Official 2012/13 Premier League thread

[Jimmy]

It's just interesting how similar the stats are. But yeah, I think Sunday could well define our season, really. Especially as we're gonna struggle with our run of Everton, Chelsea and City in April.

[stokeriño]

The difference is context, of course. At this point in Chelsea's season he had been on a league run of 1 win in 6 (or 3 wins in 12), damn near thrown away the Champions League, and generally fucked off the team being being an unnecessary cunt to Anelka/Alex/etc.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Was there ever a period of his time at Chelsea that AVB was accepted and loved as much as he is by most of the Spurs fans?

I think he's learned a lot from his time at Chelsea though. He was probably his own worst enemy, with how he portrayed himself crouching on the touchline, with the long days at the training grounds, the sleeping over, the interviews and so on.

[Matt]

I still think that Roman was more to blame for his failure than AVB was himself. I think it was quite clear he got told to get rid of the old guard and rather than do it gradually he did it instantly (whether that was him or roman I don't know). The problem with that is that you're asking a lot of the players that come in to gel so quickly together. Plus the fact that he was relying on an inconsistent-at-best Fernando Torres to be his lone front man.

There's also a difference between managing a side who expect a reasonable run in Europe and to be competing for 4th place and managing a side who expect to be challenging for the title and the champions league. That's despite there not being much difference in the strength of the two sides.

tl; dr AVB was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when it came to chelsea.

[DavidMarrio]

God bless you Agent Rafa Benitez!!

He's confirmed that he is leaving Chelsea at the end of the season whilst going on to slag off the Chelsea fans and the board.

[Hobo]

Rafa Benitez has confirmed he will not continue as Chelsea manager beyond the end of the current campaign.

The Spaniard, angry at continued criticism of him from the travelling Blues fans as Chelsea beat Middlesbrough in the FA Cup on Wednesday,
made it clear in the immediate aftermath of the contest that he would
not be continuing at Stamford Bridge beyond the end of his current
short-term deal.

Benitez also offered a thinly-veiled criticism of club owner Roman
Abramovich, suggesting the Russian made his job almost impossible by
only appointing him as 'interim' boss.

"I will leave at the end of the season," Benitez told BBC Radio Five Live. "They don't need to worry about me."

He added: "They [the board and Abramovich] put me in the title of
'interim' manager. That was a massive mistake. Why did they need to do
that?"

Benitez's outburst seemed to be sparked by the continued chanting of the
away fans at the Riverside Stadium, as a section of supporters called
for the Spaniard's head - just as many Blues fans have ever since the
former Liverpool boss was appointed in unpopular circumstances,
following the exit of Roberto Di Matteo.

Benitez, clearly irate, more than once repeated an assertion that chants
against him were only harming the players in their pursuit of Champions
League qualification.

"I am a manager, and I will manage the team until the end," Benitez
said. "If they [the fans] are going to carry on with an agenda, then
they have to take responsibility. Stick together and we can achieve what
we need to. But they are not making any favour to the rest of the fans
or the players.

"What they have to do is support the team and create a good atmosphere.
If we cannot get the title we are after, to qualify for the Champions
League, if they continue to sing and talking, talking ... they are not
making any favours. They have to support the players and the team."

He added: "I am a professional. I am doing my job. I want to win every
single game for Chelsea football. What they need to do is support the
team. They have to realise that the rest of the fans want to see the
team in the Champions League next year.

"At the end of the season I will leave, they do not need to worry about me."

Read more at http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/195226.html#Uxzy2oliGVXxlJsr.99

[Colly]

He was whinging about fixture congestion the other day, its not as if anyone forced him to have a reasonable League Cup run and have to take Brentford to a replay in the FA.

[therockbox]

They've played more games than anyone else in England at this point, haven't they? With a pretty small squad as well.

[stokeriño]

Rafa Benitez has confirmed he will not continue as Chelsea manager beyond the end of the current campaign.

He added: "They [the board and Abramovich] put me in the title of

'interim' manager. That was a massive mistake. Why did they need to do

that?"

Rafa Benitez in "I blame somebody else" shocker.

[Hobo]

Yeah Chelsea and Bradford have played the most games of any teams this season.

Well, the Chelsea board didn't *have* to appoint an interim manager, Stok.

[stokeriño]

Why should it matter what he's called? All Chelsea managers are interim. Shut up and get on with it.

People even made a fuss when one of our managers wasn't officially the "Manager" but rather the "Head Coach" (I can't even remember which one it was, they change it nearly every time...). The crying over semantics is a nonsense.

[Colly]

They've played more games than anyone else in England at this point, haven't they? With a pretty small squad as well.

They have, but that's my point. Only two of those were in addition to anyone elses potential games (I'm not counting the European Community Shield, and I don't think Chelsea fans would either), the rest are solely due to having a reasonable stay in the League Cup, plus drawing with Brentford. If you want to challenge on all fronts you're going to have to play a lot of games, moreso with cup replays.

[Gazz]

'Interim Manager' is the same as 'substitute teacher' ie. Don't listen to me, I'll be gone soon.

[DavidMarrio]

The Chelsea jobs overtook the England job as the "impossible job"

[Gazz]

They might as well just make Terry the manager.

Or Lampard.

[stokeriño]

The amount of games is only a problem because of the state of the squad, the numbers in which have been whittled away over a few years. Every summer we sell some players, buy fewer back, then loan more out (or in the case of Malouda, ban them to the U21s). If we had the likes of Lukaku, De Bruyne, McEachran, etc. in the squad and adding depth maybe it would help but no. Instead we have Mata/Oscar/Hazard being played into the ground and barely have one operational striker.

I saw a table somewhere that listed the attacking players in all the top European clubs and all three of Mata, Oscar and Hazard had each played 6 or 7 more games than any other player with the exception of Messi. Don't know where to find it now though, irritatingly.

The responsibility for this obviously lies with the board rather than the manager but there are plenty of problems at Chelsea and at the moment we'll make do with whatever little progress we can make.

The Chelsea jobs overtook the England job as the "impossible job"

You're a little late. This has been the case since Ancelotti (madly) got sacked two years ago.

[Matt]

I'm not sure Benitez being shit is proof that the Chelsea job is the impossible job.

[ZJ Penn]

I feel sorry for Rafa.

[stokeriño]

To add to my earlier point about the meaninglessness of being described as "interim": I can't possibly think of another Chelsea manager appointed as, to quote, "first-team coach on an interim basis until the end of the season" (the official CFC statement this comes from is no longer on the CFC website but is quoted in this blog) and just...I dunno, got on with it and was successful.

[Matt]

I feel sorry for Rafa.

Why? He took a job where he knew he'd be despised from day one for the pay day. He was given the job pretty much on the basis that he could get the best out of Torres and he's failed miserably at that.