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2021/22 Rafael Benitez

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BlueToff said:
I’m not pretending the injuries don’t matter. Not one bit, of course they matter, but we have to deal with them. That goes for every team. I want us to change things up so we don’t have as many injuries. Hopefully this new guy Benitez has got in does that - I’ve said loads of times I’m happy with that - though on recent evidence we’ve picked up 2, possibly 3, muscle injuries in the last 2 weeks now depending on Allan.

Our performances in those matches weren’t good. We did enough but the first half v S’ton was dreadful. The first hour v Burnley we got outplayed and played well for 15 minutes total. Our third home game was the worst Norwich side I’ve seen. Even in between those, we were done by QPR, Villa beat us comfortably and we were absolutely atrocious at Huddersfield.

We’ve had two good performances so far this season, and the Man Utd one could be considered two points dropped given their form but I won’t be harsh, we did well in that match with what we had fit. Since then it’s been atrocious.

Erm, there’s plenty of evidence. We don’t string together moves of 10 passes or more, so we don’t keep the ball (we’re 18th in the league for it). We’re also 18th in the league for possession. The eye test backs up that we’re a shambles defensively, and Digne has been told to stay back - there’s even an interview on the club site where Digne himself says that. What more evidence do you want?
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Because. Of. Injuries.

You can't state you think they matter then go off and completely bloody ignore them again!!!
 
Tubey said:
Because. Of. Injuries.

You can't state you think they matter then go off and completely bloody ignore them again!!!
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It’s not because of injuries though is it?

We were 18th in the league for those stats before the October international break (as in after the United game)

We’ve conceded 7 goals from set-pieces - is that down to injuries or because the manager ripped up a system that worked well last year for no real reason?
 

BlueToff said:
We got 59 points last season with pretty much the same squad (and I was fairly critical of Ancelotti btw) - we should have won a lot more games too
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We did throw away a lot of points last year but gained some we should’ve. Yes we have a similar squad but we are missing some players for various reasons, injuries etc. which is crippling us. I look at the fixtures from now to end of season and if we don’t clear up the injuries to important players and maybe add on or two in the January window I would not be confident of winning any game, of course they will at some point, but I would not be confident of winning game to game. We really are that bad and in a perilous position
 

Tubey said:
Richarlison has been missing a fair chunk of the season.

To visualise it, here's what's missing for Brentford, and a large chunk has been missing for a while now.

View attachment 146678



That's literally our first choice midfield and attack. I've deliberately left off Gomes, Davies and Holgate just to make that point, but even then you have to consider they still have a role and it'd mean Simms, Branthwaite and Onyango weren't clogging up the bench years before they're ready, if they ever will be.

Your point that we don't have a defensive crisis is a misnomer. Setting aside Mina being our best centre half, the problem is our midfield and attack are now so abject that we can't get up the pitch. Not won't, can't. Rondon has been a dud and is finished and even when Richarlison has played he can't play up front on his own and has proven it over and over again. So the ball keeps coming back at us. Defending is a team game just as attacking is - you can't get your full backs flying up the wings if you're relying on the Iwobis of this world plugging gaps, as you get exposed.

We simply can't cope with those losses - we're not Man City. There's no Mahrez etc. to replace a De Bruyne, so the drop off is minimal; no, we go from Doucoure to Tom Davies, from Gray to Iwobi. It's can't be glossed over and explained away; the truth is obvious - no manager in world football could get consistent results with what we have available.

Could another manager be on, I dunno, three or four more points now? Maybe, but they'd be working absolute miracles to do so. And that's why I don't get the Benitez abuse, or rather I do get it but I find it bloody ridiculous.
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Richie missed 4 of 13 games. He also isn't injured. So let's not act like he is part of any injury crisis. Same as siggy, isn't part of any injury crisis. We knew what the situation was with him and benitez still forced through James leaving even after the window closed meaning we couldn't use the funds he freed up to bring in anyone.

Benitez has literally told our full backs not to do that though. Digne has said as much.

Part of the issue with,our defence, regardless of how much the balls comes back at us, literally look like they don't know how to defend anymore. Even with essentially 2 defensive midfielders in front. You would expect them to actually all be able to offer some defensive stability but it's a shambles. Gray has only just got injured so while yes, had to be replaced with iwobi, that hasn't been the case until Sunday.
 
BlueToff said:
It’s not because of injuries though is it?

We were 18th in the league for those stats before the October international break (as in after the United game)

We’ve conceded 7 goals from set-pieces - is that down to injuries or because the manager ripped up a system that worked well last year for no real reason?
Click to expand...

DCL has been out since August. Richarlison was out all that time until recently too.

As for set pieces, it's a valid criticism and one he's took action to fix visibly in recent games.
 
Marius57 said:
Richie missed 4 of 13 games. He also isn't injured. So let's not act like he is part of any injury crisis. Same as siggy, isn't part of any injury crisis. We knew what the situation was with him and benitez still forced through James leaving even after the window closed meaning we couldn't use the funds he freed up to bring in anyone.

Benitez has literally told our full backs not to do that though. Digne has said as much.

Part of the issue with,our defence, regardless of how much the balls comes back at us, literally look like they don't know how to defend anymore. Even with essentially 2 defensive midfielders in front. You would expect them to actually all be able to offer some defensive stability but it's a shambles. Gray has only just got injured so while yes, had to be replaced with iwobi, that hasn't been the case until Sunday.
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Delph only just returned and is still half-fit, as is Gbamin, we have one actual fit midfielder in Allan. Richarlison missed 6 games.

It's been consistent, crippling, key injuries since September.
 
Richard Alex said:
You asked the question about what as our current manager done to warrant being here. I was just asking what other managers have done. Like you blaming the choosing proves.
Koeman is one of the worst managers we have had the unfortunate luck to come across as manager. He was lazy and was only interested in holidays and golf. The joke was too big for him.
Marco was a rabbit in the headlights. Doing ok at a club with no pressure compared to us
Even Carlo couldn’t wait to get away.
So I asked a question in which nobody replied to 2 weeks ago. Who realistically can we get as manager? Don’t choose anybody that’s already employed though as we don’t have any money by all accounts
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Koeman got us 7th, Europe and 61 points in his first season. Whatever you think of him, he achieved the target in the first season. Lukaku sold, he alienated Barkley in 2017 and yes that start of the season was a disaster.

BFS should never have been here. Silva, again, got us 8th first season and we played some good stuff towards the end of the campaign. 2019 we sell another key player in Gueye and again a clear lack of succession planning showing we’d learned nothing about selling your best players without replacements already in there.

Right now, who could we get? Favre would be the outstanding candidate of those available, I think.

But there were options in the summer. My pick was galtier and he was apparently interested, though he did have the job lined up with Nice too so it could have been a bargaining chip. If we wanted to go real experience (Galtier is very experienced and is a brilliant coach, btw), but we could have gone for the Valverde type.

Benitez should have been at the very bottom of the list because he is not the manager to take this club forward

However, compared to the pointless entity we have in the role atm, I’d have him as a DoF in a heartbeat
 

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