Football Burp visited online Chelsea communities CFCnet, We Ain’t Got No History and The Shed End to see what the Stamford Bridge faithful had to say about Rafael Benitez in the wake of last night’s shock defeat at home to Queens Park Rangers, and about the arrival of Demba Ba from Newcastle United…

Mutu7, CFCnet…

Good to see that the interim is continuing to turn things around. Getting us playing some great football and more importantly winning again after Di Matteo was all set to take us down. Those glorious victories over New Zealand, Monterray and Aston Villa will live long in the memory. And as an added bonus, he’s getting the best out of Nando.

Incidentally Robbie’s league record this season was P12 W7 D3 L2, which included away wins at Arsenal and Tottenham and that loss against Clattenburg United. The interim’s record is: P8 W4 D2 L2. So presumably one more dropped point and the interim can expect his P45 as well. Roman is nothing if not consistent when it comes to managers.

Max Chelsea, We Ain’t Got No History…

What irritates me the most is that Benitez rotated all 3 attacking mids but not Frank and David who have played too many games recently and need a rest. Ramires should have been in the midfield instead of one of those two no doubt. What an idiot

Valens, We Ain’t Got No History…

Sure, let’s kill him for everything. Frank and David can be easily replaced
by Rambo and Mikel right? Those two bring the same stuff to the table, am I right? They’re totally not defensive at all.

Hazmat has played 99% of all games, but that shouldn’t matter. We absolutely NEED them to play against the last placed team at HOME. We’re totally not capable of beating them with our B-attack. No siree, we’re a mid-table club who has to play their strongest line-up against the weakest team in the league at home.

The players were totally not at fault whatsoever. BLAME THE FAT MAN!

Juan Mata Dor, CFCnet…

I’m not one to go in topics with the old ‘good game he scored’ ‘he didn’t score, he’s rubbish’ type thing that some do….. But, that was a truly, truly shocking result today. Utterly shocking from Rafa. What was he thinking? He took QPR too lightly, and we got seriously punished for it. We, as a club with the squad we have, simply cannot afford to rest Mata, no matter how tempting. Get the job done, then take the guy off! Truly fuming.

Blue_In_Every_Way, CFCnet…

Took a really big gamble tonight and it backfired spectacularly. Gutted that he decided to rest both Hazard and Mata simultaneously.

TheColorIsBlue, We Ain’t Got No History…

i am literally disgusted by the performance today
i’m actually sick to my stomach after watching that garbage. you’d think at some point somebody would just say enough of the long shots, they’re never going in.

ollieTorres, We Ain’t Got No History…

I’m staying positive
I’ll keep hoping that we can mount a title challenge. Rafa has done some alright stuff since he joined, then there days like today (and west ham)… Sigh

Grimsby Blue, CFCnet…

Well I’ve spent the day defending the guy and then he goes and does that!
Yes he rotated, but the likes of Marin and Moses coming into the side should not have weakened us to the point where we lose to that shower of shite.
For me it wasn’t the players left out or the players that came in, but merely the message that it sends out, making all those changes, “oh it’s only QPR lads, bottom of the league, did you see how crap they were on Sunday? So Ash, Juan, Eden, get your tracksuits on lads, you shouldn’t be needed.”
The result…slow paced, lack of tempo, lack of urgency.
The selection and the motivation are down to the manager – and he clearly got both wrong tonight.

And now in his favour, a huge amount of blame can be laid at the door of the owner/board. In a game like tonights, where the opposition are sitting back and crowding out the space, a plan B is required. With one striker who is already on the field and finding no joy, where are the options? Because our only alternative was 200 miles away having just signed for Liverpool. Thanks for that Emmenalo!

mfb997, CFCnet…

If he had to rotate, I dont understand why he didn’t rest lamps, not Mata. At pushing 35, you can`t expect him to play two games in 4 days. Yes he scored two on Sunday, but bloody hell ! how much energy did he leave at Goodison. And Oscar could have played the defensive midfield role to give Luiz a rest. Get the goals in the bank and then take off mata for lamps. Apzi, Bane, Cahill, Torres, all these played all through the holiday period, ( I think ) why not mata ? And Rameries had already missed a couple of games, why was he rested ?
He did this at liverpool and slowly and surely took them down and down and down. Get used to it !!

sdb123, We Ain’t Got No History…

He made three changes
Aside from the enforced Turnbull selection. Bertrand, Marin and Oscar….hardly the sea change tha is being made out. With that team the players should have won comfortably….they didn’t perform so didn’t win. Yes, the manager has to accept some blame however the players didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory

CarefreeCFC, We Ain’t Got No History…

Not all of the “regulars” were good choices.
In addition to starting Cole, Hazard, and Mata, he should have put Luiz in center-back. He did pretty terribly at the rest of his job, as well. The subs were poorly timed, and he probably should have removed Torres. His game-plan was bad, and he didn’t make the necessary HT adjustments.

Galol, CFCnet…

This is loss is a huge set back but there is no reason to get all hysterical about it. We all knew at the end of November that we’re not going to win the league this season. The best we can do in the league is a comfortable finish in Champions League spot which we still can and will. Our closest competitors for CL spot (3rd or 4th spots) are Everton and Spurs and they’ve both been very inconsistent. If we win our game in hand we will be 5 points clear of 5th placed Everton and 2 clear of 4th placed Spurs. So we’re in a good shape for 3rd place finish this season. Actually, we have a good shot at 2nd place finish given how dodgy Man City has been this season.

So, everyone get back down to reality and cheer up!

MK Essien, We Ain’t Got No History…

Rotation is not a problem..
..when you supposedly have a strong squad like Chelsea’s. Especially against the bottom of the table team at home.

Blaming the lineup is an excuse. Chelsea were wasteful on the ball and Torres played as poorly as ever.

Even still, all it needed was a little bit of luck and Chelsea would’ve got the single goal that would’ve been enough – there were enough chances if the final ball was just a bit better or fell a bit more kindly. In the end, QPR predictably got a lucky goal from a pot shot from SWP of all people, having created nothing all game.

You can’t say Chelsea deserved to lose but it’s true they could’ve done more to secure the win. I predicted this pre-match; a result like this always seems to come up in recent years when Chelsea start to hit form. Chelsea’s title chances were dim enough to begin with and this all but ends them, but I’m still confident top 3 is a distinct possibility, and then they can build from there.

Demba Ba

Michael Tucker, CFCnet…

Proven Premiership scorers aren’t exactly thick on the ground. Particularly in the January window, and almost never for 7 mill. If the club can sort out the ‘who-gets-paid-what’ fiasco with Ba’s cast of thousands, then he’ll be a smart buy. Yes, there’s a risk with his knee, but it’s hardly troubled him (if at all) during his time at Newcastle. Can’t see much of a problem here, tbh.

SimonH, The Shed End…

I would take 1 Demba Ba with 2 polystyrene knees over one Fernando Torres any day.

Hulk Smash, CFCnet…

Against us though, teams are going to sit deep and go in hard, and as ThePsychoPianist mentioned, knee problems don’t improve over time and can very easily make a turn for the worst.

While the transfer fee of 7 mil isn’t large, when you include sign on fees and 3 years worth of wages which are reportedly around 3 mil per annum, plus the fact that there will be no resale as we’re investing in a player with known medical problems, the risk becomes significant.

It’s going to be a calculated risk in the end, and based on the battering that Drogba took over the years it may not turn out well.

Joust, The Shed End…

He can’t arrive quick enough at this stage, next to no movement from Torres in the box tonight and was bossed around by Ryan Nelsen, of all centre backs in the league, was frustrating and embarrassing to watch.

He’ll be welcomed with open arms, dodgy knees or not, we need him.

Mata’s Left Foot, CFCnet…

Big, strong, great in the air, great finisher and a powerful shot. 7 Million is a steal. you won’t find a better CF for that kind of price. I really think he’s a good player. hopefully, he proves me right.

AlwaysRight, The Shed End…

Not sure if it’s been mentioned but Ba’s injury isn’t quite what I thought – I was under the impression he had dodgy ‘knees’ that he’d been born with, and that they will get worse with age.

It seems it was a case of a botched operation while In Morocco when he broke his leg, leaving a nail fragment touching a delicate internal part of his left knee on his initial surgery which caused him problems. The dodgy knee was cleaned up while he was at Hoffenheim, and I assume Germany has pretty good doctors. There is also quotes of him saying while his knee isn’t 100%, that he knows how to manage it and play football with it.

Personally from what I read I’m not as worried about his ‘injury’ as I was previously, and the fact it’s only one knee. Maybe he’s slightly playing with some pain, but it certainly doesn’t restrict his mobility, power or scoring ability. Fingers crossed after 2 seasons of no injury or problem, he will be a solid buy for us. He’s certainly an upgrade on Torres!

genjuro, CFCnet…

Very good player who can turn awesome if the team plays its cards right. Imo well worth the risk and I can easily see him score quality goals with the team mates he is going to play with. can’t wait to see us put away chances Torres fluffs.

timetowaste, The Shed End…

If you’d have told me 2 years ago that Demba Ba would be the man Chelsea are relying on to save our season I’d have laughed in your face and had you sectioned.

Welcome Demba, god bless you and your rickety knee

Galol, CFCnet…

Even though is he is strong and tall, Ba’s greatest asset is his innate football acumen. Pay careful attention when he plays and you will note that his goals are the result of clever use of his body, doing the unexpected and exploiting miscalculation by the opposition. Because of that, I think he will be success here at Chelsea.

He has to be! We got Torres and any half-decent CF is improvement over Torres.

Ba is also improvement over headless Sturridge and CFC legend Kalou although the latter was more of wide forward than pure CF like Ba. So, all in all Ba will improve us. But we still need two top class strikers of the mold of Falcao/Cavani.

Are you pleased to see the arrival of Demba Ba, Chelsea fans? Have your say in the comments section below…