Chelsea had 24 points from 12 games when Roberto Di Matteo was sacked, and were four points behind Manchester United. Now taken 22 points from 13 against lower opposition, and now 13+ points behind Manchester United says it all and the board sacked RDM to improve results
hope this is not a repeat, doing the error thing again , Rafa must be in charge of big soccer today and except for some shockingly bad reffing against manure and bindippers would have had 3-5 more points and first place, and before the refs took over on those two we had our best start in 4 years, one of the most most inane firings ever, only beat by the most inane hiring ever
Chelsea boss Rafael Benitez on his team's 3-2 defeat by Newcastle: "There were too many mistakes. I could see a red card that was not shown for Fabricio Coloccini. We had a chance and Demba Ba received a broken nose, it is bleeding. It's simple, if it was in the middle of the pitch, you bring it back and give the foul." nice one Rafa. Continue blaming everyone but yourself.
"It changed the game. We lost one player with a broken nose, we had one substitution and we had a great reaction in the second half, but it was not enough." He said: "We are doing a good job in terms of what you can see on the pitch. The team is doing well. "The team has a very good team spirit and that is really positive, and I am confident that we will finish in the top three. I will do well. "What I know, what I can see is the team doing well, working hard and when we have this advantage, we have to manage in a better way." Seriously? Fecking clueless.
That's been Benitez's MO throughout his career. Failing at Liverpool. Blame the owners despite spending 100s of millions on crap, and coming up with retarded ideas like exchanging Alonso for Barry. Failing at Inter. Blame the players despite being handed the European and Italian champions.
Girlfriend "forgot" to set the DVR. Checked livescore on my phone when I realized the game wasn't there. Ha. I wish I could say I was surprised. At least I have Sissoko (and captain Lampard) in my fantasy team
I will say, this is not all on Benitez himself. Roman wanted RDM out because 1) (I'm guessing) He's not a big-time manager. I've never liked this philosophy of Roman's. Getting the most popular manager available isn't always the best move. RDM gave the team a morale boost, is Chelsea through and through, and would give anything to be successful at this club. It was never going to be a popular decision to fire RDM. 2) We've seen how Roman has no patience in letting a manager have a poor run. Jose is the only manager that's been given 2 years. Bad runs will happen, but stability is the key to success. This was always going to be a rebuilding year, but Roman refuses that notion. Roman/The Board wanted Benitez because 1) He was available 2) He was the one that brought Torres to the Premier League and they thought they could get the best out of Torres with Benitez. That's not a terrible idea, but picking a manager solely off these two reasons is flat out stupid. Benitez should have done more with his squads at Liverpool and failed at Inter Milan with a championship squad. Not only that, but his managerial philosophy doesn't fit the squad that's been built here. Those lobbed balls aren't doing anything for us, because we lack size in the attack, except for Ba and Torres. Benitez was never going to be a good fit for this team, and he was never going to be liked by the supporters. Roman should have seen this, and made the appropriate decision to NOT hire him.
8 points from the last 18 available. Dropped points to 20th-, 17th-, 16th- and 12th-placed teams (Newcastle would be 15th if they didn't win today). Soundly outplayed in the Club World Cup final by a side who finished 6th (20 pts back) in the 2012 Brasileirao. Crashed out of the League Cup semi-final without scoring a goal over 180 minutes, with a fourth-division club waiting in the final. Nearly knocked out of the FA Cup by a third-division side.
so, i'm re-watching the game right now. i know we all hate rafa, but the more i'm thinking about this the more i'm thinking we've been done again by Webb. not getting a penalty for the kick to Ba's face is just non-sensical (not to mention possible dangerous play from Coloccini), and Cisse should have been off for both the aerial challenge on Terry followed by the hands to Cole's neck. then right after we score the second goal, Oscar could have gone down in the box for a legitimate penalty. this could have been a very different game. also, newcastle fans booing Ba after the injury and when he subs out is just disgraceful.
I just don't understand how we can be blowing leads. It's not kamikaze style like under AVB. It's obvious Rafa is encouraging ball lobbing, which gives us time to regroup and resist the counter - but yet, we are giving away goals to counter attacks! I thought Rafa was defensively sound? This guy really has no clue - but shhh...don't let the cat out of the bag, cos Real wants him - a straight swap for our present manager and Real's present manager - sounds like a fair deal to me!
i would be more afraid of a kamikaze than soup personally. but managerially speaking, at this point right now, i don't think anyone would hesitate in a choice of AVB or rafa. at THIS point. meaning, i think AVB learned a lot from his mistakes at chelsea and has become a better manager because of it. in comparison it's obvious FSW doesn't learn from mistakes.