Closed Chelsea v Rubin Kazan

[Santiago. 1,500]

Rafa has a knack of winning in Europe. Remember his only game in the CL with Chelsea was an all-time high score of 6. If he had been hired earlier we would still be in the CL. If the players can keep focus and relaxed they will win this one. Despite some of the ignorant media comments this will be the second time - not the first time - Rafa has won this particular cup. He really knows what he is doing.

Lolgasm

[Slam Dunk 1,442]

If we want to progress in this competition, we really need to do the job on Thursday so I can see Benitez picking a strong team. I genuinely can't see us beating them away from home and am expecting a tight contest in both fixtures.

[Backstreet09 499]

Ruban Kazan would not let us run away easily, i'd say we should field the same team we did today with a couple of changes, go for the kill in the 1st half and Sub Mata and Hazard after achieving that.

[iceboy 992]

Will be interesting they have very interesting coach.

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

Natcho

[Rupert 130]

Honestly, some of your posts are actually constructive and make sense but it gets annoying when you post the same 'Rafa Benitez' stuff all the time. For eg we beat United. Rather than stating how the team done you just jump straight on to the fact that Bentiez beat SAF, but you didnt mention anything else about the game. You then post in this thread against Rubin about all this past Rafa history stuff. Yes, thanks for providing us with Rafa's personal achievements but can you contribute to the thread sometimes and talk about Chelsea itself and not Benitez. I look at all your posts and it is all about Benitez.

You are one of the posters who I think, yeah while many disagree you speak an element of your own mind which while annoys people, in its own way is factual but the way you just post about Rafa and nothing else is pure trolling and annoying. Talk about Chelsea and the match sometimes rather than one man. Please.

Rafa is up there with Ranieri and Ancelloti among the best managers Chelsea has had in the modern area. Why shouldn't I be delighted about that? I comment about players, tactics and performance as well. But so much false crap was posted on here about Rafa it needs balancing. The fact is the Rafa-haters have still not apologised for their propaganda against him in which they falsely claimed he said he would never manage Chelsea and that he referred to Chelsea "plastic flags. I was the only one on here who said it was not true. I have been proven right. Those who were booing him at Old Trafford and chanting "you don't know what you are doing" have not yet apologised.

[Jase 43,479]

TEAM NEWS: No new injuries, apart from the ones we already knew - Romeu, Cole and Cahill. Ba is ineligible. Everyone else is fit and will be availble for this game.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

Cech

Ferreira - Ake - Terry - Bertrand

Lampard - Ramires

Moses - Benayoun - Marin

Torres

[Ankit 3,176]

Bertrand: 'Ashley Cole's injury is a chance for me to come in but we must just focus on the next game and get the right result.' #CFC

Bertrand: 'Rubin Kazan knocked out the Europa League holders and have good away form so I am sure they will be tough opposition.'

Bertrand: 'As an upcoming player, the Europa League is a chance of another trophy and any competition for me is important.' #CFC

Bertrand: 'I was a good friend of [Rubin Kazan's] Gokhan Tore when he was at Chelsea.' #CFC

Benitez on team news: 'No confirmation on Ashley Cole's injury, but we think around two weeks.' #CFC

Benitez: 'Today we worked on some tactics, little things, because we cannot push [the players] too hard with this number of games.' #CFC

Benitez: 'We proved against Utd we can compete against anyone. It was an important game for us.' #CFC

Benitez on improved players: 'Azpilicueta, David Luiz, who was criticised at the beginning, showed on the pitch they are growing.' #CFC

Benitez: 'We know Rubin Kazan is a good team. They are well organised. It will be tough.' #CFC

Benitez on Bertrand: 'He knows how to move forward, progress and improve. He is learning from people with experience.' #CFC

Benitez: 'I told the players they have to be ready for any game. That is the way to compete and be capable of winning.' #CFC

Benitez: [The players] know how important it is to win trophies and finish in the top three.' #CFC

Benitez on Rubin: 'They have ability in the wide areas, good passers in the middle and a strong defence. They have good balance.' #CFC

Benitez on Cahill & Cole absence: 'Hopefully the others can do a good job. Ivanovic, Terry & David Luiz have done well. We can manage.' #CFC

Benitez: 'I prefer to play at home because we have so many games. It's better to stay here than travel to Moscow [this week].' #CFC

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

TOP3?!

BRAVO RAFA!

WE ARE MORE CLOSE TO THE 5TH PLACE....

[Heisenberg 1,824]

Rafa is up there with Ranieri and Ancelloti among the best managers Chelsea has had in the modern area. Why shouldn't I be delighted about that? I comment about players, tactics and performance as well. But so much false crap was posted on here about Rafa it needs balancing. The fact is the Rafa-haters have still not apologised for their propaganda against him in which they falsely claimed he said he would never manage Chelsea and that he referred to Chelsea "plastic flags. I was the only one on here who said it was not true. I have been proven right. Those who were booing him at Old Trafford and chanting "you don't know what you are doing" have not yet apologised.

"Rafa is up there with Ranieri and Ancelloti among the best managers Chelsea has had in the modern area"

Why ? Could you please tell me what he achieved ? Thanks.

[Rupert 130]

I'm sure you know already but as a public service I will repeat the information.

As a very young manager he came to Valencia where he received a poor reception from the fans. He led them to two Spanish Liga titles and the UEFA Cup. This means he consistently defeated Barcelona and Madrid in those three competitions over a period of years. Valencia have invited him back repeatedly and the city has presented him with a special medal of honour.

When he went to LFC - LFC chose Rafa over Mourinho who was politking furipusly for the job while he was at Porto just as he has continued to use every job he takes as a platoform to poltik for his next job. In his first year at LFC Rafa he won the CL. Two years later he was in the final of the CL again but lost although most observers say LFC was the better team. In this period he defeated Mourinho's Chelsea in the semi-final of the CL twice. He won the FA CUP and the League Cup. His team scored the most goals in a season in LFC's long history and the most points coming second to Manchester Untied. And he did this on a budget less than a quarter of Chelsea's or Manchester United's.

He carried off some stunning transfers: he brought Torres from Atletico and used him so well that Torres had the fastest 50 goals of any player in LFC's history and became the World Cup and European Cup winner for Spain. Torres was sold on after Rafa left for about 27 million profit. He brought in the relatively unknown Alonso from Spain and turned him into a fixture in the Spanish national side as well as making about 20 million pounds profit when he sold him to Real Madrid. He brought in Mascherani from West Ham and made a huge profit when LFC sold him to Barcelona where he is now a fixture in the team. I could go on citing all the other players who he bought, improved and sold at a profit. He got Gerrard to score more goals than at any other time in his career before or since. He turned Carragher from a pedestrian full back to one of the strongest central defenders in Europe and on and on. The buying and selling was necessary because LFC had severe financial problems. In the six years Rafa was there the net annual spend on new players was 12 million.

After fighting against entrenched interests at LFC - including a cadre of former players in the media who acted like they owned the joint - he completely gutted the youth system and brought in the two leaders of the Barcelona youth system who went on to produce a stream of young players who have already made it to the Premier League or the Championship and others are waiting to emerge

He then went to Inter Milan which had been left exhausted by Mourinho and which was still being interfered with by Mourinho and he won two cups in six months including the World Club Cup . When Inter failed to honour its promise to give him money to replace Mourinho's clapped out defenders (Mourinho had spent 97 million the season before on players at their peak whereas they gave Rafa 7 million) Rafa left on his own accord. While he was there he was the first to play Coutinho who was, I think about 18 or 19 and Rafa said he was the future of Inter (ignored by Mourinho). LFC have followed Rafa advice and bought Coutinho who is performing better on a relative basis than Oscar. More goals, assists and impact in less time and he is only 20).

Rafa arrived at Chelsea to a wall of jeers, abuse, and hatred partly stimulated by Mourinho's past actions and statements and partly by Mourinho's current machinations with players and media behind the scenes. Mourinho has a deep-seated jealousy of Rafa for various reasons. Rafa was a player at Real Madrid, Mourinho has never played professionally. Rafa got a sports science degree at a leading university - Mourinho is a self taught interpreter and public relations dogsbody. Rafa made his reputation defeating the world's leading clubs consistently in the Spanish league - Mourinho could only get a job in the secondary Portugese league. LFC picked Rafa and rejected Mourinho. Rafa defeated Mouhrinos' expensive Chelsea teams in several critical cup and league matches.

Raf'a's performance at Chelsea is very good and better in the league so far than the last two managees. It is astoniahing when the abuse, jeering and booing of Rafa and the Chelsea team at home and away matches in this country and in Europe and Japan is taken into consideration. It looks like he will keep get Chelsea back into the CL, he will take them to the semi-finals and probably the finals of two major cups, he has improved the players (even Lampard is scoring more under Rafa than under other managers in a similar time span) he has restored some of Torres confidence and got him to a respectable goals total, he has reduced the negative influence of Terry and treats him and all players equally, he has attracted to Chelsea more respect from an international audience of genuine football supporters, he has managed some games which go down as the best displays in Chelsea modern history.

As someone who has supported Chelsea for many years and remembers the scintillating young teams of past ages, I can honestly say Rafa's football is among the best I remember. He is at least the equal of Ranier and Ancelotti and superior in all round management attributes to Mourinho.

[edetarod 2,155]

don't know where to post this so i'll post it here

we will break the record for most number of games in a season

we have played so far :

PL : 30

FA : 6

CoC : 5

CS : 1

SC : 1

CWC : 2

CL : 6

EL : 4

that's 55 games

we can still play :

PL : 8

FA : 1 (max 2)

EL : 2 (max 5)

that would add up to 66 (max 70) games, which would both be the record

[Heisenberg 1,824]

I'm sure you know already but as a public service I will repeat the information.

As a very young manager he came to Valencia where he received a poor reception from the fans. He led them to two Spanish Liga titles and the UEFA Cup. This means he consistently defeated Barcelona and Madrid in those three competitions over a period of years. Valencia have invited him back repeatedly and the city has presented him with a special medal of honour.

When he went to LFC - LFC chose Rafa over Mourinho who was politking furipusly for the job while he was at Porto just as he has continued to use every job he takes as a platoform to poltik for his next job. In his first year at LFC Rafa he won the CL. Two years later he was in the final of the CL again but lost although most observers say LFC was the better team. In this period he defeated Mourinho's Chelsea in the semi-final of the CL twice. He won the FA CUP and the League Cup. His team scored the most goals in a season in LFC's long history and the most points coming second to Manchester Untied. And he did this on a budget less than a quarter of Chelsea's or Manchester United's.

He carried off some stunning transfers: he brought Torres from Atletico and used him so well that Torres had the fastest 50 goals of any player in LFC's history and became the World Cup and European Cup winner for Spain. Torres was sold on after Rafa left for about 27 million profit. He brought in the relatively unknown Alonso from Spain and turned him into a fixture in the Spanish national side as well as making about 20 million pounds profit when he sold him to Real Madrid. He brought in Mascherani from West Ham and made a huge profit when LFC sold him to Barcelona where he is now a fixture in the team. I could go on citing all the other players who he bought, improved and sold at a profit. He got Gerrard to score more goals than at any other time in his career before or since. He turned Carragher from a pedestrian full back to one of the strongest central defenders in Europe and on and on. The buying and selling was necessary because LFC had severe financial problems. In the six years Rafa was there the net annual spend on new players was 12 million.

After fighting against entrenched interests at LFC - including a cadre of former players in the media who acted like they owned the joint - he completely gutted the youth system and brought in the two leaders of the Barcelona youth system who went on to produce a stream of young players who have already made it to the Premier League or the Championship and others are waiting to emerge

He then went to Inter Milan which had been left exhausted by Mourinho and which was still being interfered with by Mourinho and he won two cups in six months including the World Club Cup . When Inter failed to honour its promise to give him money to replace Mourinho's clapped out defenders (Mourinho had spent 97 million the season before on players at their peak whereas they gave Rafa 7 million) Rafa left on his own accord. While he was there he was the first to play Coutinho who was, I think about 18 or 19 and Rafa said he was the future of Inter (ignored by Mourinho). LFC have followed Rafa advice and bought Coutinho who is performing better on a relative basis than Oscar. More goals, assists and impact in less time and he is only 20).

Rafa arrived at Chelsea to a wall of jeers, abuse, and hatred partly stimulated by Mourinho's past actions and statements and partly by Mourinho's current machinations with players and media behind the scenes. Mourinho has a deep-seated jealousy of Rafa for various reasons. Rafa was a player at Real Madrid, Mourinho has never played professionally. Rafa got a sports science degree at a leading university - Mourinho is a self taught interpreter and public relations dogsbody. Rafa made his reputation defeating the world's leading clubs consistently in the Spanish league - Mourinho could only get a job in the secondary Portugese league. LFC picked Rafa and rejected Mourinho. Rafa defeated Mouhrinos' expensive Chelsea teams in several critical cup and league matches.

Raf'a's performance at Chelsea is very good and better in the league so far than the last two managees. It is astoniahing when the abuse, jeering and booing of Rafa and the Chelsea team at home and away matches in this country and in Europe and Japan is taken into consideration. It looks like he will keep get Chelsea back into the CL, he will take them to the semi-finals and probably the finals of two major cups, he has improved the players (even Lampard is scoring more under Rafa than under other managers in a similar time span) he has restored some of Torres confidence and got him to a respectable goals total, he has reduced the negative influence of Terry and treats him and all players equally, he has attracted to Chelsea more respect from an international audience of genuine football supporters, he has managed some games which go down as the best displays in Chelsea modern history.

As someone who has supported Chelsea for many years and remembers the scintillating young teams of past ages, I can honestly say Rafa's football is among the best I remember. He is at least the equal of Ranier and Ancelotti and superior in all round management attributes to Mourinho.

I only was talking about his time as Chelsea, and his time as Chelsea is : Fourth, lost the Club World Cup, lost the Carling Cup, lost the Premier League.I could forgive him the PL but not the two other competition, and to be fourth with such a good team is insane, but he still says its a great saison, we are Chelsea, not Liverpool, we must win titles, its our policy.I'll judge him in the end of the season, I respect your opinion and Rafa, but I just dont like him, dont tell me why.

[Milan 17,835]

[Rmpr 8,977]

Guys, the clock is wrong AGAIN!

[Jase 43,479]

TOP3?!

BRAVO RAFA!

WE ARE MORE CLOSE TO THE 5TH PLACE....

We are in the middle between the two actually. 2 points behind 3rd and 2 ahead of 5th.

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

We are in the middle between the two actually. 2 points behind 3rd and 2 ahead of 5th.

Not for long...