Rupert

So do I understand you take the position that because you say your are a Chelsea fan you have the "right" to spew hatred at the manager (or any player) if you think they make you look "stupid", even if by making you look stupid you mean winning games? How quaint of you and, dare I say, "stupid".

According to OPTA, Oscar lost possession 5 times - more than any other player. What's worse he lost possession when Chelsea were in the opponents third on the attack. So he not only lost possession, he ruined the attack, opened up Chelsea to a counter-attack. Its true that OPTA says he completed 91% of his passes, but most of these were sideways or backwards passes and none of them were incisive.

I like posts like yours because it shows the world that the Chelsea "fans" who boo and attack Rafa are actually pretty thick. Chelsea has a lot of fans - most of them not like you.

They never booed Hodgson. They tried to support him until he started producing the worst results in the history of the club, with atrocious defensive football and started talking up Ferguson and ManUtd while talking down the LFC supporters. Even then they didn't boo. There is no comparison with Chelsea supporters booing the manager before his first game and every game since, even in Japan, even when they are playing attractive, winning football with some of the highest scores they have ever had. The pathetic excuse for this aberrant behavior is that 7 years ago, when countering Mourinho's constant attacks, Rafa made a remark which never mentioned Chelsea but which has been interpreted to mean that Chelsea supporters lacked passion. If he meant Chelsea it seems he was right.

Chelsea fans boo before the game, during the game and after. And even after they win they complain on the forums. LFC fans do not boo. Fact! Nor do the fans of most other teams. They pay for tickets, too, but don't think it entitles them to boo their team..

I am an admirer of Rafa but I can imagine how his half-time words might have contributed to the 2nd half performance given that Chelsea is an inexperienced team. He would have said, we need another goal. But we have a 2-0 lead and must not blow it. We must defend as a team. You can expect that Arsenal will attack with everything they have in the 2nd half (they don't have any choice). You must be compact and defend well. Score on the counter-attack. Don't expose your defence by being caught in Arsenal's half. Torres will be the spearhead (instead of playing from the wings as he did in the first half). This is the kind of talk any first-class manager would give. Why throw away a 2-0 lead and three points by trying to get a couple of more goals especially against a team of Arsenal's speed and ability. So score more goals but on the counter attack. The trouble is that Chelsea have been drilled by DiMatteo only to attack and cannot adjust easily.

Sorry - I meant Oscar, although his name is Oscar dos Santos. It would be too complicated to explain why I said Santos. Oscar too often loses the ball when in possession in opponents third causing a counter-attack, he has very little ability to get past an opponent and slows down the attack when he tries and even when he passes he is more often off-target. Some of his midfield passes to the wing find the target but they are very obvious, easy and too slow. He played badly today and in most of the games where he has started.

So why didn't Wenger "say something" before the match. As for Rafa's half-time talks did you never hear about Istanbul 2005, Champions ;League final - Liverpool down 3-0 at half-time went on to win the match and the 5th CL Cup? The difference might be the difference between the supporters. As Chelsea team knows that a slip-up in 2nd half means they get booed at home. So they get jittery. A LFC team knows they never get booed even when they are 3-0 down. They get cheered to the final whistle.

Rubbish - your anti -Torres and anti-Rafa bias blinds you. Although Torres did not penetrate much in the first half he dragged the defence around and allowed others access through the middle. He played a lot from the wings. In 2nd half he was Chelsea' main hope forcing Arsenal back and causing them to hesitate when in full attack mode - and he did this by himself without any support. How many times was he on the move only for his teammates failing to pass or messing up a pass to him?

I'm glad Rafa took Santos off - I would never have played him. It's the same every game - Santos in the opponents' third, slow, no ideas, gets the ball, stops the attack, then gets the ball taken from him gives the other side a clear opening for a counter attack. He does it all the time in every game he plays. Chelsea very vulnerable to counter-attacks especially when majority of team is in the opponents third. Santos makes more misplaced passes than good ones. Torres did very well in 2nd half - his powerful runs forced Arsenal back when they were in full attacking mode. Demba did nothing except miss a golden opportunity - he should have got closer and lifted the ball. Chelsea are vulnerable to counter-attacks in 2nd half of games because they were drilled by DiMatteo on man-to-man marking. And when they tire they can let a fast attacker get past. Rafa would have drilled them on zonal marking in pre-season but did not want to change the system half way through the season. Hopefully, Rafa will get chance for a pre-season and get them watertight in defence with zonal marking. Chelsea panic when under attack. Basic lack of player skills in clearing the ball. How many sliced or ballooned clearances or bad headers came back to haunt them. They should stick to passing themselves out of defence. They should also bring in a big, strong defender. In the first half Chelsea looked like a Rafa team , powerful, dominant, moving forward and backwards as a pack. 2nd half they reverted to their old form before he arrived. On the basis of good chances created, Chelsea deserved a win of about 4-1.

It's 63 minutes actually (the first sub)

The performance of a good player can drop off dramatically once they are over 32-33 and they can become more vulnerable to injuries - 35 is well within the retirement range - let alone the 38 he would be at the end of a 3-year contract renewal. If it were my money I would not give Lampard a three-year contract and probably not a two-year deal unless there were conditions about performance. Those who say the club owes him a fat contract have got it wrong. He owes the club for a very lucrative and successful career. If he really wants to stay at Chelsea instead of taking the money from other clubs he should agree to a one-year deal a performance-based contract or a reduced salary. People exaggerate his goals - many of them are penalties and free kicks which other players would score if given the opportunity There are other players who could replace his other duties and do them better. None of this says he has not been a great player who should be respected and he is a player who still contributes - but let's not get carried away.

I agree with most of what you say: the problem is Chelsea has had this naive idea that you can have wonderfully entertaining attacking football if you buy young starlets and pay them a lot of money. The players were bought in the summer or last year. Rafa had nothing to do with it. RDM showed that entertaining is not the same as winning or being consistent. He paid the price. Rafa was brought in to try to get more wins and more consistency. He has to work with what he was given. He would have bought different players if he had a say and he would have trained them differently. In the space of little more than ten days he turned them into a winning, high-scoring team with a mean defence during a very packed program with a lot of away games. But the players are still young and inexperienced. Oscar has some skills but is too slow, and loses the ball far too much and, as you say, is not an effective playmaker. Hazard shines in patches but is not consistent - even in a single match - and his form fluctuates from match to match. Mata is more solid and dependable but can also make a lot of misplaced passes and be too slow if he is not in the mood. When he is on form his passes can be very good and his finishing is not bad. They say supporters make up the 12th man. Chelsea must be the only team in the Premier League that does not have a 12th man. Many of the fans assist the opposition by their stupid "homage" to the last manager (you'd think he had died playing for Chelsea) , their childish attacks on Rafa which, in effect, are attacks on the owner and the senior management, their attacks on el Nino which are disguised attacks on the owner and Rafa. No wonder some of the younger players lose heart at home. Winning teams are not only skillful and consistent they are also pumped up and intense, quicker to the ball in defence and attack, and the crowd and atmosphere plays a role in helping them achieve the desired level of commitment. But not at Stamford Bridge.

Despite getting 200 million worth of new players and Ronaldo, and getting rid of the Director of Football and receiving a massive salary, Mourinho is a loser in a sports sense. Not only is he losing or drawing matches against weak opposition, he is jeered by the fans. He is regarded as a crude man, lacking in sportsmanship, eaten up by petty jealousy of better coaches, such as Rafa, and now tottering towards the exit at Real Madrid. On his way out he will do what he can to stir up trouble at the club and turn players against the club. That is his technique. He spreads poison wherever he goes. Have a read of this: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/14/sports/soccer/14iht-soccer14.html Real Madrid will eventually turn to Rafa - they have been after him for years not only for his tactical knowledge and his winning record but because he personifies the kind of sportsmanship Mourinho will never be.able to achieve. La Liga has been Barcelona v Real Madrid for years. Those two teams are expected to beat everyone else. They are so much more wealthy. But Mourinho's team is 3rd and going lower. Rafa beat Barcelona and Real Madrid when he led Valencia to two La Liga titles - one more than Mourinho and only one less than Guardiola.

Yes I could but why don't you just Google it?. It is all over the internet. Anyone who is slightly knowledgeable about Rafa or Inter at the time knows the three options Rafa laid out to Inter in that press conference. I don't expect Chelsea supporters to know about it but I also don't expect them to make up rubbish either to justify their prejudice. As I said earlier a lot of the misinformation about Rafa comes from Mourinho and its a shame that some thick-headed supporters still dance to Mourinho's tune.

You are ignorant. In the first place he was not sacked by Inter. He won the World Cup with them and immediately called a press conference in which he announced that if Inter would not fulfill the promise they had made to him when he took the job to let him buy players then they should negotiate his release. That was done. Since then he has had many offers (including Chelsea last year - and he refused their terms). Second, show me one of the quotes you say he was feeding to the press about reviving Torres. He has never said that. You just make it up as you go along. Your ignorance is no excuse for your prejudice.

I like to see the posts talking about the possibility that Rafa might be hired long-term. However, they overlook one thing. It will be for Rafa and Abromovich to decide - not just Abromavich. Rafa turned down Chelsea's offer of a temporary contract when AVB was sacked. This time he accepted an 18 month contract with an opt-out for both parties after the end of this season. Rafa wanted that. He has other irons in the fire. He has been approached by Real Madrid several times in the past and this year that interest has been revived. He has bee approached by two other Spanish clubs, a leading German club, a leading Italian club, two national teams and some far eastern clubs. There is also the outside chance that Man City, Arsenal and LFC will be vacant come the summer. He has consistently said he prefers to work in the PL because he likes the football culture and because he wants to give his two daughters and his wife stability. (His wife's charity was voted charity of the year on the Wirral last week). The Chelsea job gives him a platform to demonstrate his qualities and win trophies. If it ends in the summer nobody will be able to say he was sacked because officially it is an interim appointment. If Ab does offer an extended contract Rafa will be in a position to bargain the terms. In the meantime he is free to negotiate a contract with other clubs without being accused of disloyalty. Not a bad position for him.

Rafa prepared the team for an intense high-pressing Everton who would fight for every ball and second ball especially in the opening 15 minutes. But despite the preparation we showed our fundamental weakness as a team - disarray and slight panic when under high speed attack. Our playmakers were too slow in their first touch and too slow and rushed in releasing the ball and they gave it away almost every time for the first 24 minutes. Hazard does not convince when he is under pressure and has no space. His bad pass led to the first goal. Mata looked like he had not adjusted to the speed of English football for the first 25 minutes. There was also too may wild clearances and aimless long balls and the team was spread out and not compact enough. They lost touch with each other and Torres was isolated for most of the first half. This is the exact opposite to the way Rafa likes his teams to play so I put it down to the player's weak mentality under pressure. Rafa was able to get them focused and organised at half-time. But you could see the fatigue in Chelsea legs. Eventually, as expected, Everton lost energy and Chelsea became more comfortable but still not safe. Moses instead of Hazard was an improvement and while I did not want Oscar to start because he has also been slow and wasteful lately I thought bringing him on towards the end was a great move. He was under instruction to hold the ball and run down the clock - you would think he rest of the team would have figured that out when they were in the lead, but they didn't. Oscar did it very well and posed a threat on the counter. Lampard scores so many by just being in the six yard box - I'd like to see Torres do more of that. Another, deserved win for the team coming after a grueling four weeks - great credit to Rafa. Lampard, Luiz (who never stopped trying even when he made mistakes) Ramirez who was one of our main threats. But worries about Chelsea central defence and how easily Cole gets rounded and caught out of position.

if Rafa did make the anti-Chelsea remarks attributed to him 7 years ago, it would not justify the stupid bigotry shown by the boo boys. But they were calling him FSW even before the alleged remarks. So their hatred is not caused by the so-called remarks. The fact is he never made those remarks. He has never said he would not coach a team like Chelsea - never. He was once asked by the press whether it was true that Chelsea were trying to hire him to replace Mourinho and whether the rumours were true that he was going to Real Madrid and/or other teams. He replied that LFC was his club and he was not thinking of any other. The only time he spoke about not coaching another club was when he said that out of respect for LFC fans there were two teams he would not coach and the fans knew which they were . He never named them but everyone knew it was Everton and Man Utd. Last week in Spain in an interview he specifically denied ever saying that he would not want to coach a team like Chelsea. Meanwhile Mourinho's has said there is one British team he won't coach but didn't name it - presumed to be LFC which rejected his application for the manager's job when they hired Rafa. As for the "plastic" remarks. He has never used the word "plastic". In response to Mourinho's stream of public insults and his threats that he (Chelsea) was going to shut up the Kop, Rafa did say that "they - Chelsea" talk a lot - meaning Mourinho - and then went on to talk about LFC fans having passion etc. Mourinho spreads poison wherever he goes but its a bit ridiculous that some Chelsea fans are still dancing to Mourinho's tune against Rafa. Rafa is a better club coach and, in my opinion, a better man. Chelsea is lucky to get him and those who follow Mourinho's lead in attacking our coach should go support Real Madrid - at least until Mourinho gets the boot form there.

Rafa knows how to beat Everton but the big question is will the team buckle under the physical pressure like it did against West Ham. It will be important to hold the shape very strongly in the first 15-20 minutes and then slowly crush them, not letting up until the 93 minute. The Everton crowd will be noisy so hopefully the CFC boo boys won't be helping them.

It must be hard being you - wincing every time Chelsea score and win under Rafa.

The difference between you and me is that I want Chelsea to win and be Champions. You want them to lose and crash out because of your irrational hatred of Rafa whom you know very little about. You keep trying to make the case that it was Rafa who failed at the CWC but if the team had won you would have been the first to say Rafa had nothing to do with it and that it was really RDM victory. That's what Mourinho said when Rafa won the CWC at InterMilan It's what Ferguson said the day Rafa was appointed to Chelsea. You can huff and puff all you wan,t the fact is that Chelsea offered Rafa the job - he accepted it and he is now part of the club. If you want Mourinho go and support Real Madrid or whichever team he finishes up with once he gets the sack. It won't be Chelsea.

While I don't agree with you that Rafa has to apologise - he has done nothing to apologise for - I do agree with you that his rotation is "interesting". At LFC he got a lot of pressure from fans and the media for his rotation policy. But every season (except his last when the owners sold off his players) he finished much stronger in the second half because his players were fresher. In the year they came second to Manchester United (and beat them 4-1 at Old Trafford) LFC won every match but one after Christmas. He puts this down to his rotation. He tries to preserve the players for the final push. He also got slagged off by the media for zonal marking which was new to Britain. But he had one of the meanest defences in the PL. And now most of the leading teams use it. He has not insisted on it at Chelsea because, as he said, he did not want to introduce a radically new system in mid-season. But if he gets the job next year expect to see it.

There are still some yobos trying to justify their disgusting behaviour towards our manager by complaining that he has not apologized for saying he would never coach Chelsea. As Rafa told a Spanish radio station last week, he never said it. The yobos point to a statement he made years ago when he was manager of LFC when the press started rumours that he was about to go to Chelsea and several other clubs. When he was asked about the various rumours he said that LFC was the only team for him. Not only was this true but it is what you would expect from a dedicated manager. Maybe this is a bit surprising for those used to Mourinho who spends most of his time looking for his next employer.