How the Mighty Have Fallen?

"Midgets" have won two of the last Euros and the World Cup. They will be challenging again next year those migdets.

Torres single handedly cost us our UCL downfall and I am sure he'll cause us our UCL qualification if we are not careful. And persist with playing him ahead of Ba

I would have sworn his goal took you to the final of the UCL trophy last season;at least, I am sure he scored for you, crucially, against Barca.

Bayern,a.c milan,manure have all played in the europa league in seasons past.that did not make them weak,it made them stronger..so chelsea playin EL is not the end of the world,we would be back at the apex of european football pretty soon..KTBFFH

and lukaku scores...can we please have him back next season please....he is freaking ready...welcome back drogba.

I'm actually beginning to wonder if we really need Falcao. We have scored 100 goals this season! The second highest scorers in Europe, after Barcelona. With Lukaku back, a decent defensive midfield player, an additional - cheaper - centre forward and of course a decent manager we could be challenging for the title again.

@cobham blue he will be an upgrade but with the price they are mentioning not to talk to adding courtois to the deal makes it really look stupid at that point . we cam strengthen the whole squad and actually get quality players all round rather than an outrageous amount on him and our keeper should not be let go for any reason

@FV- Spot on.Lmao./ Those midgets are gonna win the UCL again this year if care isnt taken. A midget is arguably the best player in our time at present. Football has evolved,gone are the days of kick and follow.....Now you need a sensible head and good technique amongst other things but being bulky is no longer the top requirement in football. I dont think we can blame Torres that much to be honest......The boy has tried and has failed,we dont have to rub the salt in.....I blame Roman! If we had a proper set up in the club,Torres would have been sold at a cut price by now.

****weaker right foot finish...

the following spurs posts gave me a huge satisfaction...I almost laffed my head off....those loosers are green with envy....looooool: 1. Lukakakakakakakaku darkenvai

Don capon, I agree, the price being talked about is ludicrous for a 27 year old and I seem to remember Diego Forlan was red-hot at A. Madrid and couldn't hit a cow's ass with a banjo at Man Utd. We can't afford another expensive flop. The risk is too great if the fee is anywhere near £50m.

His touch and finish were top class. Fanman

What impressed me at Anfield tonight is Lukaku's pace. He can really turn it on!

guern man we could have bought him before chelsea did, that horse has bolted now.................... tophobunty ooohhhhhhh.....if only wishes were horses....keep wishing!!!..m laffing hard

naijagunner torres goal DID NOT get us to CL final. we would have gone thru without it on the away goal rule. please get your facts right before commenting on out forum!

It will be nice to win it. I doubt we are ever going to play our best side at these stage of the competition. Man U was in Europa league last season but came back stronger and hungrier. I am sure the board would learnt a lesson or two because good lessons can only be learned the hard way.

lets get our youth to shine in europa. We can concentrate on it if we get to the top 8. Till then our sole focus should be league. Forget top 4. The 2nd place is ur for grabs.

Torres cost us Champs League progress?? Utter GARBAGE talk that....where were the goal scoring "steals" like Moses then to provide effective back-up?? Where was "Super Frankie" then since you all allude to his importance in goal scoring?? Where was the "experienced" JT when we were conceding goals we weren't supposed to be conceding?? Where was the "tactical nous" of RDM when, seeing that he's been "forced" to play Torres, to create a formation that offers more back-up (i.e play "Super Frankie" behind Torres to score goals ala Gerard)?? the way some people just warp about, the only good thing you appreciate is that they give valid exhibits of stupidity

MQ no one so far has exhibited stupidity well thats until you came , torres primary job is to SCORE goals NOT to complete or give assists the team if he scored at least one more goal we might not be where we are now he scored only one goal against the top two oppositions in two legs each and the goal was an error from the keeper that even me i could score .A nd you are bringing this moses topic up again , well i am glad we got him for 9 million instead of hulk and i am sure most fans are too you were craving for because he is actually worth his price tag and he has similar stats with hulk when it comes to performance and his performance in AFCON and he is english and remember he is primarily a winger , Also about lampard he is a midfield , yes he scores but obviously not as much as a striker is "supposed to " and indirectly you are saying where was lampard when we needed goals and you will be one of the first to slate him when he is going foward during a match and you too want this guy out so much and he is waste of space and wages bla bla bla but yet he was linked to teams like utd and juventus . JT played some of those games , yes he was not exceptional but to only call his name when we concede goals is stupid because the back line is made up of 4 players and he is not in the mind of all of them and remember bertrand played at some point with relatively little experience , Lastly RDM he might not have the tactical nous but Mq he is way better than Benitez as far as chelsea is concerned you have such double standards talking about both managers , when we blew leads with RDM he was in imbecile but now its the players we lost to man utd , west brom , and and drew to swansea , your darling benitez you cried for lost to QPR , blew his two goal lead twice , against stupid opposition ( did not count newcastle) and also you have to note that benitez did not change much when he came so i doubt we would have left our group ( which was not as easy as most people thought ) with ur manager in charge and we are further away from the top than when we sacked roberto , he brings up a defender for another when chasing a game and benayoun nearly came on for cahill , notice the trend on things you want for your team usually turn out bad

And also when we hired Rdm we had limited choices in case you have forgotten , the managers free were capello , ii think hiddink and a few , but he got the job becase he earned a chance to stay for a season by winning champs but rafa did nothing to earn the job he got and yeah it was a miracle and the players did the job but he also contributed to the fact that we won . Mq saying he was a mistake is absurd because i am sure we will be more comfortable on the table than where we are now and we would have won at japan . That price of moses was good im sure if we went for him this summer he would definitely not be 9 million he was never gonna be a starter but if wenger bought him he would be sold fo about 25 million in 2014 to man cityh , you are already slating marin when he has not even gotten a shot at first team because your tactically aware manager benitez prefers to play bertrand for 90 mins on the wings against mediocre opposition when he had a fit marin and half benayoun on the bench also ramires DID NOT play "MOST " games on the wings yes he played some i remember him going back after QPR when roman visited.

And point of correction, since the season began I called RDM an imbecile ONCE and that wasn't when we blew a lead, it was when we lost 3nil to Juve, unless you mean at 0-0 we are "leading"

you actually insulted RDM ALOT , then you minimised it for a while when ebverything was rosy then started again later on and i remember when you always said you couldnt wait for him to be sacked and bring in a manager who is tactically aware

How fickle are some fans. I can remember @Mq loving what RDM was doing at the start of the season, he almost condescended into approval of Robbie. RDM made one big mistake and that was effectively showing RA the finger by dropping Torres in a big game. A big gamble and RA returned the gesture by sacking him. It was always going to happen at the first sign that things were not going so well. But FT has been a slow growing cancer in our side and he has to be removed before this team can progress properly. We have a secondary now as well with Tubby. Some serious surgery required.

@Mq conveniently ignores the injuries that players such as Marin, Lampard & Terry have had this season.

First of all i can say we added width and depth and moses was actually improving before he went to AFCON . And how did you expect him to improve our side when he was new rto the squad and at that point we had the massive performances of mazacar , so i dare to say moses actually improved us from last season on the wings . 2) i am not saying marin is the best or whatever he is called but he has not simply been giving a chance that is all , he started against QPR and was clearly trying to impress , he is above U21 , so why does he not get game time ??? no one knows but i am sure he is definitely better at our left wing than bertrand . 3) if you are referring to last season when we had a defensive formation then yes ramires played on the right wing , lets not forget he was actually our best option at that point in time with what we were trying to do . but this season i am sure ramires did not play at right wing for 80 % . You are still saying that RDM was not capable and it annoys me because the ONLY differences i can see from RDM and Benitez is Luiz in midfield and Ba . they literally still do thesame things but the results are poorer for benitez so to say benitez is a tactician and Rdm is not is silly to me as we conceded ***** loads of goals in the league even when benitez came

And benitez might have more points but lemme cast your mind back to the teams played . RDM had wigan , reading , newcastle , QPr , Stoke , Wolves , Arsenal , Tottenham , Liverpool , Westbrom , norwich , Benitez had Fulham , Mancity , West ham , sunderland , aston villa , norwich , QPR , Southampton , newcaslte , Reading .. now looking at those fixtures i can clearly say the manager who had more points with the first batch is better , we lost points against teams we were supposed to kill off in first half . but you say benitez has more points , he has not played swansea , liverpool , united , nor west brom back in form ( matches that we did not do well under Rdm ) so now that our fixtures are becoming tough let us see where will be in a few weeks and remember benitez has the upper hand as he has one of the most clinical players in england

I am also sure we would have outscored fulham and we would have won the cup in japan

let's just wait till the season ends DON CAPON, then see where RDM goes compared to Rafa. There surely can't be more "idiots" like me (and the Chelsea board) running European clubs that think Rafa is better than RDM otherwise we have to assess Rafa's results vs the teams RDM beat

haha well right now i can actually say the board are a complete bunch of idiots footballing wise . we could have avoided most things happening at present had they done thier job properly , and even at the end of the season , if we are not closer to utd than when rdm was sacked ( we didnt win CWC ) i will consider benitez's appointment very stupid and unnecessary

And just a thought people always say drogba and the team won us the champions league and it was due to their determination bla bla bla , so would i be allowed to say it was the abnormal , out of this world talent of lionel messi and iniesta and xavi that gave guardiola his own trophies ??? just a thought :)

@don capon,your theory is gabberish,we were already in downward spiral when rdm left,there was no sign of improvement,we kept getin worse week after week..and u seem so sure rdm would have won CWC??remember he also lost the community shield,uefa supercup and CL..am not slatin rdm but the point is we never cant tell what happens in future,it could be better and it could also be worse..

And we will finish 3rd or better this season :)

My conclusion , sincerely dont think both managers are that bad , just that we have to face it that both of them have very poor working enviroments and having a board like ours did not help the course , i did not thin we were doing so bad under RDM just that the reason we brought in benitez has not been fulfilled . ( whatever reason that is as i have seen no improvement ) that alone makes me disappointed

Another thing also bothering me is the rubbish i am seeing online about our players taking europa league seriously .. clearly there are more determined teams than us , that aside we better concentrate on top 4 than a mere cup trophy we can make up for in future

Come Summer, we need only 3 things...1. A Manager who can infuse our youth players gradually into the first team, and at the same time, keep us competitive. 2. A Striker (not more than 25m value, who can convert atleast 30% chances he gets...he will end up 25+ goals next season)...and the last one is a DLP...

@don capon,our options are really very slim and i dont see why(except the pay off) any right thinkin manager would leave his well assured job,to come here and take up one when he would be sacked in less than 5months..and for EL,i had wanted us to take it serious but looking at the circumstances right now,we dont need that distraction.our focus should be our #1 priority which is top4,we can only consider it when we are seein ourselves in the semis or when we have get a huge breathin space from the chasin packs in the league.

@don capon, I blame emenalo for this mess, but I understand his thinking for convincing roman to sign this sheit manager, rafa has the experience truly, but his tactical nous is inept, staying in his house for 2 years without having any credible suitors even rdm is being linked with decent top clubs, this is a manger touted as an upgrade to rdm, but unfortunately he is now a downgrade, what irks me now is that he is given a better striker yet his ego is still pushing him to play torres irrespective of what my beloved club is suffering, he is gloryhunting at the detriment of my club and I don't see it stopping anytime soon, one other thing I'll make clear with what I have seen of rafa is that he doesn't have a single passion for the club, he is just here as a mercenary, he sees chelsea as a stepping stone to get attention. No wonder he has so many followers.

Desmond get over it,rafa should get as much credit as the players get..when we lost/drew u blame him solely and now we won u are given only the players credit..is it so difficult to say 'welldone' and 'keep it up'??

Lols, @ken, I won't ever say well done until he impresses me, right now he doesn't.. He didn't do anything of note in the wigan game and if there is a poll on it, I am sure majority of the fans won't see his input either. So I don't blindly follow someone until that person have shown his worth, rafa have not shown any quality since 2013

The authentic(well detailed) version of the tactics from dailymail is unavailable now but here it is http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2276641/chelsea-scouting-report-wigan-match-revealed.html.....here is another link that summarise the dossier http://www.chelseatrueblue.com/2013/02/chelsea-scouting-report-of-wigan-exposed.html

keep blaming Torres solely DESMOND if that's makes you sleep at night. He may have been/still is aweful but blaming him and him alone for our mess speaks VOLUMES about your perception...

What rafa did with that report is not tactical nous, I won't applaud him for it, I'll applaud the brilliant man (whatishisname) who was detailed, this stuff u posted just shows us that rafa is truly inept, because I am sure this same man gave him the same thing against qpr, southampton, reading and newcastle, but rafa didn't effect adequate changes or do anything write to curtail their strength and exploit their weaknesses, which further asserted my assumptions that the brilliance of lamps 3rd goal made us win that game and didn't let us get heartbroken. That is how I see it

@mq, perception? Do u even know the meaning of perception? Speak what u know of and use words that u know so little about just for the sake of it. The 15 year old fans here know that our lack of quality striker is the sole reason for our slump, after that then teams were bold enough to take the game to us, hence our weaknesses were further exploited, if u know what u are talking about u'll understand that the fear of barca's forward and man utd forwards make other teams wary of attacking them rashly as they do to us, because they know that they can deal with our striker with a single averafe defender

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2277368/Rafael-Benitez-says-change-Chelsea-fans-opinion-him.html this guy is a big joke.....

Comparing Rafa to RDM is ludicrous...if we want to say that RDM was lucky then it should follow that anything good that happens is luck not skill or anything under our control... I am a firm believer in Ocaam's Razor...those that know will know what I mean, those that don't I am too old to be explaining things.. suffice it to say that an assertion of luck does not fall within my frame of reference as luck cannot be quantified, but that is not to say that it should be disregarded...for instance it was lucky (as it was not within the realms of control by any at CFC) for us not to be level when the ball struck Ashley's arm in the penalty box...any other ref might have given it...but it was not lucky (as there was an element of control) for Cech to save Robben's penalty...further too that I do not attribute luck to the failings of an opponent, hitting the post is not being unlucky...it is being inaccurate...same as missing a penalty...The point of all this is the extraordinary events leading up to May 20 2012 required an extraordinary effort on the parts of many, one of them being RDM, so say what you want or will...but do not think you can be akin to the thought police (as you lack the intellect) and try to rewrite history simply to take from a man what is rightly his...and the glory of that night was RDM's...if it was not, then it should follow that none of us should have celebrated as we're all lucky first to be cfc fans...then to have had lady luck smiling on us (but sometimes slapping us in the face coz if everything is luck then JT sending off was 'unlucky'...so was the conceded penalty) all the way to the UCL bank...RDM has been managing since what 2008...Rafa has like a decade on him and Rafa only has like what two more major trophies more than him...so there can bee no comparison...talk to me in a decade as I have faith in our Swiss Italian...

Every club has a dossier on oppositon players, not just Benitez. The incredible thing is how it actually got into the reporters hands and why. Was it simply Benitez being smug after the 4-1 flattering win against Wigan. All we can hope for, is that somehow we squeeze into the top 4 at the end of the season and then the club can re-group and get a decent manager in. Jose is my shout, because even if he stays for only 2 or 3 years, he will once again put down the foundations for success and implement the winning mentaity and make me proud to be Chelsea once again.

@blueheart9, lols....I won't put that on rafa, though with his personality it is something he can do, but we know the mole was there before he came to us, ur point on opposition scouting is spot on, every coach or club have their own, as for ken's analysis of it being due to rafa's tactical nous that we won 4-1, I will see for myself in the next 10 games or at the end of the season

rafa has not shown anything close to being tactically sound since he resumed at chelsea....what he has shown is a series of tactical disasters! and string of inconsistencies.

@des,u are getin it slightly wrong,am not sayin its his tactical nous alone that won us the game,ofcos the technical crew and players did their part in ensurin we end the day victorious..if everyone can continue playin their part well continuously then we are in for a thrilling end of season...tactics is rubbish if players dont work towards it,one mistake from an individual can send the whole plan crashin,so hands has to be on deck,we make less mistakes,take our chances and stick to the gameplan..the victory is not for rafa alone but for every connected to CFC

How the "mighty" have fallen indeed....http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2277129/Jose-Mourinho-struggling-Real-Madrid-ahead-Manchester-United-match.html#axzz2KZKjGptd

That night, a heavy challenge by Marcelo on Cesc Fabregas had caused a mass brawl to erupt, with players such as Iker Casillas and Xavi Hernandez, who normally tend to avoid such confrontations, heavily involved. That night is also remembered for Mourinho’s now infamous finger in the eye of then Barcelona assistant coach Tito Vilanova. For many, it was an act that brought shame upon Real Madrid as an institution. Casillas, their captain, decided to act. The following day, Casillas called Xavi to apologise for the ordeal. The two are close friends, and largely responsible for the lack of infighting between the large Barcelona and Real Madrid contingents that make up the most successful Spanish national side ever. Xavi’s father, Joaquim Hernandez, later revealed that Mourinho took offence to the Madrid captain’s attempt to broker a peace deal, seeing it as a personal betrayal. Since then, Casillas has had his card marked. With war firmly declared on Madrid’s captain, the next natural step for Mourinho was to do the same with his deputy. The tipping point in the relationship between Sergio Ramos and his manager also occurred after a Clasico encounter, this time in January 2012. With Madrid 1-0 up, Carles Puyol escaped his marker to head home from a corner, the equaliser in an eventual Barcelona victory. A few days later, Mourinho berated Ramos, who he had specifically asked to mark Puyol. Ramos had instead switched marker in order to track the taller Gerard Pique, who he believed was causing problems for the Madrid defence. When Mourinho grilled the defender as to why he had made the decision, Ramos replied that he wouldn’t understand, because he had ‘never been a footballer’.......http://www.talksport.co.uk/magazine/features/130208/burnout-bernabeu-story-jose-mourinhos-real-madrid-meltdown-191246#ixzz2KgjNd1Lv

....With Casillas now out of action for the foreseeable future, the chances of a United win have increased significantly. The keeper fractured his thumb in a cup tie against Valencia, ruling him out for up to three months; as a result, former Real Madrid reserve keeper Diego Lopez has been drafted in as an emergency replacement. If anybody truly believed the Portuguese coach when he said he had benched Casillas because he thought Adan was a better option, they certainly won’t now. So highly does Mourinho rate Adan, in fact, that he took only a day after learning of Casillas’ injury before signing a replacement....

@mq torres as false #9 in CAM? lmaoooooo the guy can't control a football/dribble to save his life.

SERIOUSLY SHUT UP ABOUT TORRES

Just because you can "score goals" doesn't mean you can play as a striker!Asking mata, hazard, oscar to play upfront would be suicide. For the same reason we've never once seen Lampard play upfront ; except it would be worse with them 3. To play upfront you've gotta have more than being able to finish, you've got to be able to hold the ball up, lead the line, challenging for headers, harrying the defenders etc etc. You play your best player in his best position, which is in midfield for those 3.

Not as a striker CALCULATED but playing in a goal scoring position. Notice I said alternate, because evidently we had a striker who couldn't score and being me, I can't sit back arms folded without trying alternatives. Torres has created more chances than he's scored, and yes BLUS4 he's dribbled sometimes to create chances he either fluffs or passes to some1 else so it could've worked had it been tried. You can't give up without trying, that's just wrong on so many fronts

@Mq. I think you need to put off that play station and realize this is real life not some game where you just alternate players out of position.

If you have no sense of innovation NELY don't assume we all don't have 1....I'll never sit back and give up without trying, or persist with the same procedure that's proven ineffective over and over again

All i see when reading Mq post are Bla bla bla guardiola is the best trainer bla bla bla Lampard got avb sacked bla bla bla rdm is clueless bla bla bla Torres.

Do we actually have to put up with one certain individual on this site, that is constantly upsetting others by deliberately posting agitating comments just for the fun of it ? He/She is just ruining this site for everyone else, who want to share opinions about the club we love, not getting involved in slanging matches. Maybe the individuals who oversee VC should show people like Mq a yellow card, swiftly followed by a red, which would ultimately ban the people who just use this site as a wind up.

@Blueheart9 - Spot on!!!!

@ken . It would be another disaster for us if it was a leaked document ,you'd really wanna know who is leaking this stuff to the press but I reckon it was wrote up after the game ,thats why it was eerily spot on ! It proves what a filthy rag the DM is ,they had inserted the way Rafa was explaining it to the team and this and that when really they made the whole story up to make the dossier more believable , they really are filth !

PS. If i was lookin for a mole i'd look no farther than Florent Malouda ....

Funny all who disagreed with my reasoning did so with insults instead of adequate, well thought of and "reasonable" responses. Speaks VOLUMES about mental-capabilities :)

@mq then what kind of role did torres play till now. he was playing like false 9 and because of which we didnt have a target man in the penalty box and we are struggling to find a goal against a team that park the bus. torres has improved his heading and holding up but still he is not what drogba did or he is not bringing what BA would bring to us. we have goal scorers but what we need a striker like BA who pull defenders away so that plyers like mata, hazard , moses and oscar can socre goal. with the development of lukaku is more faster than i exprected i think its better we dont buy any striker in this summer as we have 3 stikers and what we need a midfielder like modric, banega or benat.

As much as Torres wasn't scoring much, he was creating chances/spaces for others to score and who knows, perhaps my "rotation" strategy would've worked after all

@mq when we have these much creative players hw much support u need from torres in assist. he has to be in the penalty box. torres has weakness which is his movement. if u see BA and compare torres u can see the difference.even though we are not depended on one player but some times strikers make big difference. the reason why ManU in first and we are 3rd is an example. they have efficient striker who always rescues when it required but same is not happening with torres. if u look RVP he scores and assists but in our case torres is not producing consistently or when we required where as ManU can count on RVP any time they are in truoble.