2021/22 Rafael Benitez

[Theoneandonly]

You keep saying this but a) you never mention who these clubs are, who are they? and b) If it is even true (I doubt it) they can't have been that interested in him as I don't recall him being linked with any job recently until he was with us then some loose talk about the barcodes post takeover.

Fiorentina, Napoli, Fenerbahçe, Crystal Palace, Celtic, Spurs were all interested in him.

 

[Theoneandonly]

Given the form and results, virtually anyone.

So in other words you can't answer the question.

 

[Theoneandonly]

Lucien Favre is available still isn't he?

Paulo Fonseca, Frank Lampard, Rudi Garcia, AVB. That's just the out of work managers right now.

Not advocating for any of them (Though I do like Garcia) nor am I saying he should go, but it's not the managerial wasteland out there that people think it is either.

Out of them who would actually be interested.

It's like naming players and saying why don't we go for these, it's not as simple as that.

 

[nsno-chris]

Out of them who would actually be interested.

It's like naming players and saying why don't we go for these, it's not as simple as that.

All of them, I have inside info. It’s as about as reliable as yours

 

[Zatara]

Yeah there’s clearly a problem with the academy at the minute. Over my lifetime as an Everton fan we always brought through some decent talent. Unsworth, Jeffers, Hibbert, Vaughan and Cadamarteri all came in and had some sort of impact on the first team even if only on a limited basis. I exclude Rooney from that as he was a freak in terms of talent.

But if Kenny is the best we can do at RB from the academy I don’t blame Benitez for sticking with Coleman!!!

Agree with this, we had players come through who would become first team starters.

Whether that was pearoller Osman, Cadamarteri, Anichebe, Vaughan...or Dunne, Jeffers and Ball...or Grantona lol

Theres ALWAYS been a consistent number who have come through but things have definitely dried up for probably a decade(?).

On Kenny, he could have moved him on in the summer...if hes not going to use him then why keep him? I find it bizarre.

Yes, but it shows that we are far more direct than we were last year. Benitez wants the ball to be played quickly vertically. Which in itself does not say much or guarantees success, but if we look at the number of shots, and analyze the quality of the chances, xG, then we see a pattern. As previously mentioned, we did not have a single counterattack goal last season, but this season we have already scored 3.

So what Benitez is trying to implement is modern football, where transitions are the key. However, we are still on the most primitive / basic part of the model, but like all models you have to start from scratch. Injuries and limited quality of the players naturally prevent the model from becoming more advanced, but this is where stability is a key factor.

Eventually, the players will return from injury, and we will buy more players with the right quality. It is possible that I am a little too optimistic, but in contrast to the period under Ancelotti, I now see that we have a model that is sustainable, and which in time will become more advanced.

Thats a view i can get behind.

I can also support and understand the manager (no matter who that is) if i can see this functioning in its infancy on the pitch.

The fact is that we have mostly had a full strength defence (bar Mina recently) and it has looked dreadful.

Keane/Coleman seem to be playing on one system and Godfrey/Digne on another system.

The manager should be seeing this and improving it. Maybe Branthwaite isnt top notch yet but how was he not being tried when Keane was giving goals away at the start of the season?

Theres things that can be picked out across the team like this...for a manager who is supposedly highly attentive to detail it makes no sense to me.

How does that change with new players?

I can't imagine what I was on to make me think that Rondon would be any sort of an asset for us and Iwobi just seems so muscle bound and can't control his movements.
So despite what I said, yes I would play Simms up front in place of Rondon. If there is someone playing a similar role as Iwobi then again, get them in. I'm not certain they'd change the results but you're right when you say at least you'd see effort and willing.

roll the dice.

If we are playing hypothetical situations right now can I join?

Benitez play the kids, they don't play well, Everton lose a few matches.

"Why is he playing the kids? He has Iwobi who the players voted most skilful and Rondon who he signed? He has Tom Davies who was our top prospect 5 years ago. No excuses. Terrible team he picked. We need some experience in the side, the kids cannot cope with the pressure, it's obvious they are not ready. He doesn't have a clue and just gambling with the kids."

Fat fat fat! Pig pig pig! Sack sack sack!

Am i doing it right?

At this point, do you think that the fans would be in favour of Rondon/Iwobi or 4 kids alternating in/out instead of them?

If it goes wrong at the very least those kids have some valuable experience and can go back to the u23s knowing how great the gulf is.

 

[davek]

No Dave, that’s 8 players currently registered has being injured for Brentford.

The giveaway is the bit that says “potential return date”

Three of them have a chance to play at the weekend, another has been out since last season.

There is no comparison whatsoever with the carnage at Everton. None.

 

[Marius57]

They were the league champions with a massive squad of above average players to choose from...and you compare their losses last season to a club like this with about 7 players worthy of being in a bang average PL football club's first team.

Ludicrous.

Where have I compared it? I've called out the total misinformation that was being posted as if they only had 1 injury.

Maybe read what I posted before making stuff up.

 

[Egil Olsen]

I think you are being massively overly optimistic and seeing things in the stats that are not really manifesting on the pitch. An n of 3, to use your conterattack goal stats, is almost certainly statistically insignificant. Stats mean nothing without context, for example I work in drug research and often identify that drug A is superior to drug B in terms of raw data trends, sometimes this is statistically significant and sometimes it is not, even when it is statistically significant it may only represent a marginal laboratory improvement that has no clinical impact.

Of course (This argument also applies when it comes to zone defense on set pieces). By the way, results that are not statistically significant may just as well be practically significant. Which, after all, is most important.

So what I'm saying is that we're seeing a possible pattern, but it's hard to say for sure because there's a lot of noise at the moment. To really figure it out, we need to give Benitez more time, n, because we may have something here, and that's in line with my subjective judgment. It also agrees with information, given from how Benitez wants to play football (Qualitative).

 

[Bluewolf]

That’s right and the fact that Benitez and Rondon had to go to China to get contracts quite possibly also ‘tells you all you need to know about how serious football clubs feel about them at this stage of their careers ‘

Not really, Costa was desperate to go to China when he was one of the best strikers in the world. Oscar was a main stay in quality Chelsea side and Brazilian international and went to China when he was 25.

Witsel, carrasco and teixeira all went in their primes as well.

Sometimes people just follow the money.

 

[davek]

Where have I compared it? I've called out the total misinformation that was being posted as if they only had 1 injury.

Maybe read what I posted before making stuff up.

It's a compariosn because the initial point made by Keneda blue was challenging the comparison made by nsno chris about Liverpool's injury situation last season.

Hey ho, in any case you highlightred their CB situation and even there they were able to put Fabinho at CB and go out and buy and loan two other CBs.

That's not something we can or will do.

 

[Kev The Rat]

So in other words you can't answer the question.

no the question should be - give me a reason to keep him.

'Who else could we get' isnt a proper answer

 

[Efcjake]

Fiorentina, Napoli, Fenerbahçe, Crystal Palace, Celtic, Spurs were all interested in him.

Why do you lie so much?

 

[kenada_blue]

This quickly into his tenure, not so sure. He's in a different tier to, say Nuno Espirito Santo who looked nailed on to be manager at one point.

The crowd would be on Espirito Santo's case with these results given his reputation for dire, defensive football. I think Conte would be getting the benefit of the doubt.

Nah. Soon turned on Carlo midway through last season and he's one of the most respected managers in world football.

Park End Da's respect no one.

 

[kenada_blue]

Why doesn't it count?

Cos we went out on penalties.

 

[kenada_blue]

You're the one playing the stat game, ignoring a game because it doesn't suit your agenda.

As mentioned, drew 2.2 and got knocked out on a pot luck peno shootout. Definitely something to beat a manager with.