2021/22 Rafael Benitez

[JLW]

Not for me mate - he was a contentious appointment and the minimum I'd accept would be 9th (an improvement on last season). If you're going to cause that much uproar with the fanbase, it had better be worthwhile.

Besides which, if you accept that the Sky 6 have better squads than us and we now have Leicester and West Ham who are good teams, logic says 9th should be the absolute minimum acceptable performance anyway

I didn't want him, but if you take out the fact that a lot of people hated him (myself included) I can accept that he makes a lot of sense and was the best manager we could have realistically got after Ancelotti did one. That doesn't mean he gets a free ride though - finishing 10th or 11th would not be ok.

This.

He has to earn the respect of the fanbase because of his past history, he cannot fall behind in expectation at any point, even during the season because the fans wont allow it. Ancelotti yes, Benitez no. That's not saying Benitez wont do better its just the reputation and baggage that comes with the 2 managers.

 

[JLW]

The only validity the dwindling minority who want Benitez out have in any of their otherwise ridiculous statements is that Benitez has reach into the local media and will use it. Not that he'll need to resort to them, as he's easily good enough to get us the required results we need to stay competitive in the top half. But he has a lot of power to weild locally - a lot of gold bricks built up to spend in tems of goodwill from the media...national media too.

In short: he's bomb-proof if he finishes us anywhere between 12th and 1st this season, for sure. Season after he'd defo have the top half as a must be reached target. But these are all easily reached targets.

It's looking grim for the people sticking to their position of not supporting the club while he's here, which is why I keep imploring them to drop their opposition and rejoin the fold.

There is no way that 12th is acceptable, even mores so with Benitez in charge. We wouldn't have it under Ancelotti Silva or Koeman so why would the most controversial manager appointment in our history get a free pass on this?
Squad wise we are about 7 or 8th best in the league, 12th isn't acceptable.

 

[Charlie Sweet]

Not for me mate - he was a contentious appointment and the minimum I'd accept would be 9th (an improvement on last season). If you're going to cause that much uproar with the fanbase, it had better be worthwhile.

Besides which, if you accept that the Sky 6 have better squads than us and we now have Leicester and West Ham who are good teams, logic says 9th should be the absolute minimum acceptable performance anyway

I didn't want him, but if you take out the fact that a lot of people hated him (myself included) I can accept that he makes a lot of sense and was the best manager we could have realistically got after Ancelotti did one. That doesn't mean he gets a free ride though - finishing 10th or 11th would not be ok.

Mate that's an awful lot of words to make a case to argue the difference between 9th place being the "absolute minimum acceptable" and 10th place which "would not be okay"!

Maybe it's just me but anything outside fighting for the European places and its essentially the same to me.

 

[Charlie Sweet]

There is no way that 12th is acceptable, even mores so with Benitez in charge. We wouldn't have it under Ancelotti Silva or Koeman so why would the most controversial manager appointment in our history get a free pass on this?
Squad wise we are about 7 or 8th best in the league, 12th isn't acceptable.

And now another fan dying in a ditch to argue 9th is acceptable but 12th isn't?

I've never heard thus type of argument amongst fans away from the Internet.

 

[JLW]

And now another fan dying in a ditch to argue 9th is acceptable but 12th isn't?

I've never heard thus type of argument amongst fans away from the Internet.

?

 

[windymiller]

Mate that's an awful lot of words to make a case to argue the difference between 9th place being the "absolute minimum acceptable" and 10th place which "would not be okay"!

Maybe it's just me but anything outside fighting for the European places and its essentially the same to me.

So 17th is the same as 8th? OK.

 

[Spadge Vernacular]

Benitez has all of the tools at his disposal to have us at least in this position come Christmas.

If he fails to at least match this Moshiri will be getting the axe ready. One thing we have seen with Moshiri is that he has no qualms about sacking underperforming managers. Over to you Benitez.

 

[Charlie Sweet]

So 17th is the same as 8th? OK.

Below the European places its all rubbish to me and I've no desire to sully the history of our club debating the difference between the likes of 10th and 12th/14th. Or 17th for that matter. They are all poor.

But you're still good with arguing the merits of 9th place over 10th or whatever it was?

 

[blueblue]

Not for me mate - he was a contentious appointment and the minimum I'd accept would be 9th (an improvement on last season). If you're going to cause that much uproar with the fanbase, it had better be worthwhile.

Besides which, if you accept that the Sky 6 have better squads than us and we now have Leicester and West Ham who are good teams, logic says 9th should be the absolute minimum acceptable performance anyway

I didn't want him, but if you take out the fact that a lot of people hated him (myself included) I can accept that he makes a lot of sense and was the best manager we could have realistically got after Ancelotti did one. That doesn't mean he gets a free ride though - finishing 10th or 11th would not be ok.

The expectation would have been higher had he been allowed to spend during the summer.
He has more or less the same panel as last season plus players purchased with a budget of 1.7m.

I do believe we will be in the hunt for top six because the manager will use his players well , but we may fall short because of a lack of quality in depth.

 

[Charlie Sweet]

Benitez has all of the tools at his disposal to have us at least in this position come Christmas.

View attachment 138457
If he fails to at least match this Moshiri will be getting the axe ready. One thing we have seen with Moshiri is that he has no qualms about sacking underperforming managers. Over to you Benitez.

You're on a wind up.

All of the tools? Apart from having a totally dysfunctional squad and minimal transfer spend compared to our rivals?

 

[windymiller]

Below the European places its all rubbish to me and I've no desire to sully the history of our club debating the difference between the likes of 10th and 12th/14th. Or 17th for that matter. They are all poor.

But you're still good with arguing the merits of 9th place over 10th or whatever it was?

I want us to finish as high up the table as possible and to see signs of progress. So, yeah, I'd like 9th better than 10th.

 

[Harryflashman]

Below the European places its all rubbish to me and I've no desire to sully the history of our club debating the difference between the likes of 10th and 12th/14th. Or 17th for that matter. They are all poor.

But you're still good with arguing the merits of 9th place over 10th or whatever it was?

I mean there is definitely a difference between 10th and 17 th , ultimately there is a difference between all the places otherwise we wouldn’t bother with league tables would we ?

if we finished out of Europe in eighth , out of Europe in 10th or in 17 th then the reaction to all 3 is from most people understandably very different. You might view them all as very similar but I probably wouldn’t .

 

[Charlie Sweet]

I want us to finish as high up the table as possible and to see signs of progress. So, yeah, I'd like 9th better than 10th.

9th/10th to me are completely irrelevant but you made a distinction saying one was acceptable and one wasn't. That's what I found so odd.

 

[blueblue]

Benitez has all of the tools at his disposal to have us at least in this position come Christmas.

View attachment 138457
If he fails to at least match this Moshiri will be getting the axe ready. One thing we have seen with Moshiri is that he has no qualms about sacking underperforming managers. Over to you Benitez.

Nonsense.
Why not show the table for the rest of the season and use that as a template to judge the manager.

He will not be sacked based on what happened last season , he will be judged on how his team performs this season with allowances being made for him not being able to spend money.
I think his position in incredibly secure.
What top class manager will come to a club with no transfer budget ?, we would be back to appointing Eddie Howe or worse.

Apart from all of that it appears that he has impressed a lot of people since he started working at the club... even on GOT.

 

[windymiller]

9th/10th to me are completely irrelevant but you made a distinction saying one was acceptable and one wasn't. That's what I found so odd.

I didn't, you're confusing me with somebody else.