West Ham United 3 - Chelsea 1: Initial reaction and community rating form

That's three games in the Rafa Benitez era, and Chelsea are yet to record a win. They actually managed a goal today, but were absolutely bossed in the second half by a vastly inferior team. Rafa Benitez was supposedly brought in to fix this sort of thing, but instead he's managed to make a fun to watch and inconstant team boring and just as inconsistent. Well done, Rafa, and great decision to hire him guys. This is working out great.

Here are some thoughts about the "performance", one that I wish I could just forget:

• The white kit/blue shorts combination is nice, and different from years past. Boy, that teal slash on the kit is ugly though. I have a feeling those will be available cheap from the megastore 2-3 years from now.
• The Petr Cech punch/handball was one of the stranger decisions I've seen him make over the course of his career. Luckily his brilliant save from the ensuing free kick limited the damage.
• The band of three were clearly playing interchangeable football again in the first half, and sure enough we looked more dangerous than we have in any other game that Rafa has been in charge. Hopefully the fact that we conceded twice in the second half doesn't mean we go right back to ultra-conservative football.
• I honestly wonder if Fernando Torres has some sort of homing beacon for the goalkeeper. Every time he shoots, it seems to be laser guided to the exact location the keeper has set up in.
• There's not too much to complain about performance-wise with the way Chelsea conceded the first goal of the game. Weird deflections and Carlton Cole climbing over the back of Ivanovic isn't something you can really account for in pre-match planning. With the goal though, Chelsea still have not kept a clean sheet in a game David Luiz did not start.
• Up next for Rafa is another game in front of the Stamford Bridge crowd. Oh yeah, and it may well see us eliminated from the Champions League before the knockout round. This should be pleasant.
• There is now a good chance that we'll trail Manchester United by double digit points at the end of this weekend. We were three points behind when Rafa took over just three games ago.