http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/8298637/Chelsea-boss-Rafael-Benitez-admits-Chelsea-squad-are-tired-and-plans-to-rotate

This actually makes a lot of sense, one cannot deny that "Squad Rotation" was never Di Matteo's strong suit and that he never had a Plan B. One of the few times Matteo rotated the squad and formation the results were really bad, such as that awful night in Turin.

Benitez admits he told Roman Abramovich that Di Matteo's over-reliance on a core group of players has left the squad struggling to cope with the weight of fixtures even before the Christmas programme kicks in.

No prizes for guessing who they are.

Thoughts?

Despite the massive Anti-Benitez aura present I still think he has a point.

Excuse No. 3. There going to come thick & fast now.

To be honest it's not really excuse. It's fact. Take Hazard for example. When he first came here he looked energetic and was all over the place and his stats showed that. Now look at his performances over the last few weeks. Another example is when Mata came back from his break after Euro 2012 and he was incredible which again showed in his stats. The whole squad are tired. Incredibly tired. Once the midweek games go away we'll have more of a chance again. 3 games in 7-8 days is just too much.

I mean, how many of us (myself included) have screamed ourselves hoarse when Juan Mata and/or Oscar have not started in a match?

How many times in matches like that have we struggled to make an impact?

Rafael has a totally valid point, granted Di Matteo didn't have many other options with other players injured and what not but still.

I mean, how many of us (myself included) have screamed ourselves hoarse when Juan Mata and/or Oscar have not started in a match?

How many times in matches like that have we struggled to make an impact?

Rafael has a totally valid point, granted Di Matteo didn't have many other options with other players injured and what not but still.

Exactly. I hate to agree with him but he's completely correct. 270 minutes of football a week at the level of the Premier and Champions league takes its toll.

Our players are quite small as well so working on strength would be something good to improve on, particularly for Torres.

Edited December 1, 201213 yr by omnidroid70

There have been a lot of injuries/suspensions which mean resting players and bringing others in puts a lot of players on the field at once that haven't played together.

The team has been gelling and with all the forced changes that makes it difficult to bring in new faces in other positions.

The fat twat is giving people ammunition to use against Robbie to convince them getting rid of him was a reasonable decision...Bollocks, hes squirmed his way into the Job and is squirming his way into peoples affections.

Fat disrespectful moron.

Edited December 1, 201213 yr by Chippy

There have been a lot of injuries/suspensions which mean resting players and bringing others in puts a lot of players on the field at once that haven't played together.

The team has been gelling and with all the forced changes that makes it difficult to bring in new faces in other positions.

The fat twat is giving people ammunition to use against Robbie to convince them getting rid of him was a reasonable decision...Bollocks, hes squirmed his way into the Job and squirming his way into peoples affections.

Fat disrespectful moron.

That's probably the only thing I disagree with that he said on the matter. Although I have always thought/said that the players are very tired.

Hell, we've been commenting on "how poor Oscar's touch has been over the past few games" and "man, Hazard was so good at the start of the season".

This makes absolute sense, just because Benitez says something doesn't mean its' absolute bollocks straight-off-the-bat.

Hell, we've been commenting on "how poor Oscar's touch has been over the past few games" and "man, Hazard was so good at the start of the season".

This makes absolute sense, just because Benitez says something doesn't mean its' absolute bollocks straight-off-the-bat.

It does to me,

I gave my reasons why I think Robbie used the squad the way he did, add to that Marin wasn't fit, Torres isn't allowed to be dropped and the lethargy has been far more apparent since Rata came in (second half against Swanse for instance I don't think anyone looked that jaded.

Robbie knows full well how to use a small squad of players to great results, look at the end of last season.

Apparently Oscar is being rested today and Moses is to start. Of course that has been turned into Torres is not getting the right service from Oscar by the media but I imagine it is more to do with the fact that he needs a rest and we need to stretch west ham today

The game against Nordsjaelland is more important although we have nothing to lose. I can understand why players have been rested.

I don't know, maybe there's something to it, but it just sounds to me like something obvious he would say to excuse the piss-poor team performances in the last few games. Every other team has a core group of players that they rely on so we're hardly unique in that respect.

He didn't actually say 'the squad has burned out' did he ?

The midweek games are killing us. Which shows what a cock-up it was by RdM to win the CL.

Bringing back Malouda is the way forward.

He didn't actually say 'the squad has burned out' did he ?

According to redknapp I believe the direct quote is the team is not fit

That's still very different than the title of the thread, no ? Not sure where it came from.

The former Liverpool manager revealed: “We had a board meeting and I explained what I’d seen.

“You can see the team needs to improve physically. You cannot do that if they play two games in a week. Sometimes you can do it with one game a week, with a physical programme in between. But not with two games a week.

“They were asking me my opinion on what we need and I said it was too early. I was pleased they were asking, but I need a couple of games.â€

“We had too many players playing almost every game, 11 or 12 playing every game.

“Others hadn’t had too many minutes. You cannot play two or three games in eight days and be fully fit. The players were getting tired.â€

Erm, so your agreed he didn't actually say ''the squad has burned out' then??! Just think the title of the thread resembles a Sun headline...

Edited December 1, 201213 yr by bjd

Erm, so your agreed he didn't actually say ''the squad has burned out' then??! Just think the title of the thread resembles a Sun headline...

Maybe not in those exact words but there is more than enough insinuation in his words. He is no doubt just plucking these from the managerial book of excuses. Typical rafa

Has that fat bar steward looked in the mirror recently ?

just a f'in excuse for his crap management, mark my words this slump is just the start under silly bollocks

They are professional footballers FFS. Its not even half way through the season what absolute bollocks.

Don't know were we go from here.

One thing that should be done id sack Benitez and immediately placate the fans and ease the ill tension for the players.

Appoint a captain that can influence the team Cech is and never will be a captain, my suggestion would be Mata.

If the club dont do something this will get worse.

Give JT the f**king manager job. He's been here when we've had Jose, Ranieri, Hiddink, Ancelotti, etc. He knows how a good manager manages, and knows the club and players through and through.

This club is a mess at the moment. Rafa isn't wanted by the fans, and by the looks of it, the players. Today's second half performance was embarrasing, it doesn't look like the players are fighting for each other at all. Why would you when you have a temporary manager in charge thats hated by the fans?

Give JT the f**king manager job. He's been here when we've had Jose, Ranieri, Hiddink, Ancelotti, etc.

Erm really that would make things worse. Not long ago the press were suggesting we sack him can you imagine if we made him player manager.

I wouldn't want JT shat on the way RDM was.