2021/22 Rafael Benitez

[catcherintherye]

I'm going over old ground, but Rafael was in regular contact with Grays agent since his Newcastle days, he clearly stated in an interview that he messaged Gray directly to check on him in Germany and has said that wherever he ended up this Summer, Gray would have been his signing.

Brands did scout Leverkusen you're right, but I guarantee if Rafael wasn't here, neither would Gray.

I mean, there is an enormous amount of speculation here.

I'm telling you, Brands scouted Gray and moved to sign him. Whatever Benitez was or wasnt texting Gray from sunny China has no real relevance. Brands signed the player.

A bit like when I told you Perez, Coutinho and Koulibaly wouldnt be signing.

 

[Theoneandonly]

I'm not sure it is whataboutism.

What evidence would you like? We were scouting Leverkusen and Gray last summer and Brands spoke to the player. It cant be much clearer than that.

We were scouting Leverkusen for Bailey. Not for Gray.

 

[Nymzee]

"Hi Demarai, it's Rafael, I know I've never managed you before and I am currently unemployed in China but you're a great lad do you want to join my 5-a-side team?"

 

[Theoneandonly]

I mean, there is an enormous amount of speculation here.

I'm telling you, Brands scouted Gray and moved to sign him. Whatever Benitez was or wasnt texting Gray from sunny China has no real relevance. Brands signed the player.

A bit like when I told you Perez, Coutinho and Koulibaly wouldnt be signing.

Brands scouted Leverkusen. That's all the info you have. You don't know he was scouting Gray.

 

[Nymzee]

We were scouting Leverkusen for Bailey. Not for Gray.

You don't scout teams for just one player when there are 22 on the pitch.

 

[Tubey]

We were scouting Leverkusen for Bailey. Not for Gray.

We do this all the time. Like when we were after Demba Ba and got Lukaku at Chelsea. Or Zaha and at the last second panic bought Iwobi.

We've been a shambles for a long, long time, at every level of the club. It is and always will be an outright mystery to me how anyone thinks Benitez being sacked would do anything except hurt us financially and put us further along the death spiral to relegation by repeating the same mistakes.

 

[Theoneandonly]

"Hi Demarai, it's Rafael, I know I've never managed you before and I am currently unemployed in China but you're a great lad do you want to join my 5-a-side team?"

He has said when he played against Leicester, he was impressed by him so got his scouts to keep tabs on him. When he went to Leverkusen, Rafael kept in regular contact.

It's not unheard of, it's old school mentality. Heck managers used to literally drive to players houses and have tea with their parents to try and butter them up.

I reported the other week, that Rafael had personally phoned Insigne

 

[Theoneandonly]

You don't scout teams for just one player when there are 22 on the pitch.

Well according to Catcher we were scouting Gray, its one or the other.

 

[f.t.r.s]

We were scouting Leverkusen for Bailey. Not for Gray.

But like when we were after defour and ended up with fellaini?

I stick with my initial argument that benitez was never the right decision and just highlights how out of touch with the fans moshiri is....

It also further questions why is kenwright involved still as surely he'd have known that the fans wouldn't back him and it could lead to a volatile and costly situation further down the line...

As hard as it may be, I think most fans would have accepted a short term struggle if it meant bringing in a younger manager with potential, giving them time to implement a style while we get the stadium and ffp restrictions sorted

 

[Nymzee]

Well according to Catcher we were scouting Gray, its one or the other.

So you think our scouts completely ignore the other 21 players on the pitch every Leverkusen game they go to/watch?

 

[Nymzee]

He has said when he played against Leicester, he was impressed by him so got his scouts to keep tabs on him. When he went to Leverkusen, Rafael kept in regular contact.

It's not unheard of, it's old school mentality. Heck managers used to literally drive to players houses and have tea with their parents to try and butter them up.

Yes when they're managers and they're trying to sign them in a window.

Not when you're unemployed in China - that's just weird and an embarrassing lie.

 

[billyblue80]

Performances have been poor, absolutely.

But we have been sacking managers after a bad run for years and it has never fixed the issue. Even Ancelotti couldn’t get us into the top half of the table last season, but I was fully behind him as we needed to stick with a manager long term.

DCL in the side and no other disastrous injuries and we’ll finish mid table just like we have for the last two seasons.

Of course it does.

Take Watford. We had DCL, Richarlison, Doucoure AND Mina not starting that game. Our outright four best players.

Wolves you had Ben Godfrey left back as Digne was injured and we have absolutely no one else, and again no DCL, Mina and Doucoure.

You can point at tactics all you like, and yes, Benitez hasn't been infallable in that regard, but it really is a case of a spine being ripped out of an already mediocre squad.

I'd rather we didn't sack managers I can live with Benitez despite his past if he gets us results and stability. Yes injuries are huge up until a few weeks ago I was thinking this in my mind. But watching Brentford and the derby I just don't see a dramatic turn around based on a few players I'm afraid. See the Athletic article the players hate this system and we are being picked apart at will for a manager who is known to be negative he is stubbornly sticking to a system that is neither solid or makes us more attacking, it's a shambles I don't see a result until he changes. Team's do not play with two in midfield anymore in this league and if they do the third man is a genuine midfielder who drops back in, also team's don't rely on just their wide players to attack they allow the full backs forward, Benitez has instructed both to sit in. Until the set up changes I see no results, I see no wins. I hope I'm wrong but I see defeat after defeat, Benitez will not survive this regardless of whether sacking a manager is good or not we cannot go on getting pummelled and his delusional explanations. We will go down.

 

[nsno-chris]

We were scouting Leverkusen for Bailey. Not for Gray.

You don’t know this, yet again you’re posting utter tripe

You’re not an ITK, you’re not an Everton fan, you’ve probably never been to goodison; you just regurgitate newspaper articles acting like you have some form of inside knowledge

 

[Theoneandonly]

Let me guess, if we sign Insigne, Brands just so happens to have been scouting him for the last 5 years.

 

[Brennan]

I'd rather we didn't sack managers I can live with Benitez despite his past if he gets us results and stability. Yes injuries are huge up until a few weeks ago I was thinking this in my mind. But watching Brentford and the derby I just don't see a dramatic turn around based on a few players I'm afraid see the Athletic article the players hate this system and we are being picked apart at will for a manager who is known to be negative he is stubbornly sticking to a system that is neither solid or makes us more attacking, it's a shambles I don't see a result until he changes. Team's do not play with two in midfield anymore in this league and if they do the third man is a genuine midfielder who drops back in, until that changes I see no results, I see no wins. I hope I'm wrong but I see defeat after defeat, Benitez will not survive this regardless of whether sacking a manager is good or not we cannot go on getting pummelled and his delusional explanations. We will go down.

The table and our position just doesn’t fit the narrative that we’ll get relegated. Despite this run of results we’re still 14th and five points clear. DCL back and even if we’re playing crap and nicking results we will not finish near the bottom three.