Why Rafa’s Appointment Was Spot-on

[bushman 2,043]

I finished school in 2011. I'm at Uni now. I think I'm doing a good job at it. I have to be savvy and very thoughtful with my cash.

Are there no jobs in US ?

[Spike 12,049]

Are there no jobs in AUS ?

It's hard to find work. It's even harder to find work if you are a full time Uni student.

[bushman 2,043]

It's hard to find work. It's even harder to find work if you are a full time Uni student.

Perhaps, try to become a model ?

[Liquidator 5,176]

I'll tell you why. I'll assume that you're a Chelsea die hard fan. And you got a message from www.manutdtalk.com offering you a 12M$ contract to start cheering for manutd and write on their forums.

What would be your decision?

Same happened for Mourinho...

Yes I would consider myself a die hard Chelsea fan. And if anyone from that scummy club were to come and tell me to write on their scummy forums I would tell them to 'go away' in a far more animated way.

Why? Because I love Chelsea. It is my club, I have been brought up supporting Chelsea. My family are Chelsea fans, I was born a few hundred meters from Stamford Bridge. I spend huge amounts of time supporting the club as do millions of other people around the world. I would feel like a traitor if I were to jump ship and support another team and I'm sure many other supporters would, regardless of how much money was thrown at them.

Are you saying you would go and write for AC Milan forums if they offered you the opportunity with a high wage?

So you are saying Mourinho left Inter for Real because of the money? Clearly he didn't have much of a passion for Inter then. One of the biggest clubs in the world, on a huge wage and he left you for a few million more. What does that say for his affection for Inter?

[Spike 12,049]

IMO, If Mou won the CL with RM, he'll seek a new club in a different league, it may be PSG. His return to Inter depends on two things: 1- Inter grab a CL spot. Mathematically still possible but with all the bad luck we're having and with such an average squad it will be hard to qualify.

2- The financial factor, which will depend on new stakeholders.

I must confess that the above two aforementioned factors are more than available at Chelsea. But looking back at the time when he left Chelsea and the way it happend I think a return is impossible. It'll actually depends on Abramovich and how much he can give up his ego for the sake of the club.

Mate you seem pretty clueless about the relationship between Roman and Mou, why don't you do a bit of research regarding those two. Besides you act as if Roman is the end all and be all of the club, he doesn't make every executive decision regarding Chelsea. As far as I know the only decisions he made were concerning the firing of managers and the signing of Sheva. Just for future reference, Ancellotti signed Torres.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Here you go brother:

http://www.marca.com/2013/03/18/en/football/real_madrid/1363644791.html

5alas kol 5ara

A point, that someone on twitter pointed out, I'd like to clarify is that I don't think that any manager could have done what Rafa did here this season. Again, I don't mean in terms of result, but in terms of improving the basics of the team and organizing it. In fact, that's what most teams miss, imo. It hurts me to admit it, but Rafa is a good tactician. He makes some idiot decisions especially in his subs and his inability to change a game, but he does well with his teams on the training ground.

[Ollie 4,400]

It was right to appoint a proven manager with vast experience but it was not right to bring Benitez to this club and i'll never agree with the decision even if he does win the FA Cup, UEL and qualify for the UCL for next season. He is the enemy and always will be. I still believe Robbie woulda done similar if not better that what Rafa has done but we'll never know unfortunately. While i can thank Rafa for the effort he's put in through gritted teeth, the fact will always remain that he's not a blue and he never will be.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

It was right to appoint a proven manager with vast experience but it was not right to bring Benitez to this club and i'll never agree with the decision even if he does win the FA Cup, UEL and qualify for the UCL for next season. He is the enemy and always will be. I still believe Robbie woulda done similar if not better that what Rafa has done but we'll never know unfortunately. While i can thank Rafa for the effort he's put in through gritted teeth, the fact will always remain that he's not a blue and he never will be.

I actually agree with everything in there, but they are besides the point I was trying to make. I ask you, is our team more ready to work with Jose, or whoever the new manager is, because we appointed Rafa than what it would have been had we kept Robbie?

I think I made a mistake with the tittle, because everyone seems to be answering to the tittle not the content of the article

[LDN Blue 7,903]

I think this is a good article, but yes Chou I think some stopped reading beyond the title

It's not as if he's saying Rafa's been perfect, some his decisions have been infuriating at the best of times. That was highlighted last night by Benayoun's appearance for Oscar. However if we look at the bigger picture he's actually done well and deserves some respect from us. It was by no means easy jumping into the grave that he dug for himself by his Liverpool outbursts about us.

He's done fantastic with getting Hazard to become a better player now. Last night we saw the little Belgian track back, he was doing a lot of defensive work! What's also important is the balance of matches that Benitez has rested all of Hazard, Oscar and Mata. Hazard would not be as fresh as he is now if Benitez hadn't done some rotation and he's got to receive credit for that.

And let's be honest here. Europa League final + 3rd looks better than what could've been..

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I think this is a good article, but yes Chou I think some stopped reading beyond the title

If this was in the daily mail it would have been great journalism

I'm glad to see that some of the people that disagreed with me here at the time have come to agree with and mention some of the points I made here in the Rafa thread.

[Laylabelle 9,384]

The thing that hasnt work is one minute we're really good the next utter shite!There has been the balance/consitency throughout which has cost us.Plus weird subs,leaving till the last 10 or making complete and utter bizzare ones...

Just hope we manage to finish 4th and/or win Europa otherwise he aint walking around that pitch with a smile on his face!

[bushman 2,043]

Rafa´s appointment was justfied at that time. He was the best coach available, then.

Rafa to me is fairly good coach & he has done well under the circumstances.

It certainly was not easy for him over the months. If the team wins EL, ends up in 3rd, he should take credit for it.

[Changingman_2000 876]

In my opinion, there was absolutely no justification in the appointment of TFSW, If he didn't want Robbie then bin him last summer. He clearly don't give two fucks about people's opinion of him so binning him after winning the Champions League and F.A. Cup probably wouldn't have bothered him in the slightest.

We were 4 points off the top, after a very moody home result against Man Ure. Torres wasn't playing well (Nothing new there) and Robbie went after Juve away. Why an interim manager?, and what has that acheived? Why not go for Clarke, Moyes, Zola, Poyet, you name it? I think every one would have jumped at the chance, even just a two year deal.

Of all people, to bring that cunt in was bordering on insanity, knowing what the fans thought of him. Was never, ever, ever going to get an easy ride...and rightly so. Three very, very negative performances against Citeh. Dire performances against Reading, QPR, Southampton, Fulham, etc. A million miles off United yet we are supposed to be on our knees praising the cunt? I don't think so.

Going to start calling TFSW "Thrush"....why?, because he's an irritating cunt

[SeB 1,281]

Benitez did what he was supposed to do, as an assistant manager. Switching to 4-4-1-1, that sort of things. I was satisfied of him to do that but that was what I expected from whoever had come in back then

He had to cope with a dense schedule and a clear lack of options in central midfield in instance, forcing us to suffer from the constant 2v3 in midfield from what virtually everything discharged. The fact that Ba couldn't play twice a week

But there's clear questions to ask related to some of his lineups, resting the team against QPR to play the starting XI for an FA Cup fourth round etc...

One just cannot deny our end of the season was highly successful, we had a lot of luck when we look at the fact that we got easy draws on the road to the EL final, that our knackered 21 years old did manage to find some energy to be still decisive, that nor Torres nor Hazard nor Mata got injured.

At the end of the day we managed to qualify for next season's CL, won an european cup on the way... but it could have been really different had things turned differently. That's about what football is special for, our wins at Old Trafford in instance... weren't rational given our state of freshness, the opponent's waste in front of goal etc

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Benitez did what he was supposed to do, as an assistant manager. Switching to 4-4-1-1, that sort of things. I was satisfied of him to do that but that was what I expected from whoever had come in back then

He had to cope with a dense schedule and a clear lack of options in central midfield in instance, forcing us to suffer from the constant 2v3 in midfield from what virtually everything discharged. The fact that Ba couldn't play twice a week

But there's clear questions to ask related to some of his lineups, resting the team against QPR to play the starting XI for an FA Cup fourth round etc...

One just cannot deny our end of the season was highly successful, we had a lot of luck when we look at the fact that we got easy draws on the road to the EL final, that our knackered 21 years old did manage to find some energy to be still decisive, that nor Torres nor Hazard nor Mata got injured.

At the end of the day we managed to qualify for next season's CL, won an european cup on the way... but it could have been really different had things turned differently. That's about what football is special for, our wins at Old Trafford in instance... weren't rational given our state of freshness, the opponent's waste in front of goal etc

Tbf, I did write this article before we won the EL and secured top 4. In fact, when I wrote this, he was still the FSW Because like I said, I was not referring to the results but rather the changes in the team as opposed to what we had under Robbie and how important that will be for next season. Yes I probably exaggerated, but that was just to make it a bit more controversial.

[SeB 1,281]

I know you'll say you don't read french but I did write something back in January. Anyway 3rd spot and EL doesn't changes anything for me, he did a decent interim job that was shadowed by his desire to fill his CV.

http://mypremierleague.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/rafael-benitez-vend-il-de-la-fumee-a-chelsea/

[Tomo 21,733]

I know you'll say you don't read french but I did write something back in January. Anyway 3rd spot and EL doesn't changes anything for me, he did a decent interim job that was shadowed by his desire to fill his CV.

http://mypremierleague.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/rafael-benitez-vend-il-de-la-fumee-a-chelsea/

I think it was a myth that he wouldn't have minded letting top 4 go for a trophy on his CV.

If he took a team that had Hazard, Mata, Oscar, Luiz, Cole and Cech outside the top 4 places, prospective employers would not overlook that.

[Roquila 1,335]

Im new to the forum and just got to read the beautiful article you wrote! That 'Article' gave me another point of view to the case. Thank you.