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suckfish wrote:Embarrassing. Di Matteo is a Chelsea legend who has done a solid job. It's obvious Roman felt pressured to keep Di Matteo on after he led us to the Champions League and this was always only going to be a stop gap, but why sack Roberto for a guy like Benitez?

Di Matteo was the interim. You don't sack the interim who turned out to lead us to the Champions League and FA Cup for another interim.

I could understand if Jose was lined up for a return or something. But Rafa? Hate the guy.

9 managers in 9 years. I appreciate that Roman wants to win and keep the pressure on, but this is ridiculous.

Totally agree with you mate, I love RDM and fact is he just won us the Champions League and the FA Cup just around 6 months ago. Even if he was just a stop gap for Mourinho/Pep why sack him and hire Rafa? Why not wait until one of them is actually available? The only reason I can think of is because of Torres, who at this point has cost this club more than just his price tag. The fact is we're still in 5 competitions this year which makes the sacking even more odd. We're 3rd in the league, can still qualify for the last 16 of the CL if we beat Nordsjelland and either Shaktar or Juventus wins, FA Cup hasn't started, and just beat United at the League Cup.

Yes we're a bit out of form right now and that's mainly on the coach, but this is more on the players rather than RDM. I defend Luiz too much but as of recent he's been terrible and just seems like he's had enough, Cahill has been below par, whilst the attacking trio have been great going forward they've been terribly undisciplined when tracking back and even Ramires/Mikel has been guilty of overexposing the back four too much. But apart from a couple of things, this is just a bad run of form which tends to happen to every team. I still think the decision to drop Torres against Juventus was the correct one.

Mata said it best, this guy is a legend. Absolutely gutted over the sacking and getting Rafa in return, really pleased with the "16th minute" ovation the fans are going to show him at the City game

treiz wrote:We're 3rd in the league, can still qualify for the last 16 of the CL if we beat Nordsjelland and either Shaktar or Juventus wins, FA Cup hasn't started, and just beat United at the League Cup.

Wrong.

The only way you can qualify for the last 16 of the Cl is if Shaktar wins against Juve, while you guys win against Nordsjelland.

If Juve wins or draws you can beat Nordsjealland by 25:0 and still won't make it past the group stages, as you've lost both matchups with those teams.

Det the Threat wrote:

treiz wrote:We're 3rd in the league, can still qualify for the last 16 of the CL if we beat Nordsjelland and either Shaktar or Juventus wins, FA Cup hasn't started, and just beat United at the League Cup.

Wrong.

The only way you can qualify for the last 16 of the Cl is if Shaktar wins against Juve, while you guys win against Nordsjelland.

If Juve wins or draws you can beat Nordsjealland by 25:0 and still won't make it past the group stages, as you've lost both matchups with those teams.

Yup, forgot it's no longer goal difference

dang those look sweeet

Damn I want me one of them

It's only been five minutes but Luiz looking brilliant at DM

That's where he should play or at right back. He's not a central defender in the PL.

5DOM wrote:It's only been five minutes but Luiz looking brilliant at DM

I did not see the game, but it surprising to me that Luiz hasn't been given a run there before (maybe he has and I've never seen it). He's great going forward and prone to occasional lapses at the back, pushing him higher up the pitch seems a natural solution

Well, they had Essien, Ramires, Lampard, Romeu and Mikel all needing games there until this season and they did not have many options at center back for a while.

I think Luiz is massively underrated as a defender and is actually no worse than other center backs at top teams, but I do want to see him tried more often at DM. He's terrible as a full back though.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2llvRY1zAE[/youtube]

Michael Cox's analysis: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/nam ... 52?cc=5901

Really good first half. We were in control but a couple of mistakes could have cost us. Hazard the standout player for Chelsea but Cassio their GK has been amazing. Moses needs to be more direct or be replaced by Oscar.

LIVE right now

FSC = Finest channel on American TV

1-0 Corinthians. It was coming and Benitez seemed to be the only one not seeing it. **** make a change. Moses is slowing everyone down

Torres you ****

and that's why you need a reliable striker up front. Torres misses one-on-ones more often than not, and is always the first to give up.

Happy for Corinthians (minus this Emerson guy who was rolling on the pitch the whole game). Their fans were amazing and they deserved their win with their disciplined second half performance.

Looking forward to the League Cup loss against Leeds on Wednesday. No time to adjust and this was waste of time.

edit: sad to see Luiz crying. This cup obviously meant a lot to him. He was outstanding though.

What happened with Cahill? I watched the whole game but they never showed the replay.

Looked like Emerson lashed out at Cahill and he most likely reacted. No replay.

Torres

I screamed while watching that and woke up the kids. Not looking good with the wife right now