2021/22 Rafael Benitez

[Furey1878]

Slowly but surely we are turning into the Everton I knew we would be under Benitez.

Where's his fan club this morning? Still defending his selection of Rondon and Iwobi I'd imagine.

Come on, mate. I totally get you bemoaning supporters of Benitez that you feel are fanboys/fangirls. But to also post prophetically like that you know it's destined to fail is not only arrogant, but also hypocritical because it portrays as the type of fan that will bemoan Benitez no matter how well he does, whilst at the same time you're bemoaning fans who will defend him no matter how bad he does.

Despite how poor we were, it was a game that was settled on fine margins. We have stone pillar upfront and the only players we could call on off the bench were Gordon and Davies, meanwhile West Ham have a good centre-forward to help knit everything together and had Yarmolenko, Lanzini, Vlasic to call on off the bench.

Fair enough if you think Benitez should have started Gordon and/or Mina, like. I can see why Mina didn't play, myself.

Need to bounce back against Watford now just as we had to against Norwich, a team we have to be beating at home.

 

[woodsyni]

It

That for me is indefensible.

It was his refusal to change once it was apparent how bad they were, not even the original selection. Had very few options, I concede, but any change couldn't have been worse. Still, we're all allowed a mistake or a bad day. I hope his intransigence isn't going to be his undoing. The one thing I was hoping he would bring was an intolerance of poor performance.

 

[jamieni]

It

It was his refusal to change once it was apparent how bad they were, not even the original selection. Had very few options, I concede, but any change couldn't have been worse. Still, we're all allowed a mistake or a bad day. I hope his intransigence isn't going to be his undoing. The one thing I was hoping he would bring was an intolerance of poor performance.

All our recent managers seem to have done it. I can only conclude that they really don’t trust the bench. Would have liked to have seen Dobbin given a run out at least since Rondon offered no threat at all from what I saw.

 

[BigDuncTributeBand]

Slowly but surely we are turning into the Everton I knew we would be under Benitez.

Where's his fan club this morning? Still defending his selection of Rondon and Iwobi I'd imagine.

I didn’t want him initially because I thought with his style we’d see lots of games like yesterday’s. Sit deep, show no interest in keeping the ball or playing with it and then trying to spring the counter attack. That’s fine when the counter attack game is working but when it’s not, you get games like yesterday and it’s eye bleeding. To be fair that’s the first game we’ve been anywhere near that bad and that’s with some big injuries. Hope we’ll be a bit more adventurous going forward and with the ball, particularly when we get DCL and Ritchie back.

 

[Collyman]

Big lowering of expectation now, very close to getting into top 4 last season, pretty sure we would have done with Goodison full that and awful home record would have not materialised as it did.

We might not have had so many away wins if stadiums were full. Very close to top 4? And finished 10th. Come on mate.

 

[jamieni]

I didn’t want him initially because I thought with his style we’d see lots of games like yesterday’s. Sit deep, show no interest in keeping the ball or playing with it and then trying to spring the counter attack. That’s fine when the counter attack game is working but when it’s not, you get games like yesterday and it’s eye bleeding. To be fair that’s the first game we’ve been anywhere near that bad and that’s with some big injuries. Hope we’ll be a bit more adventurous going forward and with the ball, particularly when we get DCL and Ritchie back.

RB still worries me. Seamus always seems to look to pass sideways or backwards when he gets the ball. Only saw the last 25 mins but he seemed to slow up a few counter attack opportunities.

Definitely the worst I’ve seen from us this season.

 

[jamieni]

We might not have had so many away wins if stadiums were full. Very close to top 4? And finished 10th. Come on mate.

Last season was an anomaly. A lot of teams lost a lot of home matches. It was a big chance to possibly sneak into top 5 but we blew it towards the end of the season.

 

[Groucho]

Let’s not knee jerk ourselves into misery after one home defeat.

 

[Nymzee]

Small club performance.

 

[BigDuncTributeBand]

RB still worries me. Seamus always seems to look to pass sideways or backwards when he gets the ball. Only saw the last 25 mins but he seemed to slow up a few counter attack opportunities.

Definitely the worst I’ve seen from us this season.

Yeah right back is still a major gap in the squad. Pathetic really when you see how West Ham have managed to get a good looking squad within a few seasons for a fraction of what we’ve spent.

 

[woodsyni]

All our recent managers seem to have done it. I can only conclude that they really don’t trust the bench. Would have liked to have seen Dobbin given a run out at least since Rondon offered no threat at all from what I saw.

I agree. In the clear light of day, his options were practically non-existent. Thought there was nothing to lose by trying Dobbin and Iwobi should definitely been hooked. As I say, we're all allowed a mistake or an off day. Fingers crossed for a striker's return.

 

[Barnfred 55]

Not so sure what could have been plan B when there is no one of note on the bench that can significant change the shape of the team and allow for better penetration.

Benitez is not the kind of coach who will take risk if he think the possibility of concede more goal is higher than scoring one if he make changes.

Who's fault is that?

 

[4737carlin]

Not so sure what could have been plan B when there is no one of note on the bench that can significant change the shape of the team and allow for better penetration.

Benitez is not the kind of coach who will take risk if he think the possibility of concede more goal is higher than scoring one if he make changes.

Add to that you dont expect Allan to have a shocker, Ben to be poor and even Doc i didnt think was normal high standard, when you have your 3 main players out its not going to help when 3 more depenable players dont play well too.

The best player on our bench was Tom Davies, how can we have a plan B with that? (Mina dosent count since he was reasted for obvious reasons)

 

[Barnfred 55]

Not so sure what could have been plan B when there is no one of note on the bench that can significant change the shape of the team and allow for better penetration.

Benitez is not the kind of coach who will take risk if he think the possibility of concede more goal is higher than scoring one if he make changes.

You also completely ignored the second part of my post. Very convenient

 

[degsy]

Benitez got it wrong twice with Iwobi
Selecting him
Not taking him off at HT.
By accident or design the way our mid field was set up played to their strengths
There was a collective off day on the field...9 and a half men Vs 11 added to all the above.

Taking into consideration our poor squad, will our Coach learn from it.
If he does, fair enough
If not - it's tear in to him time...and being an ex rs will have nothing to do with it.
It's all about poor management.