The Benitez Thread

[J.F. 1,484]

love him more and more every day,probably because he will be gone soon

[CHOULO19 24,332]

If Mourinho joined Barcelona and won them the Europa League and secured CL football for next season where they should be anyway I'm sure he'd get boo'd out the building, especially if he crashed out the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey to some team like Granada; our equivalent (of sorts) of crashing out of the League Cup this season, too.

Now I'm not saying my opinion on him is formed due to that strong possibility; it's just an example, but yes. Still hate him.

Congratulations! You've just won the award for the worst comparison in the history of TC!

[Goemaere 131]

Never understood the childish hate. The only thing we accomplished is look even more like a bunch of twats.

[DONI. 1,291]

He is not wanted here.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Merged with the Benitez thread.

[Liquidator 5,176]

http://www.rafabenitez.com/web/index.php?act=mostrarNota&id_nota=88&idioma=in

Yeah that's great mate now bugger off. Hardly brought a tear to my eye.

[kobematabryant 400]

I will thank Rafa Benitez for what he has done so far, securing us Top 4, beating Man Utd out of FA Cup and the League and finally the Europa League. I do think it was wrong booing him, he is only here for limited time. But I'd have Mourinho anyday over him. It's time for him to leave and let the Special One take over. I do still kinda hate what Rafa said about us in the past.

[SinineUltra 1,170]

Not really. Whats the use of living in the past when its the now that counts and the future that will anyways.

Usually people like that are full of anger and that shows. Certain threads show how fickle and unstable they really can be.

[Stingray 9,441]

Usually people like that are full of anger and that shows. Certain threads show how fickle and unstable they really can be.

indeed!!

Ps : Mind you. This is a general feature in society tough ....

[SinineUltra 1,170]

Let's just put it this way: he did what he was asked for after RdM left this place in a bad state. You can downgrade everything and everyone, but you will just make yourself look like spoilt brat not happy with anything. Fact is RdM dropped us out of Champions League ,but we got maximum out of it by winning this 'mere' consolation trophy. Some of you are very keen to forget we finished last season 6th - 5pts off 4th spot and behind ManCIty and ManU by 25pts. All you stats lovers can do your calculations now how BAD we actually were under him. We WERE lucky to win the UCL and get a bypass to the UCL group stages. Hatred is blind.

[Stingray 9,441]

Let's just put it this way: he did what he was asked for after RdM left this place in a bad state. You can downgrade everything and everyone, but you will just make yourself look like spoilt brat not happy with anything. Fact is RdM dropped us out of Champions League ,but we got maximum out of it by winning this 'mere' consolation trophy. Some of you are very keen to forget we finished last season 6th - 5pts off 4th spot and behind ManCIty and ManU by 25pts. We WERE lucky to win the UCL and get a bypass to the UCL group stages. Hatred is blind.

I got no more likes .... So hence this message!

One thing I disagree! Dimatteo did his best i gather it - i do believe he lacks experience on that top level . He made the team gel attacking wise ... The defense was shambles due to his free flowing attacking lines. Benitez stopped the 'flood' but could not fix the leak as well. We still have much structural work to do - starting with the tracking and build up speeds of the pivot.

Ps: 10 likes for your guts to address this!

[SinineUltra 1,170]

I got no more likes .... So hence this message!

One thing I disagree! Dimatteo did his best i gather it . He made the team gel attacking wise ... The defense was shambles due to his free flowing attacking lines. Benitez stoppex the 'flood' but could not fix the leak as well. We still have much structural work to do - starting with the tracking and buold up speeds of the pivot.

Ps: 10 likes for your guts to address this!

I know I was harsh about RdM, he did made us play enjoyable football, but it turned out to be a Brazilian style where the motto is 'We don't care how many we concede, we will outscore anyone'. I am grateful for his services as a player and as a manager, we won UCL under him, but I've said this before - he had as much got to do with us winning UCL as did Rafa with Europa League. I mean we can draw parallels - Matteo subbed off Kalou for Torres, who earned THE corner. Likewise all of us were screaming for Rafa to sub off Ramiers, but he didnt, in fact he didn't use any subs haha. Ramires won us the corner that clinched us the EL.

[Tomo 21,733]

People who think we would have done better with RDM are letting their hearts rule their heads. Now i wanted RDM to work as much as anyone (check my post's last summer) but as time went on it was clear that it just wasn't going to work.

You say, well we sacked him too soon? probably yes we did, but it's better to sack someone too soon then too late. If we sacked Scolari a couple of months earlier, Hiddink could have recovered a title win out of that season, but instead we waited until it got beyond a joke under Big Phil and then on Hiddink (despite only dropping 5 points, and both those games we hit the woodwork in injury time) could only get us 3rd and even if we won all the games, still would not have won the league.

The Juventus and Athletico game's were frightening, that was the worst beggining and end performance's from a Chelsea team since we went to Old Trafford under Big Phil and lost 3-0. Even the dark days of AVB and Carlo's second season we never performed so badly from the first minute to the last like we did in Turin especially.

Under Rafa we have performed on the same level but under RDM would we have even carried on performing on the same level? our worrying erratic displays aswell as what happened at WBA (completely nosedived) suggest's the chances are we would not have. The City game especially would have been really really messy.

Yes you could say results are identical but performances are not. Even in the games we fucked up in that he gets stick for (Southampton, Swansea, Reading, QPR) we dominated the games and didn't take our chances. We weren't dominating games under RDM, even at the start of the season our only truly impressive displays was Spurs and too a lesser extent Norwich (Arsenal game was won from two set pieces). The bad side of Rafa has been his substitution's which at time's have had me banging me head against a brick wall.

He improved us defensively, we were all over the place in RDM's late tenure and looked like nothing was changing, Rafa has come in and made us into a unit at the back, ok not to the extent Jose did but better than before. Hazard's defensive work has also improved ten fold and Lampard imo has looked better under Rafa than he has any time since the Double winning season. Rafa has also treated every player by merit and has managed to do it without causing a dressing room riot (something we have been wanting for years, no?).

I love Robbie always will, but sometimes in football you have to let your head rule your heart.

Im not convinced he is a genius manager (like Ruperb or the Scousers) and if it's a choice of him or Jose then there is only one winner but i do think he has made some decent contribution's that Jose can built on and above it i think he is a very decent man who has handled this job with dignity, professionalism and class in the face of the abuse he has got, a lesser man would have walked away.

Thankyou Rafa and good luck at you're next job, i will watch with interest.

[Madmax 9,219]

Yeah, well done Rafa. You have proven that you can win the Europa League with the reigning champions of Europe. You did something that should happen. And now you want credit for it like a 15-year-old looking to be commended for not wetting the bed during sleep time.

When you rubbed a magic lamp and asked the genie to turn you from a blog person back into a manager last November, Chelsea were four points out of first place and had four trophies to compete for. Then you showed up with your 1998 goatee and everything got worse.

You lost in the League Cup, the FA Cup and even the Club World Cup, and in the Premier League, you struggle to finish third, 16 points behind Manchester United. That is four times more than four.

You were supposed to fix Fernando Torres. He had six goals in the Eurjoke-a League, yes. But in the Premier League, he has not scored since December. He has seven goals. One more than last season. If anything, you have him fixed like a neutered labradoodle. Speaking of the Europa League, you beat four clubs that couldn't buy lunch at Chelsea's training ground and then one that has lost seven European finals in a row. This is how you finally won a trophy, Rafa. And you did this with a team that has regularly reached the final rounds of the Champions League in recent years, regardless of whether the manager can button his pants or not.

If a chef gets a bad review and then heats up a frozen pizza without burning it, is it vindication? You have done the bare minimum with the talented team at your disposal and so you get the bare minimum credit. You didn't burn the pizza. Congratulations. Now Fuck off.

Ooh nice copy-paste job from the Dirty Tackle blog.

[MetsajCFC 1,255]

Yeah, well done Rafa. You have proven that you can win the Europa League with the reigning champions of Europe. You did something that should happen. And now you want credit for it like a 15-year-old looking to be commended for not wetting the bed during sleep time.

When you rubbed a magic lamp and asked the genie to turn you from a blog person back into a manager last November, Chelsea were four points out of first place and had four trophies to compete for. Then you showed up with your 1998 goatee and everything got worse.

You lost in the League Cup, the FA Cup and even the Club World Cup, and in the Premier League, you struggle to finish third, 16 points behind Manchester United. That is four times more than four.

You were supposed to fix Fernando Torres. He had six goals in the Eurjoke-a League, yes. But in the Premier League, he has not scored since December. He has seven goals. One more than last season. If anything, you have him fixed like a neutered labradoodle. Speaking of the Europa League, you beat four clubs that couldn't buy lunch at Chelsea's training ground and then one that has lost seven European finals in a row. This is how you finally won a trophy, Rafa. And you did this with a team that has regularly reached the final rounds of the Champions League in recent years, regardless of whether the manager can button his pants or not.

If a chef gets a bad review and then heats up a frozen pizza without burning it, is it vindication? You have done the bare minimum with the talented team at your disposal and so you get the bare minimum credit. You didn't burn the pizza. Congratulations. Now Fuck off.

Very harsh on Rafa and very disrespectful towards other clubs in the Europa League. Search up the word "humbleness" and perhaps that's the reason why we've failed at times, we are too cocky. We take stuff for granted against "lesser" teams, where in fact we get outplayed and lose. In League Cup it had NOTHING to do with Rafa, it was all Ivanovic's errors. FA Cup, we were outplayed by a stronger Man City side, who had a weeks rest, strong bench and let's face it - better players. Nothing wrong with losing to a better team who deserved it. You sound like a spoilt brat who can't take a "no". Fernando Torres also scored many important goals, gave important assists, can't be so FIXATED on statistics, watch the games. Torres has been better than Ba couple of games already. And since December, it's been Ba mostly starting in EPL and Torres in EL and occasional appearances in EPL or as a sub.

We played 9 games in December, winning 7 of them. Including game against Everton at Goodison Park. That's a pretty good statistic for any manager and team, especially if new manager has had time to adapt for only days and has had that much hatred and lack of support coming his way. So he said something to the Chelsea fans, so what? We're not 10, get over it. That what's seperated winners and losers - winners don't look back and do their job. That's what Benitez did. You bring out what Benitez "lost" for us - RdM finished 6th, lost SuperCup with humiliation, lost UCL - especially Juve humiliation, lost Community Shield, had no rotation what so ever so had it was inevitable someone more experienced would come in. I respect RdM massively as an ex-player and as a manager but he is not a top level manager, yet. All that talk about he bringing us UCL - some Chelsea fans don't want to accept it but we rode massive luck last year. All those moments opponents hit the woodwork, missed easy chances even amateurs would have scored, saved/missed penalties, goals out of the blue - we just won the loto with UCL, and don't forget we finished SIXTH.

So you're right, UCL > EL but with what you just posted you're being disrespectful towards other "lesser" teams and also downgrading Chelsea's achievements.

Rafa's done well, good job to him.

All those pizza metaphores sound so stupid I won't even comment. And you say "won EL with UCL champs" - we didn't only add players but we lost a few important ones aswell - namely Drogba and Meireles. We lost squad depth and authority in Drogba. Don't deny it.

[Jase 43,479]

People who think we would have done better with RDM are letting their hearts rule their heads. Now i wanted RDM to work as much as anyone (check my post's last summer) but as time went on it was clear that it just wasn't going to work.

You say, well we sacked him too soon? probably yes we did, but it's better to sack someone too soon then too late. If we sacked Scolari a couple of months earlier, Hiddink could have recovered a title win out of that season, but instead we waited until it got beyond a joke under Big Phil and then on Hiddink (despite only dropping 5 points, and both those games we hit the woodwork in injury time) could only get us 3rd and even if we won all the games, still would not have won the league.

The Juventus and Athletico game's were frightening, that was the worst beggining and end performance's from a Chelsea team since we went to Old Trafford under Big Phil and lost 3-0. Even the dark days of AVB and Carlo's second season we never performed so badly from the first minute to the last like we did in Turin especially.

Under Rafa we have performed on the same level but under RDM would we have even carried on performing on the same level? our worrying erratic displays aswell as what happened at WBA (completely nosedived) suggest's the chances are we would not have. The City game especially would have been really really messy.

Yes you could say results are identical but performances are not. Even in the games we fucked up in that he gets stick for (Southampton, Swansea, Reading, QPR) we dominated the games and didn't take our chances. We weren't dominating games under RDM, even at the start of the season our only truly impressive displays was Spurs and too a lesser extent Norwich (Arsenal game was won from two set pieces). The bad side of Rafa has been his substitution's which at time's have had me banging me head against a brick wall.

He improved us defensively, we were all over the place in RDM's late tenure and looked like nothing was changing, Rafa has come in and made us into a unit at the back, ok not to the extent Jose did but better than before. Hazard's defensive work has also improved ten fold and Lampard imo has looked better under Rafa than he has any time since the Double winning season. Rafa has also treated every player by merit and has managed to do it without causing a dressing room riot (something we have been wanting for years, no?).

I love Robbie always will, but sometimes in football you have to let your head rule your heart.

Im not convinced he is a genius manager (like Ruperb or the Scousers) and if it's a choice of him or Jose then there is only one winner but i do think he has made some decent contribution's that Jose can built on and above it i think he is a very decent man who has handled this job with dignity, professionalism and class in the face of the abuse he has got, a lesser man would have walked away.

Thankyou Rafa and good luck at you're next job, i will watch with interest.

And not to mention, there is an obvious double standard going on. When we win games, especially the big ones, people praised the players for getting that 3 result but don't bother to give Benitez credit, not even a tiny bit. BUT yet, when we lose or fail to win games, most of these people blame everything and solely on Benitez when the players' performances on the pitch are the one that mess it up most of the time.

[Blue Traveler 256]

Definitely hate him. Looking at our eyes and say he did 100 percent good job with us! when lost all does finals and matches! Not giving Frank and JT proper time esp Frank to score. Still insist and restate what Liverpool means to him when he is at our club.

I don't take back my opinion cause he won a UEFA Cup actually i think it was down to players determination cause they really wanted to win this one after we couldn't win any thing this season & Benitez played a little part in it.

[SinineUltra 1,170]

Definitely hate him. Looking at our eyes and say he did 100 percent good job with us! when lost all does finals and matches! Not giving Frank and JT proper time esp Frank to score. Still insist and restate what Liverpool means to him when he is at our club.

I don't take back my opinion cause he won a UEFA Cup actually i think it was down to players determination cause they really wanted to win this one after we couldn't win any thing this season & Benitez played a little part in it.

Bravo, priorities.

Fact is, Frank is 35 this June. He himself has said that even-though he feels like he is 25, he knows that he is not the same on the pitch. Both of them struggled with injuries, especially Terry, who has been out injured majority of the time or regaining fitness giving pens away. Besides, like it or not, under your beloved Rafael Benitez he broke the scoring record while being our top EPL goalmachine.

The last sentence is trolling or what? Can't get the joke.