The Benitez Thread

[whatthemata 249]

His substitution making is awful for a manager of his 'quality'. In a game when we can hold out for a win don't bring attacking players - JT should have been subbed on for hazard to give a extra man marking when Spurs were going to attack in the last part of the game. Cannot sub on like for like unless we aren't winning. Oh well 3 games left!

[CHOULO19 24,332]

the team was tired. the failure to use his subs and freshen up the team cost us the game

Not necessarily. What proof is there that the subs would have scored? On the other hand, we would have surely won the game had Cahill and Luiz not made those silly mistakes and had one of our attackers scored one of those many clear cut chances. But it's just a lot easier to blame Benitez..

[CHOULO19 24,332]

the point is if he had the guts to take off torres and put on BA even in the 60th minute, we could and WOULD have closed the game. how many times did torres lose the ball with a poor pass or just ran into a defender. not left or right, just simply ran into him and then asked the ref for a foul!!!

rambo looked shattered in the 2nd half. for the first time that i have seen rambo play, it seemed he was really tired, why not get lamps on... the point is that his 86th minute substitution did cost us the match because he dint make the proper substitution earlier. we are battered , bruised and tired and the least we should be doing is getting players off the pitch who seem to be losing it to get fresher players on.

so i will say that benitez's substitution at the right time (or rather lack of it) and his substitutions in general cost us the match.

A lot of if's in there and the point is that those were not nearly our biggest problems yesterday. You just insist on blame him for the sake of it when he had nothing to do with the obvious reasons why we did not win the match.

[didierforever 7,349]

A lot of if's in there and the point is that those were not nearly our biggest problems yesterday. You just insist on blame him for the sake of it when he had nothing to do with the obvious reasons why we did not win the match.

what was the obvious reason? our finishing, right? then bring on the best striker we have in our squad in place of a useless one. the next reason would be lack of energy from midfield, lamps should have come on in place of rambo.

it might not be as black and white as i state but one of the main reason why we dint win yesterday was that torres was there for 90 minuted, no way should torres have played 90 mins yesterday. and in no way should yossi have been on the pitch. as simple as that.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

what was the obvious reason? our finishing, right? then bring on the best striker we have in our squad in place of a useless one. the next reason would be lack of energy from midfield, lamps should have come on in place of rambo.

it might not be as black and white as i state but one of the main reason why we dint win yesterday was that torres was there for 90 minuted, no way should torres have played 90 mins yesterday. and in no way should yossi have been on the pitch. as simple as that.

That's very easy to say in hind sight. No one was calling to bring Ba on before they scored in the 84th minute and chances are, with so little time remaining, Ba wouldn't have scored had he come on. And Torres was not the one missing all the chances, Mata, Hazard and Ramires were.

[Strike 7,478]

Not necessarily. What proof is there that the subs would have scored? On the other hand, we would have surely won the game had Cahill and Luiz not made those silly mistakes and had one of our attackers scored one of those many clear cut chances. But it's just a lot easier to blame Benitez..

Quite the apologist we have here. Oscar and Hazard were our best performers and he took them off. You can't absolve Benitez here. He didn't even use the 3 permitted subs. Used only 1 sub in the 73rd minute - which was apparently forced -

The team began to tire near the end. You could see the intensity drop and players fail to close Spurs attackers down etc. Maybe the first half took a lot out of the players but he got the subs wrong. He should have made changes a lot earlier

[Strike 7,478]

That's very easy to say in hind sight. No one was calling to bring Ba on before they scored in the 84th minute and chances are, with so little time remaining, Ba wouldn't have scored had he come on. And Torres was not the one missing all the chances, Mata, Hazard and Ramires were.

Some were. Here on TC atleast. Ba would hold the ball up and keep possession. Add a presence while defending crosses/setpieces etc. It was a bad call to not make the subs at all but we've come to expect that of Benitez by now

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Quite the apologist we have here. Oscar and Hazard were our best performers and he took them off. You can't absolve Benitez here. He didn't even use the 3 permitted subs. Used only 1 sub in the 73rd minute - which was apparently forced -

The team began to tire near the end. You could see the intensity drop and players fail to close Spurs attackers down etc. Maybe the first half took a lot out of the players but he got the subs wrong. He should have made changes a lot earlier

I'm not saying other wise, but this is not what stopped us from winning the match. The obvious reasons why we did not win are the defensive mistakes and poor finishing.

[Strike 7,478]

I'm not saying other wise, but this is not what stopped us from winning the match. The obvious reasons why we did not win are the defensive mistakes and poor finishing.

That is true. But his complete inability to react to the change in nature of the game was baffling and I will blame Benitez for that. Later on he said that he wanted to change the wingers because they looked tired and Spurs have a fast team, well why didn't he do that earlier? Why wait till 73 mins or 85 mins in Oscar's case?

Defensive mistakes and poor finishing is not something Rafa can control once the game has started but he had it in his grasp to make the changes earlier but he waited and waited and waited....for what? the equalizer?

[Strike 7,478]

That's very easy to say in hind sight. No one was calling to bring Ba on before they scored in the 84th minute and chances are, with so little time remaining, Ba wouldn't have scored had he come on. And Torres was not the one missing all the chances, Mata, Hazard and Ramires were.

The same point can go both ways. He could have scored

He would have definitely added a presence up-front. Torres was winning nothing with Vertonghen. Ba was certainly better than a tired Torres vs Vertonghen/Dawson

[Martina 210]

One of the most important games of this season: Terry, Lampard and Ba on the bench. Torres and Benayoun on the pitch. That's enough for me really.

When you look at how the media tend to treat Chelsea managers you'll notice an interesting shift. The way they treated AVB (and I wasn't a fan of his) was bordering on abuse. Even Ancelotti got some of that treatment. Benitez has been left off the hook most of the time - but suddenly all the criticism was aimed at the fans. That's been a pattern for some time now.

So what did Benitez do to deserve this absurd sympathy? Why are some people (and media) ready to applaud him for us (potentially) finishing top 4?

If finishing top 4 was indeed our main ambition for this season then sacking RDM (when the team was comfortably placed within that margin) and appointing Benitez didn't change anything for the better in that respect. Why applaud him then?

We were possible candidates for several trophies when he took over - he hasn't won a single one.

Somehow we all settled for being grateful to Benitez for not fucking it up more than he is capable of. But that says more about our expectations than his managerial skills.

[didierforever 7,349]

That's very easy to say in hind sight. No one was calling to bring Ba on before they scored in the 84th minute and chances are, with so little time remaining, Ba wouldn't have scored had he come on. And Torres was not the one missing all the chances, Mata, Hazard and Ramires were.

torres was not missing chances because he was lying on the ground for the whole match, doing absolutely nothin... every chelsea fan that i was watching the match with wanted torres off so i dont know y u r saying no one called for ba to come on. plus even if we had got BA on 84th minute, it meant our chances of scoring would have increased exponentially...

[Changingman_2000 876]

Three games to go. Next Sunday night can't come quick enough. Never thought this moment would come for any Chelsea fan, our destiny in the hands of Benitez. Fucking painful.

Hope to fuck the shallows don't give him an ovation after the Everton game. He just just turn round, head off down the tunnel, get his over inflated cheque of Roman, and fuck right off back to his beloved Snivelpool home.

Cunt

[CHOULO19 24,332]

torres was not missing chances because he was lying on the ground for the whole match, doing absolutely nothin... every chelsea fan that i was watching the match with wanted torres off so i dont know y u r saying no one called for ba to come on. plus even if we had got BA on 84th minute, it meant our chances of scoring would have increased exponentially...

Again, I'm not saying other wise and just to make it clear: I think Rafa completely fucked up the substitutions (except the first one). But you can't just blame him for not winning when there were much much more obvious reasons why we did not win.

[Martina 210]

Again, I'm not saying other wise and just to make it clear: I think Rafa completely fucked up the substitutions (except the first one). But you can't just blame him for not winning when there were much much more obvious reasons why we did not win.

Benitez is so proud of his "rotation policy" and "resting players". Luiz, Ramires and Torres looked real tired - we had Lampard, Terry and Ba on the bench (they can't possibly be tired since they're hardly playing at all). I seriously begin to think his personal relationships with our players come before tactics.