Agreed. Personally I'd be trying to move Torres out in this window before his value drops too much more, and then bring in another new face. I'm not even sure what the club would get for him now? £10m-15m?

No, it's judged on him being an inept manager; just look at how he needlessly messes things around - not to mention what he did to a treble winning side Inter Milan.

You were so adamant that Rafa has improved us defensively yet you haven't even bothered to comment or give any sort of analysis? Yeah okay...your argument holds so much value. Whilst my fellow Chelsea fans have offered their viewpoints, I have kindly disagreed and put forward my points across with examples of games under both Robbie and Rafa. Just because I'm not singing Rafa's praises about his tactical intelligence (lol), doesn't mean what I'm saying is wrong. A popular argument isn't a right argument.

You have a go at our supporters for calling Rafa all the names under the sun, but are you so quick to defend other fans who call us Chavs or Chavski? Something tells me you don't...funny that. DigitalSpy wouldn't be right without a dose of hypocrisy.

Yes i totally agree, i dont dislike the bloke but i just think its time he, Abramovich and the rest of the backroom staff realise and accept Torres will never find his 'liverpool form' at Chelsea!

Heres some stats:

RDM last 13 games as Chelsea Manager
Conceded 22, 2 clean sheets

Rafa first 13 games
Conceded 10, 5 clean sheets

Surely this means Rafa has improved our defence? I guess you could argue you cant compare the two as they played different teams, but overall the standard is the same IMO, since rafa has had some big games like Man City, Everton etc.

I agree with this, i think we will keep him for the rest of the season but if he doesnt improve hes surely got to go, a move back to Spain would probably be best for everyone. We need to move on from him.

It depends how he takes the Demba signing, he could, a. say to himself "right im gonna show im no1 man at Chelsea now" and really put his best foot forward and show what hes made of. Or b. "poor me, i dont care now, ive tried and its not good enough, so what" like a spoiled child.

The latter seems more likely unfortunately!

How is he an inept manager?

Have you actucally looked at the Inter situation or just decided he destroyed them based on him being sacked?

Deep down, you have to admit that he hasn't only made you defensively stronger, but he's got Chelsea scoring a heck of a lot more as well, compared to RDM.

Southend or Brentford.

It's a conspiracy

How dare Chelsea have a supposed easy draw.

Got to agree to be honest, i also understand your point about Inter. Yes they won the treble the season before but they had an ageing squad that needed a lot of changes made to it. Those flaws shown through when Rafa took over, and i dont think there was much he could have done. Inter were a team in decline, as shown by their form ever since Jose left. In a way, they are in a very similar situaiton to ours, but hopefully with the signings we are making we will be able to correct it and move forward and continue to win trophies.

Still think Rafa will be gone at the end of the season, even if he does well. Hes too unpopular at the moment. Pep or Jose will be coming.

Part of the reason I don't want to go through a long long post on how he has improved you defensively is because of comments like that. You think a manager with Rafa's CV is an inept manager. Yet think RDM was a better manager. Oh well......
I'd also hardly compare you chanting "personal insults" at your rmanager with people on DS referring to you as Chavski

Reading above I see a Chelsea fan who agrees on what Rafa can bring, so I dont think I'm being unreasonable with my comments.

Under Rafa, Inter Milan played 25 games and he won 12 and lost 7. The season before, Jose played 57 games and had only lost 7 games. You don't get sacked if you're a good manager. Even if the squad was ageing you do not, and especially after winning the CWC, go and say back me or sack me. If you want new players, you should speak to the owner privately, not give him an ultimatum in public. That is poor mangement skills and it's no wonder he got the boot.

Deep down I know Rafa has made us defensively stronger? LOL. This is getting a bit weird, does your love for Rafa hold no bounds! I can't even critique Rafa, even with analysis of games under both Robbie and Rafa without a Liverpool fan jumping on my back. Yeah Rafa's amazing!! Let's all bow down to his superior tactical knowledge. I mean, when Allardyce subbed on Diame, West Ham started pushing up higher and pressing us. Our midfield was being over run but nah, let leave changes after the 70th minute to try and salvage a win. Against Corinthians; oh hey, let's sub on Azpilicueta on for Ivan since we're win- oh wait...Against QPR, let's rest both Mata and Hazard since we have a cup game coming up! Just NO.

Maybe Rafa would have won his next 32 games and had the same record as Jose

I never said you were being unreasonable?

I know it's different but the principle still applies. Insulting managers is bad, yet insulting other club's fans is okay? There are some fans who will not take to Rafa as our manager and I don't think it's going to change any time soon.

Robbie wasn't given a proper chance as our manager. Our season started off very brightly as we managed to win against both Arsenal and Tottenham away. After that Man U game everything seem to fell apart. :/

LMAO. If you have a crystal ball to confirm that then I take back everything I said.

I've read that Rafa was so keen on his rotation system that at one stage he changed his team 99 times on the trot !
I can't help feeling that's a bit extreme even by our own Claudio Ranieri's standards.

Great result and great to see Demba Ba off to a flying start.

I will admit, I got emotional when Lamps ran up to the Chelsea fans and shouted he loved them all after scoring that pen. Fantastic, equally Kerry Dixon's record and as a midfielder as well, quite phenomenal.

Away support was fantastic, I know a couple of Saints fans, they said they were outclassed and outsung by the Chels.

Looks like we've agreed a deal to sign a Brazilian AM named Taison.

Never heard of him.

Yes, Taison Barcellos Freda. I was looking at a couple of YouTube videos about him last night. He looks an exciting player, but there again, don't they all in those compilation videos ?
Looks like he's an attacking midfield player who can also play as a winger or striker. A bit more direct than the likes of Mata, Oscar or Hazard ?

Its no wonder none of our youngsters ever get the chance when we continually sign all these players.

You know,you might be onto something there.

I know; if we're looking at other players to play behind the striker, why can't we use Piazon? He's a worker, and he will run all day if you give him the chance. This is such a bizarre signing considering we're lacking depth in the CM department.

Haha we get rid of Sturridge and get Demba Ba for effectively minus 5 million, what a lovely bit of transfer activity that is.

As for how we're performing, so far Benitez is actually doing a great job bar from one blip which is the QPR result - way too complacent there and we suffered for it. But you can see why he shuffled the pack as we've been through a punishing schedule recently and you'd think we could have overcome the bottom team even with players rested.

I wonder who else is going to come in in January as we need to bolster the squad to allow us to rest people.

My prediction for the rest of the year - 2nd in the league, Carling Cup + Europa League and then Benitez leaves.

The best thing rafa has done which ive been crying out for for a long time is bring Ivanovic into central defence. That has a lot to do with our defence being better.

Moving Luiz into midfield has also helped - I'd predicted he'd sort out our defence and he's done it quite nicely. We're still scoring goals as well but we need to build on the Everton result as until that point we were pretty much flat track bullies.