I thought Roberto Di Matteo was a decent manager. Not a smart move for the long run. But, this was no surprise.
Why are some posters on here so wound up and uptight? Get a woman or take a trip to Colorado and light up a joint. Get that suppressed stress out of your system, because it will be beneficial to your health in the long term. The thought of Rafa as our manager is as strange one, given our vitriolic history with Liverpool while he managed them and Jose managed us. He's actually one of the few people I can say I have a slight dislike for without having met personally. Still, he's the (interim) gaffer of the club I support and thus gets my support by default. I'd rather wish him well than bad, because if he does well, the team does well (you don't say, right?). As I stated previously in the thread, his first objective should be to galvanize the squad, because there's every chance they may be disillusioned after RDM getting the boot. And for anyone displeased enough to take action, you can voice your annoyance on the grounds or even boycott matches if you feel so compelled - we all know that won't happen. Anyway, let's just all reserve judgement till he's had a chance to actually manage. He's had shit spells and pretty good spells in his managerial career. Hope it's the latter for us. If he doesn't live up to expectations, at least we know it's a "transitional period".
I heard someone liken the job to those Inca human sacrifices who got to live like princes in the year leading up to their death. Although it's a bit of a stretch to equate that golden handshake with being gutted alive...
It's not just one thing, but I think it's pretty obvious that he's not as explosive nor as agile as he was at Liverpool. He started playing senior football at an incredibly young age, it's not particularly surprising that he's broken down so soon. The same thing happened with Owen, for example. Maybe he 'should' be at his physical peak, but unfortunately for us he's not.
The Valencia side that won the league was quite a bit retooled compared to the Cuper sides. Bayern CL final (under Cuper): Rafa's line-up: And Aimar's best performances at the club came after Benitez took over. Speaking specifically about his appointment, I'd be against it if he was meant to be the long-term manager, but he obviously is not. As a caretaker until the end of the season, you could do a lot worse. My 2 cents.
That's REALLY deceptive; Albelda was always there, he had Kily for two of his 3 seasons, Mendieta was the only big departure. His only big changes were Mista and Rufete. Vicente was also bought under Cuper's regime.
Dude, can we not attack guest posters the second they join a discussion? If you were interested, you could use PMs. Besides its a departure of the theme of burning Rafa effigies before he's had a chance to lose a game for us.
What's the craziest thing about Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s methods? They work The first thing we should note is that there is no right and wrong. There is only our right, and our wrong, and your right, and your wrong.
found this gallows amusing "It's predicted that by 2025 you'll be no more than six feet away from an ex-Chelsea manager" Mac from shedend
pure class. scored the first goal i ever saw as a chelsea fan will always be a legend to me. can't believe we're trading him in for Rafa.
And maybe more to the point, on occasion, we probably HAVE done a lot worse Nah, I don't think anyone's saying the guy has no clue what he's doing. It's just, with his history with 'pool he comes having to hit the ground running and the chances of that happening are slim, I'd say. I suppose, having said that, the fellas are professionals and it's their attitude that matters, not the fans. Fact is, fans are a fickle bunch and if he starts doing well all will be forgiven VERY quickly. If not it might be the shortest honeymoon period EVER Mind you, I'm not sure RA gives a shit about that. In fact, I'm pretty sure he doesn't.
I don't have the time to read through the thread, so sorry for anything already posted. Chelsea is a bit of an embarrassment at the moment, TPTB are severely out of touch. I feel bad for Roberto, and I may not like Benitez, but he deserves a fair shake before writing him off. I just hope they didn't pick him thinking he can get the best out of Torres, because that problem needs to be taken care of permanently
shoulda hired this guy instead http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-dirty-tackle/21-old-given-manager-job-fc-baku-based-215813724--sow.html#more-id