The Benitez Thread

[MHL 47 378]

Get him out now, before he can 'hail' any success he thinks he may have had in the role. Let everyone know how much of a 'disappointment' he's been and therefore do all that we can to prevent him getting a job at any club sufficiently big/attractive enough to potentially come in with bids for our more talented/valuable players.

There's more harm/risk now in keeping him then giving him the Spanish Archer (El Bow) right now. He'll never be popular (he had little chance anyway!) and he's lost our home form for us, we will not keep the run of away form going - City, United, Liverpool away still to come. At home we're slow, spending too long building up our attacking movements and having too many touches of the ball before moving it on. He's destroyed any form Oscar had and to be honest I can't think of one player who I can say "he's improved under Benitez". The only positive I can attribute to him is seeing slightly more of Moses, but that's at the cost of the form of Oscar.

He also can't help himself fiddleling with team selection. Anyone, in his position with a couple of brain-cells to knock together wouldn't change a winning side, what'd he do last night - let's leave Ivanovic on the bench, he was a warrior up at Stoke! Who'd you want competing with a big lump like Lambert, another big lump like Ivanovic! who's strength is that he plays for the love of competing for the ball and physical contact.

He must know he's at best now looking for another big job after ours, so you'd play your best team, get the best result, run the least risk for yourself. You're not too concerned with long-term health, fitness of players etc, etc. He just can't help the constant changing, it cost him the title and his job at his beloved ex-club in Rat City and he's not learned. I'd say more fool him, but it's costing our club so more fool our board/owner for appointing him.

[Tomo 21,751]

Unfortunently when it comes to Benitez most of you are talking with your hearts and not your heads.

[bushman 2,043]

Benitez has confirmed that our squad is not fit enough for the long run.

If he said that days ago I would have found it offensive but I am coming to terms with the reality that he is our manager and I cannot do much about it. And he is actually right. Looking at the team we all must agree that we actually don't have a big squad or we don't use most of them, or maybe they are not good enough and only the coaching staff actually knows.

Coming to our squad we really don't need players like Paulo, Turnbull or Hilario. The main aim for the squad is to use them when you want and to be able to rely on them, but most fans here get shivers through their spines when we are not using Cech. He has not rested since the beginning of the season which is bad as he is simply not a machine and our remaining two keepers lack match fitness.

There is also a rumuor that he has told the board he needs a new left back, defensive midfielder and a striker. This I completely agree with but left to me it`s our board who have put him in the position to ask. If we did not loan Essien (with the games I saw him he play looked better that Romeu and sometimes Mikel) or sell Meireles (squad player but did well sometimes and some wonderful goals from him) we might have been able to rotate more.

Another thing that worries me is that he needs a striker, but I thought deep down Torres was leaving and we are getting at least two strikers or bring back Lukaku get a striker and get rid of Torres but that may not seem to be the case.

Also so many players have been linked to Chelsea in recent times, I understand that because we buy lots of players and we have a new manager, so one or two players are bound to come on , but before we deep into our pockets to get players why can`t we actually bring some players back from loans?

Instead of getting a defender we can bring back Bruma who to me is not a youngster anymore because he will be 22 next January, instead of getting Paulinho simply bring back KDB and use him instead and instead of getting a left back bring back Patrick van Aanholt and see how he fares in the team.

I was impressed when Lukaku came on for West Brom last week when he had the assist and hit the bar, but I think it will be better for him to stay there for the rest of the season or even Josh can return and play with Lampard as it seems he cannot stay fit for a month anymore, if they are not good enough we can simply sell them at the end of the season and get replacements.

We have 25 players on loan (a fully registered squad is also 25). Hope the board makes the right decision in the coming weeks as whatever they do will go a long way.

Read more: http://www.chelsea.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=532015#ixzz2IG4xbCFA

See if Rafa makes any sense to you.

Personally, I agree with him.

[Kojo 4,676]

About time more people stated speaking sense around here, i more or less said all this at the start of the year when everyone was wanking over our "barca" revolution and i got fucking slated. Funny how fickle some cunts are.

I liked the composed dominant football, like under Jose when we where so solid and no one could score past us. And we would also score a handful, i don't want any of that shitty one-two pass shit Barca do.

[Tomo 21,751]

I liked the composed dominant football, like under Jose when we where so solid and no one could score past us. And we would also score a handful, i don't want any of that shitty one-two pass shit Barca do.

Yeah we need to get players like we did under Jose but the only thing is we will never get players of such high caliber like we did.

Cech in goal who is world class but before his injury was a freak. Terry and Carvalho defensive partnership with Gallas a back up (name me one better combination than that). Makelele (the best ever defensive midfielder) protecting them, with a 20 goal midfielder and an absolute beast of a forward. Not to mention the ultimate dream team of the backroom staff.

I may sound biased but as far as spine's go, i haven't came across one better. 2006 we were set for years of domination but things conspired (injury crisis the next two season's, Jose leaving) that halted that.

[Henrique 9,133]

To be honest Rafa is not responsible for this disaster. This squad is really imbalanced, only a fool would build a squad like this.

[Laylabelle 9,534]

I want him gone as much as the next person... but is there really anyone better we can get right now?

As far as I'm concerned, who the fuck would want to manage this shambles of a club? If you want to blame anyone, blame Roman and his 'advisors'.

Exactly and that is the issue!!! No one in their right mind would want to come,be treated like shite and be told to play a flop and end up on the wrong end if they dont!The whole thing is a mess and has developed into a complete crap situation.We may not end up with the next Fergie and long term and that bollocks but when the longest serving manager after Jose in recent times is 2 years there is a issue!!!

Least he's been bencing Torres...doubt that went down well and be having to play him for a looong time

[xPetrCechx 13,569]

[Rmpr 8,977]

Do I want Rafa out? YES. Do I think there is a more qualified person to take his job? NO. Why do I want him out then?

Some jobs in this world, specialy the ones that involves motivating people, are only successful with trust and connection between the employer and employee (coach and players in that case). Benitez is a good manager and has already proved he can lead a team to victories (he did it with Valencia and Liverpool), but in the circunstances he was announced, things didnt work out. He is hated by most of our fans, he is only here for 5 more months and because of that, there is no connection or passion. We can work our asses off, we can have the best tactics in the world or we can even have the best players, if we dont have absolute passion and huger, we wont be a winning team.

Benitez is not a Chelsea guy, he will never be (just like Torres). He does not care abut the club (he will while he is incharge, but you get the idea) and that reflects to the players. One needs determination and belief to implement his philosophy and playing style, Benitez does not even have respect, he will never make this team work. The squad did not buy into his project and when it happens, there is no turning back. The same happened with AVB, there is no way of making the players regain trust, the only thing left is to part ways.

He is not the only one to blame and he has a thin unprepared squad. However, he knew it all along. He came knowing he wasnt going to build a team and he would get rejection (from the fans and players). Benitez accepted the job with all this warnings, he put himself under this challenge and he failed. Rafa wont thrive, no matter how many excuses he gives. His contemplacy (seen in many games) would not happen if he was at Liverpool (place he loves). He can try as hard as he wants, he wont feel the same thing, he just wont (also apply to Torres).

It is also not his fault that we lose so many chances and have no balls, but football isnt fair and that is why managers make millions of money.

I would shake things up and announce someone like Martinez (just like SeB posted). The results wont change, we will continue to lose some games and win others, but we will regain our pride and will. Last season is a big example that the desire and determination is half of what a team needs in order to win. Ultimately, it does not matter if Benitez will give us better tactics and training sessions, the team wont correspond because they dont care about it.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Yeah we need to get players like we did under Jose but the only thing is we will never get players of such high caliber like we did.

Cech in goal who is world class but before his injury was a freak. Terry and Carvalho defensive partnership with Gallas a back up (name me one better combination than that). Makelele (the best ever defensive midfielder) protecting them, with a 20 goal midfielder and an absolute beast of a forward. Not to mention the ultimate dream team of the backroom staff.

I may sound biased but as far as spine's go, i haven't came across one better. 2006 we were set for years of domination but things conspired (injury crisis the next two season's, Jose leaving) that halted that.

How did Jose's leaving halt our dominance? Mourinho was our manager in 2006-2007 when we had IMO our most talented team ever and we didn't win. We blew it in the last weeks of the season. The next year, still with an extremely talented team, we got off to a terrible start and Mourinho was fired. We played much better under Grant. Next year, we had elite talent but some very serious injuries and bad form. Still, we finished third and made it to the semi-finals of the CL. The next year, we still had an elite team but had not spent much money and the money we were spending was wasted, so we had a distinct lack of depth. We lack dominance because we never replaced our core. That's all. Nothing to do with managers.

[robdog 2,084]

Interesting piece here about why http://eskweston.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-importance-of-protesting-against.html'>the fans should voice their opinions for not wanting rafadyce..

[Tomo 21,751]

How did Jose's leaving halt our dominance? Mourinho was our manager in 2006-2007 when we had IMO our most talented team ever and we didn't win. We blew it in the last weeks of the season. The next year, still with an extremely talented team, we got off to a terrible start and Mourinho was fired. We played much better under Grant. Next year, we had elite talent but some very serious injuries and bad form. Still, we finished third and made it to the semi-finals of the CL. The next year, we still had an elite team but had not spent much money and the money we were spending was wasted, so we had a distinct lack of depth. We lack dominance because we never replaced our core. That's all. Nothing to do with managers.

You misread, i said Jose leaving amoungst other things halting our dominance. The other thing's being Cech and Terry's injury's, our injury crisis in general, Makelele slowing down etc etc etc

[Milan 17,955]

He is also a bit crazy, wearing the shorts in snow Honestly, he has been wearing it since the day one really

[zolayes 14,489]

Interesting piece here about why the fans should voice their opinions for not wanting rafadyce..

wonder why Esk doesn't post on here anymore? His academy reports were so good to read.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

He is also a bit crazy, wearing the shorts in snow Honestly, he has been wearing it since the day one really

At least he is not a pussy unlike a certain fellow countryman and friend of his.