2021/22 Rafael Benitez

[Nymzee]

Yeah how dare Benitez not vastly outperform Carlo Ancelotti, one of the games greatest managers, with a £1.7m spend and losing players we spent over £75m on in the summer. The monster.

Oh my Lord the spin doctoring going on in this post lol

You make it sound like we lost £75m of actual talent! We lost Sigurdsson the complete stat padding non-entity, a striker amusingly bad for us & Rodriguez who cost us nothing but the manager forced out.

 

[Kev The Rat]

@Kev The Rat laugh all you want. If you think both Gray and Townsend are poor this season so far, you will find yourself quite lonely as that is an opinion even the most ardent Benitez hater can't support.

I said run of the mill not poor.

we’ve already established you don’t understand English but I’m not going to explain every phrase to you.

 

[cjuk87]

Well, it was Everton's last 13 games last season vs first 13 games this season.

The point is, even Carlo Ancelotti had a torrid run which has ran into this season.

Changing Benitez now or anytime soon, doesn't give us anything of significance this season. The club have wrote this season off.

I wouldn't give Benitez, or Brands a penny to spend in January. We made that mistake with an interim boss in Allardyce and a DoF on borrowed time in Walsh when we paid a lot for Tosun and Walcott when we weren't achieving anything that season, or going down.

Ultimately...

A full fit Everton team and we're 6th-10th.

A few injuries and we're 10th-16th.

The margins between those league places are pretty small. We're as close to 5th as relegation right now.

It is what it is.

Spot on this. I'm flip flopping all over the show, in regards to Rafael. But a fully fit squad available and half of those games we would've come away with more points.

It's crucial injuries and there's no doubting that. Fans biggest gripe seems to be the way players are responding and lack of determination. My view has always been attack the players for that, not the manager.

 

[hallamblue]

Yet a half decent home form would've put us in the top 7.

We won 6 home games, drew 4, lost 9.

22 points at home compared to 37 points away.

Same for most teams with no fans in

 

[Marius57]

59 points which saw us finish 10th last year? I don't think it's far wrong at all to say we've got the 10th-12th best squad in the league, 59 points gets you around about that pointless midtable mark these days

59 points gets you top 8 in all but one of the previous 20 seasons.

 

[Misa]

I said run of the mill not poor.

we’ve already established you don’t understand English but I’m not going to explain every phrase to you.

Ya. These two run of the mill players has been outperforming most of the team. So what does that make the rest of them? Seems impossible to have an adult conversation with you.

 

[Marius57]

Spot on this. I'm flip flopping all over the show, in regards to Rafael. But a fully fit squad available and half of those games we would've come away with more points.

It's crucial injuries and there's no doubting that. Fans biggest gripe seems to be the way players are responding and lack of determination. My view has always been attack the players for that, not the manager.

But is it not his job to manage them and get them determined and responding?

 

[CalBuckeye_Rob]

The thing that may be most likely to extend the tenure of Benitez is that dumping him now is essentially an acknowledgement that hiring him was wrong, something many of the fans shouted loudly when he was even suggested. Owners don't like to admit that the fans were right and they were wrong, hurts the ego of billionaires.

 

[Eggsyblueskin]

Spot on this. I'm flip flopping all over the show, in regards to Rafael. But a fully fit squad available and half of those games we would've come away with more points.

It's crucial injuries and there's no doubting that. Fans biggest gripe seems to be the way players are responding and lack of determination. My view has always been attack the players for that, not the manager.

So what do need a manager for if it’s not to motivate , instruct and select the players and tactics best suited to the current situation.?
In any business the manager is ultimately responsible for the performance of the employees and resources in his section, football is no different in this regard,

 

[GrandOldTeam]

Agree with all that except January signings. I think we need two in to be 100% sure of safety - a striker for sure, as we can't go another stretch with Rondon, and a wide attacker, as we can't have Iwobi anywhere near the starting eleven.

We also need a playmaker, a centre-half, two full backs and a central midfield, but... well, they can't 'wait' as such, but you're right that we can't throw that money at it now, even if we could.

If I'm on the board and think we need two in to be 100% sure of safety, then I'd say sack the manager.

This squad shouldn't be getting relegated. This squad was closer to the title than relegation last season.

If the board think relegation is plausible, they absolutely need to sack Benitez in January because he'd be failing at the minimum expectation.

I don’t really disagree but I guess the question is how long do the club give Benitez if we keep losing week in and week out? We do desperately need a period of stability but that has to be allied with some evidence of progress on the pitch, even if it’s incremental.

Give him the season unless it's absolutely toxic behind the scenes (like Koeman), or relegation becomes a real concern, or, there's a manager Brands really wants long term becomes available, who may not have been when we went for Benitez.

I just don't think we should be making decisions based on improving this season. For me, sacking Benitez, or making signings in January won't give us the uplift this season to make it worthwhile.

 

[Tubey]

If I'm on the board and think we need two in to be 100% sure of safety, then I'd say sack the manager.

This squad shouldn't be getting relegated. This squad was closer to the title than relegation last season.

If the board think relegation is plausible, they absolutely need to sack Benitez in January because he'd be failing at the minimum expectation.

Yeah good point actually. If he loses Burnley, Palace and Newcastle he's obviously dead.

 

[matty1878]

See, the thing is Matty - sometimes it's about taking one step back to go forward.

If we keep knee jerking as a club, we risk going down the path of Leeds/Sunderland etc.

Two top managers of the game, title winning - champions league winning managers have delivered identical form the last 13 games of last season, and the first 13 of this.

The answer isn't always sacking the manager - how many have we had now over the past 5 seasons? or bringing in panic signings in January.

We have to take our medicine this season. At best - upper midtable obscurity. At worst - lower midtable obscurity.

If come mid January we're looking suspect, sure sack Benitez - go interim to hope for some bounce and maybe spend a small amount if they're keeping Brands beyond this season.

There's loads of ifs, but for me - sacking the manager anytime soon won't do us any good.

i agree with what your saying mate,
sacking managers all the time doesn’t bring stability. but if by then we’re to far adrift? if by then the forms still bad? fans well revolt
by then mate he’s literally sacked already

 

[GrandOldTeam]

 

[cjuk87]

But is it not his job to manage them and get them determined and responding?

So what do need a manager for if it’s not to motivate , instruct and select the players and tactics best suited to the current situation.?
In any business the manager is ultimately responsible for the performance of the employees and resources in his section, football is no different in this regard,

Of course it is, but if Carlo can't motivate those players, I don't understand why Rafael would?

There's too many players that signed for Everton knowing A, there's no pressure to perform and B, it's a big pay day.

Those players need shifting, they can't be motivated.

Look at Klopp in his time at Liverpool, they had several players who didn't care. Over time, he's shifted them and made it a squad of players that would run through a brick wall. It's wrong to think a manager can immediately make Iwobi care about this club. It's a lost battle, as we've seen with several managers.

 

[Noble Savage]

He's still playing the local card then . Getting desperate .