The only place to be

I love his energy, his enthusiasm and he's been such an important player for us but he's not the sharpest tool in the box. Yesterday was just such a brainless performance from him that I'm not sure what you'd call it, but idiotic is up there. I don't mean that in a malicious way, but in an affectionate way and I think he's going to be important to whatever we do in the future. But it was so obvious that he was going to get himself booked for a second time that I think a bit of stick is merited on this one occasion.

That isn't what Arsenal did. They underinvested. Rather than telling people to hit their heads against walls, why don't you actually go back and look at what Arsenal did - we couldn't be more different from them if we tried.

I didn't think it was harsh in the slightest and if he didn't get a second yellow for that one, he would've got one for something else. It was so obvious he was going to get sent off and how Rafa, JT, Lamps or any other player didn't just have a word in his ear is ASTOUNDING to me. I love his attitude and I was overly harsh on him earlier in the season but he can go into headless chicken mode and then he's absolutely worthless to us. I don't think he's all that nasty as a player either, like Keane. I think he's just a little bit thick at times. Keane could be sneaky about it at times and he had a real dark side to his game....Ramires is a lovely bloke.

If we're going to play 433 then he still has a place in the team, but I think you're then losing a lot of what Mata brings to the team if you shift him out wide. Thinking back on his performance yesterday, he was 10/10 in Villa's penalty box. He's amazing there, the best midfield goalscorer of his generation and one of the best of all time. My criticism of him was that everything outside their box wasn't particularly good. I said in the matchday thread that if he didn't start giving Rami some help then he was going to get sent off. He was 30 yards behind Benteke for the goal, but that's also an issue with the tactics Rafa employed and was evident in the Spurs game too. Up until Benteke got red-carded and Villa lost their shape, we were losing the midfield battle and that's not the first time it's happened with Lamps in the team. It happened at Newcastle (where he scored a great goal, but we still lost) and it happened at Southampton too. I think people need to make a distinction that is hard to make - there's Lampard the gentleman, the legend, the ambassador and one of the best players we've ever had the fortune to watch....but there's also this 34 year old midfielder whose game doesn't seem to mesh with what we're trying to do going forward. One is a no-brainer to offer a contract to...the other isn't.

Fuck. Me. Be delighted if Whelan and Martinez win it, although I think they still might go down.

Thank god we wrapped up top four so we can actually enjoy this. Would be great to win it but that will be much tougher if Hazard misses out, as I'm pretty sure he will. Might be worth protecting him from further damage even if he's borderline, and that sums up what I think about this competition. Cech Azpi Luiz Ivanovic Cole Ramires Lampard Oscar Mata Moses Torres Subs: Turnball, Bertrand, Cahill, Mikel, Ake, Benayoun, Marin Could see Luiz in midfield with Cahill in defence and Lamps on the bench, but I'd be happy either way. Benfica are a good team and have a great chance, but we should really win this so we can have something to celebrate on Sunday. Be interesting to see if we wear the new kit too. Looking forward to another European trophy win to be honest, and another great night celebrating.

Pretty much what I think. When he came in, it was a pretty shitty moment for us. I said at the time, and various times since, that this is about as bad as it gets for us Chelsea fans nowadays. If the season could've ended when Rafa was appointed and we were top four then I'd have been happy. He's done that. I don't hate him as much as others but I've had my moments, quite recently in fact. But we've got there and now he can go. He's left us in a decent position and we've hopefully got Jose coming back. He's given us some good moments and he handled the four games in about 11 days better than anyone probably expected, but he also gave us some embarrassing losses and missed opportunities. So well done Rafa on being just about average. Please don't slag us off when you go, but don't feel the need to come back. You were paid to do a job and broadly speaking you've achieved the most important thing. Let this be a warning to future generations of what can happen when you don't plan for the future properly. I hope we win on Wednesday and I hope he doesn't get booed again this season. We've got a nice new kit, a nice new manager and a whole new set of trophies to go for. And in a few weeks time, this thread will be closed.

Oh no....not more vendettas. People are getting vendetta all over this place. Someone's going to have to clean this up.

Every time he talks about his mum I get a little watery. This record is nice and secures his spot in the record books, but that night against Liverpool when he stepped up when he must've been hurting was one of the most amazing things I've seen in sport. The bond between the supporters and him was incredible. Everyone knew what he was going throw and grown men were welling up. Just an absolute legend and I'd love for him to get into management so he can come back one day. He's got the intelligence and he's got the dedication, but I don't know if he really wants it at this point in time. He's secure after he retires from the game and he's got a young family, but it would be amazing to see him perhaps learning his trade under Jose because beyond his talents on the pitch he's just such a great guy and a great representative of this club.

That's what the other thread is about. That's where we don't talk about his performance today and just celebrate his time at this club. A great player but some of the crazies are taking it all a bit far today for my liking.

Exactly. He's always going to have that attitude because that's what drives him. What he's done is simply grow up a little bit and learn how to control it. Discounting him based on that is a little silly. We've had players sent off in Champions League finals and semi-finals who are revered as legends at this club. In purely footballing terms, a fit and motivated Rooney is someone who I think would be a great addition to our squad at the right price.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with talking about a player's performance in a fair manner. I will quite happily stand by what I said that his goals were magnificent, but that his overall performance was not good. If you think that means I don't deserve to be called a supporter, then you are perfectly entitled to that opinion. And if you want to be like a man and actually say it directly to me, then that's fine too.

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A bit OTT to suggest Roman would do anything to ruin this club. This could be the best way to end his fantastic tenure at this club.

Let's just agree to disagree Choulo. There is nothing to be gained from us conversing because we don't agree on anything.

You're over a decade out there. Just stick me on ignore. I'd hate to get vendetta all over you. :tophat:

3. The difference is that Mikel is supposed to be a midfielder, not a defender playing there because we're short-handed. Learn this.

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We're just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I simply don't recognise what you're saying as being that closely related to reality. Sorry. What? Why on Earth would you think I've got a vendetta against you? I don't think you're capable of saying or doing anything that would require a vendetta, let alone a personal one. :lol2: :lol2: That has proper given me the giggles. I just want a discussion about football, and people who play football (footballers). I'm not one of the people bringing tabloid shit into this, or those silly myths about his attitude which clearly don't stack when you introduce sticky things like 'evidence' and 'facts' into the equation. I don't particularly like Wayne Rooney (I hope he doesn't think I've got a personal vendetta against him too ) but as a footballer I think he could offer something special to this team. I've acknowledged there are question marks over his fitness and motivation but that at the right price he could be good for us. That's called a discussion.

Is that a pop at me? Are you calling me a hater?

Nope. Clearly not what I've said. If that was the case then I would've said we should sell him last May. I'm just using this example to explode the myth of 'his experience, his commitment, his leadership'. Not to put too fine a point on it, but in his biggest game for this club he lost his head and let his teammates, the club and the supporters down. His experience....his great performances have helped build this club but you don't give players contracts based on what they did do. You give them contracts based on what you expect them to do. An excellent performance? Was this another game you didn't watch because he was not excellent and might even have been lucky to have stayed on the pitch. If that's what you consider an excellent performance, then it explains a lot. £8 million is what we will pay him in wages. The other £8 million is the transfer fee. Experience, passing on knowledge, right-click 'mentor Nathan Ake' yes yes yes.....Vertonghen went for about £10 million, Kompany for about £7 million and we're not even talking about squad players with these guys. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.

Is your dislike for Luiz based entirely on the stick Mikel gets? DL gets a game, so you have to pick it apart because Mikel has had some criticism? If so then it's fucking pathetic. Luiz is a defender doing a job in midfield because we simply don't have anyone else (and I'd include the times Mikel is fit). He gets a bit of a pass because he's been one of our players of the season, but also because most people understand that this isn't his proper position. He's doing a job for the team to the best of his abilities because other players are bottlers and letdowns.

Just one of the best players we've ever had. Happy that he got his goals, but prouder of the way he conducted himself in the interview giving so much respect to Tambling. One of the finest ambassadors we've got for this club and given us all so many good memories.

This is the great conundrum facing us. Did he have a good performance today? As a goalscorer, he's the best around. So clinical and delighted for him to get the record. But a midfielder (especially in our current system) needs to do so much more. The simple fact is that when it was 11v11, our midfield was completely overrun by Aston Villa and when Benteke scored Lamps was about 30 yards behind him. I also said in the first match that if Rami wasn't given more help by Lamps then he'd end up getting sent off. Now Rami is a bit of a twat but he was left to do so much today and you have to ask how much of that was down to Frank.

An absolutely appalling first-half and we were lucky Benteke got sent off, even though he should've gone in the first for the elbow and deserved his second. If he stayed on, we were fucked. Again, the midfield was absolutely overran by Villa who deserved their lead. Our defence wasn't much better and Cahill was in Benteke's pocket until his red. Mata and Ba were varying degrees of anonymous, Luiz wasn't much better when he came on and Moses simply had his worst game in a Chelsea shirt. Ramires was an absolute idiot. Yes he wasn't given much help but it was so obvious he was going to get sent off and he was the last person to see it. Such a low-IQ player who has great enthusiasm but no control over it at times. But Lamps did what he does and got two goals that secured the win. Lampard the goalscorer was absolutely brilliant today. Lampard the midfielder was poor in the first-half and marginally better in the second. When Benteke broke for his first, he was about 30 yards behind him and the Villa midfield simply made him look old. MOTM for me was Hazard by far. Set up both goals and was magnificent throughout, working his butt off until his injury. What seems to be becoming more obvious is that whist you can occasionally stifle Mata by crowding him out and not giving him much time, you simply can't stop Hazard without kicking him. He's an absolutely phenomenal player who is quickly becoming out most important player in tough games and 'easy' games. So overall, shit but we did what we needed to. Now we can start enjoying Amsterdam and the ever-closer exit of Rafa. Thanks for getting us top four.....now leave.