MetsajCFC

Surely a win, it has to be. If we can't beat Wigan at home, we don't deserve to be in top 4 and to tell you the truth it would give a reality check for the board

What a goal by Agüero and Gerrard, Sturridge's wasn't bad either

Terminator X you're a sore loser. Me and Nour FC outplaying you tactically while having a squad that is twice as less valuable as yours and you still have to do 3x dirty tricks on me? You're nowhere near the best manager in the league. If Alex, Nour and Sinised JK had anywhere near your squad you'd be relegated and that's a fact. Grow up and admit someone outplayed you rather than "revenge" with dirty tricks. Do not even try to deny, I've got mails sent to me of failed attempts.

Emotions aside. A dreadful outing for Chelsea. The first half deserves no words, there was only one team in it. Schoolboy errors in the defence. Ramires has been so sloppy the past few weeks with his challanges. The one against Arsenal, before the first goal, the one against Reading and now in this game, which to all fairness could have been a red card very easily. Having said that Coloccini made a blatant foul on Ba. That's ridiculous how you can't take a ball of an out of order ball boy but you can smash in a player's face without a punishment. It's not like Ba was diving, the blood was real and the likely fracture is real. Nothing there to defend Coloccini. Penalty any day, every day. Second half was better. Atleast the forst part of it. We seemed to get back control - scored two absolute beauties. Well done to Lampard and Mata. So it's 5 goals to go for Lampard, right? We've been so lucky to sign a player like Mata. Even at the tens of millions he came with he has been a bargain. Talking about bargains - Sissoko for 2 mil give or take, what a player. After Newcastle's second goal we totally lost it again. Newcastle in control and constant threat throughout. Can't really say that we didn't deserve a loss, they were the better team as hard as it is to say it. Though the refereeing leaves a taste of shit in my mouth. Easily could have given one if not two penalties, no "Fair Play" in sight. What next? Sacking Rafa Benitez has it's ups and downs to it. It will surely boost the morale of majority of the fans, perhaps even some players. But it will only be worth it if we get a permanent manager in. Enough of interim managers, they'll never have the influence nor authority within the squad if they're just interim managers. Very hard to take over now aswell with the club in shambles. A lot of the blame goes to the board, if not all. They were the ones who appointed RDM and later sacked him only to hire Rafael Benitez, knowing what kind of reaction and atmosphere it would create. On top of that they denied Benitez the transfers. Rather than putting the club first and thinking about finishing THIS season, they're planning for summer already. They've not thought one thing through - we might miss out on Champions League place and with every game thus far it's more of a "when" not "if" we drop out of the top four places. Keep in mind that even with Rafa gone, we've got the same poor squad. So nothing's going to change in that department. It's a two edged sword. Do I want him sacked right now? Yes, but only if we get a permanent manager on board. All we need is stability and a little bit of patience.

It's hard to defend Benitez in this situation. The second half showed great improvement. Total change of attitude, gameplay, initiative but it only lasted till NUFC scored an easy goal. All the threat coming down Ivanovic's half. He is a changed man since the Swnasea blunders. But where were the subsitutions? He has to go for the sake of the attitude that's spreading like cancer and reflecting everywhere that has a blue lion badge on it. Perhaps it's not that easy though. We don't know his contractual terms nor do we know if the club already has someone ready to take charge after Rafa's out in the summer. Can't get much worse can it?

MATA!

That's the Lampard we know

Alright enough of rant, come on Chelsea - any point is good for us given the circumstances, even 1

Given the patience around here, he won't be hated for a week or two

More like a manager who was given EIGHT year contract, full support and finances to actually MANAGE the team

That's a fair point. This isn't happening for Rafa and much of it isn't down to his ability as a manager. It's just a mis-match but all those teenage posters who are so full of hate that they'll bounce on him every moment they can without even analyzing it in their heads get me well pissed off

And missed a sitte, given away ball near our box more than one occasion, including the chance Cisse had. Other than that one pass he has been invisible

Honestly, all this anti Rafa bullshit is not called for at the moment. You see that the players play like League Two side, if not worse. Cech saved us two-three times. Defensive line apart from Cole's few attacking efforts been complete null, midfield is nothing. Lampard is poor, missed a few chances. Ramires should have been sent off, same for Coloccini, blatant penatly atleast. Bertrand useless, why is he in the squad? Oscar played out of position because we have no other options, NOT Rafa's fault. Mata is worn out but still has neat touches. Ba, well unlucky not to score and be injured. Waiting for knobheads to slate Rafa for subing in Torres for Ba. Open-your-eyes

Fuck off, this game is all down to players so far. They've been SHIT. Lampard and Ivanovic have been awful, Betrand who? Half of the squad is useless

We've both gone to the extremes with our examples and comparisons but I feel both of us get the point both of us are trying to make. I'm all for sacking Rafa but the argument I've read so much in this thread that "anyone can do better job than Rafa" isn't cutting it for me. I just want some consistency. If you look at the top teams (with the exception of some teams), they've had one manager in for so long time and he has had time to insert his authority and game plan, plus getting in the players he needs to implement it. I'm only supporting sacking him right now if we get a proper replacement in that will stay for years rather than 4 months only for this manager saga to continue. Playing against "weaker" teams is as important as playing against the top clubs. They all give the same amount of points. Doesn't it show maturity and professionalism of a player if he takes every game seriously. It's like high school students saying "oh, I don't need to study this or that, I'll won't need it after I graduate" while good students force themselves to get the results needed in any subject. Winning against top teams won't make you a champion. Taking every game seriously and winning regardless of the opposition or magnitude of the game makes champions. It's a lame excuse to say that it's Rafa's job to make them want to play or show up for the game. It's their job and frankly earning 100k a week should be a boost as well to give your everything 90 minutes a week.

3 of them sacked, 1 didn't want to keep managing us even after leaving the Russian post, opting for Turkey Never said it is player's fault. It's a mix of rubbish performance by most of the squad, questionable tactics/subs and most of the fans not helping the cause by acting like twats. You make it sound as if managers control the player on the field as it was FIFA or something, it's not. Just look at the second Reading goal, someone from the defence fucked up and rather than taking his position was caught up and cost us. Just like Ivanovic, who threw away the semi finals (not blaming him for it, he made two schoolboy errors but who of us doesn't from time to time?) And about the young players we've got. They're doing fine, in fact better than most of us hoped for. But they're young. No matter how talented you are as a footballer, growing up as a person mentally takes time. Just look at the Hazard situation with the ball boy, I'm sure more experienced and older players would have perhaps dealt with it some other way, especially looking at the situation we were in. So yes, it's deluded to put pressure on them to constantly put in world class performances. They need time and not pressure. Plus in Terry we've lost a leader on the pitch (hasn't played that much recently). Lampard of course is an icon in the club but he comes across more mild and even abit shy at times, which is totally fine but not a trait of a natural leader. Not everyone who is in the club for a long time automatically become leaders and captain material. I'd never see Mata being a captain for the same reason. He comes across as a great lad but a leader not only comforts and supports his mates but also pushes them and demands. Not many like that.

Win for us, quite sure of it

You're putting words in his mouth so to say, all along he is saying it is not ONLY Rafa's fault but also players not turning up plus fans locking onto 1-2 people surrounding the club to be the sole culprits.. He is showing you the other side of the story which you like to twist and circle the same 2-3 arguments you've got. Also isn't it odd that this group of players are unmanageable by some of the top names in world football and never get the blame? And to expect 21-22 year olds to step up on every level and demand constistency is just deluded. azpi has played cl before and also is quite proven - lots of crap players have played cl before, does that make them "proven"? Azpi is overachieving anyone's expectations and for me, alongside Mata, two of the best this season

Never said he wasn't. He was the hero of last season but all I want to say is that he always wasn't as good as people make it sound now that he's gone. And I didn't make the Obama remix

I agree with you. And to be fair this Drogba praising has only began when he left. I remember when he was starting the last season for us then he was mocked here to be "past it" and we need to sign, sign, sign. After UCL all the mentality changed and he is hyped to be a god now. I find it strange and hypocritical. And to be honest with you, he only had 2 30+ goals seasons with us, rest were roughly averaging 14,5 goals and 8,3 assists (in all competitions not the League only) and that's nothing major. Torres has scored more than those numbers this season and yet he is getting slated beyond belief. Drogba just had that presence on the pitch that helped and produced in most of the big games (in others he just got sent off, started diving etc) but player ability and efficency wise he was only at it for two seasons. Yes we can

Some of you just want to feel the thrill of signing someone, no matter if he is the quality for us or if it makes financial sense. Wait till summer, we will sign lots then, just look at the squad at the moment, so many leaving and all of them need replacing. It's up to the new manager and the club see this. This should be a POSITIVE sign for all the anti-Benitez supporters because the club isn't giving him the signings to boost his results or show support. Even with this squad we should be able to go for top4, with ease actually aslong as players perform.

http://www.ihdsports.com/index.php?id=24 Here you go

The more we're going to do under new manager in the summer, in the long run it's worth it as long as we get top 4 finish

I think it's Arsenal or Tottenham

Exactly why he rejected us, well done to him.