Title Run In

[The Skipper 20,593]

Call me crazy but I kinda enjoyed the 'mess' that happened in the 2011/12 season. Plenty of ridiculous ups and downs, especially when we were playing a game every 3-4 days from start to finish.

11/12 is definitely one of my favourite seasons, the amount of turmoil and glory was incredible. Proper football season that.

[didierforever 7,349]

While replacing RDM with Rafa was wrong on every sentimental level, it was right for the evolution of the club.

RDM for me was the tale of two jobs, his interim spell he did amazing even before putting the two trophies into account, he managed to rally a squad of players that looked lost and devoid of motivation and won the double against all odds, I still to this day argue against the people who say he just sat there and let the player's take charge.

The full time job however was too much for him and Roman forsaw that which is why he hesitated giving him the gig in the first place, I can't prove it but my theory is he wanted to make the change in the summer but held back because he didn't want to ruin our "summer in the clouds" after Munich, all this talk when Robbie was sacked of Roman disrespecting the fans but i honestly think he only gave RDM the full time job in the first place because we wanted it so much.

In his full time spell we looked a better more talented version of his WBA team, started well, had some impressive results but quickly got found out and nosedived massively after that, 2 wins in 9 (one of them being in ET against Uniteds ressies) isn't just bad form, it's relegation form.

Rafa and Chelsea was the ultimate marriage of convenience for both parties.

i am sorry but i dont agree with anything. how was rdm wrong? what did fsw do that rdm did not? did we see fsw give us an identity? make us defensively solid? give us a platform to build our next season? we were 2nd in PL with 4 points behind united which included one of the most biased refreed games i have seen in football (against united at home).

in CL, we had a tough group and we got owned. but dont forget that we were almost knocked out of the group stages the year ago too. also, against the supposed united reserves did not we play the likes of bertrand, romeu, moses, sturridge, piazon, azpi (who was far from a starter at that point of time).

[didierforever 7,349]

At the same time won the Europa League which in theory makes it automatically a better season than 13-14 or any other trophyless season as well. Also we signed Hazard, Oscar, Dave, Cahill in Jan 2012, Mata and Ramires both had 2 of the best seasons of their career. Agreed it was far from perfect but also far from 'dark' time either. For me the dark time in modern day is from 2006-07 to 2009 where we were so close but ended up winning nothing sigificant. Then again in that 'dark time' we finished 2nd and runner up in CL...etc which is better than 98% of other clubs.

11-12 was a freak campaign, happens once every 10-20 years or something, I wouldn't go too much into it.

round of 16 in CL>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> winning europa. so no, it does not make the 12-13 season better than 13-14. it does not even come close for me.

again, you seem to be counting "dark" times in silverware and trophies, i am not. from 2006-09 we were one of the powerhouses in european football. the atmosphere, the directionlessness, the performances by the players, the club's insistence with torres, that is all that makes me think of 12-13 as the dark times.

a simple question, if jose had not been available at that point of time, who would we have got as our manager. FSW was tagged as "interim" and moreover he did not do anything to guarantee an extension. that was the state of the club then. we were desperate and should count our blessings that in our direst need, we got the best manager of the world.

[Jase 43,479]

It was good at the start till about November because I believed AVB was going to do good with us, December till AVBs departure was a complete mess but the RDM spell was quite exciting culminating in a double win against all odds.

Obviously means to an end an all that but I after Naples especially thought we were heading down the same path Milan have found their way down.

11/12 is definitely one of my favourite seasons, the amount of turmoil and glory was incredible. Proper football season that.

I actually meant to say the 2012/13 season but guess the 11/12 campaign can fall into the category too. The FA Cup and Champions League matches were certainly fun to watch. Plenty of 'roller coaster rides'.

[Jase 43,479]

i am sorry but i dont agree with anything. how was rdm wrong? what did fsw do that rdm did not? did we see fsw give us an identity? make us defensively solid? give us a platform to build our next season? we were 2nd in PL with 4 points behind united which included one of the most biased refreed games i have seen in football (against united at home).

Not saying Benitez's reign was great or perfect but he certainly gave us the defensive stability that was missing in the team. Under RDM, we were practically attacking with 4-5 players and defending with 4-5 players. There wasn't any collective effort both going forward and backward. I still remember the amount of ridiculous goals we conceded from simple cut-backs during his tenure. Opposing teams play the ball out to their winger, cut it back to an onrushing player and bam, goal!

On top of that, Benitez also instilled some tactical nous into the players in terms of what to do during different phases of the play. That ensured we kept the balance in our side and do not get overrun so easily like we did previously. Now, the work Benitez did might look like nothing to some but it certainly provided us a platform to go from there, which Mourinho built on and adjusted according to his liking after he came in.

in CL, we had a tough group and we got owned. but dont forget that we were almost knocked out of the group stages the year ago too. also, against the supposed united reserves did not we play the likes of bertrand, romeu, moses, sturridge, piazon, azpi (who was far from a starter at that point of time).

I don't disagree that we got a tough group back then but I find it somewhat 'convenient' that people throw that excuse around like we're some new team in the Champions League. We have plenty of experience in the competition and should have done better back then. Had we not thrown away the 2-0 lead against Juventus and/or conceded 1 less in the home win against Shakhtar, we would have been in the last 16. But because of the team's and players' defensive deficiencies, we didn't make it.

As for the season before that, we could have been eliminated from the group stage as well but the difference was, fate was in our hands. Beat Valencia and we are through. In the 2012/13 campaign, we had to beat Nordsjaelland and hope Shakhtar beat Juventus, which was a far worse situation than the other one.

[Tomo 21,681]

i am sorry but i dont agree with anything. how was rdm wrong? what did fsw do that rdm did not? did we see fsw give us an identity? make us defensively solid? give us a platform to build our next season? we were 2nd in PL with 4 points behind united which included one of the most biased refreed games i have seen in football (against united at home).

in CL, we had a tough group and we got owned. but dont forget that we were almost knocked out of the group stages the year ago too. also, against the supposed united reserves did not we play the likes of bertrand, romeu, moses, sturridge, piazon, azpi (who was far from a starter at that point of time).

I just checked the table wr were 4 off city, 3 off United so we actually gained on City, United went on a freak run off form after that so hardly fair to use them as a sticking post.

What Rafa did was give us a bit of shape and discipline, he did subtle things like improve Hazards work rate for example, little things Jose built on, I mean Mou needed a year to sort the squad out, if we gave RDM the season it would have took longer, in my opinion.

Re the United game, we needed to throw on Hazard and co to save the day and even then only just managed it.

[Amblève. 4,995]

Call me crazy but I kinda enjoyed the 'mess' that happened in the 2011/12 season. Plenty of ridiculous ups and downs, especially when we were playing a game every 3-4 days from start to finish.

One can only enjoy it knowing what happenend at the end of the season.

[Jase 43,479]

One can only enjoy it knowing what happenend at the end of the season.

Not necessarily. One can always just enjoy the moment without knowing the end result.

[Amblève. 4,995]

Not necessarily. One can always just enjoy the moment without knowing the end result.

I personally don't enjoy pain, JJ.

[Jase 43,479]

I personally don't enjoy pain, JJ.

Embrace pain man.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,451]

when anyone mentions the "dark times" as any time in the last 18 years..that shit is funny.

I think I`d say getting relegated and on the cusp of bankruptcy is the dark times I remember..

[Spike 12,049]

when anyone mentions the "dark times" as any time in the last 18 years..that shit is funny.

I think I`d say getting relegated and on the cusp of bankruptcy is the dark times I remember..

Are you implying the triumvirate of Anelkalouda wasn't the pinnacle of 'dark times'?

[Fulham Broadway 16,411]

Ideal situation for me would be winning the league at home to Palace, meaning coming out to a guard of honour against Liverpool on Gerard's last visit to the Bridge

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Ideal situation for me would be winning the league at home to Palace, meaning coming out to a guard of honour against Liverpool on Gerard's last visit to the Bridge

The last assignment for agent Gerrard should be done

[Fulham Broadway 16,411]

The last assignment for agent Gerrard should be done

During the guard of honour, we will be singing the Demba ba song and "Have you ever seen Gerrard win the league ?"

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

During the guard of honour, we will be singing the Demba ba song and "Have you ever seen Gerrard win the league ?"

It is a little bit too harsh, no?

[DYC. 7,542]

Ideal situation for me would be winning the league at home to Palace, meaning coming out to a guard of honour against Liverpool on Gerard's last visit to the Bridge

Gerrard deciding not to join Chelsea, fully aware of his curse, was the ultimate act of love.

[Kieran. 6,317]

when anyone mentions the "dark times" as any time in the last 18 years..that shit is funny.

I think I`d say getting relegated and on the cusp of bankruptcy is the dark times I remember..

Good to see you around again pal [emoji2]