2021/22 Rafael Benitez

[Cow kecks]

I’d wager we’ll be around 11th or 12th this season too.

The club has been heading in the wrong direction, absolutely no question. Even during this period we’ve had players like Stones Gueye Barkley Lukaku in squads but as they’ve been sold the replacements have been nowhere near their quality resulting in what for me was our worst premier league squad since the early days of Moyes in 17/18

We’ve picked up marginally since then with Richarlison being added and then Ancelotti adding Docuoure and Godfrey, but to counter this the likes of Baines have retired, and Coleman has fallen off a cliff. Injuries have also continued to curse us.

We can keep getting distracted by mid table finishes all we want, but we haven’t had two seasons of progression in a row since Moyes left. 6 managers later and we’ve still got the same issues rearing their head. This is a major major turnaround job, but some people seem to think if he just picks a different formation and coaches Keane a bit better that we’ll be challenging for Europe. It’s not happening.

Didn't you hound the life out of Barkley on here?

 

[Efcjake]

Listened to the Royal Blue Podcast. The penny still hasn’t dropped with them. Still think Benitez will turn it around.

And all the usual, ‘needs time, needs his own players etc’. Well look at Wolves. A team we beat twice last season and comfortably finished above. New manager comes in, doesn’t spend a fortune but they can go to Old Trafford and dominate a game in a way that Everton haven’t done there in my lifetime.

It's funny listening to those. You can tell there is a disconnect between the old heads and the young ones. It's all the old ones that are making the excuses.

Prentice cant say a bad word against the club or Bill will take his director's box seats off him and his missus.

They put their boats out for Benitez just like all the other Everton media but while everyone else is now acknowledging this as a disaster they're still giving Everton PR cover to maintain their relations.

 

[billyblue80]

It all comes down to results Benny boy

 

[Efcjake]

Didn't you hound the life out of Barkley on here?

When would you have been here for that? You signed up in 2021?

 

[billyblue80]

It's funny listening to those. You can tell there is a disconnect between the old heads and the young ones. It's all the old ones that are making the excuses.

Prentice cant say a bad word against the club or Bill will take his director's box seats off him and his missus.

They put their boats out for Benitez just like all the other Everton media but while everyone else is acknowledging this as a disaster they're still giving Everton PR cover to maintain their relations.

That podcast is like North Korean PR work for Benny. Gav Buckland on a mad rant about how none of it is Benny's fault and other team's like Brighton have better players than us, and what gives us the right to expect better... He is a whopper.

 

[BlueToff]

Hang on, you’re giving Ancelotti the excuse of injuries for poor form in the second half of last season but denying it for Benitez in the early part of this season? Ancelotti’s football fell apart without Docuoure Allan and James but even when they were back and his tactical plan had a chance of working the players didn’t execute it.

First 12 months of Ancelotti we saw players following instructions. The likes of Holgate Davies even Keane improving in form to an almost passable standard. We were switching formations and grinding out wins we probably shouldn’t have got all the way up to December because the players were trying thinking that this manager would outlast them.

The second half of his final season they just completely folded like they did under previous managers and at one point we had Pickford throwing the ball in the net most games, DCL and Richy missing sitters for fun, and Keane and Holgate ballooning clearances against each other regularly. Davies Gomes Siggurdson and Bernard were on a revolving carousel for who could be less rubbish to play each week. It was poor player mentality and we’ve seen exactly the same this season, a huge number of individual errors because a lot of these players sense that they’ll outlast the manager.

Why do I have hope for the second half? The message has been sent that the manager isn’t going to be fired as soon as we lose a few games so some players are going to be worried that they’re on their way out in the summer, that normally focuses their minds in the short term.

DCL back to fitness. Any team would hurt from missing their best goal scorer for half a season. Hopefully he stays fit.

New signings. Yes they’ll be bedding in but they can’t be anywhere it’s than Digne and Coleman/Kenny have been this season.

No I'm not at all.

Ancelotti went to that more 'defensive'/pragmatic approach in December/Jan because of injuries. We had a good run then an indifferent run heading into the Anfield derby in late Feb - losses to Newcastle at home, think another team around that time too (Fulham I think?). We then went 3 wins in a row playing that God awful footy early March and got ourselves in a great position. Lost Doucoure but other than that IIRC the squad was fully fit. That's where the issue really came about. Ancelotti - and this was his fault - couldn't get out of the rut. He didn't know how to get the players playing footy again. And it was dreadful. So before I answer your post, I wanted to make it clear, I'm not making excuses for Ancelotti.

I also have not at one stage said the injuries haven't mattered with Benitez. Of course they have. I just don't think we played well with a fully fit team.

 

[Efcjake]

You're comparing the team he took over with the basket cases Benitez inherited here?!

Pffffft!

Didn't this team Benitez inherited finish above them last year????

Pffffft!

 

[Little Ralphy]

There will be a tipping point both on and off the pitch.

Going out of the cup, in front of the nation at the weekend, a defeat to the mighty Norwich and even his most ardent supporter couldn’t argue with him getting the bullet.

The tipping point is always when the fingers start point at the board. As soon as people have a go at Moshiri or Kenwright then Benitez will go. It's always what has happened at this club, they can take it until it points to them, and then changes happen.

 

[Cow kecks]

When would you have been in for that? You signed up in 2021?

As I replied elsewhere earlier, been looking on this site for years, same with toffeeweb, retired now so got to much time on my hands.

 

[billyblue80]

People keep saying injuries but who do we have injured now beyond Mina(who is never fit anyway) and Richy. Neither sort the formation, tactics and team selection or the reactive subs. Benitez is a busted flush with out dated tactics. He is a poor man's Mourinhio with an attitude problem. He needs to shut up and start getting results.

 

[Marius57]

No I'm not at all.

Ancelotti went to that more 'defensive'/pragmatic approach in December/Jan because of injuries. We had a good run then an indifferent run heading into the Anfield derby in late Feb - losses to Newcastle at home, think another team around that time too (Fulham I think?). We then went 3 wins in a row playing that God awful footy early March and got ourselves in a great position. Lost Doucoure but other than that IIRC the squad was fully fit. That's where the issue really came about. Ancelotti - and this was his fault - couldn't get out of the rut. He didn't know how to get the players playing footy again. And it was dreadful. So before I answer your post, I wanted to make it clear, I'm not making excuses for Ancelotti.

I also have not at one stage said the injuries haven't mattered with Benitez. Of course they have. I just don't think we played well with a fully fit team.

It wasn't. During the 7/8 games doucoure missed, we had several other players missing games as well.

We literally played what could be considered Carlo's first choice team 4 games all season. And they came in the first 5 games.

 

[Efcjake]

That podcast is like North Korean PR work for Benny. Gav Buckland on a mad rant about how none of it is Benny's fault and other team's have better players than us, and what gives us the right to expect better... He is a whopper.

At least the Blue Room lads have seen the light even though they were just as bad as the Echo for trying to tell fans to get behind him and give him a chance when we all know basically every blue didn't want him anywhere near the job.

I won't forget the ones who tried to put down the support and insulted the fans who knew this was an impending disaster.

They should all be quoted and taken to task over the crap they were spouting in August and September.

The Echo is the worst hands down. Pure sycophants who can't upset the club so they just put the club's desired spin out every week.

At least Adam Jones seems to be fed up.

 

[MACCA75]

I’d wager we’ll be around 11th or 12th this season too.

The club has been heading in the wrong direction, absolutely no question. Even during this period we’ve had players like Stones Gueye Barkley Lukaku in squads but as they’ve been sold the replacements have been nowhere near their quality resulting in what for me was our worst premier league squad since the early days of Moyes in 17/18

We’ve picked up marginally since then with Richarlison being added and then Ancelotti adding Docuoure and Godfrey, but to counter this the likes of Baines have retired, and Coleman has fallen off a cliff. Injuries have also continued to curse us.

We can keep getting distracted by mid table finishes all we want, but we haven’t had two seasons of progression in a row since Moyes left. 6 managers later and we’ve still got the same issues rearing their head. This is a major major turnaround job, but some people seem to think if he just picks a different formation and coaches Keane a bit better that we’ll be challenging for Europe. It’s not happening.

We won’t be finishing 11th under this manager, I’m happy to take that bet.

 

[BlueToff]

Why do I have hope for the second half? The message has been sent that the manager isn’t going to be fired as soon as we lose a few games so some players are going to be worried that they’re on their way out in the summer, that normally focuses their minds in the short term.

DCL back to fitness. Any team would hurt from missing their best goal scorer for half a season. Hopefully he stays fit.

New signings. Yes they’ll be bedding in but they can’t be anywhere it’s than Digne and Coleman/Kenny have been this season.

Fully agree on that point in bold, throw in Richarlison too. Bad luck, really is. But, it's not like we were creating tons of good chances that DCL thrives off. And that was proven on Sunday.

In the first three games of the season he'd had 2 chances from in the box. One he scored (v S'ton) the other he missed (1v1 v Leeds). His other two goals were pens. On Sunday, we got the ball to him once in the danger area (and Webster or Burn made a brilliant block). However, it's not like we've been creating chances and the only thing missing has been that player to finish them off. We rank 5th lowest in the league for 'big chances' which is basically a chance you'd expect a player to score from. We're 3rd lowest since the start of our bad run after the Norwich game.

So I fully agree that DCL missing has hurt us because of course he also brings other people into the game, but this idea he'll solve our problems is ludicrous and when Benitez started saying 'wait for the 2nd half of the season' (which has now become the party line btw at the club which is MAD!) back in October, I got very, very concerned.

We're relying on basically everything going right. As a manager and a club you always have to plan for the worst, not the best. Because it's not when things are going well that you get tested, is it.

As for your second point, Mykolenko is very, very raw. I actually think Patterson might end up settling quicker. Digne's loss of form has been badly overplayed. Yeah, he was poor, as a load of them were, but he's not been as bad as made out.

 

[Saint Domingo]

Didn't you hound the life out of Barkley on here?

Towards the end yes. He had declined massively from the player he was in his first season, and didn’t perform to the levels we all knew he was capable of.

In hindsight I should have been praising him every single day he was here if I’d known what was to follow would be the absolute car crash of Siggurdson/Klaasen/Bernard/Gomes/Iwobi