Corner

Looking at that makes me feel sick.

Spot on. He has so much potential, but his attitude has always let him down. He seems to think he is 'good enough' already, which means he's not going to work hard every day in training to improve his game. I mean, Messi and Ronaldo are still trying to find ways to improve their game.

I know mate. That's why I said 'I'm not suggesting spending alone will make you win'.

I'm not ignoring the points you have to make, I just have nothing to say to them. It's not a debate I'm particularly interested in to be honest. I just took your reply to Toronto as judgemental. You seemed to judge him and generalize him with other fans, which never makes sense because everyone has different opinions (which is why I try not to generalize and listen to everyone).

Ignore my last post, didn't see you say that when I posted it. But I never suggested that any manager could just walk in and do what José did.

Obviously two exceptions. Are you disagreeing with the statement 'when you spend, you win?' I don't see how anyone can disagree. Obviously, I'm not suggesting spending alone will make you win, but it will certainly help A LOT.

So anyone who doesn't adore Mourinho and think he is an absolute genius, that means they must hate him or can't stand him? No one is dismissing Jose's achievements. It's just that sometimes he is given too much credit for things that were nowhere near genius. Spending over £100 million is not 'genius'. And no disrespect to Jose or any other manager, but when you spend you win. You can't argue against that. This sort of nonsensical logic comes up in a lot of arguments on here. For example, if you don't think Sturridge is a great player, then you must be a 'Torres fanboy'. If you don't think Mourinho is a genius, then you must be a 'Mourinho hater'.

That is just insane.

That's because we've been playing average teams who don't pose much of an attacking threat.

True, he could be trying to send a message send a message to the players to say that no one is bigger than the club. Or he could be trying to make excuses for himself just in case he does get sacked. So that he could blame the players etc. Either way, he has made some massive mistakes this season and he still hasn't taken responsibility for any of them.

Why is it that anyone who doesn't adore Sturridge is called a 'Torres fanboy' etc. It makes no sense whatsoever and it's such a childish argument.

You're right, he did want a back-up goalkeeper but I don't think this was about that. Mourinho and Florentino Perez actually have a good relationship (or at least they make it look that way to the public). There are a bunch of players who are against Mourinho this season and Casillas is basically seen as the leader of those players. Casillas is held in much higher regard at Madrid than Mourinho is, and it was a stupid decision to drop him. Mourinho seems to think he is bigger than the club and he also can't control the dressing room. Like you said, a lot of Madrid players have very big egos and Mourinho can't deal with that because he has the biggest ego of all. Right now, the players are trying to play for themselves, not for Mourinho. He has become way too involved in politics etc. this season, he should have just focused on football. Whenever he has made mistakes, he has blamed his players. He even went so far as to say 'I have no team'. Mourinho has also let his own hatred for Barcelona get in the way. A lot of Barca and Real players play together with the national team and are good friends, he should never have asked them not to socialize with them. Another dreadful move by Mourinho this season.

Hm... it will be interesting to see if there will be a future fee agreed on between the clubs.

Merry Christmas, you beautiful Chelsea fans!

Okay, you should have been clearer before. Now I know what you mean. Before, you mentioned nationality but you didn't say anything about the cultural aspect. But no hard feelings and back on topic.

Okay, maybe we don't understand each other, so I'll just ignore the previous argument. What makes you think I don't fully experience the treatment we get? Because I'm born in a different country. I have had the same upbringing as a lot of the fans booing, have lived in the same area and have supported Chelsea for as long as some also. You can't just make assumptions like that. I'm not judging anyone mate. I understand why they feel like they do and I understand why they're making sure the Chelsea board know how they feel. But that doesn't mean I have to agree with them. I've never once shown any shred of disrespect towards those fans. If anything, I've done my best to understand why the feel like they do. Something the Chelsea board have not done. How is that the difference between you and I? Of course I understand why they do it, and I respect their opinion. You can't just make assumptions about other people so quickly.

Hey, if he keeps scoring a goal per game, then who cares if he's as good as Falcao?

No, I understand what you're saying. And I understand that a lot of fans have been hurt by the appointment of Benitez. What really pisses me of though is that those same fans do not stop to think how they hurt the players by booing. Some of the players on the pitch that have to listen to it only arrived here in the summer and are very young. They can't find it easy to deal with after moving country, leaving behind friends and family and starting a new life. Just imagine moving country and leaving behind your old life to start a new job. Imagine yourself walking into your new workplace and the first thing you hear is booing, negative comments and just a negative atmosphere. Imagine how that would affect you? Nationality has nothing to do with it. We're all people and we're all Chelsea fans at the end of the day. I grew up watching Chelsea since I was born just like most English Chelsea fans. I come from an English background but am born in Ireland. Does that make me less of a Chelsea fan? You and other Chelsea fans can make as many excuses for booing him. I will do my best to understand every one of them but I will never agree with it.

Just because you understand why they're doing it, that does not make it okay for them to do so. I understand a lot of horrible things people to every day and why they do them, but it does not make it okay. That's just not a valid reason for me.

I couldn't agree more mate, I was saying the same thing for weeks after he got sacked. If you think about it, those players that were complaining and intentionally playing badly under AVB, they're all getting paid £100K per week. But they can't deal with it because he doesn't talk to them enough, and because they don't have a place in his tactics? They should have worked harder in training and take on board what the coach was trying to teach them. What the hell do some players expect the manager to do? Hold their hands? Give them some lollipops? God, I love football, but footballers can be very frustrating sometimes. I guess I still I have a lot of frustration inside me from that AVB period. Rant over.

I know he's young, but after about 20 minutes and things weren't going his way, he just put his head down and disappeared for the game. You could literally see the desire to win disappear from him. A bit worrying, but like I said, he's young.

You're probably right. If so, it was nice of him. I like how much he cares about his teammates (a very under-rated quality in players). He may have his faults, but I would miss him a lot if we were to sell him. I'm sure most Chelsea fans would too. When he was linked with Barca during the summer, even though I knew there was no shred of truth in it, I was still terrified we would sell him.

Link?

+1 But if Benitez/the Chelsea board is planning on moving Luiz to the holding role gradually then playing him there in games like this is a good way to improve him. I'm sure Benitez will go over the tapes with Luiz, analyze everything he did and point out everything he did wrong, how it can be fixed, etc. I actually think he did a decent job of being more conservative with his play after Ramires came on. He just let everyone ahead of him run riot on Villa's defence and he set the tempo of the game pretty well.

Yeah, I think this more likely. And hey, I'm not gonna arguing with us bidding for Neymar. Just imagine him with our attacking trio. We would have the most frightening attack in the league.