Rafa Benitez?

[Monkey Man]

Interviewed on 5 Live this afternoon he said he wouldn't go to Everton.

I think that's what he said. The kids were hitting each other in the back of the car and it was hard to concentrate.

 

[Mellotron]

Rafa's touching full page advert in tomorrow's Evening Standard.

3rd place and the Mickey Mouse cup, for a side who WON THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE last year. Wow.

 

[severnside gull]

going to Napoli seemingly

 

[perseus]

Rafa would be very high on my list if not first choice, if possible.

Changed my mind. I'd go for a Danish manager.

 

[Scoffers]

Er, we have a manager, albeit a suspended one, but hey, lets blow our entire budget on a new manager and have bugger all left for players

 

[GingerBeerMan]

3rd place and the Mickey Mouse cup, for a side who WON THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE last year. Wow.

A mickey mouse cup which has been won by one other English team in the last 26 years. He was already out of the Champions League when he joined, what more do you expect of him?

 

[Icy Gull]

3rd place and the Mickey Mouse cup, for a side who WON THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE last year. Wow.

Blimey a closet Chelsea fan here I think, certainly has the same attitude and ridiculous expectations from the look of it

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Blimey a closet Chelsea fan here I think, certainly has the same attitude and ridiculous expectations from the look of it

This.

 

[Bladders]

Real Madrid want to talk to Carlo Ancelotti regarding their managerial position.

Another closed door for Rafa at the moment then.

 

[pork pie]

Unlikely to happen. However, if we must stick with latino football, then Rafa would be the perfect manager for us. His experience and professionalism would truely take the team to another level. Just so long as we don't end up with Torres.

 

[Frutos]

Just so long as we don't end up with Torres.

We're not that desperate.

 

[joeinbrighton]

Benitez's record in the league after Chelsea had played in the World Club Championship was actually pretty strong. The problem was that they had a really bad spell in Di Matteo's last 2-3 games which then carried over for about the first 6 weeks of his management and that put them out of contention. Some of that would've been down to the crowd hostility, some getting used to Benitez's preferred style/system of play and some down to Chelsea having their annual blip in November. I think John Terry was out injured during that time and so having to play a central defensive pairing of Cahill and Ivanovic wouldn't have helped their cause.

No great fan of Benitez the person, but after a difficult start, he did a very competent job for Chelsea and he is one of the best managers in the game at preparing a team for a big match, which has seen his teams often pull off a result against a team that on paper should be superior.

 

[Icy Gull]

We're not that desperate.

I really hope that was tongue in cheek....

 

[Bladders]

I really hope that was tongue in cheek....

Torres would be adequate cover until CMS regains full fitness I suppose.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I really hope that was tongue in cheek....

I was very surprised to hear yesterday that he's scored 22 this season - not many in the league, I think though.

 

[Mellotron]

A mickey mouse cup which has been won by one other English team in the last 26 years. He was already out of the Champions League when he joined, what more do you expect of him?

Because no one else has taken it seriously - Man Utd and Man City always drop out of it as soon as possible.

My point is people are acting as if he has been a massive success, when really all he's done is about par for a club of Chelsea's size.

 

[Mellotron]

Blimey a closet Chelsea fan here I think, certainly has the same attitude and ridiculous expectations from the look of it

Not at all, it's just ridiculous how much praise Benitez has gotten for what is - for Chelsea - a par season. If Avram Grant had done the same, everyone would be saying what a failure it was.

 

[Icy Gull]

Not at all, it's just ridiculous how much praise Benitez has gotten for what is - for Chelsea - a par season. If Avram Grant had done the same, everyone would be saying what a failure it was.

Only Chelsea fans I imagine, just like the when he was there.

What more could Rafa have achieved? Title was out of reach by the time he'd pulled it around.

 

[Icy Gull]

Because no one else has taken it seriously - Man Utd and Man City always drop out of it as soon as possible QUOTE]

Are you Poyet?

 

[joeinbrighton]

Because no one else has taken it seriously - Man Utd and Man City always drop out of it as soon as possible.

Always? To my recollection, Man United have only participated in the competition twice and the first time they took part, Peter Schmeichel scored. The second time they were outplayed by Athletic Bilbao being brilliant rather than because they wanted to lose. City would've only been involved a couple of times as well.