by Victor Meldrew »
03 Dec 2012 17:19
Chelsea fans are a bit thick (yes I know that you all know that already but I felt like pointing it out again).
Under Di Matteo (or rather,Terry,Lampard and Cole) Chelsea hadn't won for 3 games,had been mightily embarrassed by Athletico Madrid and with their performance in Europe could become the laughing-stock of all time by being the first previous year's winners of the Champs League to get knocked out in the group stage.
So with humiliation both v Athletico and v Juventus the chairman sacks the manager and bear in mind that he previously sacked Avram after Chelsea had been a penalty kick away from winning the Champs league.
Di Matteo is hailed as if he had been there for years winning leagues and Champ leagues galore when in fact he presided over one of the jammiest and most boring Champs League wins ever and on a par with Red Star Belgrade(?).
The chairman being an impatient type can't wait till next summer for his preferred manager so he gets in a steady Eddie with great experience to oversee the rest of the season,it could have been Grant or Hiddick again but both are now probably too old.
Benitez takes on a squad with it's main striker misfiring but with no back-up in that position other than a lad who wants to get away and players that all across midfield can't tackle or at least not the 3 amigos.
It is also on the back of a couple of racist cases and the two mainstays of previous seasons are injured.
What do the fans expect within a week from any new manager let alone one who knows he is in the job for just a few months?
Watching them against West Ham on saturday they flowed going forward and probably should have gone in about 4 goals up but the lead was only one.
Big Sam fires his lot up at half-time and they no longer stand back in admiration and the rest is history-Chelsea with none of Benitez's signings capitulate and rarely win a tackle anywhere across the pitch and even that gentle giant,Carlton Cole, outmuscles a defender to score a very rare goal.
The Chelsea fans are fixated with little messages about Benitez but just don't acknowledge that their very expensive array of players went missing when they needed to stand up and be counted, a bit like Arsenal on a bad day.
What did they expect Benitez to do?
Their chairman might have a magic wand (wedge) but after just about a week working with players who are already underperforming,none of them chosen and signed by the manager and with so few options on the bench what wand did they think Benitez would wave?
Any reasonable fan (reasonable and Chelsea fans don't really go together apart from some of those of the pre-Abramovich era) even if they disliked Benitez would surely be glad that he is a caretaker and treat him like previous caretakers with some respect but no,because he said a few words in the heat of battle (John Terry anyone?)when at a previous club he is treated with a despicable welcome (perhaps unprecedented in English football) on day one.
Lord knows what they would have done if Fergie had taken the job.
Why can't they be content that he is there just for the short term?
Seeing those overindulged fans at West Ham on Saturday I wondered what they are all about.
We know that in the 70s they were just another Millwall and now they are just a modern baying mob upset that their Father Christmas hadn't given them the present that they wanted this year-tough on you cretins we are all in a recession and life doesn't always work out the way that you want so be careful what you wish for as Father Christmas might not be around next year and without him there could be no lights,crackers or even a tree.