The Benitez Thread

[OneMoSalah 8,776]

Do you think the pair hold previous words against each other now?

Taking swipes is what you do when you are rivals for the same trophies, Jose has taken swipes at us since his departure on more than one occasion, especially during the build up and shortly after our CL tie with Inter.

Exactly Jose went and said he'd won important things and we'd won "things" in one interview.

Mind games, used to unsettle your opponent but still people think Rafa had a personal agenda just to hate us..........

[ChelseaChelsea 37]

Do you think the pair hold previous words against each other now?

Taking swipes is what you do when you are rivals for the same trophies, Jose has taken swipes at us since his departure on more than one occasion, especially during the build up and shortly after our CL tie with Inter.

Attacking fans and their tradition is not equal to attacking a player. So, sorry!

And please do not bring Mourinho into it. Mou apparently had sth against Roman for the sack. Mou did not insult the fans.

[ChelseaChelsea 37]

It's a marriage of convenience for both parties. Let's ride this out and quit moaning while he's getting results.

After the Man City match, Corinthians and Everton were the toughest matches he has faced so far. He has failed in one. In the other one, we needed the woodwork and Petr Cech's stunning saves to deny the weakest Everton side of this season.

Also, remember that Lampard was injured when we were going through that blip under RDM.

So, I can't see any significant improvement. He should have won all the games he has faced after the City game.

[Madmax 9,219]

After the Man City match, Corinthians and Everton were the toughest matches he has faced so far. He has failed in one. In the other one, we needed the woodwork and Petr Cech's stunning saves to deny the weakest Everton side of this season.

Also, remember that Lampard was injured when we were going through that blip under RDM.

So, I can't see any significant improvement. He should have won all the games he has faced after the City game.

While I agree our fixtures haven't been the toughest, a managerial change in the middle of the season brings about upheavel, which we've done well to recover from. Surely some of that credit must go to him.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

After the Man City match, Corinthians and Everton were the toughest matches he has faced so far. He has failed in one. In the other one, we needed the woodwork and Petr Cech's stunning saves to deny the weakest Everton side of this season.

Also, remember that Lampard was injured when we were going through that blip under RDM.

So, I can't see any significant improvement. He should have won all the games he has faced after the City game.

In the everton game, we were lucky but everton too were lucky that we have shit torres as our striker.

I think we've been better defensively and even peter cech said we are playing better in an interview.

Against corinthians, we missed chances to the extent that the keeper was named the man of the match.

Against west ham, we could have been 4-0 up at halftime but we missed chances again.

The only matches benitez really fucked up was against fulham and 2nd half west ham in my opinion.

We are not playing fluent barcelona style yet and we will never be under rafa but you have to give him a little credit here.

[The only place to be 11,313]

After the Man City match, Corinthians and Everton were the toughest matches he has faced so far. He has failed in one. In the other one, we needed the woodwork and Petr Cech's stunning saves to deny the weakest Everton side of this season.

Also, remember that Lampard was injured when we were going through that blip under RDM.

So, I can't see any significant improvement. He should have won all the games he has faced after the City game.

Lampard might have been injured, but his absence didn't seem to affect us when we won at Spurs and Arsenal which are still arguably the results of the season.

If you can't see any significant improvement, then that's fine. People I've spoken to all agree that we look a lot tighter and defend as a unit more. Look at Eden Hazard for example who has been tracking back a huge amount more and seems to be a much more rounded player than he was previously. Look at the experiment with Luiz who looks like he might become another option in the midfield.

You allude to the lack of Lampard - one could put forward the point that Benitez has been missing Terry since he became coach.

"We don't need to give away stupid plastic flags to our fans to wave, our supporters are always there with their hearts and that is all we need. Its the passion of the fans that helps us to win matches, not flags. Chelsea fans lack passion." -RB

Did he say the highlighted bits?

I tried searching for these quotes in a 2007/2008 article and found none and i can't actually remember this quote either.

I've asked a few of the posters who keep referencing them for the original quotes and they don't seem to know. In fact the Mail said that the quote had different variations which suggests it's a little suspect.

But for some, whatever the Daily Mail prints is gospel. Broken Britain innit

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

As football fans,we all must agree to the fact that Rafa has done a decent job so far.As Chelsea fans,the hate and anger is understandable but we must accept reality and deal with it.

Chelsea Fc the club we all love, have the chance to win the title this season and perhaps a little support to the manager may help us boost those chances.

[Manuf 1,448]

It's hard to find those quotes because they were said during press conference

[The only place to be 11,313]

It's hard to find those quotes because they were said during press conference

Shame there was no-one there to record them for posterity.

[ChelseaChelsea 37]

While I agree our fixtures haven't been the toughest, a managerial change in the middle of the season brings about upheavel, which we've done well to recover from. Surely some of that credit must go to him.

Yes. But more should be given to RDM for the good start

In the everton game, we were lucky but everton too were lucky that we have shit torres as our striker.

I think we've been better defensively and even peter cech said we are playing better in an interview.

Against corinthians, we missed chances to the extent that the keeper was named the man of the match.

Against west ham, we could have been 4-0 up at halftime but we missed chances again.

The only matches benitez really fucked up was against fulham and 2nd half west ham in my opinion.

We are not playing fluent barcelona style yet and we will never be under rafa but you have to give him a little credit here.

I am talking about Improvement i.e. comparing his reign to that of RDM. It was not like that we were fucking up every match under RDM. if you analyse you will see that overall we were doing quite well at that time. We had a very good start under RDM with good defensive displays. And RB is yet to face a match as tough as Shakthar and Juventus away. Also, Unlike the Everton match we won against Tottenham and Arsenal away by playing exciting football. So, there's hardly any improvement now. And yes, our team looks a bit more comfortable when we play more direct. But for that I will not give credit to Benitez because RDM could have given up playing the Barca way if the club had really asked him to do... We saw it last season that he's more than capable of doing this..

[ChelseaChelsea 37]

Lampard might have been injured, but his absence didn't seem to affect us when we won at Spurs and Arsenal which are still arguably the results of the season.

ALL HAIL RDM!!!

If you can't see any significant improvement, then that's fine. People I've spoken to all agree that we look a lot tighter and defend as a unit more. Look at Eden Hazard for example who has been tracking back a huge amount more and seems to be a much more rounded player than he was previously. Look at the experiment with Luiz who looks like he might become another option in the midfield.

Rafa's playing more direct. That's why we look better defensively. And I will wait till the end of the season to give final verdict on Luiz and Hazard. Did not look so good against Everton IMO.

You allude to the lack of Lampard - one could put forward the point that Benitez has been missing Terry since he became coach.

RDM missed both of them during that blip. Benitez is rather lucky to have at least one of them.

[The only place to be 11,313]

ALL HAIL RDM!!! Lamps leadership quality is still very important IMO.

Perhaps, but it didn't seem to help much against Corinthians did it?

Personally, I'm going to hold fire on assessing him until the end of the season. He's an interim manager and I've said before that whilst he's here he'll get my backing because I'd rather focus on us having a bright future rather than cling on to old slights, and for better or worse we need him to do a good job for us to have a bright future.

[ChelseaChelsea 37]

Perhaps, but it didn't seem to help much against Corinthians did it?

Everton away was massive. Lamps playing better after the CWC.

Personally, I'm going to hold fire on assessing him until the end of the season. He's an interim manager and I've said before that whilst he's here he'll get my backing because I'd rather focus on us having a bright future rather than cling on to old slights, and for better or worse we need him to do a good job for us to have a bright future.

Fair enough.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Yes. But more should be given to RDM for the good start

I am talking about Improvement i.e. comparing his reign to that of RDM. It was not like that we were fucking up every match under RDM. if you analyse you will see that overall we were doing quite well at that time. We had a very good start under RDM with good defensive displays. And RB is yet to face a match as tough as Shakthar and Juventus away. Also, Unlike the Everton match we won against Tottenham and Arsenal away by playing exciting football. So, there's hardly any improvement now. And yes, our team looks a bit more comfortable when we play more direct. But for that I will not give credit to Benitez because RDM could have given up playing the Barca way if the club had really asked him to do... We saw it last season that he's more than capable of doing this..

There's improvement on or defending, u can't possibly deny that. Whether we are playing direct or not now, we never looked secure defending under RDM.

But with the direct play and better defence now, we are also creating a fair share of chances. Our shots/chances per match are higher than under RDM imo.

I don't like benitez, but I'm not going to deny we are better playing now. Maybe because benitez used moses along with hazard and mata instead of oscar. RDM didn't do this often so maybe that's why.

[strong centreback 157]

There's improvement on or defending, u can't possibly deny that. Whether we are playing direct or not now, we never looked secure defending under RDM.

But with the direct play and better defence now, we are also creating a fair share of chances. Our shots/chances per match are higher than under RDM imo.

I don't like benitez, but I'm not going to deny we are better playing now. Maybe because benitez used moses along with hazard and mata instead of oscar. RDM didn't do this often so maybe that's why.

To be fair youd have to be a pretty shit to not look better defensively when you sit deep (deeper than we were under RDM) and also by playing less 4231 and more like 4411 with the 2 central midfielders sitting deeper than the wide men, then hitting the direct ball, its funny really because RDM was trying to implement this attacking brand of football that our owner apparently craves and teething problems were always gonna happen during a tough run of games, and now we have TFSW in charge we are reverting back to a more conservative style of play (defensive and counter) kind of makes you wonder what it is the club really wants from the team?

[DDA 9,690]

To be fair youd have to be a pretty shit to not look better defensively when you sit deep (deeper than we were under RDM) and also by playing less 4231 and more like 4411 with the 2 central midfielders sitting deeper than the wide men, then hitting the direct ball, its funny really because RDM was trying to implement this attacking brand of football that our owner apparently craves and teething problems were always gonna happen during a tough run of games, and now we have TFSW in charge we are reverting back to a more conservative style of play (defensive and counter) kind of makes you wonder what it is the club really wants from the team?

No. Under RDM we were starting to play without a defence at all like we did under AVB. TFSW has simply tightened our defence up again making us a harder team to break down but still with a very high attacking mind implied. The board craves sexy and attacking football but they also expect our team being able to defend and that's what RDM was starting to lose, the balance.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

To be fair youd have to be a pretty shit to not look better defensively when you sit deep (deeper than we were under RDM) and also by playing less 4231 and more like 4411 with the 2 central midfielders sitting deeper than the wide men, then hitting the direct ball, its funny really because RDM was trying to implement this attacking brand of football that our owner apparently craves and teething problems were always gonna happen during a tough run of games, and now we have TFSW in charge we are reverting back to a more conservative style of play (defensive and counter) kind of makes you wonder what it is the club really wants from the team?

I don't understand how we are less attacking than under RDM when we are actually creating more chances now and even scoring more.

We have far more shots under benitez than under RDM. That means were creating more chances.

[calculatingInfinity 1,443]

Rest key players before a cup match against Southampton who will play with a reserve side... Great thinking, you idiot.