2021/22 Rafael Benitez

[JimmyK]

Going into those three games, no one on here expected nine points. No one expected seven, six or even four.

We got nine.

That's why I call it a miracle, because if you look at the 'form' going in, that's what it was.

Look at it this way - if we got nine points from the next three games, would you say that's a miracle based on current form? Liverpool, Chelsea, Palace.

If "yes", then you are being deliberately facetious in what you're saying.

If we win tonight i'll think it's a miracle. If we beat an average Palace side I won't think it's a miracle. If we have already won tonight and against Arsenal then I definitely won't think beating Palace is a miracle. This is all pretty entry level stuff you know.

 

[Tubey]

You didn't rate the players we lost though?

Sure, but Coleman is finished - if we got rid of him in the summer and just completely didn't replace him at all, he'd be a massive miss, even if he's a bit crap.

Sigurdsson exactly the same thing. A squad used to playing with him week in week out, 44 games and that's suddenly completely gone. Add to that Doucoure, Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin and Mina being missed for large chunks of the season and I am mystified as to how people are confused that we're struggling and think it's on Benitez to any serious degree.

 

[MikeH72]

We did. Sigurdsson and Kean alone, £75m. I didn't even include Bolasie, Bernard.

But it's mostly Sigurdsson. As bad as he is/was, he was our first choice 'playmaker' for want of a better word and was completely, totally unreplaced. He played 44 games last season; that's a gaping hole in what we had and what we have now.

Townsend has replaced his output.

 

[Tubey]

If we win tonight i'll think it's a miracle. If we beat an average Palace side I won't think it's a miracle. If we have already won tonight and against Arsenal then I definitely won't think beating Palace is a miracle. This is all pretty entry level stuff you know.

Hahaha

Yeah, I'm just going to laugh at this point. Just ridiculously facetious.

 

[Simon Buttle]

Some articles we get a thumping tonight, he's gone...

Others, he will sell DCL to rebuild our team = utter wham ....

There is a good chance him or Richy will need to be sold in summer to allow for a rebuild Joey.

 

[Tubey]

Townsend has replaced his output.

Who, Sigurdsson?

Chalk and cheese as different positions. He's offered more than Bernard obviously, who was unfortunately a lightweight.

We don't even have a playmaker on the books now. Iwobi played the shadow striker role against Brentford, which is just tragic.

 

[MikeH72]

Who, Sigurdsson?

Chalk and cheese as different positions. He's offered more than Bernard obviously, who was unfortunately a lightweight.

We don't even have a playmaker on the books now. Iwobi played the shadow striker role against Brentford, which is just tragic.

Sigurdsson was a playmaker that didn’t make play unless you count lobbing set pieces from wide areas into the penalty spot area as creativity.

 

[Joey66]

There is a good chance him or Richy will need to be sold in summer to allow for a rebuild Joey.

Or Pickford, Spurs want him....

 

[The Penalty Box Dancer]

To achieve his season goals of being in or around European contention, we need to have beat Watford at home, got something at Wolves away and Brentford away. We are now faced with having to beat the so-called Top 4 at home to even consider being around Europe.

 

[Tubey]

Sigurdsson was a playmaker that didn’t make play unless you count lobbing set pieces from wide areas into the penalty spot area as creativity.

He was terrible but allowed the 4-2-3-1 set-up, where you have wide attackers.

We're now without both players in Sigurdsson and James who allowed it, regardless of their quality.

We have no central attacking midfielder/playmaker in the first team squad now, so all you can do is a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-1-1 with a shadow striker.

You could, if you're proper mad, argue Iwobi is one, but he isn't even a footballer as far as I'm concerned and has played the bulk of his Everton career on the wing and his actual best game as a right wing back, so... meh.

 

[Cool_Blue]

Got players to sell...

Ha Ha Ha. It’s like my garage, full of crap I can’t get rid of because nobody wants it. i.e. my garage = most of our squad

 

[JimmyK]

Hahaha

Yeah, I'm just going to laugh at this point. Just ridiculously facetious.

I honestly don't know what you think is facetious about that. Crystal Palace are one place and one point above us in the table having played an extra game. They've only won 3 games all season and have lost their last 2 to sides around us in the table. The day I see winning a game like that as being anything other than just acceptable will be a very sad day. A miracle. Good God.

 

[Tubey]

I honestly don't know what you think is facetious about that. Crystal Palace are one place and one point above us in the table having played an extra game. They've only won 3 games all season and have lost their last 2 to sides around us in the table. The day I see winning a game like that as being anything other than just acceptable will be a very sad day. A miracle. Good God.

Because I asked you, ahead of that run, would you expect 9 points.

You didn't answer the question. Instead you segmented it.

I'll try again. Right now, before a ball is kicked in those three games, would you expect 9 points from Liverpool, Chelsea and Palace? Hell, I'll go one further, would you expect seven or even six?

If your answer is "no", because of recent form and because we're not good enough, then you are being facetious in laughing off my description of Ancelotti's three wins as 'a miracle'. Because right before those three games Ancelotti had, if someone had said we'd get 9 points, they'd be called insane, because the form going into those three games was one win in seven against a terrible Fulham side, just as the form going into the three games now is dreadful too.

It doesn't 'reset' after one game because we're specifically discussing the three as a segment. If you put a bet on the next three games now, the bookmakers wouldn't change the odds of your bet based on what happens in the first one.

 

[Saint Domingo]

Do that and watch them be able to win a game in 2 months unlike us and the fat charlatan of a manager we have.

That’s because they all have better squads than us. None of them are bringing on absolute championship chumps like Keane Davies Iwobi to plug holes in their squad. If Spurs lose Kane they bring in Moura a Brazilian international. If we lose DCL we bring in Rondon. Spurs aren’t even good either. I don’t know why people struggle to recognise the true level of this squad. It’s shown year after year that it’s a mid table squad even with its best players fit that will range between 8-12th in the league depending on its fitness record. We’ll probably end up doing exactly the same this season. Yet people expect us to be able to lose our best players and just ‘win games, just win a few games’. We’ve got no divine right whatsoever to do so. You win games in the long run by having better players than the opposition and when our squad is missing key players it’s a lower end of the table squad.

That’s the truth but some people refuse to handle it. Keep dreaming of this vision where Keane Coleman Davies Iwobi Digne Holgate Siggurdson are playing teams off the park, keeping clean sheets, and scoring goals against premier league opposition, this lot were outplayed by Rotherham and QPR in the last year alone! We had to bring on Doucoure and James Rodriguez just to beat Rotherham at home!! Yet some think our backup players should just be winning games.

It hasn’t happened, it’s not happening, it’s not going to happen.

 

[Efcjake]

That’s because they all have better squads than us. None of them are bringing on absolute championship chumps like Keane Davies Iwobi to plug holes in their squad. If Spurs lose Kane they bring in Moura a Brazilian international. If we lose DCL we bring in Rondon. Spurs aren’t even good either. I don’t know why people struggle to recognise the true level of this squad. It’s shown year after year that it’s a mid table squad even with its best players fit that will range between 8-12th in the league depending on its fitness record. We’ll probably end up doing exactly the same this season. Yet people expect us to be able to lose our best players and just ‘win games, just win a few games’. We’ve got no divine right whatsoever to do so. You win games in the long run by having better players than the opposition and when our squad is missing key players it’s a lower end of the table squad.

That’s the truth but some people refuse to handle it. Keep dreaming of this vision where Keane Coleman Davies Iwobi Digne Holgate Siggurdson are playing teams off the park, keeping clean sheets, and scoring goals against premier league opposition, this lot were outplayed by Rotherham and QPR in the last year alone! We had to bring on Doucoure and James Rodriguez just to beat Rotherham at home!! Yet some think our backup players should just be winning games.

It hasn’t happened, it’s not happening, it’s not going to happen.

There's no excuse for going winless for 2 months. None.