Rafa's Rants (the sequel)

smileyj1987

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Has he gone yet?

I have no problem with the banners and chants calling for him out.

Roman has made as many good decisions as he has bad, and hiring a manager who ran Inter into the ground, and who was unemployed for 2 years, ranks as one of the worst.
Chelsea fans are just worried for their club, as its plain to just about everyone except Roman, just how inept and unsuitable for Chelsea, Rafa was/is.

Sadly we have been proved right, and even with such resources at his disposal, he plainly couldnt coach his way out of a plastic bag

I suppose true passionate fans who help pay his wages should just sit and applaud his weird subs and inflexible formations etc etc

But who do you hire you have sacked every manager that you have ever hired . The only man left would be Hiddink and I'd say he will stay well clear .

CSF

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Has he gone yet?

I have no problem with the banners and chants calling for him out.

Roman has made as many good decisions as he has bad, and hiring a manager who ran Inter into the ground, and who was unemployed for 2 years, ranks as one of the worst.
Chelsea fans are just worried for their club, as its plain to just about everyone except Roman, just how inept and unsuitable for Chelsea, Rafa was/is.

Sadly we have been proved right, and even with such resources at his disposal, he plainly couldnt coach his way out of a plastic bag

I suppose true passionate fans who help pay his wages should just sit and applaud his weird subs and inflexible formations etc etc

Lets be honest, the fans paying his wages argument doesn't work so well at Chelsea...

Will I Amnt

rarnes1 wrote: »

Champions league aside, remember he inherited a team that finished only 6th in the league last season.

You should take a leaf out of Gavs book instead of following the sheep.

The squad was strengthened since last season and he was in a position to challenge for the title from day one. Could just as easily say the Benitez defenders are the ones following sheep.

mike65

Its going to be the best saga of the summer no question about it (and Bale to Madrid!)

messinkiapina

I'm probably in the minority of Liverpool fans who think that Benitez isn't a great manager, and certainly not suited to the Premier League. It was a strange appointment by Abramovich, and strange that Benitez agreed to being an interim manager, that's something he has no right to whinge about now though. I suppose he thought in his own mind that he'd be a roaring success and would be staying long term.

Anyway, aside from all that I think Chelsea's fans haven't covered themselves in glory either with the way they've gone about venting their dissatisfaction, especially since this is after all a temporary appointment. The funniest thing of all though is how Chelsea fans have turned on Abramovich recently. Do they not realise that they'd be nowhere without the mega millions this guy has pumped into the club?

Lord TSC

Oranage2 wrote: »

abramavic has brought/bought them a lot of success, Rafa isn't getting the results, I was watching fox sports and he has the second worst win percentage as a manager under abramavic. People can blame the players but the manager has to take a lot of blame too. The fans didn't get behind him but they didn't think he's a good manager and he's proving them right.

Sky Sports had a list on their app of win/loss percentage after 27 games.

Benny is second bottom, with AVB bottom. The difference between the two is that Benny has won one more game that AVB drew.

cambo2008

cambo2008 wrote: »

The squad was strengthened since last season and he was in a position to challenge for the title from day one. Could just as easily say the Benitez defenders are the ones following sheep.

Chelsea finished 25 points behind Utd last season, they were never realistic title challengers by anyone with anything between their ears.

When he took over they were on a run of two wins in 8, and hadn't kept a clean sheet in 10. Hardly title challenging form.

messinkiapina

messinkiapina wrote: »

I'm probably in the minority of Liverpool fans who think that Benitez isn't a great manager, and certainly not suited to the Premier League. It was a strange appointment by Abramovich, and strange that Benitez agreed to being an interim manager, that's something he has no right to whinge about now though. I suppose he thought in his own mind that he'd be a roaring success and would be staying long term.

Anyway, aside from all that I think Chelsea's fans haven't covered themselves in glory either with the way they've gone about venting their dissatisfaction, especially since this is after all a temporary appointment. The funniest thing of all though is how Chelsea fans have turned on Abramovich recently. Do they not realise that they'd be nowhere without the mega millions this guy has pumped into the club?

messinkiapina

rarnes1 wrote: »

You win the premier league by battering the weaker teams week in/week out, like United always have. Benitez style is a little too negative for the Premier League in my opinion. Under Benitez Liverpool were great at grinding out results against the strong teams, but dropped way too many points against teams who were happy to defend against us.

Will I Amnt

Am I the only one that doesn't see a problem with the fans expressing their disgust at the appointment?

If Ferguson retires at the end of season and Dalglish is brought in as his replacement, do the fans keep their feelings under wraps and get behind him? Do they f**k
If Gary Neville was thrown in at the deep end and brought in instead of Brendan Rodgers (who wasn't wanted from day one by many people on here) do Liverpool fans get behind him and cheer him on? Bollox.

Why is it ok in booing off and calling for the head of a manager after a few months when you see he's not good enough for your club but it's not ok to do the same from the start when it's pretty obvious the manager is not the right fit?

messinkiapina

messinkiapina wrote: »

You win the premier league by battering the weaker teams week in/week out, like United always have. Benitez style is a little too negative for the Premier League in my opinion. Under Benitez Liverpool were great at grinding out results against the strong teams, but dropped way too many points against teams who were happy to defend against us.

In fairness he ended a season with 86 points and another on 82 points so your argument is slightly flawed.

Sgt Pepper 64

smileyj1987 wrote: »

But who do you hire you have sacked every manager that you have ever hired . The only man left would be Hiddink and I'd say he will stay well clear .

Plenty of managers would come - money talks and despite the risks, Chelsea are an attractive proposition with a talented squad.
Plus they have pretty much won something every season
(I think this will prove to be the first season we dont)
Managers know the risk they take with Chelsea, otherwise they would be very stupid

cambo2008

cambo2008 wrote: »

Am I the only one that doesn't see a problem with the fans expressing their disgust at the appointment?

If Ferguson retires at the end of season and Dalglish is brought in as his replacement, do the fans keep their feelings under wraps and get behind him? Do they f**k
If Gary Neville was thrown in at the deep end and brought in instead of Brendan Rodgers (who wasn't wanted from day one by many people on here) do Liverpool fans get behind him and cheer him on? Bollox.

Why is it ok in booing off and calling for the head of a manager after a few months when you see he's not good enough for your club but it's not ok to do the same from the start when it's pretty obvious the manager is not the right fit?

Anyone with a bit of knowledge about football can see that it's counter productive to boo your manager and hold up banners from day 1.

smileyj1987

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Plenty of managers would come - money talks and despite the risks, Chelsea are an attractive proposition with a talented squad.
Plus they have pretty much won something every season
(I think this will prove to be the first season we dont)
Managers know the risk they take with Chelsea, otherwise they would be very stupid

So thats why you got stuck with Rafa , Pep Guardiola was the main target and he decided Bayern would be a better option . Chelsea have shown the place is a managers graveyard because of the owner he needs to sort himself out go with a plan and let it reaach it's conclusion .

CSF

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Plenty of managers would come - money talks and despite the risks, Chelsea are an attractive proposition with a talented squad.
Plus they have pretty much won something every season
(I think this will prove to be the first season we dont)
Managers know the risk they take with Chelsea, otherwise they would be very stupid

I'm stumped as to which good ones will, if Jose doesnt

Will I Amnt

rarnes1 wrote: »

Chelsea finished 25 points behind Utd last season, they were never realistic title challengers by anyone with anything between their ears.

When he took over they were on a run of two wins in 8, and hadn't kept a clean sheet in 10. Hardly title challenging form.

Yet still only 4 off the top.
How can you say they were never realistic title challengers with that team?
They can put out as good/almost as good a first 11 as any other team in the league. Di Matteo was never going to last, he was only kept on another season by a miracle. If Rafa was as highly rated as some would have us believe he would be still challenging.

Pro. F

cambo2008 wrote: »

Am I the only one that doesn't see a problem with the fans expressing their disgust at the appointment?

If Ferguson retires at the end of season and Dalglish is brought in as his replacement, do the fans keep their feelings under wraps and get behind him? Do they f**k
If Gary Neville was thrown in at the deep end and brought in instead of Brendan Rodgers (who wasn't wanted from day one by many people on here) do Liverpool fans get behind him and cheer him on? Bollox.

Why is it ok in booing off and calling for the head of a manager after a few months when you see he's not good enough for your club but it's not ok to do the same from the start when it's pretty obvious the manager is not the right fit?

There's nothing wrong with booing a manager from day one if you don't like him. But if your team is in danger of dropping out of the top four then you really should shut the fúck up. And saying things like "we were proven right" is nonsense because the dressing room was already unruly and the fans gave the players an excuse to under perform by getting on the manager's back.

dfx-

cambo2008 wrote: »

Am I the only one that doesn't see a problem with the fans expressing their disgust at the appointment?

If Ferguson retires at the end of season and Dalglish is brought in as his replacement, do the fans keep their feelings under wraps and get behind him? Do they f**k
If Gary Neville was thrown in at the deep end and brought in instead of Brendan Rodgers (who wasn't wanted from day one by many people on here) do Liverpool fans get behind him and cheer him on? Bollox.

Why is it ok in booing off and calling for the head of a manager after a few months when you see he's not good enough for your club but it's not ok to do the same from the start when it's pretty obvious the manager is not the right fit?

Nothing wrong with it, but tough luck if you're called out on it.

I'm usually very much pro-fan protests, but I'm finding it's only when it is in the long term interest of the club is at stake such as the Blackburn farce, which isn't the case at Chelsea.

cambo2008

cambo2008 wrote: »

Yet still only 4 off the top.
How can you say they were never realistic title challengers with that team?
They can put out as good/almost as good a first 11 as any other team in the league. Di Matteo was never going to last, he was only kept on another season by a miracle. If Rafa was as highly rated as some would have us believe he would be still challenging.

Who was going to score the goals for them to win the title?

Do YOU think they were title challengers? Obviously you do

Will I Amnt

rarnes1 wrote: »

they were never realistic title challengers by anyone with anything between their ears..

rarnes1 wrote: »

Anyone with a bit of knowledge about football .

Typical. Anyone who holds an opposite opinion to you is obviously mentally challenged.

Maybe it's you that knows f**k all. Ever thought about that one?

cambo2008

cambo2008 wrote: »

Typical. Anyone who holds an opposite opinion to you is obviously mentally challenged.

Maybe it's you that knows f**k all. Ever thought about that one?

Jaysus, you're taking this thread badly.

If you can't debate like an adult don't bother.

Sgt Pepper 64

smileyj1987 wrote: »

So thats why you got stuck with Rafa , Pep Guardiola was the main target and he decided Bayern would be a better option . Chelsea have shown the place is a managers graveyard because of the owner he needs to sort himself out go with a plan and let it reaach it's conclusion .

Roman has actually softened believe it or not!
Previously you got sacked for finishing second.
Now the remit seems to be top four finish and knock out stages of the CL

another believe or not is that Chelsea are trying to meet FPP rules and reduce spending, hence the moving on of the "oldies" and the hiring on much lesser wages of younger talent with resale value, the search for a bigger stadium, buying players like Ba etc

Going out of the CL early has hurt that effort and RDM was punished for it

I'll say again, I like many Chelsea fans want nothing more than a long term manager who competes and can help build a team

Sacking TSO and Carlo was particulary wrong, and RDM should have been given more time

But the thing to remember with Chelsea is that you can have stability without trophys as per Arsenal and still get laughed at

Sgt Pepper 64

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Roman has actually softened believe it or not!
Previously you got sacked for finishing second.
Now the remit seems to be top four finish and knock out stages of the CL

another believe or not is that Chelsea are trying to meet FPP rules and reduce spending, hence the moving on of the "oldies" and the hiring on much lesser wages of younger talent with resale value, the search for a bigger stadium, buying players like Ba etc

Going out of the CL early has hurt that effort and RDM was punished for it

I'll say again, I like many Chelsea fans want nothing more than a long term manager who competes and can help build a team

Sacking TSO and Carlo was particulary wrong, and RDM should have been given more time

But the thing to remember with Chelsea is that you can have stability without trophys as per Arsenal and still get laughed at

When will a manager ever be given a long term plan at Chelsea though under Roman? It's instant success or the door, and even instant success AND the door!

Will I Amnt

rarnes1 wrote: »

Jaysus, you're taking this thread badly.

If you can't debate like an adult don't bother.

Not taking it badly at all, I've better things to care about than Rafa and Chelsea. I'm just putting across my opinion. By all means challenge it, shoot it down or whatever but try do without the silly remarks.

CSF

rarnes1 wrote: »

Jaysus, you're taking this thread badly.

If you can't debate like an adult don't bother.

To be fair, do you have to be ridiculously condescending that much of the time?

CSF

CSF wrote: »

To be fair, do you have to be ridiculously condescending that much of the time?

I wasn't been condescending, if it was taken that way I apologise. It wasn't the intention, it was meant in general terms.

Fuzzy_Dunlop

cambo2008 wrote: »

Am I the only one that doesn't see a problem with the fans expressing their disgust at the appointment?

If Ferguson retires at the end of season and Dalglish is brought in as his replacement, do the fans keep their feelings under wraps and get behind him? Do they f**k
If Gary Neville was thrown in at the deep end and brought in instead of Brendan Rodgers (who wasn't wanted from day one by many people on here) do Liverpool fans get behind him and cheer him on? Bollox.

Why is it ok in booing off and calling for the head of a manager after a few months when you see he's not good enough for your club but it's not ok to do the same from the start when it's pretty obvious the manager is not the right fit?

Who's it going to help though, especially since he's only there until the end of the season? And blame the owners/board for appointing him but no they wouldn't dare annoy their sugar daddy.

And who says it's okay to boo a manager after a few months? That's exactly the problem to be honest!

RayCon

What I don't get about this whole situation is the continuously reported line "the minority of fans oppose Benitez" .... yet reading fan forums , hearing the chants at games - it seems "minority" has a new meaning - Ive not read or heard / seen - any support for him from the Chelsea fans.

Gbear

messinkiapina wrote: »

You win the premier league by battering the weaker teams week in/week out, like United always have. Benitez style is a little too negative for the Premier League in my opinion. Under Benitez Liverpool were great at grinding out results against the strong teams, but dropped way too many points against teams who were happy to defend against us.

That's simply bollox.

You need to be able to score goals and part of chelsea's problem is that they don't do that enough with enough ease. The 8-0 pads things out a bit - almost 15% of a full season's goal tally in 1 match.
It's one thing to be able to score 3rd or 4th goals but to be able to consistently break teams down you need overwhelming firepower. Utd have almost always had that and that has always kept them competitive.
Chelsea have Torres, who's **** and Ba, who isn't good enough to be a league challenging team's primary forward player. And that's it.

They also have no midfield worth speaking of. They have plenty of utility players like Ramirez but there's no Alonso or Carrick even, who can dictate play when given space, either by another team's fear or a destructive player who's not as bad as Mikel. Lampard can do that to a degree but he's not specialised enough in it to succeed in that role at the highest level.

There's massive amounts of talent in the Chelsea squad but it completely lacks balance with loads of winger/attacking midfielders but very little either in front of them or behind them.

Baffling letting Lukaku and then Sturridge go. Any normal team would've need both of them, Ba and Torres for a full season of 60+ games.

messinkiapina

rarnes1 wrote: »

In fairness he ended a season with 86 points and another on 82 points so your argument is slightly flawed.

The only season we really challenged for the title under Benitez was 08/09. Liverpool took all 6 points against United and Chelsea, and took 2 against Arsenal for a total of 14 points against the top teams at the time. United took just 5 points against top 4 opposition. So the inability to beat lesser opposition as consistently as United certainly cost us the title that year. Dropping points against lesser teams was a constant problem with Liverpools title ambitions under Benitez.

Will I Amnt

rarnes1 wrote: »

Who was going to score the goals for them to win the title?

Do YOU think they were title challengers? Obviously you do

Missed this one. At the time Rafa took over they were still in it. If someone came in and steadied the ship it would hardly have been the shock of the football world to see them still challenging for the league in February.

I remember a post by Kess73 in the Chelsea thread early on in the season that said he thought the league was between Chelsea and City. Now I'm pretty sure you rate his opinion on footballing matters but obviously he must have "nothing between the ears" to say something like that no???

Mars Bar

cambo2008 wrote: »

Not taking it badly at all, I've better things to care about than Rafa and Chelsea. I'm just putting across my opinion. By all means challenge it, shoot it down or whatever but try do without the silly remarks.

Your opinion doesn't have to be so aggressive.

And that goes for everyone who wishes to debate here on in.

Will I Amnt

Mars Bar wrote: »

Your opinion doesn't have to be so aggressive.

And that goes for everyone who wishes to debate here on in.

Sorry if it's coming across aggressively, certainly didn't mean it to be.

Gbear

cambo2008 wrote: »

Sorry if it's coming across aggressively, certainly didn't mean it to be.

Jaysus! Now you're ranting at a mod. Calm down.


No! CAMBO! PUT DOWN THE KNIFE!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!



:pac:

Lord TSC

cambo2008 wrote: »

Am I the only one that doesn't see a problem with the fans expressing their disgust at the appointment?

Honestly, I'm in the same camp.

As football fans, I believe we have the right to express either our delight or horror at whats happening on the field, and often the only way to do that meaningfully is in the crowd at a match. If people want to cheer or boo, thats their prerogative. I also think to tell fans to shut up and get behind the team is a very shakey attitude to adopt; I fully understand the mindset, and get that you should support your team, but you shouldn't be a blind sheep and to tell people to shut up about their fears is very unfair.

As a manager, it was unprofessional of Benny to come out and attack the fans; as a manager, it's his job to keep the fans and the board happy with results and actions on the field. There's no point criticising the fans who booed from day once given they are being proved right. I get the idea of how it can be demoralizing for the players, but then again, that makes it the managers job to manage the team and convince them to shut the naysayers up. Something Benny has not done.

He has the second worst record at this number of games so far for a Chelsea manager under RA, he was always facing an uphill battle when he signed on knowing the fans didn't really want him, so he should have known that (crowd reaction or not) he was going to need to produce the results, and he hasn't.

Blame the fans, blame the board, blame the players...but his job was to manage a team to victories and for whatever reason, he's not done that.

Pro. F

Just to carry on the 'that's not a rant' theme

This is one of my favourites:

Will I Amnt

Gbear wrote: »

Jaysus! Now you're ranting at a mod. Calm down.


No! CAMBO! PUT DOWN THE KNIFE!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!



:pac:

What the f**k are you on about?? Can't post anything in here without some f**kin **** ****** **** sticking their oar in when they're not... Aaaaaahh I'm only messing, I really like Gbear

Timmyctc

Thats not a rant etc etc...

The Radiator

cambo2008 wrote: »

Am I the only one that doesn't see a problem with the fans expressing their disgust at the appointment?

If Ferguson retires at the end of season and Dalglish is brought in as his replacement, do the fans keep their feelings under wraps and get behind him? Do they f**k
If Gary Neville was thrown in at the deep end and brought in instead of Brendan Rodgers (who wasn't wanted from day one by many people on here) do Liverpool fans get behind him and cheer him on? Bollox.

Why is it ok in booing off and calling for the head of a manager after a few months when you see he's not good enough for your club but it's not ok to do the same from the start when it's pretty obvious the manager is not the right fit?

Dalglish and Neville are poor examples because they are Liverpool/Man Utd through and through. They are both personifications of and some of the best loved players/managers of their respective clubs. The rivalry between Liverpool and Chelsea wouldn't be near as extreme as between Liverpool and Man Utd either.

A better and more accurate example might be Mourinho coming to manage Man Utd... would he be given the same reaction as Benitez at Chelsea? You would probably like to think not and you'd probably be right even if results weren't as good at first as you'd have hoped.

Sgt Pepper 64

Gbear wrote: »

That's simply bollox.

You need to be able to score goals and part of chelsea's problem is that they don't do that enough with enough ease. The 8-0 pads things out a bit - almost 15% of a full season's goal tally in 1 match.
It's one thing to be able to score 3rd or 4th goals but to be able to consistently break teams down you need overwhelming firepower. Utd have almost always had that and that has always kept them competitive.
Chelsea have Torres, who's **** and Ba, who isn't good enough to be a league challenging team's primary forward player. And that's it.

They also have no midfield worth speaking of. They have plenty of utility players like Ramirez but there's no Alonso or Carrick even, who can dictate play when given space, either by another team's fear or a destructive player who's not as bad as Mikel. Lampard can do that to a degree but he's not specialised enough in it to succeed in that role at the highest level.

There's massive amounts of talent in the Chelsea squad but it completely lacks balance with loads of winger/attacking midfielders but very little either in front of them or behind them.

Baffling letting Lukaku and then Sturridge go. Any normal team would've need both of them, Ba and Torres for a full season of 60+ games.

Completely brilliant assessment of our squad.
And what has helped make it that way? Overspending in one dept (Torres\Sheva) and underspending in midfield whilst letting the likes of Essien go on loan and even Raul go. Plus Anelka\Kalou\Drogba.
We used have 2 squads, now we barely have one (yet 22 players on loan!)
Thats the madness of Roman listening to the likes of Michael E and not having a manager long enough to bring stability and natural squad replenishment as per Utd
Now we are linked with Falcao but a large amount of fans dont want all that money going on yet forward when you could get 2/3 players for the same amount.
Thats the real insanity of Chelsea, unlimited resources badly spent whereas Newcastle\Everton cut their cloth and must agonise over each and every buy.
And yet for all that, it has brought us trophys, so the rich lunatic keeps on feeding the aslyum!
Chelsea are completely unique and pose the question for all fans.
"Would you accept trophys above all else?"

messinkiapina

Gbear wrote: »

That's simply bollox.

You need to be able to score goals and part of chelsea's problem is that they don't do that enough with enough ease. The 8-0 pads things out a bit - almost 15% of a full season's goal tally in 1 match.
It's one thing to be able to score 3rd or 4th goals but to be able to consistently break teams down you need overwhelming firepower. Utd have almost always had that and that has always kept them competitive.
Chelsea have Torres, who's **** and Ba, who isn't good enough to be a league challenging team's primary forward player. And that's it.

They also have no midfield worth speaking of. They have plenty of utility players like Ramirez but there's no Alonso or Carrick even, who can dictate play when given space, either by another team's fear or a destructive player who's not as bad as Mikel. Lampard can do that to a degree but he's not specialised enough in it to succeed in that role at the highest level.

There's massive amounts of talent in the Chelsea squad but it completely lacks balance with loads of winger/attacking midfielders but very little either in front of them or behind them.

Baffling letting Lukaku and then Sturridge go. Any normal team would've need both of them, Ba and Torres for a full season of 60+ games.

I'm not basing my opinion on the few months he's had at Chelsea, I'm basing it on the 6 years he spent with Liverpool. How anyone could call Benitez' footballing philosophy anything other than cautious and defence-minded is beyond me.

Sgt Pepper 64

messinkiapina wrote: »

I'm not basing my opinion on the few months he's had at Chelsea, I'm basing it on the 6 years he spent with Liverpool. How anyone could call Benitez' footballing philosophy anything other than cautious and defence-minded is beyond me.

Because he hasnt shown that at Chelsea, who have attacking players to spare!

He's played a box to box midfielder on the right wing (as did RDM)
But RDM didnt have Moses or Oscar at the time.
RDM played the holy trinity of Mata\Oscar and Hazard which was exciting attacking football, the problem was we didnt have the midfield to cope when they lost the ball.
He's played a LB on the left wing, again same as RDM but again RDM didnt have the options that he does now.
He only plays 1 striker - thats not attacking, Utd and City play at least 2!

It was hoped he would bring an identiy and attacking football but that just hasnt happened

RodgersLFC

He is right what he said, but hes not done a good job there really, although in difficult circumstances. I guess he took the job to get back into the game again and try find something in the summer that suits him better. The press and the fans have been against him from the start, he never stood a chance there

Drexel

I wouldnt be Rafa's biggest fan but he isnt 100% to blame for Chelseas poor form. Fans and players have to take some responsibility

Hannibal

bullvine wrote: »

Something that always confuses me about the Rafa lovefest, Houllier did practically as good a job as him(I know he didn't win the Champions League but he won numerous trophies and got them to second in the league as well). Yet, he's not loved in the same way. This confuses me.

Houllier done a good job up until he won those trophies in 2001, then he had the heart attack in late 2001 and was out for 4 or 5 months I think. With Houllier his reign can be divided with pre-heart attack and post-heart attack, up until his illness all was going in the right direction then after his illness his decision making and player signings seemed to become bizarre and the team fell apart with us at one point going 11 league games without a win. Houllier also let the youth set-up develop into a terrible state where no players were being produced since Evans brought through Owen, Carragher, Gerrard and Thompson into the first team set up.

On the other hand Rafa done an excellent job for his first 3 years which were pretty much faultless, then Hicks and Gillett took over and he pissed against the wind for two years culminating in a 2nd place finish in 2009 amid constant speculation about his job and the owners having a meeting with Klinsmann of all people in late 2007. Rafa fought for the club in this period and stood with the fans while Hicks/Gillett were basically trying to mortgage the club upto the hilt and sail off with the profits, this solidarity with the fans will always make him an icon. He also overhauled the youth system with McParland, Borrell and Segura and we are starting to see the benefits now with players like Sterling, Shelvey, Suso, Wisdom all signed by him and others like Kelly and Robinson breaking through having made their debuts with him.

I know Rafa's last season we fell way off the pace but most people who followed the club could see how unstable things were in the boardroom and transfer money going missing to Texas despite us being ranked no. 1 in Europe by UEFA over a 5 year period and generating many millions of prize money which disappeared. Rafa's stats are also much better than Houlliers, so to sum it up under Rafa we could see the direction and we knew we were in safe hands whereas under Houllier we knew the club peaked in 2001 and was on the way down for 3 years before he left.

Will I Amnt

The Radiator wrote: »

Dalglish and Neville are poor examples because they are Liverpool/Man Utd through and through..

They were intentionally extreme, just trying to say that it's not always as easy to just shut up and get behind the manager regardless.

T-K-O

rarnes1 wrote: »

That could be an issue.

Alot thought Rafa was just filling in until Pep took over. Thankfully he has sense.

Mourinhio will hardly go back

The reason Jose left in the first place is now an even bigger problem. While the Russian has brought success he is now bringing a lot of problems aswell.

Yakult

Benitez to Chelsea, in what whacky world was that ever going to work? Not this world.
Abramovich is ****ing clueless, firing Di Matteo (who might not be the most talented manager but he had the fans and players on his side and that is most of the battle) for a manager that the fans detest? ****ing clueless. I don't blame the fans, I'd be pissed too, but I wouldnt put all the blame on Benitez, blame Abramovich and his trigger happy philosophy + retarded decisions too. Where are those banners?????????
Does not make sense what he done and I hope it back fires on the club by not making top 4.

Courtesy Flush

Rafa does have a habit of blaming others when things dont go well. When things started to go bad at Liverpool it was the owners fault, not his. Now its the Chelsea fans fault. Surely he would have silenced the boo boys ages ago by winning and challenging the league
I dont see how that is the case. I would blame Abramovich most of all tbh. Its a graveyard for managers now, a top manager wouldnt go near the gaff

Gbear

Courtesy Flush wrote: »

Rafa does have a habit of blaming others when things dont go well.

To be fair he's not the only one.

messinkiapina wrote: »

I'm not basing my opinion on the few months he's had at Chelsea, I'm basing it on the 6 years he spent with Liverpool. How anyone could call Benitez' footballing philosophy anything other than cautious and defence-minded is beyond me.

The defensive football where we improved year on year, culminating in being the highest scorers in the league and scoring 4 goals against both Utd and Real?


He certainly goes for control but calling it defensive is simply incorrect.

At Liverpool's best we had a first 11 that was the match of basically any team in the world at the time but our squad was essentially ****e.
By comparison, Utd had Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez playing for them in 08/09 as well as plenty of other goalscoring midfielders and wingers. They were better at beating a set defence (and still are) because of the sheer numbers of quality goalscorers they had.

A lot of similarities to Chelsea's current squad in that there's quite a bit of talent but off the bench the options are limited.
I think Moses coming back is going to be a big help. I really like him. Direct, pace, power. Good for another option instead of the gnats (incredibly talented gnats) that Chelsea have had to rely on lately.