CHOULO19

If we're going to play Moses, I'd rather put him on the left wing to defend against Zabaletta who has been by far their best player this season.

I actually agree with everything in there, but they are besides the point I was trying to make. I ask you, is our team more ready to work with Jose, or whoever the new manager is, because we appointed Rafa than what it would have been had we kept Robbie? I think I made a mistake with the tittle, because everyone seems to be answering to the tittle not the content of the article

5alas kol 5ara A point, that someone on twitter pointed out, I'd like to clarify is that I don't think that any manager could have done what Rafa did here this season. Again, I don't mean in terms of result, but in terms of improving the basics of the team and organizing it. In fact, that's what most teams miss, imo. It hurts me to admit it, but Rafa is a good tactician. He makes some idiot decisions especially in his subs and his inability to change a game, but he does well with his teams on the training ground.

Like Ryan said, he's exactly what United need, which worries me a bit, tbh. Ironically, he could also be a good signing for us to play in the pivot, but I doubt he'd return here..

LOL. Now that will be a big "FUCK YOU" to the Chelsea board and management..

^^ Get back on topic you two. If have something to fight about, take it out through PMs, don't derail this thread.

What makes you think that he would have become a good player had he stayed here? Where would he have gotten the match experience from? I'm happy we gave him to Benfica, had he stayed here he would have been an average player at Vitesse or Hamburg now.

Great goal. Great ball by Kone.

A wrong pen, an OG and an offside goal. I wonder why people call them lucky Arsenal..

I thought those stats meant nothing! Or is that only in the Mikel thread? The more I watch Kevin, the less the idea of loaning him out next season make sense.

Park the f*cking bus Norwich!

I have some great opposition views for this one: Opposition Views Here

Sam McEvilly was kind enough to answer a few questions ahead of our match together in the FA cup semifinal on Sunday. Here is what he had to say: -Let’s start with the win against united on Monday. Do you think that has revived your tittle hopes or are united still too far ahead? Monday was brilliant and a derby win, especially away, is always good for confidence. However, being realistic I'd say the title is well and truly over. The gap is too big and it would take nothing short of a miracle for us to win the league again this year. Despite this, there is a tiny part of me that wants to believe we can still do it. United have some tough games left, Chelsea and Arsenal, as well as Villa, who are fighting to stay up. Anything could happen, between now and the end of the season. Unfortunately the likely hood of it happening is very very small. -The season is coming to an end, what have you made of it? And how did your team differ from last season? This season has been a poor season, in comparison with last. Although it was always going to be hard to repeat the form of last year. City have lacked the ability to finish games off, resulting in far too many draws. Last season we couldn't stop scoring, and if you look at the comparison of statistics between this season and last, they are identical. Possession, passing and shots are all similar to last season. The only difference was the amount of goals. We have not been clinical enough and that for sure has cost us the league. Inconsistency has also been a problem. At the start of the season against Southampton we let two goals in and scrapped a well fought 3-2 victory. From then on, myself and other City fans thought it was only a matter of time before we kicked into form and began to play with some of the flare we had seen the previous season. However, bar a few games City never really found their form and as a result we slowly fell behind United in the title race. -Would you say the FA cup is your priority now? Without a doubt. The FA cup after all is our only chance of silverware. Winning the cup would make up for what has been a disappointing season, domestically and in Europe. I think that winning the FA cup is pivotal for Bobby to keep his job. The owners need some sort of positive outcome from this season to allow him to keep his job. I've been a City fan all my life, and seen my club compete for nothing for the majority of that time. Finishing second and getting to a cup semi final are not what I'd have considered a poor season 3 or 4 years ago. But expectations have changed and I think to salvage anything from this season we HAVE to win the FA cup, so yes it most definitely is a priority to all City fans and the team. -Our games in the league were extremely cagey. Do you expect a similar affair on Sunday and Why? I think Sunday will be a tough game for both teams. Personally I can't decide on a winner, both teams posses massive amounts of ability, especially in the midfield. The class that both teams have at their disposal makes it a tough game for anyone to call. It will be tight, I can't see either team dominating. Both teams have been less than impressive in the league this season. City got the best of Chelsea in the at the Etihad but I think Chelsea will play with a lot higher tempo on Sunday as the stakes are a lot higher now, for both clubs. -Chelsea have had a crazy schedule this season. Do you think that will tip the balance in your way? Honestly, I don't know. If it was a league game then possibly I would agree with that, but since it's a cup semi final I think that the players will all be up for it. I'd like to think that the Chelsea players will be tired after a busy schedule but the fact it's the FA cup and their playing at Wembley I can't see them being anything but up for the game. If you can't get yourself pumped up for a FA cup Semi, you shouldn't be playing football. -Silva is a doubt for this one. How big a miss would he be? Silva is missed massively when he doesn't play. Unfortunately for City we do not have another player that can fill his shoes when he doesn't play. He creates everything, and without him City are a lot less flowing when they attack. Silva always plays balls through to Aguero, Tevez or whoever is playing up front. City still do not have a player who can play in that sort of position and have the same affect as Silva does on the game. However, at Wembley on a massive playing surface I'm not as worried as I would be, if perhaps we were playing at Stoke or West Ham. -Speaking of Silva, do you think he has been your best player this season or would you nominate someone else? Silva has been brilliant at times, but no where near last seasons form. For me, our player of the season would be Zabaleta and you'll have a hard time finding another City fan who doesn't think the same. He's been a class higher than any other City player this season. His desire, his passion are unmatched by the rest of the team. Fans love a player who tries, and Zabba would die for the cause. He has been getting better and better these last few seasons but he has really come into his own this year. Finally it's not just City fans who know how great of a player he is. -If you could have one Chelsea player at City, who would it be and why? Mata. Without a doubt. He would be a perfect replacement for Silva when he was injured and just a brilliant player to have in the squad. The stats for both Silva and Mata are similar, in assists and complete passes. Mata is a quality player, he has vision, he can pass and he can score goals. He's the sort of player any manager would love to have in their team. -What lineup and formation is Mancini likely to use on Sunday? I'd like to think he stuck with the formation and team he played on Monday. Possibly with Yaya playing a more attacking role with Silva being injured. -Finally, please predict the result.I'm going to have to back my own team and go for a City win. It'll be tight, so I'm going for 2-1 City.

I have a feeling Norwich will grind out a result today.

lol I did not take it as an attack, was just trying to discuss the points further. Heck I'm not even 100% convinced with everything in the OP.

Again, this article is in no way about this season's results, which have been disappointing under Rafa. I just asked myself the question: When the new manager arrives in the summer, would he be happier had we kept RDM or was appointing Rafa better for next season? The answer I came up with, is that the new manager would no doubt prefer a team that is more organized and has offensive and defensive systems that the players know their roles in because this team would be much easier to build upon and turn into a team that is capable of challenging for the tittle. This is where the idea for this whole article came from. As has been said, if we fail to make top four, this article would be laughable, because even if Rafa has improved the basics, not making the top four is definitely not better for our future. But if we do get a CL spot, our new manager would get a team that is more organized and easy to work with than if we had kept RDM.

I completely agree with the point about the board. In fact I made the same point on the last page. The board had made terrible decisions that had led us to that point, but at that precise point in time, I feel the best choice was hiring Benitez. Yes RDM had a great start, but I think that had to do more with the high of winning the CL. You always start on high note after a great achievement the previous season. It also had to do with our new players that no one seemed to know how to defend against. Yes were second when he got sacked, but we were playing incredible bad for a couple of weeks before. in fact our worst spell of performances this season were probably those 2-3 weeks. I honestly don't think the club was going anywhere with RDM, and the performances were only going to get worse, The managerial change was justified, imo. I feel you have to give the manager credit, because Hazard started tracking back when Rafa got appointed, and even Mata's defensive work greatly improved. And Azpi not only became a starter, but an integral part of the squad. He played with increased confidence with each game. You can say that was inevitable, but that's just a bit cynical, imo. GTFO

Rafa was never going to win us the league or stay past May. I don't think anyone wants that. But I think that the improvements in the basics he brought to the team will be crucial for the coming seasons. Again, I'm not talking about results. In fact, we'd probably had better results this season with RDM (although I think the performances were only going to get worse had he not been sacked) but that is due to other factors than whether or not the team has improved such as the atmosphere and the consequent players moral, the terrible decisions Rafa made sometimes (which I'm not denying), and the thick schedule with the thin squad. But what I'm saying is put all those aside for a moment and look at the team's performance. The defense looks much more solid with the wingers tracking back the pivot being more disciplined Yes we've conceded a lot, but most goals are from individual errors rather than a defensive system that is not working like under RDM. Our lines are much closer to each other, now and when we are performing well, out attack actually looks like we have system that we are implementing. Yes those have not influenced this season's results much due to other factors I've mentioned above, but this article is not about this season, it's about the future. And when Jose, or whoever comes in the summer, takes charge of the team, he'll get a team that does the basics right and he would not have to spend the best part of next season working on them. I don't think we would have had that had RDM stayed. Just to make one thing clear, I am NOT in any way saying that Rafa should stay past May. I'm just saying the work he's done will facilitate the next manager's job.

Hey, there's no such thing as bad publicity, right?

Sounds more of a case where the agent throws our name in the mix to increase the price.

Completely agree. I know I'm putting my neck out there with this article, but I think it's worth it if everyone can look at the matter with a different perspective.

And in order to win those trophies in the future we needed a proper transition season. Don't get me wrong, I blame the board for A LOT of terrible decisions leading to this season, including hiring RDM when we all knew he was going to get sacked shortly after and going into this season with this thin squad, I'm just saying that this particular decision in hiring Rafa was, in hindsight the right one because under RDM we would not have had the proper transition season needed to challenge for all those trophies next season. Yes, we probably would have been in a better position in the league and would have won the World Cup, but in the broader scheme for the future interest of the club, it would have been a season wasted. I'm not denying he has made some terrible decisions, I said so in the article, but the results aside for a moment, we are tactically a much better team under Rafa. Hazard for example who had an excellent start, offensively, to the season, was leaving the fullback completely exposed defensively under RDM, and even offensively after the first month or so he started to disappear in matches because the opposition had learnt how defend against him. Now, not only does he do his defensive duties, but his involvement in the attack is always good because he's fit in the team's system instead of playing individually like he was under Robbie.

Well that depends on your definition of "work". If you were expecting us to win the league, then I don't think any manager would have "worked". But what I'm trying to say above is that I believe it has worked. Because imo the most important objective of this season was not trophies, but to get the team to gel together and have some sort of system that kinda works so we can build on that next season and then challenge for trophies. I realize the point I'm trying to make is highly unpopular and pretty radical, but you are 100% right, if we fail to make top 4, this will all mean nothing. But assume that we do make top four, the point I'm making is that Rafa has done some work with the team that may not have been reflected on results this season but will be very important for next season. Aside from top 4, I think this was our objective this season and not the trophies.

Why Rafa’s Appointment Was Spot-on I realize some people will stop reading after that tittle, but for those who ventured on at least to the first sentence, I promise you I have a good reason why I’m making this controversial claim. Let me start by saying that I hate the Spanish waiter, I mean manager, as much as the next Chelsea fan. He may be the manager but he will never truly be a part of Chelsea Football Club. However, for reasons I will attempt to explain below, his appointment in this transitory season was necessary for the club’s future. Di Matteo had to go: It’s not that Robbie deserved the sack, it’s that he should never have been appointed in the first place. I love Roberto; I loved him even before the CL win. But, the sentiments and emotional high of winning the CL aside, can anyone really make a case why RDM should manage Chelsea? Roberto was never a great tactician and we all knew that his tactics could never last and more importantly were not taking the club forward. Just to be clear, I am in no way discrediting Robbie or belittling his achievements in the cups last season. But the club was moving in a completely different direction. His appointment might have been a couple of months after the CL win, but it was a completely new era for the club. We were finally moving on from what Jose built here and the team was being rebuilt around players like Mata and Hazard; players who thrive on possession. The defensive tactics in big games could not work anymore; the Juve and Athletico fiascos are proof of that. And even more important than that, imo, were our offensive tactics, or rather lack of. In some games, like against Stoke and Liverpool, I was left wondering if we even had an attacking system. Our plan seemed to be “give the ball to Mata” and at times it looked like we completely ran out of ideas. Yes, we had a great start to the season, but that was more due to the high of winning the CL and our new players which no team knew how to defend against yet. Let’s not kid ourselves; we were playing very badly for a few weeks before RDM was sacked. We needed a manager to get the team working on new defensive tactics, to create an attacking system, to help our new young players fit in the system…in short, we needed a manager to prep the team to challenge for the title next season, and sadly, that manager was not Roberto Di Matteo. Rafa has done well: Rafa has undoubtedly made some eyebrow-raising decisions and, yes, his late subs had us all banging our heads against a wall at some point in the past few months. And sure, his rotation policy has decreased the lifetime expectancy of the average Chelsea fan, but when I say he has done well I don’t mean in a particular match, but rather in general. You need only to watch a match from the start of the season to see the difference Benitez has made in the team. It is obvious, to me at least, that the team has become much more organized, especially defensively. The players also look more knowledgeable and comfortable with their roles. We look better offensively with our fullbacks getting involved and the players off the ball making good movements and runs; things we missed badly under Roberto. That is an excellent achievement if you consider how little time Benitez had with the team. We’ve played two games per week for every week since Rafa arrived. That means that all he could do between matches has been some light training. The team has not had any real time to work on new systems and tactics at Cobham. Moreover, perhaps the most important work Benitez has done with the team is improve the game of some of some of our key players. For starters, he’s made Azpi first-choice RB who’s been absolutely immense there. So influential, especially in attack; he’s constantly the man with most touches on the ball in all of our matches. And he’s kept on getting better game after game, which you can only credit the manager for (although he currently could use a rest). Rafa has improved Mata and Hazard’s game, as well. Especially in the case of the latter where he now fits better in the team’s system and has learnt to track back and perform the defensive part of his duties. And apart from the failed midfield experiment, Rafa has also done very well with David Luiz who did not have a good start to the season in terms of form, but has been our best CB in 2013 by some distance. He looks so much more disciplined and less error prone. As for Rafa’s rotation policy, it’s one of those things where if we win then the manager is a genius and if we lose then it’s all the manager’s fault. Yes the rotation has probably cost us a couple of matches, but when you consider the insane amount of games we’ve played this season and that the core of our team is a group of young players with limited experience, you have to come to the conclusion that the rotation tactics were pretty much spot-on. Conclusion: This was always going to a season of transition from Jose’s Chelsea to our future team. It’s been overdue for two or three seasons now. We needed this season to prep our players, especially those who are likely to become the spine of the team, for the coming years. The new manager that will come in the summer will need a team with strong basics in order to compete for trophies. Basics like a solid defensive and offensive system, with close lines and players that know and fit their roles. We did not have that under Roberto Di Matteo. So the board went out and got Rafael Benitez who was probably the best man for the job with the lack of options available. And although we all hate to admit it, he has done well if you look at the bigger picture. The work he’s done here is, imo, crucial for us competing for the title next season. He gave the team some sort of defensive and offensive structures. He dealt fairly well with the crazy schedule and has vastly improved our key players. Basically he gave our next manager a team that, with some minor adjustments and a couple of additions, can challenge for the tittle. It’s much easier making this observation in hindsight. Did the board really have all this in mind when RDM was replaced by Benitez? Maybe they did and maybe they didn’t. But since Gourlay and the board usually get enough criticism from me, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for this one and congratulate them on making the difficult, but imo right choice back in November. Because as far as I’m concerned, the past 6 months have proved that Rafa’s appointment was spot-on. EDIT: Just to make one point very clear, this article is in NO WAY trying to say that Rafa should stay past this season or that he could be a long-term success here, just that the work he's done will help the next Chelsea manager.

He's our best defender atm, and with Cahil still out, I think we're going to have to risk it and ask him to be careful.