Tomo

I like his attitude and his last ditch challenges are top class, but players can get around him so easy at times, that dummy Gibbs sold him

He, like the rest of the team, were quiet in the second half, but am i the only one who thought he was unbelievable in the first? A very very promising glimpse of what's to come from him.

So we win against our local and competitive rivals at home and all we can do is slagg is the manager off Regarding the change of the tide in the second half, it's nothing new, Arsenal had nothing to lose, there has been many times this has happened before Rafa and will do after. The example that comes in the top of my head is Marseille at home under Carlo when we were 2-0 up at half time and the French side swarmed all over us in the second half. Infact the same fixture (Arsenal at home) in the double season springs to mind too. United in Jose first match for us if you want a further back example. With the three fixtures we have had in the last week i would have took seven points, the only thing is i would have naturally assumed the dropped points would have come today or at The Britannia, but 7 points is 7 points. I watched Torres closely today and i think the team have given up on him, i remember a time we counter attacked in the second half, Ramires and Torres against two Arsenal defenders and Rami opted to try and go alone instead of playing it to Fernando. Hazard in the first half, fucking hell, a very delightful glimpse of what is to come for us. I said at the start of the season 3rd place with genuine positive signs for the future will be a good season for us, and it's so far so good on both counts, one of the domestic cups would be a nice bonus too.

@, It was my way of implying who i thought was actually in charge in 07/08. @zolayes your right ill probably put Ranieri up a bit thinking again.

In terms of what they contributed 1. Mourinho 2. Ancelotti 3. Di Matteo 4. Hiddink 5. Clarke 6. Ranieri 7. AVB 8. Scolari Ill judge Rafa on the scale when he leaves.

Be careful what you wish for, something 'different' will see Torres occupied in the lineup somehow.

With the midfield we have he doesn't need to play that well, just do the basics right.

AVB and Robbie aside, all those managers had superior squad's. Jose and Claudio had shitloads to spend on whoever they wanted, Avram, Phil, Hiddink and Carlo inherited the squad in the peak cycle. Rafa had neither of those luxury's. Jose, as far as i am aware, had the worst end out of all the managers. Brendan Rodgers oversaw Liverpool's worst league start for over 100 years, does that make him the worst Pool manager in that period?

Our last five home defeats to Arsenal have come when we opened the scoring. If Arsenal score first, we will draw or win.

I think Rafa has done ok. Ok there is the bad home form but the away form is as good as it's been since the early Scolari days. If the home-away form was reversed would any one being batting an eyelid? Our inconsistent form is nothing to do with Rafa, we let experience go with young talent invested, if Rafa had this record with our 04-09 squad's then fine but this is a working progress and i think the general consensus in the summer was 3rd place with genuine positive signs for the future would be a good season, something that we are well on course to do. The difference between Rafa and Robbie is our good/bad games under Rafa seem to be spread out where with Robbie it was a run of great form followed by a run of horrible form. Taking the emotion and the contrasting feeling to both blokes by Chelsea fans,there has been an improvement under Rafa, we are dominating games a lot more than what we did under RDM and if the Spaniard can keep us in 3rd place as far as im concerned he has done what he needed to do.

Another mistake? when it comes to letting players go the club actually make very few mistakes.

Are we gunna have to go through this every time he scores?

The funny thing is Roman actually gives manager's a bigger say in transfers than most chairman do.

Walcott would murder that partnership.

Apparently JT won't start because he isn't match fit, has to be Luiz and Ivan in CB.

You misread, i said Jose leaving amoungst other things halting our dominance. The other thing's being Cech and Terry's injury's, our injury crisis in general, Makelele slowing down etc etc etc

Keeps being said the club broke their promise to AVB well infact he broke his side of the deal by failing to get minimum top 4 finish for Chelsea.

I don't let many thing's get to me, but Torres fan boy's wind the fuck out of me.

Yeah we need to get players like we did under Jose but the only thing is we will never get players of such high caliber like we did. Cech in goal who is world class but before his injury was a freak. Terry and Carvalho defensive partnership with Gallas a back up (name me one better combination than that). Makelele (the best ever defensive midfielder) protecting them, with a 20 goal midfielder and an absolute beast of a forward. Not to mention the ultimate dream team of the backroom staff. I may sound biased but as far as spine's go, i haven't came across one better. 2006 we were set for years of domination but things conspired (injury crisis the next two season's, Jose leaving) that halted that.

Unfortunently when it comes to Benitez most of you are talking with your hearts and not your heads.

Football doesn't work like that, that is like saying we had no chance against Barca because we get stuffed by Newcastle at home.

I laugh when i see comments of no top club would want to work here, just because our owner has a hiring and firing reputation. What the media don't like to cover is that other owners are just as bad if not worse than Roman, Massimo Morratti for example. Infact Bayern are hardly the most stable club themself's. Manager's like a challenge and their is no better one than what they will come across here at Kings Road. They get to work with world class players, have practically an unlimited budget to strengthen when and where they see fit. Getting sacked by Roman is hardly a reputation killer anyway, there will always be other owners that will fall for the "hard done by" line the media spin on us every time. If manager's get the Chelsea job right, they get medal's round their neck reputation enhanced, if it doesn't work out they get a pay off which will practically gain them financial security for life and get another big job with their reputation at worst taking a temporary hit. Chelsea is a dream job for ambitious, confident managers. Roman wants a long term manager, just not for the sake of it, you only need to look at Newcastle now for the danger of that formula.

Moyes will be in complete unfamiliar terrority if he comes here, he has never had huge expectation's and boardroom/fan pressure to deal with at Everton, that will change if he ever comes here. If Big Sam stayed at Bolton to this day i bet he would be on this poll too. If we are going to go for midtable miracle men (which thankfully Roman won't) then Alan Curbishley is just as qualified if you consider his job at Charlton and what's happened to them since.

Rijkaard worked wonders for Barca, but it got very sour in the final season and a lot of things needed changing, big decision's needed to be made and Pep had the balls to make them. His decision to build the team around Ineista, Xavi and Messi has paid off handsomenly. I worded it wrongly about Iniesta, Xavi and Messi pre Pep. Messi while was one of the top players in the world, that was "all" he was, there was no talk about being the best ever and that, infact in 2008 wasn't Kaka and Ronaldo widely regarded as better? Onto Iniesta and Xavi, both were very talented midfielder's but back then you could name a fair number of midfielders who were at their level or better. Pirlo, Kaka, Lampard, Essien, Gerrard, Cesc. Since Pep took over it hasn't even been up for debate, they have left that group, with the possible exception of Pirlo, behind. Pep promotion of Busquets and Pedro was a masterstoke also. I will watch Bayern with anticipation next season and hopefully Pep can finish off the myth he was only successful because of the team he inherited. Players like Robben and Bastian i think will go up a level when he takes over. Fantastic news for Bayern.

http://www.express.co.uk/football/view/371189http://www.express.co.uk/football/view/371189 FORMER Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari will return to Stamford Bridge on March 25 when he leads 2014 World Cup hosts Brazil in a friendly against Russia. Scolari, who steered Brazil to their fifth and most recent world title in 2002, was appointed for a second stint in November. He said: “Going to London is a great joy. It will be an opportunity to thank the Chelsea fans for the affection and the great interaction I had with them.”