The Benitez Thread

[zolayes 14,489]

Why don't you just stick to the FACTS and stop feeding on prejudice?. ("Prejudice" means pre-judgement - judging before the facts. I joined this site because as a Chelsea supporter I was embarrassed by the behaviour of the booers towards one of the game's leading managers who also happens to be Chelsea' manager. We are lucky to have him).

you are a Liverpool fan like Backstreet get back to the RAWK

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

So far, he has done a good job. First 3 games were really difficult, Man City, then 2 London derbies, and we all know that in those, our opponents are ready to die on the pitch even for a point.

He has done a good job? We've had five games and four of them should have been wins. Fulham at home and West Ham away are not particularly difficult matches in the Premier League. I knew this would happen-our schedule for the first 10+ games with Rafa is so insanely easy, that early success is inevitable which will inevitably lead to people acting as if we needed Rafa to defeat teams like Sunderland , Leeds, and Southampton .I do agree with your broad point-Rafa is going to be here to the end of the season so we might as well tolerate him.

[Laylabelle 9,381]

Not difficult but if you play like crap they can punish....we've had little luck in London derbies last season and dont seem to be having much better this season

[osgoodisgod 150]

I was trying to respond to others in the Torres thread but it wasn't letting me. People need to listen to what I was saying rahter than what they choose to hear. I wasn't saying any previous managers (AVB Mourinho rtc) had Cheslea in their hearts - on the contrary I think very few have since Abramovich arrived. They are good managers who were here for different motivations e.g going to other clubs, topping up their pension. What I'm saying is that I particularly think Benitez does not have his heart here, he's not even ambivalent to us - he doesn't like us

I don't think he's that good a manager. In many cases he's been successful with other managers teams or when the opposition was not good. He doesn't have a good record of sustaining performance either and he can demotivate some players as much as he can motivate one.

And, I get the previous football allegiance thing - I'm not as stupid to think that every Chelsea player or manager has been or should be a die hard blue. I do get this, I've been following Chelsea for over 40 years so I've picked this up at least along the way. Having said that, Ashley Cole was not signing Arsenal tops a few days after he signed for us and Lampard likewse did not sign West Ham tops a few days after he signed with us - the fat waiter however was happily signing Liverpool tops for supporters at the airport just after he signed on as manager. Hardly endearing but hardly surprising either.

People say who else would have taken on the job at short notice for a short period of time - apart from RDM we could have done a lot worse than Sparky and Wilkins -they speak and understand Chelsea.

There was life and a football club called Chelsea before Abromovich - a very decent, honourable, respected club that was never that far away and was getting there under its own steam. I think we consider instant success over anything else at our long term cost. We managed fine before him, we'd manage fine without him and we'd certainly manage without the revolving door.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I was trying to respond to others in the Torres thread but it wasn't letting me. People need to listen to what I was saying rahter than what they choose to hear. I wasn't saying any previous managers (AVB Mourinho rtc) had Cheslea in their hearts - on the contrary I think very few have since Abramovich arrived. They are good managers who were here for different motivations e.g going to other clubs, topping up their pension. What I'm saying is that I particularly think Benitez does not have his heart here, he's not even ambivalent to us - he doesn't like us

I don't think he's that good a manager. In many cases he's been successful with other managers teams or when the opposition was not good. He doesn't have a good record of sustaining performance either and he can demotivate some players as much as he can motivate one.

And, I get the previous football allegiance thing - I'm not as stupid to think that every Chelsea player or manager has been or should be a die hard blue. I do get this, I've been following Chelsea for over 40 years so I've picked this up at least along the way. Having said that, Ashley Cole was not signing Arsenal tops a few days after he signed for us and Lampard likewse did not sign West Ham tops a few days after he signed with us - the fat waiter however was happily signing Liverpool tops for supporters at the airport just after he signed on as manager. Hardly endearing but hardly surprising either.

People say who else would have taken on the job at short notice for a short period of time - apart from RDM we could have done a lot worse than Sparky and Wilkins -they speak and understand Chelsea.

There was life and a football club called Chelsea before Abromovich - a very decent, honourable, respected club that was never that far away and was getting there under its own steam. I think we consider instant success over anything else at our long term cost. We managed fine before him, we'd manage fine without him and we'd certainly manage without the revolving door.

So Benitez isn't a very good manager, but Mark Hughes is?

I can agree with your points about Chelsea before Abramovich (although we had our detractors and issues) but it isn't just about 'instant success', it's about building something long-term and he simply didn't fancy Robbie for that so he needed a stop-gap. I would've liked Wilkins back at the club but that wasn't ever that likely, so you have to look at who was available on a short-term contract.

Hughes was actually employed by QPR at that time.

And signing shirts isn't really that bad is it?

[Laylabelle 9,381]

Had RDM not won the cup we'd not had signed him and guess feel the need to.But still been nice to maybe treat him a bit better then he did.The building long term needs to actually start at some point cause we just seem to go around in circles

We should never have got rid of Wilkins that was a weird move..to move forward or something..but we didnt really move forward that much instead went downhill a bit.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Rafa is clearly better and more experienced than Sparky and Wilkins.

[Sheva. 5,373]

He has done a good job? We've had five games and four of them should have been wins. Fulham at home and West Ham away are not particularly difficult matches in the Premier League. I knew this would happen-our schedule for the first 10+ games with Rafa is so insanely easy, that early success is inevitable which will inevitably lead to people acting as if we needed Rafa to defeat teams like Sunderland , Leeds, and Southampton .I do agree with your broad point-Rafa is going to be here to the end of the season so we might as well tolerate him.

"insanely easy" ? I have not checked the schedule, but I'd argue there's not a lot of easy games, especially for a side who have been really off form like we were.

[Laylabelle 9,381]

Easy on paper bloody hard on the day...

[The only place to be 11,313]

"insanely easy" ? I have not checked the schedule, but I'd argue there's not a lot of easy games, especially for a side who have been really off form like we were.

It does surprise me when some fans think any game in the prem is 'easy'

Swansea away should probably be 'insanely easy but any fan of the prem knows that any team can turn over another on it's day. We should've probably won away to QPR on paper but the reality is very different, especially with London derbies.

[Laylabelle 9,381]

We need to get the feeling of 'every game a cup final' the players seemed to have under Jose.You do get the feeling they walk into games like its all ready won.Like Wigan last season..no one seemed bothered or like they needed to make an effort..and we drew...and again this season.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

"insanely easy" ? I have not checked the schedule, but I'd argue there's not a lot of easy games, especially for a side who have been really off form like we were.

In a sense you're right-there are no easy games in the Premier League and so on, but the truth is that some games are easier than others so easy is a relative term. Facing QPR is easier than facing ManU and facing Nordjsalland is easier than facing Juventus. It doesn't mean that you can treat any game as a joke.. After the Man City Game, we played/play (brackets=current league standings) Fulham(13), West Ham (10), Nordsjaelland (maybe worst side in the CL, missing their best players), Sunderland (18), 2 teams we should beat in Japan, Southampton (15), Leeds (Championship side), Villa (16), Norwich (11), Everton (5), QPR (20), Southampton-FA Cup (15). That's a 13 game stretch where we face one very tough game (Everton away). That is insanely easy relative to a normal schedule and just hi-lights the difficult stretch we had early in the year and we will have again come February and again April. In comparison, the last 13 games RDM managed us, we faced Juventus away, Shakhtar twice, Arsenal and Spurs away, WBA away, Swansea away, and ManU twice.

[Sheva. 5,373]

In a sense you're right-there are no easy games in the Premier League and so on, but the truth is that some games are easier than others so easy is a relative term. Facing QPR is easier than facing ManU and facing Nordjsalland is easier than facing Juventus. It doesn't mean that you can treat any game as a joke.. After the Man City Game, we played/play (brackets=current league standings) Fulham(13), West Ham (10), Nordsjaelland (maybe worst side in the CL, missing their best players), Sunderland (18), 2 teams we should beat in Japan, Southampton (15), Leeds (Championship side), Villa (16), Norwich (11), Everton (5), QPR (20), Southampton-FA Cup (15). That's a 13 game stretch where we face one very tough game (Everton away). That is insanely easy relative to a normal schedule and just hi-lights the difficult stretch we had early in the year and we will have again come February and again April. In comparison, the last 13 games RDM managed us, we faced Juventus away, Shakhtar twice, Arsenal and Spurs away, WBA away, Swansea away, and ManU twice.

What I notice is we have 6 or 7 away games in that stretch. We can both agree that an away game is always more difficult? And we will have to work hard to win.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

What I notice is we have 6 or 7 away games in that stretch. We can both agree that an away game is always more difficult? And we will have to work hard to win.

Away games are more difficult and you have to put the effort in to win every single match, but the schedule is very easy. It's just a really imbalanced schedule for us this year.

[Laylabelle 9,381]

And games against teams in the bottom 3 always hard as well...as shown with us this season!Espically when it gets towards the end of the season and there are several teams fighting the drop.

[Rmpr 8,977]

Not way up in Heaven and not way down to Earth...

1. Benitez did a good job vs ManCity, adjusting our defense and obtaining our firt clean sheet in quite some time. It seemed as he was able to give clear oders on each player`s role.

2. He kept the system for Fulham and it did not work out, since it was not the same objetive as ManCity game. It was an OK performance and it was too early to judge.

3. West Ham game was perfect in the first half, we were looking like the begining of the season, everyone was happy. Then, he didnt do anything in the dressing room and the team had a huge blackout. Benitez couldnt ajust the team and made bad changes. Horrible result and Rafa takes a big part of the blame.

4. Nords and Sunderland, Rafa prepared ourselves pretty well and we are looking good. I know it wasnt much of a test, but we were looking bad even against shit teams. Our team is way better balanced and the players doesnt seem lost (clear reflect of good training sessions). He still needs to learn how to adapt to possible situations and adversity and to make great substitutions.

Like i said, Benitez has his good sides and his down sides. He deserves some complements and some criticism!

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Don't really mind the boos to be honest. If you paid for a ticket, you have a right to show if you're unhappy.

[diskoviolente 425]

Fair play to the man. It is obviously ambigious ambitions to take over the job. He will restore his image, that´s for sure. It is a win/win situation for him. That is clear, but to actually go through with it and keeping his head down takes something I´d say. He knew he´ll be loathed here and still got on with it. To be fair, he already improved our gameplay a lot, the West Ham comidy aside. I think it is time to accept it that he is our man for now. He made all these silly comments back then but he didn´t know that he´d take over at the Bridge one day. So of course it´s easy to stick it onto him, but that was also the intense Chelsea Liverpool "shit on a stick" phase in which the game seemed to be won in the Presser and not on the pitch so much. So he would stick it to Chelsea as we did to them, namely José. I hope we will win that damn trophy, that the team comes back more galavanised, getting on with it an keep the pressure in the league.