I think last season was down to the clashes of AVB's management style with the senior players, By the time Robbie was given the jobs he had little choice but to go for the cups at the expense of the league and this season was due to the rebuilding process that is currently taking place.

We was always going to be off the pace what with City "project" slowly picking up speed and Utd masterstroke of signing RVP.

I do agree something is missing (long list of where to start ha) and i think one of the most important things is the rel/ship between the club and the fans which at the moment is at a all time low (even lower then the Bates years) and i do think that is spreading though out the club and I blame this on Ron Gouley, The guy is just not good enough to be in the job he is, Yes we know he is just a mouth peice for Roman but there are ways to sell unpopular ideas and he can not do it.

I don't think that's entirely fair to pin the blame on RDM. When we won the CL last season lots of people were criticising the way we were playing (). So it's no wonder that we started playing a more attacking style of football at the beginning of the season. Remember how Robbie started Bertrand on the wings against QPR? After that draw, Roman came to the training ground and all of a sudden he started to deploy Oscar/Hazard/Mata on the pitch at the same time. If you're playing attacking football, you have the pay the price by having a leaky defence (since we can't retain possesion as well as Barcelona yet). You can't have it both ways unless we manage to find another Maka to protect the back four and our trio all contribute to defending off the ball.

That's why I'm still so mad at the board for firing Robbie and hiring that Liverpool reject. Robbie is the first person to know how thread bare our squad was last season and if he was given full transfer control, he would not have let both Essien and Meireles go. Plus I'm sure he would have tried and got another striker in, but it seems that his hand was forced into playing Torres nearly every game by the mighty Roman.

As for Rafa sorting our defence, he hasn't done anything. I've said before, the key to beating Chelsea is by applying pressure. West Ham second half, Corinthian game and against Everton we looked very vulnerable. Even though we won against Everton by Lamps saving our arses, Everton were the better team and should have won had they not hit the woodwork so many times. Our midfield was completely non existent in that game as both Luiz and Lamps were pushing up too high. There is no link up play from the pivot and our attacking midfield. Earlier in the season we were setting up beautifully, with Mata dropping deep to complete the triangle pass with Rami and Mikel. But when teams pressure us, we lose our attacking shape as Mata (or whoever is playing in the no.10 role) can't drop deep enough. The situation is compounded even further by the fact Rami doesn't have the technical skills to cross the ball, and he has to rely on his pace to move the ball right onto the receiver's feet.

We seems to have lost all our passion and desire to win atm. When QPR scored I was expecting the boys to pick themselves up and just attack but they were slow, lethargic and just had no clue what to do. The amount of times Luiz or Ivanovic shot from ridiculous areas of the pitch showed that.


We need to keep Lamps and Cole - especially Cole. The fact that we are letting one of the best LB's in the world go on a free is just damn right INSANE. Bertrand is not ready yet to become our no.1 LB. Cole has saved us so many times with his goal line clearences and it just makes me so mad when the club aren't willing to give them a contract extension due their age. As for Lampard, I hope he will able to at least equal Kerry's record and maybe even surpass Bobby's. He has given everything for this club and I hope he will be able to go out on a high like Drogba did.

Re our striker issue, I've seen that Ba has now officially joined us. Can't wait to Chelsea playing with a proper no.9 now!

Edit - BIB it's cost us 3 managers. Carlo, AVB and Robbie all benched Torres in their last game and they got the sack......Carlo should NOT have been fired but I'll save that rant for another day lol.

I do. It's called "sanity". Of which, the Chelsea owner has little or none.

Ancelotti wins the league, but doesn't win the CL, so he gets fired. DiMatteo wins the CL, but doesn't.....erm....do something or another, and he gets fired.

Yep not many if any. Maybe he should never have left Liverpool (although his form had dipped in any event). I'm sure Chelsea fans wishes he'd stayed put.

No need

I disagree. Rafa had one final bad season, then left imo.

Liverpool reject, really?
I think there has been a marked improvement in the defence since Rafa's arrival. If Ba doesn't get Torres syndrome I'm sure that will then show.

Don't worry chaps, it's going to be all Wright on the night

Demba Ba's officially signed.

I still wonder whether Rafa will continue to start Torres - i seriously hope not. Ba should be starting which should give Torres the kick up the arse he deserves.

I don't doubt it. If Rafa and Roman could clone Torres we'd probably have one starting in each position.

I'm glad to have Demba Ba and I'm sure our midfield must be feeling the same. Hopefully he gets the opportunity to prove himself with us and isn't subjected to cameo appearances.

Hmm. Not only are we playing in the fa cup on Saturday, but our next fixture on Wednesday is against Swansea in the first leg COC semi.

Tell me again why we rested Hazard and Mata?!?!?

Truly bizarre decision, but Rafa clearly thought they needed a rest for whatever reason.

Because this is a Rafa wonderland,

I wouldn't have rested them in the Soton/Swansea games either, seeing as both competitions now represent our best chance of silverware, having messed up everything else we've competed in so far. Better to try and get the games won then sub them off if possible.

Can't say I'm too excited by Demba Ba. I know we're desperate for a couple of strikers but it seems like a real stop-gap signing. Given our luck with strikers over the last several years (Drogba aside) you just know he's probably going to get crocked whilst with us. Hope that's not the case though!

Probably because he knew it would wind you lot up.

True as that - unfortunately - is, the Southampton boss has already said he is will field a weakened team, and the COC game is over 2 legs, so it's a much better time to try and rest players. We might not have had a chance of winning the league, but Man City were still within reach. I think we'd all be more than happy with our league season if we were to finish within 5-10 points of the eventual winners.
Thinking about it makes me so angry still

I can't wait to see Ba line up for us. We've tried blowing big money on strikers only to have it regularly fail. Maybe a small fee for a proven scorer is the way forward for us.

Think of all the times the ball has fallen to Torres only to see him pass it back to their keeper. Ba will bury those chances

No, hoping for Falcao and getting Demba Ba makes you feel a bit awkward and embarrassed. It's like unwrapping a Christmas present and trying to look grateful and excited when you're really disappointed.
Could be a good signing though, we"ll just have to wait and see. I wonder how much ambition he's got ? Is he just a football mercenary or does he look on this as a long term commitment ? If he does the business, I suppose it doesn't matter.
We have so much young talent waiting to come through, there should be exciting times ahead. But we need to maintain our position as a leading European club to attract established stars.

I still can't help looking back to that Man Utd game. A couple of bizarre decisions by Clattenburg, and the repercussions that followed, changed our entire season.
But it's been a strange 12 months. Three managers, struggling one minute, then winning the Champions League. We buy several of the world's most creative midfielders but forget about defending. Get rid of, or loan out all our strikers to concentrate on a crocked former super star. Never a dull moment.

We put the mockers on you allright.

Yes, but you haven't looked back since then. Perhaps it was a season defining game for both of us ?
Still it could be worse, at least we didn't buy Balotelli.

United's 3rd round tie on ITV again...........what a shocker that is. You would think that we would get a few more F.A cup games televised, we have won the damn thing 4 times in the last 6 years after all. Clear favoritism from ITV again, it's the same with Sky Sports.

Yes, we are unbeaten in our last 23 FA Cup matches, and have only lost one of our last 34. But Southampton have a 100% record in the FA Cup against us, they have knocked us out four times.

Where did he say this? I'm not saying you are wrong, just haven't seen it. On our official site Adkins said "We want to win the game. We want to go on a cup run – it’s the famous FA Cup and we’re taking it seriously. We’ve got a group of players who have worked extremely hard over the last few weeks when the games have been coming thick and fast. That will come into consideration for the team selection, but we want to win the game."

The perfect analogy. Though I appreciate signing players is always harder in the January window, and that we'll probably have to wait till summer now to try and push through a deal for Falcao (assuming he actually is one of the club's targets), I can't help feeling there must've been better options than Ba. Llorente, for example, probably could've been picked up for a similar amount with his contract being near the end, but looks like he's now in talks with Juve.

Not sure about Southampton but you might be right. Even so, when we rested players at home in the COC against that reserve Man U side it very nearly cost us. As for Swansea I think we really need to win the 1st leg at home.... I wouldn't really fancy going to their place needing to win.
I agree Benitez shouldn't have rotated as much as he did for QPR though. The first mistake he made was trying to rest both Mata and Hazard at the same time. He then compounded it by not making changes quick enough.

That's me being nice...the guy should thank his lucky stars that he is given the honour to sit in our dug out.

If you read my post you would have seen I've explained why I think Benitez hasn't improved us defensively. Maybe you could care to explain your reasons?