The only place to be

I'm not blaming everything on Torres. But he does put more pressure on the defensive side of our team by his inability to hold up the ball, which means we turn it over to the other team. Whichever way you dress it up, opposing teams really don't have to be that cautious with Torres. He simply doesn't pose a big enough threat to worry them which means opposing teams aren't stretched. We're essentially playing with 10 and a half players when we play with Torres. The sooner he is gone, the better for the club.

Most of Luiz's mistakes are of his own making. He has moments where he falls asleep or simply does something stupid. That isn't Mikel's fault.

This isn't a transition season anymore - this is a survival season. If we can may it to the end of the season in the top four then that's a success now. Anything else is a bonus. We have players out on loan getting good experience.They come back in the summer, we get a new manager and we start again. Clean slates for everyone and EVERY position is up for grabs. Finishing fourth might not be that bad because it means more competitive games in pre-season to start building something new. Of course it has ramifications further down the line, but I'm trying to be optimistic. This isn't going to be a fun season.

I'd rather play him up front to be honest, but we need him in defence this weekend.

Mikel's physicality is underrated and with Carroll upfront you need a midfielder who can compete in the air when he drops off the defence.

Didn't know about Luiz being banned.

I actually see where you're coming from. Signing Torres has put me off making big-money signings up-front because we really don't have a particularly good record with them. Shevchenko, Mutu, Torres, Sutton, Fleck, Casiraghi....can't we just pick up another Mark Stein??

Sorry mate, but I think in the City Everton match, we need City to win to stop Everton pushing us for third. West Ham away is going to be a tough, tough game. I really don't know how we even set-up for this game, but with Carroll up front I'd be inclined to go with Ivanovic and Cahill.

Just one of the most aimless games of football I think I've ever witnessed. No leadership, no passion, it was surreal at times watching them move in slow motion. This was the type of night where we needed Terry or Lampard to remind a few of the players that they were representing Chelsea. Two clean-sheets is good, but I doubt anyone at the ground felt secure. I was convinced Fulham were going to score in the last 10 minutes and they would've deserved the win because we certainly didn't deserve it. Mata probably did need a break after Sunday (he looked knackered) but Bertrand wasn't the right choice at the start of the game and that was even more obvious at half-time. Moses must be getting 90 at West Ham because we certainly needed him tonight. And West Ham becomes must-win. We got lucky with other results tonight (I'm excluding the Manchester clubs because we ain't winning the league this year) but we need a win.

I've stuck by him, I've defended him, I've cheered him when he does the basics.....enough. He's barely trying at times now. I'm trying to think of a nice way of describing him but I keep coming back to one word - cancer. He offers nothing of value to the team, and is actually starting to damage the team's morale. He'll definitely go down as the worst signing this club ever made and if we have to supplement his wages to get another team to take him (probably Athletico because let's face it, who else would take him?) then we should do that. Recall Lukaku, sign Falcao, promote Islam Feruz.....hell, give Chris Sutton and Robert Fleck a call and see if they're busy. He's done as a top-level striker and if we need to get rid of him as quickly as possible for our own sakes. TWO YEARS in January. Four managers have tried, and he can't get away from Man City's defence with a slight headstart??????

Is it me, or has Ake kicked on and started looking a little more Gullit-esque. He carries himself in a similar way, very upright but also quite agile and bendy. Seems to be doing well in a more advanced position too. Also, Feruz seems to have 'it'. Maybe it's the swagger, but he always looks that little bit better than everyone else. Physically, I think he could probably handle first-team action relatively soon.

Sounds like all parties are prepared to draw a line under it. Now we can move on and put these scandals behind us.

Too true. Torres gets applauded for doing very basic things. The expectations of him are so low that if he does things that you'd expect of any other striker, the crowd are overjoyed. The crowd wants him to succeed and if that means applauding him when he manages to control a ball and lay it off, they'll do that.

It's clear to see he doesn't like it when he's on the pitch though. He's getting much better at it but he seems to get a little gassed by it. Like I said, it's an area of his game he should improve and I'm sure Ashley will offer 'encouraging' words to track back. The fact is he's still very young and it's his first season in a new league. Anyone who thought it wouldn't have it's ups and downs, especially with the pace of the game, was deluding themselves.

Probably because he isn't known for tracking back. Apparently he was one of the players singled out for that against West Brom and Benitez prefers harder workers like Dirk Kuyt. Hopefully Eden will get there. It might just take a little time.

We all support the team i different ways and have different views on this appointment. I wasn't happy, but I'm past it. Now I just want to see the team put itself in the best position possible for next season, and I believe Benitez will be integral to that. You bring up the fact that he slagged us off in the past. So fucking what? That was his job, to gain a competitive edge for his team in whatever manner possible and if that meant giving his own fans a hard on by slagging us off then so be it. I can let a few words slide for the sake of getting behind my team and yes, my team's coach. That's what he is. That shit thing where we appoint Benitez....it happened. It ain't going to change if I boo loud enough. I'd rather sing the songs that I've been singing for the past 20 years in support of my club, home and away rather than booing a guy who for better or worse is going to be one of the deciding factors in the FUTURE of this club. And here's the little secret that no-one in the media is reporting - not every fan was booing. Not every fan was holding up little signs or banners and not every fan was abusing him at every opportunity. I don't know what you saw on tv, but 40,000 fans weren't chanting abuse for 90 minutes. Sorry to burst your bubble. And if you think it will force Roman to 'rectify' the situation then you're really in for a disappointment because in his mind appointing Rafa Benitez IS rectifying the situation. But yeah, you hold on to the anger from a manager of another team saying rude things about a competitor. Me, I'm going to support the team in my way and if that isn't the way that a few of the millions of our fans around the world want me to support my team then they can kiss my ass if they every actually make their way to a football match at the Bridge.

At a guess, more times than you. If you really want a dick measuring contest, go elsewhere. You say Rafa isn't part of the team - I disagree. He is the coach now, ergo he is part of the team. That doesn't mean I like him or even enjoy the fact he's at the club. But the fact is he is at the club and for my club to prosper I need him to do a good job. That's why he has my support, begrudging at is may be. You say it's ridiculous to think it will affect the morale of the players - I disagree. I've been part of many great crowds at the Bridge (and away) and I've seen and felt the effect it has, kicking the players on into a higher gear. I've also been part of some pretty shit ones where it was so quiet you could hear the players shouting to one another on the pitch from the middle tier. Creating an atmosphere that is pretty toxic isn't going to help them, and it isn't going to help Rafa when he has to get them listening to him in training on a shitty Monday morning. I've already said I understood why the fans were angry - I was too at first. But I don't see the upside in being negative going forward. The board got the message - the board knew the message way before he was hired but they went forward because they thought it was best for the club. If people really want to keep booing then that's their prerogative. But at the game on Sunday I wasn't one of them. I sang my heart out for Robbie because he deserved it. But I'm not going to boo our manager when he's trying to get our team to win.

Tell Ricky Hatton that. Sportsmen get old, their bodies sometimes break down. Torres didn't have the pace to get away from the defence. Service and through balls don't mean shit if you can't get their ahead of a defender.

Really quite successful. Robbie's record didn't even come close.

I've been on both sides of this. I was sick when it was announced, but over time I've let it go. Hating the guy in charge of my club doesn't help me and it certainly doesn't help the team. It's fairly pointless but I can understand there are people who will either take longer to let it go, or simply won't ever let it go. That's up to them, but in my view they won't be helping the team and I'll view them as I view other people who don't help the team. I support their right to abuse our manager at matches, but I think it's cutting off your nose to spite your face.

He's the Chelsea manager. How about we don't call the Chelsea manager a cunt for 6 months. That's all. Then when he goes you can call him that all you want. Out of interest, I've noticed that you swear a lot. Were you taught English by Dennis Wise? Don't worry, he did the same to Franco too.

I don't think we'll ever get there to be honest. I might check later but I'd be curious to see how many of those guys who came into the first team were at Barcelona B in the first place. That type of experience is invaluable whereas we have to hope a player can find gametime at a Championship side who play football similar to us. We got lucky with Josh going to Boro, but you have to wonder if going to a League One team has any value to it. You're also right about having every age group play the same thing. Formation-wise we seem to have that, which is down to Emenalo and the coaches, but we need that guy at the head of the club who sets the tone for everyone. Again, that could be Guardiola. If there's a chance of getting him, Roman has to let him have input into every team's tactics so that there's consistency in their development.

I actually think our academy is pretty decent. It's not La Masia but there are players coming through who could certainly contribute with the right coaching. I'd love to see what Guardiola could do with the likes of McEachran, Chalobah and Ake.

In Guardiola' slight defence, he did build the greatest football team that I've ever actually seen play this game we love. Sure he might have sold Deco and Ronaldinho, but I think he more than made up for it.

No. Geoff Shreeves should be made redundant.