a lot cheaper.

grumpymunster

what a day wrote: »

Hulk done a Robinho IMO, he should have gone to a better league instead of taking a big pay day with Zenit. Leave him to rot, i wanted him to come to Chelsea as i did Robinho but both ended up taking the wrong choice. He is the type of player we need IMO but feck him we will get some one with more potential and a hell of a lot cheaper.

Ah What a day forgive the poor (?) lad he made a misteake as Ghandi says "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong"

Ghandi also said "That forgiveness quote - that does not apply to interim managers"

Sgt Pepper 64

GavRedKing wrote: »

They can keep him TBH.

Not sure if anything came of our interest but if he wants to go to Italy let him.

That article is a bit weird though, it says he has a problem with the manager but doesnt go into specifics then goes on to say he was taken off on the 80th minute, which is hardly harsh, 1-0 up away to Milan and in control of the game so he hardly has a problem with that does he?

he's already played for 2 clubs, so he couldnt join until the summer anyway!

MUSEIST

Mikel signs a new contract, dear god help us:mad:

Sgt Pepper 64

MUSEIST wrote: »

Mikel signs a new contract, dear god help us:mad:

5 years as well!

MUSEIST

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

5 years as well!

5 more years of mikel giving the ball away in midfield and losing us matches. YAY.

Sgt Pepper 64

MUSEIST wrote: »

5 more years of mikel giving the ball away in midfield and losing us matches. YAY.

Its ok, Mourinho is coming back to give him a kick up the harris and also sign someone much much better to keep him on his toes!

amiable

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Its ok, Mourinho is coming back to give him a kick up the harris and also sign someone much much better to keep him on his toes!

Do you really think Jose will return Sgt?

Sgt Pepper 64

amiable wrote: »

Do you really think Jose will return Sgt?

One can only pray!

Team news below

Gary Cahill returns to the starting line-up with Branislav Ivanovic moving to right-back.
Oriol Romeu is preferred to John Mikel Obi alongside Ramires at the base of the midfield and the front four are unchanged from the West Ham match with another start for Victor Moses.
Ashley Cole plays the 100th Champions League game of his career.
Chelsea are expected to line up in the following 4-2-3-1 formation:
1 Petr Cech (c)
2 Branislav Ivanovic
24 Gary Cahill
4 David Luiz
3 Ashley Cole
7 Ramires
6 Oriol Romeu
13 Victor Moses
10 Juan Mata
17 Eden Hazard
9 Fernando Torres
Substitutes: 22 Ross Turnbull, 19 Paulo Ferreira, 28 Cesar Azpilicueta, 34 Ryan Bertrand, 12 John Mikel Obi, 11 Oscar, 21 Marko Marin.

MUSEIST

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

One can only pray!

Team news below

Gary Cahill returns to the starting line-up with Branislav Ivanovic moving to right-back.
Oriol Romeu is preferred to John Mikel Obi alongside Ramires at the base of the midfield and the front four are unchanged from the West Ham match with another start for Victor Moses.
Ashley Cole plays the 100th Champions League game of his career.
Chelsea are expected to line up in the following 4-2-3-1 formation:
1 Petr Cech (c)
2 Branislav Ivanovic
24 Gary Cahill
4 David Luiz
3 Ashley Cole
7 Ramires
6 Oriol Romeu
13 Victor Moses
10 Juan Mata
17 Eden Hazard
9 Fernando Torres
Substitutes: 22 Ross Turnbull, 19 Paulo Ferreira, 28 Cesar Azpilicueta, 34 Ryan Bertrand, 12 John Mikel Obi, 11 Oscar, 21 Marko Marin.

I bet we will all be here moaning about torres after the game with another lackluster performance. Tis all very predictable.

aidan24326

How does it play out for Chelsea tonight? I mean what combination of results are ye looking for to go through?

Tubbs4

Torres to score and go on to get the golden boot.

As his confidence is sky high as the only striker on the books once the pool get Danny.

Or must likely he won't score.
I edit after the game ;-)

Sgt Pepper 64

aidan24326 wrote: »

How does it play out for Chelsea tonight? I mean what combination of results are ye looking for to go through?

Chelsea have to win and Shaktar to win for us to go through

aidan24326

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Chelsea have to win and Shaktar to win for us to go through

Chelsea ought to win so I suppose it mostly comes down to what happens in Donetsk so. Quite possible that Shaktar will beat Juve though the smart money would be on the draw I think.

duploelabs

Ah well, means we can concentrate on the premiership

GavRedKing

We could be world champions and be out of europe ha :pac:

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

GavRedKing

I always said Thursday night was the best night for football :pac:

Main thig is to win Saturday now.

the_monkey

Its strange the night I was most pissed off in Europe was when we drew 2-2 at home to Juventus - 1st match

Even the losses away to Shak and Juve didn't annoy me as much, it was like I knew then that it would cost us .. and it did, had we hung on we would be through now .



ah well, id rather be out now then in April via that <insert banable expletives here> bunch of <another expletive> **** ****** Barça ...

Sgt Pepper 64

At least we dont need to sign a new striker now.
Rafa has uncorked that bottle!

Compton

Good result but Torres is still awful.

Great to see Ferreira making an appearance

Higher

Unfortunately Chelsea just aren't good enough.

Juventus absolutely trashed them, they're in a different league. Shaktar are also far more consistent.

The two best teams progress.

kev1.3s

Compton wrote: »

Good result but Torres is still awful.

Great to see Ferreira making an appearance

In general maybe but tonight I taught he was on fire! good value for the goals was up for it from start to finish and was denied two penalties that if the reff hadn't been so free with them in the first half would almost certainly have given at least one, what more do you want your'e center forward to do?

I'll be happy to wright Europe off this year if tonight's result means we've turned a corner and even tho tonight's performance was against the group whipping boys there's no telling what the confidence boost will do for our boys.

GavRedKing

Rafa said he wont mind if we dont win the EL and it isnt a failure if we go out but if we get to the Semi's he'll take it seriosuly as its a chance to wina trophy, fair enough IMO.

GavRedKing

Draw for the EL is on the 20th December with the games been played on the 14th and 21st Feb.

Sgt Pepper 64

We're out, so what - Man u went out last year and it wasnt such a big thing and they went on to finish 2nd.
Thats what Roman doesnt get, stability can bring results, and even the mighty Fergie doesnt win stuff sometimes

kev1.3s

No but when its us the media goes into hyper drive trying to break the fragile unity that our team operates in! At united there is a sense that the buck stops with fergie and if you don't perform he's the one to fear but with us the manager is lumped into the same category as the players and instead of being the one who the players fear they are able to go above his head to the board which undermines every manager since Jose with the possible exception of robbie.
Until that system is done away with we will never be as successful as utd .

what a day

I hope to christ we play in fringe players in Europa, what a usless tournament!
Play the kids and give them expeirence. Our main priority is the league. We have to finish top four this season and hopefully last nights performance will give our squad some confidence and spur us on for the weekend.

Torres put in a good shift last night and maybe he can continue untill we get a real striker in January. Brilliant to see Mikel get a new contract, quality player. Hopefully Oriol learns a few things from him and form a partnership. Oscar played well too playing deep last night, was brilliant to see us switch postions especilly when our defenders went forward and Mikel and Oriol went back. Moses and Hazard linked up brilliant too on the left hand side and as always Mata was excellent. By far our best player since Lamps in his hay day.

GavRedKing

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

We're out, so what - Man u went out last year and it wasnt such a big thing and they went on to finish 2nd.
Thats what Roman doesnt get, stability can bring results, and even the mighty Fergie doesnt win stuff sometimes

True, but Roman doesnt see the big picture really does he?

Its not possible to win everything but hopefully a win at Sunderland and winning the Club World Championship will be a good end to an up and down year.

kev1.3s wrote: »

No but when its us the media goes into hyper drive trying to break the fragile unity that our team operates in! At united there is a sense that the buck stops with fergie and if you don't perform he's the one to fear but with us the manager is lumped into the same category as the players and instead of being the one who the players fear they are able to go above his head to the board which undermines every manager since Jose with the possible exception of robbie.
Until that system is done away with we will never be as successful as utd .

The media will be more focused on Celtic going through and City going out of Europe all together to stick the boot in us I imagine.

It isnt a great thing to be remembered as the first team to win it to not reach tje K/O stages the following year.

We've to finish as close to the top as [possible now and that's Rafa's challenge for the next 5 months.

GavRedKing

Who didnt want Luiz playing last night either? He played well for us, better then Ivanovic anywho, who gave me a headache for his poor defending for their goal.

GavRedKing

what a day wrote: »

I hope to christ we play in fringe players in Europa, what a usless tournament!
Play the kids and give them expeirence. Our main priority is the league. We have to finish top four this season and hopefully last nights performance will give our squad some confidence and spur us on for the weekend.

I posted what I think is our fringe squad yesterday on the match thread, I can see it been :

Turnbull
Paulo F Cahill Ivanovic Bertrand
Romeu Lamps
Moses Piazon Marin
Sturridge

Although there is room in that squad for change, Paulo F could go to CB and Azpilicueta could play RB with Ivanovic rested for the 1st team.

Sturridge could be gone be the time February comes around.

S28382

Right the disaster that was our CL campaign is now over so lets now focus on winning the league and FA cup, we really need to put out the fringe players in the League cup and Europa league as they mean nothing. I can see us sliding down the league to 6th and moving between there and 5th/4th all season if Benitez remains in charge the players are back to seeming uninterested like they were under AVB. Its going to be a long seasson.


But hey for the moment we can hold onto the fact we are FA cup holders and CL holders for another while yet.:D

GavRedKing

S28382 wrote: »

Right the disaster that was our CL campaign is now over so lets now focus on winning the league and FA cup, we really need to put out the fringe players in the League cup and Europa league as they mean nothing. I can see us sliding down the league to 6th and moving between there and 5th/4th all season if Benitez remains in charge the players are back to seeming uninterested like they were under AVB. Its going to be a long seasson.


But hey for the moment we can hold onto the fact we are FA cup holders and CL holders for another while yet.:D

What gives ya that impression?

S28382

GavRedKing wrote: »

What gives ya that impression?

Because he is a **** manager that most Chelsea fans dont want there and what happened with AVB is going to happen now with him and if you dont see this coming then with the greastest respect to you your just another blinkered fan i would bet everything i have that the same thing that happened with AVB will happen with Benitez in charge. I know he only took over a couple of weeks ago but usually when a new manager comes in it can spark the team to play well and he hasnt in fact i think its been the opposite and plus the added fact of the way he was having pops at Chelsea when he manager of Liverpool.

It is clear as day that many people dont want him as manager and the sooner he goes the better.

GavRedKing

S28382 wrote: »

Because he is a **** manager

Ha, good one, look at his record, its one of the best around, s**t managers dont win things over the course of their career.

most Chelsea fans dont want there and what happened with AVB is going to happen now with him and if you dont see this coming then with the greastest respect to you your just another blinkered fan i would bet everything i have that the same thing that happened with AVB will happen with Benitez in charge.

Blinkered? Nope, you show me whos a better option and available right now? Rafa will command more respect then AVB ever could, AVB's style of divide and conquer the dressing room failed, Rafa wants tow rok with the 2 generals in Lamps and JT, he wont fail.

I know he only took over a couple of weeks ago but usually when a new manager comes in it can spark the team to play well and he hasnt in fact i think its been the opposite and plus the added fact of the way he was having pops at Chelsea when he manager of Liverpool.

It is clear as day that many people dont want him as manager and the sooner he goes the better.

That notion of a new manager creating a new atmosphere and a new way of playing is b*llcks, especially when hes 4 games in a short space of time, none of the players expected or wanted RDM to be sacked but their professional and will get on with the job, the club is more important then one individual and will have to subscribe to Rafas way of thinking.

The majority dont wanna Rafa, so what? Its Romans club and Rafa was the best man for the job at the time.

Sgt Pepper 64

What price Spurs\AVB vs Chelsea\Rafa in the final
How funny would that be!

Plus Gav, Rafa says he wants to win it so he will play quite a strong team.
He also knows that he will look good if they win it and Roman will expect it so your dream of all fringe players wont come true, I think

(Plus Roman did hire AVB on the back of his Europe win!)

S28382

GavRedKing wrote: »

Ha, good one, look at his record, its one of the best around, s**t managers dont win things over the course of their career.



Blinkered? Nope, you show me whos a better option and available right now? Rafa will command more respect then AVB ever could, AVB's style of divide and conquer the dressing room failed, Rafa wants tow rok with the 2 generals in Lamps and JT, he wont fail.



That notion of a new manager creating a new atmosphere and a new way of playing is b*llcks, especially when hes 4 games in a short space of time, none of the players expected or wanted RDM to be sacked but their professional and will get on with the job, the club is more important then one individual and will have to subscribe to Rafas way of thinking.

The majority dont wanna Rafa, so what? Its Romans club and Rafa was the best man for the job at the time.

When it all falls to pieces after xmas im sure you will change your mind on him.

I think your argument that its Romans club is a silly one we all know who owns the club but it doesnt mean that we have to agree with every decision he makes and with appointing Benitez as manager he has fu*ked the morale in the team up again.

I know it wont ever happen but if people stopped attending games then RA would either get some sense and start listening to the fans or he will just sell and run and im not saying people should stop going to games and despite some of the chaos in the last few years CFC is a good club its just being run by a knob head who wouldnt know stability if it slapped him in the face.

RA seems to be hinging all his hopes on Guardiola coming to the club and tbh i cant see it happening as a manager of his quality would not go near a club like Chelsea as im sure he has some dignity in him. We are now a stained club that has a really bad rep of sacking at will so no self respecting manager will come near us now and its all because of RA.

GavRedKing

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

What price Spurs\AVB vs Chelsea\Rafa in the final
How funny would that be!

Plus Gav, Rafa says he wants to win it so he will play quite a strong team.
He also knows that he will look good if they win it and Roman will expect it so your dream of all fringe players wont come true, I think

(Plus Roman did hire AVB on the back of his Europe win!)

If we get a favourable draw the big guns wont have to play much games, I certainly wouldnt be sending them out on away games, at home, yes play them but dont make themtravel half way across Europe with a game on Sunday/Monday.

S28382 wrote: »

When it all falls to pieces after xmas im sure you will change your mind on him.

Thats to say it will fall to pieces, I dont think it will at all, I think we'll kick on and easily finish 3rd at the lowest.

I think your argument that its Romans club is a silly one we all know who owns the club but it doesnt mean that we have to agree with every decision he makes and with appointing Benitez as manager he has fu*ked the morale in the team up again.

It wouldnt have mattered if he hired me or you to manage, it was always going to effect the players but its how they react is the key and how Rafa gets them turning around to his style and ideas.

I know it wont ever happen but if people stopped attending games then RA would either get some sense and start listening to the fans or he will just sell and run and im not saying people should stop going to games and despite some of the chaos in the last few years CFC is a good club its just being run by a knob head who wouldnt know stability if it slapped him in the face.

RA seems to be hinging all his hopes on Guardiola coming to the club and tbh i cant see it happening as a manager of his quality would not go near a club like Chelsea as im sure he has some dignity in him. We are now a stained club that has a really bad rep of sacking at will so no self respecting manager will come near us now and its all because of RA.

The only way to change the tune is to hire a guy and stick buy him, it wont be Rafa but the next guy has to be given at least time to stamp his authority on the squad and shape it how he sees fit, everyone can agree we need consistency as just as we're looking good we go on a poor run and a manager gets sacked.

Its not Football Manager and we need stability to grow.

what a day

Its funny how some people say Guardiola has some self respect and wont manage a club like chelsea. Roman wants perfection with his club and with money he spent he deserves it IMO. Im sure Guardiiola thinks he can bring the perfect brand of football to any club with the right players and backing. We have most of the players, probably the best suited squad for Pep out of all the top teams in europe. And with Roman offering him all the money he wants and Roman having been chasing him the past two years im sure Pep is full of confidence in Roman giving what he demands in regards to running/coaching the club.

yes we have a poor record with keeping managers but half them have been stop gap managers we had in charge and bar Carlo and Jose id probably of sacked the rest my self if i was in charge. Di Matteo was sacked because we were not getting results to keep us in the top four and we did not want to repeat finishing in 6th place again and loosing out on CL football. I have full faith in Roman and we are winnng Thropys year after year. The Roman era has been our most succesfull ever so stop having a go you!!!

greendom

what a day wrote: »

Its funny how some people say Guardiola has some self respect and wont manage a club like chelsea. Roman wants perfection with his club and with money he spent he deserves it IMO. Im sure Guardiiola thinks he can bring the perfect brand of football to any club with the right players and backing. We have most of the players, probably the best suited squad for Pep out of all the top teams in europe. And with Roman offering him all the money he wants and Roman having been chasing him the past two years im sure Pep is full of confidence in Roman giving what he demands in regards to running/coaching the club.

yes we have a poor record with keeping managers but half them have been stop gap managers we had in charge and bar Carlo and Jose id probably of sacked the rest my self if i was in charge. Di Matteo was sacked because we were not getting results to keep us in the top four and we did not want to repeat finishing in 6th place again and loosing out on CL football. I have full faith in Roman and we are winnng Thropys year after year. The Roman era has been our most succesfull ever so stop having a go you!!!

What RA doesn't seem to realise is that perfection is not instantly acheivable like making instant soup. Add money and stir. It takes a long while and managers need to be supported when there are the inevitable dips in form. Then again its his money to do what he wants with it. Setting up a retirement fund for every football manager in Europe seems to be his goal atm.

GavRedKing

greendom wrote: »

What RA doesn't seem to realise is that perfection is not instantly acheivable like making instant soup. Add money and stir. It takes a long while and managers need to be supported when there are the inevitable dips in form. Then again its his money to do what he wants with it. Setting up a retirement fund for every football manager in Europe seems to be his goal atm.

Just ask Wenger, hes been stirring and stirring with no money and had little success for the best part of a decade.

Spending money is the only way to win on a sustained basis now a days, the glory days of football been just about football is long gone, the game has stayed the same but its transformed into of the biggest business ventures around if you have the cash to throw into a club.

I'm sure he does like setting up retirement funds, drop in the ocean for him, as long as the club is winning trophies he can justify has slashing managers left, right and centre, it may not be sustainable but somehow its managed to work with regards to success.

what a day

greendom wrote: »

What RA doesn't seem to realise is that perfection is not instantly acheivable like making instant soup. Add money and stir. It takes a long while and managers need to be supported when there are the inevitable dips in form. Then again its his money to do what he wants with it. Setting up a retirement fund for every football manager in Europe seems to be his goal atm.

Every one know its not instant, he has spent ten years trying to find his formula and still has not found it. He must see it now in either Guardiola or Mourinho and im sure he will get one of them eventually. I dont see what all the fuss is about if he sacks managers for not winning enough, granted we need to have faith in a manager but it not affordable at the expense of dropping out of the CL. We are winning thropys and thats what its all about.

This would all be forgotten if our next manager came in and won every thing with us and stayed for ten years, but our CL win will never be forgotten we may not have won it if not for Romans trigger finger. Id rather sack a manger every six months and win thropys then have Wenger in charge and win nothing. (not having a go at Wenger just a good example of a top manager and has not won for a few seasons)

greendom

GavRedKing wrote: »

Just ask Wenger, hes been stirring and stirring with no money and had little success for the best part of a decade.

Spending money is the only way to win on a sustained basis now a days, the glory days of football been just about football is long gone, the game has stayed the same but its transformed into of the biggest business ventures around if you have the cash to throw into a club.

I'm sure he does like setting up retirement funds, drop in the ocean for him, as long as the club is winning trophies he can justify has slashing managers left, right and centre, it may not be sustainable but somehow its managed to work with regards to success.

With the money he's put into Chelsea over the last however many years he could have created a sustainable legacy to match the best in Europe for years to come. Instead he went for instant gratification and the league titles are testament to what having endless funds can bring and of course last season with Chelsea, somewhat fortunately, walking away with the CL. His knee-jerk style of running the club is coming home to roost this year though.

As for Arsenal years and years of under-investment in playing staff is having its inevitable consequences. There's a balance somewhere and neither club has found it.

GavRedKing

greendom wrote: »

With the money he's put into Chelsea over the last however many years he could have created a sustainable legacy to match the best in Europe for years to come. Instead he went for instant gratification and the league titles are testament to what having endless funds can bring and of course last season with Chelsea, somewhat fortunately, walking away with the CL. His knee-jerk style of running the club is coming home to roost this year though.

As for Arsenal years and years of under-investment in playing staff is having its inevitable consequences. There's a balance somewhere and neither club has found it.

Agreed, we should have never sacked Carlo or Jose and its cost us, at one time we could have dominated English and European football if we kept either manager but Roman wasnt having it and hes suffering now as the media label the club a joke and rightfully so, well, regarding the managerial merry go round anywho.

what a day

greendom wrote: »

With the money he's put into Chelsea over the last however many years he could have created a sustainable legacy to match the best in Europe for years to come. Instead he went for instant gratification and the league titles are testament to what having endless funds can bring and of course last season with Chelsea, somewhat fortunately, walking away with the CL. His knee-jerk style of running the club is coming home to roost this year though.

As for Arsenal years and years of under-investment in playing staff is having its inevitable consequences. There's a balance somewhere and neither club has found it.

Totally agree Greendom, im sure if we were in Romans shes we would have done things different but he is learning as he goes along and im sure he will get his formula right. AT least now he knows to buy young hungry players and develope a youth system. We have a massive training ground and some of the best youth players in the world. We just need to get the right manager in for now that plays attractive football and wins things. Onece we find the right manager we will be a super power in football like we were under Mourinho.

Dont forget we still have to sort out what we are doing Stadium wise to increase revenue. Cut a lot of high earners at the club and we can start introducing the likes of Debruyne McEachran Lukaku etc. Im sure Roman has his game plan figured out now, our youth set up all play the same way and im sure we will eventually find a manager simular to Guardiola that will continue the process and playing style.

We are just in a sticky patch after such a huge season last seaon plus we have rafa in charge, relax lads this will only get better just done read the rag papers that fear us clicking together!

Sgt Pepper 64

Rafa and chelsea's dilemma

"Of course, Benitez will be made aware of the club’s position but a top-four finish alone would not be sufficient to convince owner Roman Abramovich to scrub the ‘interim’ part from his job title.
When he was parachuted in to replace Roberto di Matteo, Benitez claimed he took the job to win trophies. Sacrificing a genuine crack at the Europa League is something a lot of sides often do but Benitez needs silverware to justify his position. Why else is he there?
He knew there would be a fans’ backlash, given his previous management of Liverpool and Di Matteo’s popularity. He must also have known Abramovich’s desire to install Pep Guardiola as permanent manager next summer, so his status as second choice was obvious upon arrival.
Herein lies the potential conflict of interest between a manager needing to validate his position and the big picture a club such as Chelsea should be looking at (incidentally, a version of this has played a part in the downfall of every Blues manager since Jose Mourinho and delayed vital squad regeneration).
Given Chelsea’s Champions League hopes were out of their hands when Benitez arrived at the club, winning the Europa League is the maximum return he can be expected to deliver from Europe.
Yet the longer Chelsea last in the competition, the more their domestic programme will be squeezed. Liverpool, Newcastle and Tottenham have all ­suffered in the League as a result of the extra strain the Europa League has put on their squads.
Chelsea are perhaps more acclimatised but domestic travails are more readily accepted when pursuing ­Champions League glory. The club will not tolerate any League underachievement regardless of what happens in Europe’s second-tier competition. They could win it and finish fifth and it would be viewed a failure.
The Thursday/Sunday scheduling wreaks havoc with teams’ consistency and players’ energy levels. A glance at the scheduling reveals Chelsea are set to face a possible FA Cup fifth-round tie immediately after the Europa League last-16 first leg, with the return match coming just three days before a trip to Manchester City.
Chelsea will already be a League match behind, courtesy of their ­involvement in the FIFA Club World Cup, and the condensed fixture list will make it impossible to compete on the five fronts Benitez desires to enhance his prospects of permanent employment.
Regardless of what it does to his job prospects, Benitez will have to prioritise because Chelsea do not have the strength in depth nor the margin of error to manage such a programme. If they did, they wouldn’t be in this position in the first place.
“People have asked if we’ll take the Europa League seriously but every competition is serious for us,” said Benitez. “We’ll try to do our best. The Europa League is not important if you don’t win. But if you are in the ­semi‑final or final, everyone wants to win. It’s an important competition at that stage. So, if we get there, we’ll do our best to win it.”
Benitez’s first victory as manager was a hollow one. A 6-1 thrashing of limited opponents FC Nordsjaelland, who rested players ahead of a big league match against FC Copenhagen this weekend, is no great confirmation of their well-being. Juventus’ victory in Shakhtar rendered Chelsea’s biggest ever win in the competition an ­irrelevance.
They did, at least, play with purpose and created a host of chances, with Fernando Torres converting two of them to cap a performance of promise but it is difficult to determine if this is the beginning of a revival or whether vanquishing Danish minnows is simply his level these days.
“At the moment the players are not happy but, at the same time, the feeling is there because they were doing so well,” said Benitez.
“It can be a good reference point for the future. Now we are progressing, doing better things, and hopefully it will be better.”
Sunderland lie in wait before a trip to Japan for the Club World Cup, where their participation has a hollow element to it given the defence of the trophy that got them there is over. Not that it will matter to Benitez. After all, there is a trophy to be won."

S28382

what a day wrote: »

Its funny how some people say Guardiola has some self respect and wont manage a club like chelsea. Roman wants perfection with his club and with money he spent he deserves it IMO. Im sure Guardiiola thinks he can bring the perfect brand of football to any club with the right players and backing. We have most of the players, probably the best suited squad for Pep out of all the top teams in europe. And with Roman offering him all the money he wants and Roman having been chasing him the past two years im sure Pep is full of confidence in Roman giving what he demands in regards to running/coaching the club.

yes we have a poor record with keeping managers but half them have been stop gap managers we had in charge and bar Carlo and Jose id probably of sacked the rest my self if i was in charge. Di Matteo was sacked because we were not getting results to keep us in the top four and we did not want to repeat finishing in 6th place again and loosing out on CL football. I have full faith in Roman and we are winnng Thropys year after year. The Roman era has been our most succesfull ever so stop having a go you!!!

Im pretty sure this part is aimed at me.

RA money has been good for Chelsea i never said otherwise my gripe with him is his constant change of managers he doesnt give any of them a chance to give things a proper pop at building a good solid attacking team. Then he goes along and gets in a manager that most of the Chelsea support dont want there and i will bet anything Benitez wont win the league or any cup and we wont even get champions league with him in charge.

GavRedKing

S28382 wrote: »

Im pretty sure this part is aimed at me.

RA money has been good for Chelsea i never said otherwise my gripe with him is his constant change of managers he doesnt give any of them a chance to give things a proper pop at building a good solid attacking team. Then he goes along and gets in a manager that most of the Chelsea support dont want there and i will bet anything Benitez wont win the league or any cup and we wont even get champions league with him in charge.

I'm willing to bet we'll acheive at least one of those by the end of May.