Is the Writing on the Wall Yet for Benitez? And does it say F*ck Off?

Terry: did not care to warm up and watch
from the bench.

It would have been a fitting end to his tenure at Chelsea, however it seems that Benitez has still managed to not be handed his P45 after what can only be described as an affair as limp* on the pitch as Raheem Sterling's wrist. *Other adjectives for the European Champions performance could include but are not limited to: turgid, abysmal, flat ... poo.


Since his opening match against City where both clubs drew to a 0-0 draw attempting to bore the 40,000 at Stamford Bridge into a comatose state, one would think that Benitez in all his tactical prowess would have bothered learning a thing or two about, at minimum, his opposition. Fielding an extremely defensive lineup against a team missing their best defender? Brilliant. It's almost like it was a lineup from a man who would make pointless substitutions in the 80th minute.

Even Frank Lampard, who's not put a step wrong since his campaign to embarrass the club into a (deserved) contract extension began missed his penalty. It was just not going to go Chelsea's way on Sunday, but they could have at least acted like they cared, if (and definitely) not for the 'manager', but for the fans, for each other, for the pay cheques they are only too happy to collect. The fight is gone on and off the pitch at the moment. Not to take anything away from City, but that was a display that anyone would probably like to extract from their memory. I may or may not have opted to drink until I could not feel feelings.

Kevin Friend: Public Enemy Number One at the Community Shield

The Missing Link: Sweaty in patches

Football is back! Between the Euros and the Olympics that finished up last night, it was never -actually- gone. But let’s be honest, it’s not quite the same is it? No, it’s really not. Although the standard displayed was often far superior to some of the skills on display at Villa Park in this year’s Community Shield. These were two teams clearly who had enjoyed their pre-season vacations training a tad too much - one a little more than the other.

And the players weren’t the only ones. To say that Kevin Friend had a bit of a shocker, is like saying that maybe John Terry wouldn’t be the best face of this year’s Kick It Out Campaign. Outside of the ridiculous challenge from Ivanovic that definitely warranted his card, the rest of the cards given and missed were inconsistent and at times, defied logic. I know I’m being pretty demanding in needing logic AND consistency from a referee, but there you go.

If you’re a Chelsea supporter, it had to feel good to see Fernando Torres start things off exactly where he left off last season - with a full head of highlights. There’s of course the matter of the goal as well. However everything else about the performance indicated a need for a few more training sessions before next weekend comes. The defence did a fantastic job in the first half keeping City at bay, but once reduced to 10 men, there wasn’t much they could do. City were far more organised from beginning to end.