The Benitez Thread

[Jase 43,479]

Grant back to the club?! Oh dear.

There was this 'curse' stats that once he takes over a role at a club's boardroom, the manager will be sacked just weeks later!

[henlin007 12]

Appointing Avram Grant would just be a more complicated way of saying Steve Holland is incharge until the end of the season.

Avram's pretty shitty, but yeah, he knows when to be pragmatic and hands off. He let the players who knew what they were doing better than he did virtually run the show, and they didn't do too bad. 2nd in the league and a final is alright. Unfortunately, we know longer have as many of those players, but just slightly more conservative play, a new striker, lamps and terry coming off their injury, and a hands-off attitude, I believe, will see us finish okay this season. Better than Rafa's shitty tinkering... though I guess the knowledge that we can keep a 0-0 against a title-challenging side is comforting in a really shitty, I-hate-our-current-form kind of way.

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

Installation of Grant is the fucking death knell of any respect for the players or fans

£ £ £ £ £ £

[Jase 43,479]

Avram's pretty shitty, but yeah, he knows when to be pragmatic and hands off. He let the players who knew what they were doing better than he did virtually run the show, and they didn't do too bad. 2nd in the league and a final is alright. Unfortunately, we know longer have as many of those players, but just slightly more conservative play, a new striker, lamps and terry coming off their injury, and a hands-off attitude, I believe, will see us finish okay this season. Better than Rafa's shitty tinkering... though I guess the knowledge that we can keep a 0-0 against a title-challenging side is comforting in a really shitty, I-hate-our-current-form kind of way.

Thing is back then Grant had Steve Clarke and Henk Ten Cate with lots of senior players to 'take over' his job. Now, there are only Terry, Lampard etc around and I'm not sure how 'bright' are our backroom staffs.

[The only place to be 11,313]

You need to post the second verse where he tells us who we should appoint instead.

[henlin007 12]

Installation of Grant is the fucking death knell of any respect for the players or fans

I've been a fan for decades and the fans should always come first. But the reason behind that is because we'll be there long after all club personnel are gone, because we love the club. And a football club's primary purpose is still winning, with fan favorite players, tactics, etc. coming second (a very close second but second nonetheless). If any manager, no matter how much we hated him, brought wins, then naturally we'll find favorite players, come to accept the tactics (like in the champions league), and be optimistic about club decisions in general. I don't like grant anymore than anyone else, but at least he hasn't called us fans plastic, and at least he's had tangible success with the club (regardless of other reasons).

Thing is back then Grant had Steve Clarke and Henk Ten Cate with lots of senior players to 'take over' his job. Now, there are only Terry, Lampard etc around and I'm not sure how 'bright' are our backroom staffs.

Also Cole and Cech in the old guard are still around, though I don't know how profound their insight to the club would be. That being said, assuming Benitez's Chelsea's shitty form keeps up (a bigger if in my opinion than most seem to believe), Grant literally can't do worse. We're still terrifying on the counter attack, like we naturally always have been, and if we focus our training their, we'll probably finish our chances better than we did against Juventus. If we bring in a more physical player or two, we can still play like Mourinho. The likes in-form Malouda, Damien Duff, etc. are not replaceable, and on the training ground we have, barely, enough foundation to bring a bit of that verve back. It's not a long-term situation, but I genuinely believe that with 50-70 mill in january panic signings, and a mediocre-to-slightly-better-than-FSW manager, we can hold our ground. Manchester United looks amazing offensively, but an injury or two in their attack would cripple them at this rate, while City's stats don't reflect their performance--especially relative to last year. Those are just the other title contenders. A final four finish against an inconsistent, if sometimes brilliant, Spurs, and an absolutely awful Liverpool and Arsenal seems more than just realistic but very likely.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Appointing Avram Grant would just be a more complicated way of saying Steve Holland is incharge until the end of the season.

I'll take that atm!

[Christacinto 137]

Hi everyone,

I've been tuning into this website as a Chelsea-fan for some years now and have finally decided to share my thoughts with all of you

fine people. Why now? Because what's happening now is a fucking outrage!

RDM was pure star quality both as a trainer and a human being. I feel he was generally well-accepted in the dressing room and by the fans,

adopting an adventurous playing style that hadn't come fully to fruition, yet showed great promise and excited me at least to the point that I felt

a new EPL title was a genuine possibility. The glitch in his formation? TORRES and his ineptitude in front of goal. Any decent striker would have

kept RDM in the driving seat, I'm sure.

In any case, he got sacked. Fine. But my god, what slimy rock toad-faced Benitez crawled out under remains a mystery to me...

The coach who I have abhorred for my entire football-watching life, both for his defensive playing style and his lack of charisma has made

it to head-coach for my team . Just look at last game's (vs West Ham) substitutes he made: Torres stays on for 90 min while he was

pathetic- yet again- and Hazard and Moses come off - both of which weren't GREAT but still posed a substantial threat. It's all going down the drain,

lads. And Benitez head-first... (I give him 3 more games before he gets the axe).

Salute

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

_{Fat fucker slagging off the players again today}

[The only place to be 11,313]

_{Fat fucker slagging off the players again today}

"Jose Mourinho's Chelsea team had a lot of character but it is a different time now.

What a barstard.

I mean he's right, but what a barstard.

There is a problem with character in the team. Terry and Lamps are missing so that's a big hole to fill, but when you look at the other senior players there aren't any real leaders there. Cech is a great player and a smart man, but he isn't a screamer like Schmeichel and goalkeeper is a tough position to impose yourself from.

Ashley is an exemplary professional, but he's somewhat immature. Cahill hasn't ever stepped up to a leadership role, Luiz is just way too immature in almost every regard, Ivanovic doesn't do too much talking, Mikel is Mikel (his lack of maturity and discipline is a problem in more than simply this regard) and Mata is a cerebral quiet guy.

And as for Torres....petulant little child is perhaps the kindest description.

Right now we have no unifying voice, not even from the manager apparently. There's no identity to this team, no-one to give you a kick up the arse when you fuck up. There's no big personalities in the team.

With Terry coming back, I think this could be solved a fair amount but I think we need other ones alongside him. Dare I say Fellaini again for this role? He's doing a great job of carrying that Everton team at times. Against United HE was the one who said give me the ball. HE was the one who drove them forward and he doesn't seem to disappear when they need him. We could do with someone like that right now.

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

Torres needs to have his chin surgically removed from his chest.

With Terry back and Lampard, a win is most likely with these two than any other scenario, but what a sad state of affairs , and complete lack of planning, or any pretence of direction by the board, when the morale and leadership on the pitch is left to two of the old guard. Its almost as if Buck and co resented Drogba, Lampard and Terry because they command respect from the fans. The board should hang their heads in shame at any lack of foresight to replace leaders on the pitch and for being stupid 'yesmen' which appears to be nothing more than mercenary panderings to a weak minded vain owner

[Ollie 4,400]

was using that sarcastic font

I know, that's why i gave a sarcastic answer lol.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

Rafavram Granitez.

Dont know whether to laugh or cry.

[zolayes 14,489]

For once media criticism is not far off the mark. We are in danger of going into a slump with a season not of transition but of complete meltdown.

It is hard to imagine any decent manager willing to join us. Why would Pep join us when so many more attractive jobs are certain to be offered him.

I don't know who Roman is taking advice from now .. I have a feeling Hiddink isnt as close as he was. Not sure if Zihavi had any imput into

bringing in Benitez. This situation is more damaging than any previous sacking even more than sacking Jose.

It seems Roman will never learn.

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

The team is shot to pieces, the fans are as angry as I have seen since the days Mears was selling out to Cabra, and that is saying something.