The Skipper

No. If you've seen my posts regarding Benitez, you'll see me give credit to him where it's due. I'm talking about yesterday's game specifically - bushman was basically claiming that Rafa's decision to sub in Luiz at H/T was a great tactical move when to me and many others it was common sense. That's what I was talking about. I'm fair against Benitez, I'll give him credit when it's due, but he hasn't done anything spectacular overall and didn't do anything spectacular yesterday and you know it. He's just done an average job.

I HAD A SPARE TICKET!!!

Yeah it was after Ba's touch that I knew it went in. I knew Cahill's shot was just off the line but after the goal line scrap and after Ba forcing it in and the player (can't remember who it was) clearly cleared the ball behind the line I thought it was definitely a goal. Ah well, not that it matters much anyway, just glad we won.

We'll miss Hazard, but Moses does seem to pick up his game for Europa League games. If Hazard's out, I have faith in Moses producing a good performance. If we win this it would wrap up a decent season by our standards. Top four + a European trophy. Not bad considering the amount of palava we've been through this year. Could've been more trophies though but oh well.

No not yet, but my natural reaction (and those around me) was that it was a goal, even the Villa fans thought so, they were delighted that the ref never gave it. I had the same view the lino had, and honestly would've given it as a goal.

I could tell because of the way the ball was cleared, it was clearly cleared behind the line.

Trolling on the Spurs forum. They've already banned me btw

You don't understand how good his 1st goal was. It was of the highest quality, one of the greatest weaker foot finishes I've seen in a long time, in a time where we needed a goal desperately. What a finish. So delighted for this man, living legend.

Cahill's awful game today is a reminder as to why Luiz's long term future is at the back. No way would've Luiz let Benteke bullied him like that. No way.

We should be getting 99% of those results regardless of whether Luiz is at DM or not though.

I didn't have time to tune in to Chelsea TV, I was coming home from the game where I discussed it with fellow Chelsea fans who were saying the exact same thing. I can't even be bothered with you, how the hell would it even be logical to bring on Benayoun? LOL. Are we really going down that route now? Praising a manager when he hasn't done something dumb? Just going to try my hardest to ignore most of the crap you sprout.

Quality. Next chant at White Hart Lane or when they're down The Bridge.

So I just came back from the game and I must say, what an incredible game. So delighted Super Frank Lampard got 203 goals, the atmosphere when he scored the second was one of the best I've witnessed as a CFC fan, also at the end when we were all singing Super Frank was fantastic. How did we sound on TV? We outsang Villa for majority of the game from what I remember... Regardless. So delighted for SFL. What an absolute legend he is. MOTM for me just because his brilliance won us the game. Regarding the game, we were horrible in the first half. Ramires and SFL were all over the place, they were dragging our midfield everywhere. Gary Cahill had his worst game in a long time. Benteke physically bullied him and whenever Benteke got on the ball Gary basically shat himself. I blame the first goal on his horrible defending of Benteke - which Cech should've had covered btw as it was quite a tame shot. Benteke is a beast of a player though, must be said. He reminds me a little of Drogba in how he instills fear in defenders. Closer of a Drogba comparison than Lukaku is IMO. Azpilicueta is an unsung hero in here. Had another fantastic game, was head and shoulders our best defender today I thought - never stopped running, made some crucial tackles and always gave 100% even though he was playing next to the jittery Cahill. Would've been mine MOTM had it not been for Frank's exploits. Ramires' sending off was really stupid considering he knew he was on a yellow. I can't believe he put the team in peril like that, very unlike Ramires who can usually play with a yellow card to his name. Luckily Lampard bailed us out. Moses, Mata, Hazard and Ba... Where to start. Moses was so ineffective today, it was painful to watch. Bad day at the office from Victor. Ba was poor IMO, didn't really look up for until later in the second half but he's the best option we've got unfortunately. Even when Ba's having a bad game he still contributes more than Torres on an average day. Mata I felt had one of his worst performances in recent games, wasn't good enough IMO, there were times were Ba and Hazard both made great runs but uncharacteristically Mata failed to spot them. Off day from Juan. Hazard was as indifferent as Mata in the first half but really turned it on in the second - excellent performance again from the young man, really terrorised the Villa defence single handily when Ba, Mata and Moses were having an off day. That's the benefit of not being a one man team! Definitely our offensive standout today. Oh and the Villa fans are real scum, sorry. Booing and laughing/cheering when JT was genuinely injured - trying to start fights after the match outside of the stadium. They really are a bitter bunch. Also our disallowed goal... No idea what the linesman was thinking, it clearly went in, you could see from miles away. So delighted we grabbed the scrappy win though, even though I would've liked us to finish the game off a lot earlier so we could've taken players off for the Europa League final. Hopefully Hazard recovers because we really need him, and hopefully JTs injury isn't too bad. We're going to Amsterdam!

Sorry if your football IQ isn't high enough to see a blatant move like that. Ramires got sent off. You don't leave Lampard alone in midfield against Aston Villa's youthful midfielders who can run for days. You look at your bench. Luiz is the most capable one of playing in midfield, therefore you put him in next to Lampard for Moses who was our most ineffective attacking player. It's common sense, it wasn't a tactical masterstroke. Don't know why you're praising him so much for it.

Come off it, any human being with decent footballing knowledge would've made the same move. Everyone in the CFC away end were calling for Moses to come off for Luiz after Ramires' sending off, it's common sense, not some magical tactical stroke.

Luiz's best performances at CM don't even touch the best performances the likes of Schweinsteiger, Vidal and Marchisio have produced.

Yeah, but I was merely reviewing the work he's done here. He hasn't done anything exceptional like RdM did last season for example. If Rafa got us let's say 2 more trophies (CWC and the Capital One or FA Cup for example, both very winnable) plus got us top 4 and into the Europa League final which was a very possible scenario when he took over then I'd take my hat off to him but we aren't in that position therefore I think he's done an average job. All I can thank him for is not royally fucking up.

Yeah, if we don't get Mourinho I wouldn't mind Jupp at all. Mourinho's obviously my dead on first choice though, the signs that he'll be our next manager are pointing heavily in our favour.

My record against Villa is 100% (1 game but don't worry ).

Don't worry guys we won't lose, I'll be at Villa Park. We haven't lost whenever I've been to a game yet...

Jupp Heynckes?

Very impressive. How they still manage to compete at the top level is a testament to how well their club's run.

That's because he plays wide right for Uruguay.

Falcao level, whilst also carrying his team to the 2nd placed spot in Italy. Granted he doesn't have two monopolies in front of him like Atletico do but that is still great from the big man.