The Benitez Thread

[bushman 2,043]

surprising... seems u ll go to all lengths to protect benitez

http://thinkfootball.co.uk/archives/7054

i dont know how that is not working.

Quite the contrary. I do not protect Rafa at all. I just posted about his managerial ability. Currently, Chelsea under his guidance are playing better. That´s the bottom line for me. The club´s playing style of football sits well with me.

[Joker10 946]

So he is in line to get the job full time?

Good, if we can't get Jose or Pep he is the best option out there whether we like it or not.

Lets come back to that in the end of the season, better to evaluate that then. Rafa has until the end of the season to make a case for himself and win the job, he has to accomplish something worthy to manager Chelsea beyond this season.

[Joker10 946]

I laughed at Pellegrini being a candidate, but if those two were the only options I would drive Pellegrini myself to Cobham.

Pellegrini is a very good manager. You have to respect what he has done at Villarreal and now at Malaga, while playing exciting attacking football. To me he makes a good candidate and a good match to our current players.

[Corner 456]

Pellegrini is a very good manager. You have to respect what he has done at Villarreal and now at Malaga, while playing exciting attacking football. To me he makes a good candidate and a good match to our current players.

I agree. IIRC, I was actually the person who recommended Pellegrini in the Primera Liga thread.

Also, you can't forget what he did at Real Madrid (even if he did get sacked). He got them the most amount of they have ever had in the league, a record Mourinho hasn't broken. Real didn't win the league that year because Guardiola's Barca were unstoppable. But the football Real played that season is some of the best I've ever seen. Pellegrini was sacked because they had always wants Mourinho and then Mourinho was available.

What he's doing at Málaga now is probably his most impressive feat yet.

[rafafan 10]

Its funny when rafa was employed all Chelsea fan said the Club world cup was irrelevant and it will be RDM's triumph, and will mean nothing.

Now the match was lost it is another stick to whip him with, its all his fault etc, similar to the wearing of the red tie.

The truth is, the CWC is a prestigious trophy and should be taken seriously, but unfortunately the Europeans except Spanish and Italian teams do not take it seriously, but the Brazilians and Argentinians clubs think its the holy grail.

Couple of points to consider, Corinthians had over 30,000 fans in the stadium, which shows there desire to win the trophy, that transmits itself to corinthian players and management , who had been in Japan for the previous 3 weeks compared to Chelsea's 5 day vacation, which means there preparations in Japan alone had been 2 weeks more regardless of the work they had done in Brazil since winning the South American Champions League.

So in a nutshell corinthians had been preparing for THAT game for 2 months, and they are no mugs, but champions of South America with highly experienced players and management that have been together longer than Rafa's 1 week.

They are also a very solid team , who do not concede goals, and are almost cattenacio in there style, very un-south american in there demeanour and will lots of physical players, and even with all that preparation and rigid style, Chelsea still created 4-5 clear chances and conceded 1, which guerrero scored, so maybe Corinthians wanted it a lot more and got there reward for it.

some 1 posted that maybe he should have played Mikel in that game, and I thought that too as well, but then few days later you see how influential Lampard was against Leeds and Villa, and you can see that playing lampard in that game for match fitness purposes was actually a decent shout.

Maybe the Subs could have been brought on earlier, but when they did come on they had an impact , and maybe the idea was for fresh legs towards the end of the match, but only rafa will know who looked fatigued in training, but I think the desire of the players was why corinthians won it not quality, pretty similar to Chelsea champions league run last season.

It was not like the UEFA super cup, where Chelsea were outplayed, outhought, and dare I say could have been humiliated by,and could have lost the game by 5 or 6,

Also some1 mentions Fulham result as another stick to beat him with, and again I say, firstly Fulham have taken points of Chelsea in many other encounters, but also i think it is pretty understandable that you put out a team not to concede and lose as the hostility from the stands in the previous game and in that game was pretty intense, and if a goal goes in , then it is going to get even more hostile, and effect team confidence more. ( if I was rafa I would have played , 3-6-1, dont lose the game or I am in more trouble...)

Noticeable how the first half against West ham, was , refreshing, energetic, sexy football, and the team should have been 3-4 goals up, which even big sam admitted after the game, but than errors in the second half conceded the game, ivanovich, cesar and cole gifted the goals to west ham, and you can tell by the celebrations of big sam , it was his Champions League, CWC, FA CUP, LEAGUE cup all in 1 final !!!! he really wanted to beat rafa, and it must have been the half time teal talk of his life !!!! lol...

[robdog 2,084]

[The only place to be 11,313]

I don't have a point either.

[didierforever 7,349]

i remember this like it happened yesterday... u just cant stop loving DD!!!

[bushman 2,043]

rafafan,

most of your points are well said. To question Rafa & blame him for the loss is just clueless, I feel.

As you pointed out for South Americans the cup is almost the biggest trophy to win. For Chelsea it was not. Lethargic approach by Chelsea players was seen. Perhaps, had they scored on given chances, they could have won the game, who knows ? Too late now, isn´t it ?

[Muzchap 8,966]

He's doing a good job!

We definitely look more organised the players look fitter and win by win the confidence is coming back

I still wish Marin would get a chance, but hey that's life

My current grade is B+

[didierforever 7,349]

He's doing a good job!

We definitely look more organised the players look fitter and win by win the confidence is coming back

I still wish Marin would get a chance, but hey that's life

My current grade is B+

i would make the grade a solid A if we beat everton at goodison. and that is a big IF...

[robdog 2,084]

I don't have a point either.

If you to refer to me as a rafadyce hata. No Problem, I will take it as a Badge of Honor. If you want to refer to me as a plastic like rafadyce called me & the rest of my Brethren I have no issues w/ that either.

[bushman 2,043]

i would make the grade a solid A if we beat everton at goodison. and that is a big IF...

How generous of you ?

[The only place to be 11,313]

If you to refer to me as a rafadyce hata. No Problem, I will take it as a Badge of Honor. If you want to refer to me as a plastic like rafadyce called me & the rest of my Brethren I have no issues w/ that either.

I just think you're trying a little too hard.

[rafafan 10]

rafafan,

most of your points are well said. To question Rafa & blame him for the loss is just clueless, I feel.

As you pointed out for South Americans the cup is almost the biggest trophy to win. For Chelsea it was not. Lethargic approach by Chelsea players was seen. Perhaps, had they scored on given chances, they could have won the game, who knows ? Too late now, isn´t it ?

Yes mate it to late, but if you guys are disapointed, then have a thought for us, when liverpool played in it back in 2005, we had 30 attempts, 3 disalowed goals, 3 penalties turned down, hit the cross bar, post, and a bent referee to deal with while the other team had 1 jamie carra mistake and scored the goal, and parked an aeroplane in the penalty box for the whole game. rafa lost his dad the night previously, but stayed back to coach the team and the players did everything to win the game for him but did not happen, its a really nice trophy as well.

I think FiFA will make the CWC pretty big in the next 5-10 years , like a champions league tournament mainly between european and south american teams, they just need a structure and the tv money and sponsorship will flood in, it could become huge, I would love to see it.

Also regarding Everton, you guys have a poor record with them last few seasons, no wins in 7, and rafa has 6 wins and 1 draw in his last seven against them, so something has to give, i think it might be more comfortable than you think, 0-2 my prediction, torres, and mata.

Also as a Liverpool fan just want to say Drogba was a monster everytime you guys played us so powerful, I think if he was playing for a european country he would have been nominated for atleast 1 of the positions in the european and world footballer awards previously, he had couple of seasons of being unplayable i recall...torress was 3rd in the rankings in 2008 behind messi/ronaldo , after his first season at liverpool, great achievement