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That's the same reason Man Utd are so dominant this year though.

I'm sure Rafa Benitez is a nice guy if you meet him face to face, but nothing in his past should really endear him to Chelsea fans. He's questioned the "passion" of our fanbase in the past, and that alone puts him in a situation where the fans are already right to dislike him. He wasn't some teenage kid in the spotlight for the first time, he was a seasoned professional who had been dealing with the media for years. He's also had several incidents with completely nonsensical rants about opposing managers. Where Roberto Di Matteo was all class and composure with the press, we've hired a guy that has gone off before on a five minute rant about the special treatment other managers receive.

Tactically speaking, I've never been a fan of Rafa Benitez either. He's always been a very organized manager, something that the man deserves credit and respect for. He's not very flexible though, and like Andre Villas-Boas before him, he tends to try too hard to fit players into roles instead of designing a system to maximize the talent he has available. This pattern can clearly be seen by looking at his transfer record at Liverpool. He was in charge for six seasons, easily long enough to adapt his system to some of his available players. Still, he averaged thirteen signings per year as he attempted to find players that fit his system as opposed to adapting his system to fit the available (and talented) players.

This problem was still clearly evident when he was in charge at Inter. He took over a side that Jose Mourinho had looking unstoppable, and turned them into a mid-table side in a very mediocre Serie A. He did this in a matter of months. What was most disturbing about it was his insistence on playing the same 4-2-3-1 he always does, despite the fact that his personnel were seemingly very poorly suited for it. Again with Rafa Benitez, the system was put in place without consideration of the players, and his very public insistence on a massive January overhaul was the main reason he was sacked only months into his reign.

There is also the question of his resume, and his qualification for this job. The official Chelsea website laid out a glowing read about his past, but frankly it's a lot of fluff. He did some fantastic things in Spain around the turn of the century, but there haven't been a lot of notable achievements since landing at Liverpool. Yes, he guided the team to an FA Cup and Champions League in his six seasons in charge but the man he's replaced won Chelsea the same two trophies in about ten weeks.

He didn't have the spending power that our previous managers had, but he still managed to spend £226 million in his time at the Liverpool. That's enough money that he should have manged more than a single season where they legitimately challenged for a domestic title, especially given that he inherited a squad with several core players already in place. He didn't though, finishing with under seventy points in half of his seasons in charge (and twice finishing outside of the top four).

Yeah, but the Man City of now are as good as the Chelsea of that season.

Hmm, maybe. English football has been poor for a while tbf - our best players leave to play in Spain.

Still a team that scored 103 goals in the league and had Drogba and Lampard at their best.

I think the 10/11 season showed a weak Premier League more than any other season. Utd won it with 80 points, Chelsea finished 2nd despite a horrific run from November till February.

I don't understand why people keep saying that we need to stand behind Rafa. He hasn't done one single good thing since he started and he was never someone that should have been appointed in the first place. Not only did he manage Liverpool, which is already a bad start, he said some stupid things that were aimed at Chelsea, be it the players, the club or the fans.

He really shouldn't have come. It was obvious that no one will stand behind him, and if you ask me, rightly so. All he did since he joined was show us why he shouldn't have been chosen for the job. Abramovich probably won't give him a new contract, especially if he has a little bit of brain left in him. I want Moyes to come but I know that because of how smart he is he won't. We need someone with a brain, not someone that makes one substitution when we are shit, keeps starting the same shit striker, over and over again, as well as not changing his style of play.

So yes, we did play some horrible football under dM but it worked.

I thought those quotes Rafa was meant to have said were made up.

Would you accept a modern day Bob Paisley in charge of Chelsea?

Would Alex Ferguson be accepted as Liverpool manager...

Great news

If they weren't complete morons...yes.

You accepted Ashley Cole as a player from Arsenal - why should a manager be any different?

As much of a cunt Ferguson is and as much as I hate him, if he was our manager I'd get behind him

I highly doubt any full blooded Liverpool fan would accept SAF being named manager at Anfield.

Ashley Cole didn't slate our club and the fans supposed lack of passion.

But the vast majority of your fans do lack passion.

As do most teams.

Which is a separate issue, and thus irrelevant.

Thanks for clearing that up, what would I do without you??

Continue making redundant points in a discussion?

Probably.

Apparent quotes from Marouane Fellaini in the papers today -

I'd be gutted if he goes to Chelsea.

The Telegraph said yesterday we're trying to get him for cash + Lescott.

I was delighted to see Fat Frank miss his penalty too. It would have been his 200th Chelsea goal if I'm not mistaken.

Yup. Still on 199.

I haven't got a bad word to say about Lampard, just an unfortunate miss. Ramires should have done better though when we hit you on the counter attack.

I was really impressed with Kolo and Nastasic today though, I thought they would of been your weak link.

Nastasic is a beast - easily one of the best in the world for his age - but, yeah, Kolo was surprisingly good. He has a habit of doing this, though, he's very unpredictable he'll put in a few shaky performances in and then pull a display like that out of the bag. If he could keep that up, I'd be happy to keep as a squad player next year.

I thought Kolo was superb today. At one point it looked like his City career was over so it's good to see him work his way back into the side.

Predictions for tonight??

Looking at the Chelsea line up anything could happen

Happy to see Nathan Ake in the starting line-up tonight.