The only place to be

I'd normally agree but having seen Spurs go out and us facing at least one more game when we really don't have the squad to fight on multiple fronts, I think we have to be a bit more pragmatic for just this one season and focus on what's most important.

Putting out the reserves. Saville, Feruz, Lalkovic, Swifty, Marin, Ferreira, Bertrand etc. Having seen the performance today, could it be much worse?

Say we get to the semi-final. That means pushing back the Spurs home game to possibly after an away trip to Liverpool, or after a home game to Swansea or maybe even to before or after games against Man United (away), Aston Villa (fighting for survival) or Everton (pushing for top four possibly). That's if we don't progress in the Europa League, and today demonstrated that we simply can't rest Mata who already looks like he's ready for flip-flops and a beach.

Because we're not all that good at the moment. That's a pretty good reason isn't it? We've got no midfield and no leadership from the sidelines. We sacked a manager in November. We're essentially a damaged ship trying desperately to make it to shore where we can start to rebuild. We're lucky that the teams around us have been relatively poor this season. Trying to win trophies should be a distant second to making sure we're in the Champions League next season. Deserve? Fuck deserve. We're beyond deserving shit. We need to just make sure we're okay to start doing stuff next season. We need to be able to go to managers and players in the summer and say 'we want you to be part of our Champions League challenge' not 'would you like to have your photo taken with the FA Cup?'.

The Spurs fans I know want to get back into the Champions League. They finished fourth last year and that is what they want to achieve this season, so whilst a cup might be nice it isn't the most important thing. Hopefully this won't come back to bite us on the backside in May.

You suggested it with your team suggestions. 1. Great, so he's not going to defend. That'll be fun for Ashley or Azpi. It's not nitpicking to be honest. It's just honest criticism, and if this summer isn't a massive rebuilding period then we're going to be in trouble.

I disagree. They have a thin squad like us and they want Champions League football more than challenging for the FA Cup.

So he shouldn't be a regular, but when he does we should change the shape of the team to accomodate him? In one of those two teams you've suggested, you've moved our most important player out to the wing from where he's been most effective and in the other you've dropped him completely. This is going to be the biggest summer of rebuilding that we've had since Roman took over - I'd say it's the perfect time to turn the page. We let Drogba go last season, Lamps this summer and next summer I expect Terry will go. We'll still have Cole, Terry and Cech going into next season - that's a fairly gradual change isn't it?

Spurs have one less game now, we've got at least one more and probably two.

He's not being shot down. He makes a valid point about who should we get in, but there's a great felling amongst fans that they simply don't want the fat cunt in charge. It doesn't feel like our club at the moment and that's got a lot to do with him being in charge. Getting him out of the club would change that.

In a way, this decision not to spend is encouraging. It suggests that the club are trying to save money to spend in the summer when we've hopefully got someone else in. I don't particularly trust Rafa to be involved in transfers and I really don't want him to be if I'm honest, plus I'm not sure if there's much value in the market. We're stuck with him until summer (although I'd have more trust in Stevie Holland going forward) unless Jose gets sacked before then and we can get him in. Just look forward to that day when the fat cunt leaves this club.

Fair enough.

And the posters who disagree with letting him leave paint those who do as people who want him gone because it's personal or some such bollocks? I look at him, I look at what he does and I look at what he offers next season and I just don't see a place for him. The problem is that we don't seem to be able to have a rational, dispassionate discussion about signing him and what's best for Chelsea Football Club.

But the point is that his performance in this game (and in others) has been why we've been struggling. If he actually made runs like a proper striker today, we'd have been 1-0 up. You can't praise him for what he does well and then ignore why we were in that position in the first place. That doesn't constitue 'whining' but simply rational analysis.

Mata isn't coming to the end of his contract though. Mata's best position still exists in our side. Mata is still a very young man, and if we wanted to sell him then we could probably get around £30 million for him. None of that applies to Lamps. These players are allowed bad games because they're broadly expected to be part of our team for a few years. Mata has become the heart and soul of this team, which is why comparing him to Lamps is not only misguided, but should be something of an eye-opener.

So now he's being victimised? I think you'll find that any criticism of him is completely verboten and any defence of him doesn't mention his performances. How about you actually address the points? Our problems in the last few games have stemmed from midfield, and I've been equally critical of Ramires for that. Neither of them is good enough, but the simple fact is that Lamps is going to be 35 in a few months, is out of contract and simply doesn't fill the position we're asking him to fill which makes your suggestion that he should be given a TWO year contract without question somewhat absurd. I've loved the guy for years, but that guy wearing the number 8 shirt at the moment isn't that guy. It's sad to say that but this club will continue after he's gone and it's looking like we're going to have to move on.

He's been crap for two years and even worse, he's stopped trying. We don't like him, and a goal against Brentford isn't going to change that.

But he offered absolutely nothing to the team today. He offered nothing against Swansea. He was anonymous in the second-half against Arsenal. He's a legend and one of my all-time favourite players, but I don't see the point in keeping him around like he's a mascot on Blockbusters. We have one of those. He's called Stamford and I'm starting to think he might be a better midfield option at the moment.

English, homegrown ones? I can see the logic in getting someone like Henderson in for next season and taking Ramires's place in the squad.

And now?

Did you actually watch the game? He was garbage for 80 minutes and then he scored. You can understand how people feel when they've been slapped in the face for two years by this cunt can't you?

Sorry, everyone knows that you can get the odd cup upset here and there but we were outplayed for 45 minutes by a League One team. Our team struggled to do the absolute basics on what was admittedly a shit pitch, but that's really no excuse. No-one in this thread seems to want to say what was blindingly obvious - Frank Lampard and John Terry had varying degrees of bad game. Now I'm sure they'll be plenty of people who will pipe up with names of other players who had bad games, or managers who were shit and that's fair. But these two players, two cornerstones of this team for about a decade now, had not just bad games but toothless, gutless games (Frank in particular). This season is a watershed for this club, and it's fucking sad to see.

Same old shit. Same old tactical changes being made too late. Same weak midfield performances. Same over-reliance on Mata. Same problems on the wings. Same shit Turnball. Same fucking awful Torres, with a bit of variety in that he scored a goal today. Fuck off Rafa. Fuck off Nando. Well played Brentford.

This is typical Benitez - utter faith in HIS system, which is why he would rather change personnel than the formation.

Ramires caught in possession that time. Not the easiest pass from Mata but he had options.