The Benitez Thread

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Feel like an absolute cunt to have joined in with the abuse of him, to be honest. Going to eat some humble pie. Thanks Rafa.

[Jype 6,398]

Feel like an absolute cunt to have joined in with the abuse of him, to be honest. Going to eat some humble pie. Thanks Rafa.

The first couple of months were horrible and he didn't help his cause with the comments that blamed everyone else but himself and Torres for all the problems, but I guess it was not that easy to take over in the middle of the season when the team was in bad shape and it was always going to take time till things started working out again. Nothing more than our usual November to January dip in form. After that it was mostly a pleasant ride and Benitez really deserves a lot of credit for winning the club's first ever Europa League title and getting us to third place despite the squad being ridiculously thin.

Going to have a big chunk of that humble pie as well and wish Rafa well wherever he goes, as long as it's not another English club.

[English Freak 456]

Rafa's touching full page advert in tomorrow's Evening Standard

https://twitter.com/BeardedGenius/status/336187603378376704

I would love to see that become real.

I'm glad the board gave him the interim job...cause I love reading some of the brilliant opinions on Rafa in this thread.

He got us to 3rd place, won a trophy, boosted his CV and now he walks away from Chelsea with a nice pay packet.

[Rambo 1,729]

I do not wish him to make mistakes but he will make some. No coach is flawless.

Also, read a bit better. I never said I hope he will.

I swear, your posts are almost as repulsive as your avatar.

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

One dimensional, stubborn, over rotates, goes awol against smaller sides and generally have an over inflated opinion of himself.

He did not know how to change a game if it was not working for us in the first 60 minutes, also he did not know how to close games off. In the end we were 15 minutes away from coming 4th and leaving us to play a qualifier for CL next season. He never was up to the job and never should have been given the chance to work with these players. you can see how Liverpool never won the league under him and the board were up to their usual shenanigans by appointing him in the first place.

Dont let the door catch your arse on the way out...

[English Freak 456]

One dimensional, stubborn, over rotates, goes awol against smaller sides and generally have an over inflated opinion of himself.

He did not know how to change a game if it was not working for us in the first 60 minutes, also he did not know how to close games off. In the end we were 15 minutes away from coming 4th and leaving us to play a qualifier for CL next season. He never was up to the job and never should have been given the chance to work with these players. you can see how Liverpool never won the league under him and the board were up to their usual shenanigans by appointing him in the first place.

Dont let the door catch your arse on the way out...

I love reading the negative side of Rafa's tenure at Chelsea

Regardless of what you say, he got us to 3rd. Live with it.

[yuvala 2,167]

You can't say he's done a "great job", that's just not true. Look at how we play.. 80% of the games I get pissed off because we're playing so shit.

We even played shit in the EL final, but won it eventually.

We lost like atleast 5-6 trophies!

EL was nothing to you, untill we won and it and now suddenly you're making it sound like we did very well to win it and Rafa deserves a lot of credit for winning such a good trophy.

He deserves credit for keeping us 3rd, I honestly though we're gonna end up 5th.

He also deserves credit for the players who got better, like Luiz, Rambo, Torres (yes, Torres), Mata did well..

So overall, Rafa did the job, no more, no less. No need to praise him and say he's done an excellent job.

[Liquidator 5,176]

can we have a webcam of him clearing his desk?

[diskoviolente 425]

Whish him well to be honest. I think he was acting very humble and dignified over the course of the season, given that he has taken over after Robbie and the Champions League win. As much as it pains me to say, Roman got it right with Robbie, he wouldn´t have had the tactical nous to get us through the season. Probably shouldn´t have gotten the job in the first place, but tried his best.

I am glad the season is over and that there will be a fresh start (yet again). long summer ahead of us with a wild managerial go round in Europe to be expected not even speaking about the transfers.

I think what Rafa has done is quite an achievement. He showed up where our team is lacking and tried to balance it out with what was availabe. Turning David Luiz into a DM in a few games, demoting JT and Lamps (to be honest, it had to come and would always have felt brutal).

[Martina 210]

It's a bit like having annoying guests staying at your place. While they're there you feel like strangling them. On their last day you start feeling guilty and begin to forget all the moments of despair. So you tend to overcompensate and get them a nice present to take home with them.

But if they told you they decided to stay another week you're back to square one.

Was that a "pleasant ride"? It might feel like it now…but reading back in the match-posts suggests otherwise.

[didierforever 7,349]

One dimensional, stubborn, over rotates, goes awol against smaller sides and generally have an over inflated opinion of himself.

He did not know how to change a game if it was not working for us in the first 60 minutes, also he did not know how to close games off. In the end we were 15 minutes away from coming 4th and leaving us to play a qualifier for CL next season. He never was up to the job and never should have been given the chance to work with these players. you can see how Liverpool never won the league under him and the board were up to their usual shenanigans by appointing him in the first place.

Dont let the door catch your arse on the way out...

precisely. just because we got 3rd does not mean he has done a GOOD JOB. it means he has barely done the job which should not have been so difficult.

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

It's a bit like having annoying guests staying at your place. While they're there you feel like strangling them. On their last day you start feeling guilty and begin to forget all the moments of despair. So you tend to overcompensate and get them a nice present to take home with them.

But if they told you they decided to stay another week you're back to square one.

Was that a "pleasant ride"? It might feel like it now…but reading back in the match-posts suggests otherwise.

Spot on Martina - or the totally inadequate employee, (like I had in my team) who people find difficult to challenge because they appear so child like and doe eyed when interviewed, but at least manage to turn up on time

[bushman 2,043]

I swear, your posts are almost as repulsive as your avatar.

It´s very simple. Do not read & do not look at it. I hope you got that.

[English Freak 456]

It's a bit like having annoying guests staying at your place. While they're there you feel like strangling them. On their last day you start feeling guilty and begin to forget all the moments of despair. So you tend to overcompensate and get them a nice present to take home with them.

But if they told you they decided to stay another week you're back to square one.

Was that a "pleasant ride"? It might feel like it now…but reading back in the match-posts suggests otherwise.

Brilliant post. Guests aren't annoying, that's just your perspective.

[The only place to be 11,313]

One dimensional, stubborn, over rotates, goes awol against smaller sides and generally have an over inflated opinion of himself.

He did not know how to change a game if it was not working for us in the first 60 minutes, also he did not know how to close games off. In the end we were 15 minutes away from coming 4th and leaving us to play a qualifier for CL next season. He never was up to the job and never should have been given the chance to work with these players. you can see how Liverpool never won the league under him and the board were up to their usual shenanigans by appointing him in the first place.

Dont let the door catch your arse on the way out...

At least we had fans like you to make it as hard as possible for him.

I've criticised the guy and he does have tactical limitations, and I'm glad he's gone...but give it a fucking rest. This squad was designed to reach top four this season - anyone who thinks differently is a fucking moron and I couldn't give a fuck where Robbie got us in his few months in charge because IT WASN'T GOING TO LAST.

We were directionless, relying on moments of inspiration from players like Mata and Hazard. We got knocked out of the Champions League not through bad luck but simply because there were two teams in our group who were better than us. This was a stop-gap season, a moment of transition before Guardiola came and boy did that fuck us up. We're lucky Mourinho is coming back.

Despite all that, we managed to finish top three in the league and win a European Cup. I hated the idea of Rafa being manager, but he did a decent job and now he's left us in a position from where we can challenge for the league next season. I'm not going to miss him, and I'm certainly not going to miss some of the absolutely classless shit that a minority (and it is a small fucking minority) of fans have come out with over the last six months.