Kick's Thoughts on Rafa, Torres, Mourinho and Next Season

Instead of posting four different long posts in four different threads, I figured I would compile all my thoughts into one single thread.

Rafael Benitez
Rafa arrived a hated man, He left an almost liked man. If I was Rafa, I would take that, He will never be liked at Chelsea but, I think it is safe to say, He can leave with his head held high knowing the fans now respect him. He did what was asked of him under extreme pressure and while he didn't do it in the most stylish way possible, he got the job done. We can joke about him as much as we like but at the end of the day, he did the job. Anything beyond what he did was somewhat unrealistic so Thanks, Rafa. Best of Luck in Naples.

Fernando Torres
What a season for Fernando. It had its ups and of course, its downs. He scored some goals, He missed some goals. While many of his goals have come against weak teams, I feel he remains somewhat useful to Chelsea. If we receive a big offer however, I feel we will sell him.

For all of his problems, he has shown a decent work rate, and a willingness to work towards a team goal. I honestly do not think he is such a bad player, unless, of course, You need a goal scorer in your team. I also think, should he move, he could be quite beneficial to a certain team. Us included, for weaker teams.

Jose Mourinho
The Special one.The polarising figure, love him or hate him, He is 99% home. I honestly hope he doesn't bring the same tactics he used in his first stint here. He needs to bring fresh ideas if he is going to be successful, I am seriously worried about that. I trust in the clubs decision so hopefully he does well. He isn't my first choice but he is probably the best available. Just like his personality, I believe his second spell here will be fantastic or a complete failure. Being the optimist I am, I believe he will do fantastically here and bring us another EPL trophy. We are only a few cogs short of a EPL winning machine. I believe Jose is one of those cogs. That said, He cannot be a long term solution, merely a short term, steady the ship, manager. Unless he dramatically changes his style, the club cannot expect him to be here longer than 2-3 seasons. They should constantly be on the look out for a new manager.

Next Season
Can't wait. Bring it on!

I knew Shed would reply in such a way.

I agree with what you said but I'd add two things about Torres. We used to joke about him just extending the lead and not winning us games like Drog did.

He played a major role late in the season for the EL Final and securing third so kudos. Secondly, I doubt he would be sold. I'm looking at another striker signing for us but Torres would likely stay IMO

Soul wrote:I knew Shed would reply in such a way.

I was just kidding


I've actually prepared a point-by-point response but seeing as Kicky has left, I'm witing til he returns to post it

Thanks kick for posting this, exactly my thoughts and you got them spot on. Also on another note I want to point out on Jose Mourinho is even with all the hate he has received this season, I always thought he put the team before his own image. Whatever went on in the Madrid locker room, it was his decision, we cannot call him stupid, and most people that rant about him being a failure can go choke on themselves, we fans are just an audience who perceive whatever the media tells us to. This Chelsea team really impressed me ever since the sacking of AVB because they have been working as a unit since then and now I can only see Mourinho strengthing this unity with an even more winning mentality.
On Rafa, he did a great job
On torres, im a fanboy, but also a realist, he did prove his worth at the end, he scored the last goal in our PL game to give us 3rd place and also gave us a goal to give us the EL, I can see he fought hard, but ideally if we did get a good offer then we can get a better replacement.
Overall, lets not forget that we will never be perfect, but we do have Abramovich and we have a Eden Hazard, and I can't wait till the season starts either.

Edit- Oh and we also have the Juan and only Mata!

Uncanny wrote:another note I want to point out on Jose Mourinho is even with all the hate he has received this season, I always thought he put the team before his own image

Good one!!

Uncanny wrote:This Chelsea team really impressed me ever since the sacking of AVB because they have been working as a unit since then and now I can only see Mourinho strengthing this unity with an even more winning mentality.

That may have been true last year, but not this one. We've relied on individual brilliance for almost the entire season to get us to where we wanted to be. I can't remember the last truly good team performance we put in, and you can count the total number of them for the season on one hand. Even against very poor opposition such as in the Europa League, we were often very bad as a unit and on many occasions barely scraped by.
Needs to be fixed in the coming campaign.

@ Soul, I completely agree, his recent form did help us win matches which is certainly something I wanted out of his game. As long as he can keep it up, I would certainly keep him in my squad.

@Shed, my internet cut out

@ Uncanny, I agree. Juan and Eden play some sexy football.

Kick wrote:@ Soul, I completely agree, his recent form did help us win matches which is certainly something I wanted out of his game. As long as he can keep it up, I would certainly keep him in my squad.

Yea, he helped us win games.....in the Europa League.


1 PL goal in the last 5 months. Truly pathetic. The only competition he's been of even moderate use in is one we won't be playing in again for a very long time.

And that one goal secured third spot....

He scored a few winners in the EL yes, but that is what we were competing in, that is what was asked of him, who's to say he can't do it in the COC or FAC?

Kick wrote:And that one goal secured third spot....

We'd have gotten 3rd without that goal on Goals Scored.


Besides, had he been performing in the league the whole season like he should have been and not going on a 5 month holiday without a single goal, locking up 3rd wouldn't have come down to the last game of the season in the first place.

Kick wrote:who's to say he can't do it in the COC or FAC?

He's had 3 years to and hasn't. What makes you think he's all of a sudden going to start now?

Uncanny wrote:This Chelsea team really impressed me ever since the sacking of AVB because they have been working as a unit since then and now I can only see Mourinho strengthing this unity with an even more winning mentality.

That may have been true last year, but not this one. We've relied on individual brilliance for almost the entire season to get us to where we wanted to be. I can't remember the last truly good team performance we put in, and you can count the total number of them for the season on one hand. Even against very poor opposition such as in the Europa League, we were often very bad as a unit and on many occasions barely scraped by.
Needs to be fixed in the coming campaign.[/quote]

agree, hence why I feel Mourinho would bring this unlike RDM (I love him) who I largely felt was more like players best friend than a coach, and Rafa given the interm name was hastily drawn in to do things without getting to know the players before hand besides torres and benyuean (ie- a preseason)

Anyway Kicky, as I said, I've prepared a lengthy point-by-point response to your original post but seeing as it's almost 4am here and I'm extremely tired and will be turning in shortly, I'll post it when you're on tomorrow so a proper discussion can be had

ahh but I don't want to turn this into a pro-mou, pro-torres/anti-mou, anti-torres thing, it is what it is, we have been battering this on this forum to a quite extreme length already

Shed wrote:Anyway Kicky, as I said, I've prepared a lengthy point-by-point response to your original post but seeing as it's almost 4am here and I'm extremely tired and will be turning in shortly, I'll post it when you're on tomorrow so a proper discussion can be had

Look forward to it, good night.

Uncanny wrote:ahh but I don't want to turn this into a pro-mou, pro-torres/anti-mou, anti-torres thing, it is what it is, we have been battering this on this forum to a quite extreme length already

tbh, it think it might, but hey, who doesn't like a good debate?

The best example for team Unity was the FA Cup against ManU, first match. But still the motivation we had under RDM was epic.

But the most important thing is that, we have one of the most deadly attacking midfields in the world right now. Next season is gonna be a cracker!