Snagged a free ticket for the Villa vs Man Utd annual massacre...now have 1 hour to consume as much alcohol as humanly possible to make it easier to watch...would be easier if Van Persie gets all the goals for my dream team stats too!
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Annnndddd........ 2-1 down in the space of 2 minutes of chaos.
I'm going for a ****.Comment
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I nearly shat in my seat too....i think its now upto 6 the times I have seen us draw/lose after being 2 up to UTD...
Sunderland v Villa in the championship next year Prinny? Meet at the bar to discuss EDF 4 tactics!!Comment
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It's all too plausible! Too many fatties in this team, with a terrible tactical ethos negating any guile and adventure.Comment
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Who on earth is going to want to manage Chelski now?Comment
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This man.Comment
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Chelsea fans are not happy. But I think they've made a good move. Torres will be made up and may start scoring again.Comment
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That really does remain to be seen. Talk is of Drogba coming back to Stamford Bridge on loan.Originally posted by hoolak View Post
This is insane on so many levels. Rafa taking a job at a club where the fans openly despise him and the management didn't rate him enough to make his appointment longer. Really don't know what to make of it, if I'm honest.
Clearly his last chance in terms of managing a top English club, though. If he fails at Chelsea, he's surely done in England?Last edited by Nu-Eclipse; 21-11-2012, 23:33.Comment
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He probably sees it as a way to boost his reputation across Europe following his failed spell at Inter. Its unlikely, but Chelsea could still progress in the Champions League and if not would have an excellent chance of winning the Europa League. A top three league finish, a Europa League win and perhaps the Capital One or FA Cup to boot would increase his credibility and allow him to seek out employment at other top European clubs as and when opportunities become available. Of course, it could go completely tits up, but I imagine that is his thinking.Comment
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Not entirely sure that a top-three finish and/or domestic cup win would do that, tbh. Winning the league and/or somehow retaining the Champions' League against the odds would do that. It's clear that he wants to remain in English football, hence why he has lived in the Wirral for the last two years.Originally posted by On The Edge of Insanity View Post
As for his failed spell at Inter, he obviously didn't do well there but there were mitigating factors. Namely, an injury-plagued Mourinho squad that had an average age of between 29 and 31 and Massimo Moratti's refusal to grant him rebuilding funds due to wanting the club to reduce its massive wage bill to fall in line with Financial Fair Play.Comment
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I dunno, Claudio Ranieri seems to get job after job by achieving similar. Certainly keeps your name out there. I'm also sceptical as to whether Pep Guardiola is really going to that enamoured by the prospect of working under someone like Abramovich and so if Benitez performs well the job could conceivably be his on a more permanent basis.
His Inter spell was pretty bizarre, not least because they went and splashed €30+ million on five players just weeks after sacking him, at least in part because of the outspoken manner in which he demanded they support him with additional transfer funds.
The performance of subsequent Inter managers - until Stramaccioni - shows that Benitez was far from the only problem at the club. Only recently have they finally shed their reliance on the ageing members of Mourinho's Champions League winning squad and begun to look genuinely competitive once more.Comment
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The Rafa appointment is bonkers because Roman simply wants Guardiola. He will chop and change until he gets him.Comment
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Claudio Ranieri hasn't won anything in club football since 2004! Also, Ranieri doesn't have the "troublemaker" tag that has been unfairly placed on Rafa.Originally posted by On The Edge of Insanity View Post
True, Inter did go on something of a spending spree after sacking Rafa, but they balanced it out by selling Samuel Eto'o to FC Anzhi for big money at the end of the 2010/11 season. They almost sold Wesley Sneijder, and might still do so.
Rafa's rep in English football is that of a manager who only excels in cup competitions (conveniently forgetting that he won La Liga twice in three years with Valencia, being the last manager to do it with a club outside Barca/Madrid). Chelsea have spent big in the summer and are currently only 4 points off the top of the League. Finishing 2nd/3rd and winning a domestic cup won't be seen as a success by the media nor the Chelsea fans who can't be any clearer in not wanting him there. Winning the Premier League and/or an unlikely 2nd Champions' League would definitely "re-establish" him as a top-class manager (although I find it astonishing that his CV can even be questioned in the first place), but more importantly it would give him a better chance of being in the frame for a role at a top club in this country, which appears to be what he wants.
He was interested in the Spurs job, but they chose AVB. Everybody knew he wanted to come back to Liverpool, but FSG didn't even bother to speak to him. If Man City and Arsenal decide to part company with Mancini & Wenger respectively, there's no way they'll even consider Rafa unless he has substantial success with Chelsea.Last edited by Nu-Eclipse; 22-11-2012, 12:44.Comment
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Has he been sacked yet? It's been at least 24 hours.Comment
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