2021/22 Rafael Benitez

[Toffeepot]

We all heard RB saying that 'we worked on these kinds of corners' while blaming the players the other day, acting somewhat suprised we still conceded from them.
The thing is other teams work on corners too, and if they work on them better than you, on average, they do better right?!
Bruno Lage has been at Wolves the same amount of time as RB has been here and they have not conceded from one corner, not one!
Coupled with the fact we were good at defending set pieces last year, this is one major example of RB doing badly and is beyond argument imo

 

[Clarky cat]

We were good at defending set pieces last year. Same players. What changed?

Cowards + Zonal marking

 

[BainesontoastNEW]

Grim reading.

 

[Eggs]

He hasn’t played since!

Maybe he should have been off earlier?

….all I’m saying is you don’t take your top player off in a game where you’re chasing a goal unless he asks to come off or he’s clearly struggling. Neither of those situations seemed apparent.

 

[Toffeepot]

Grim reading.

and this is in a league with Norwich, Newcastle, Burnley etc.... absolute joke, but...but... 'restructuring'

 

[windymiller]

Cowards + Zonal marking

Cowards are the same as last year.
Zonal marking is a tactical decision, who makes them?

 

[Toffeepot]

So first goal against... cross comes in from left side where the aging RB is finding his feet in the game and the not good enough RB(who praised RB) plays Maupay onside
Second goal against, corner, poorly practiced, poorly set up, entirely preventable as shown every week by other managers
3rd goal, great finish
Doms missed pen that RB pointed out was not relevant
Individual errors that RB blamed is accurate, but they were mostly his
Theoretically we could've won that game 2-1 without RB's failings, including Dom's missed pen
Benitez is a walking, talking individual error

 

[Bluestar]

….all I’m saying is you don’t take your top player off in a game where you’re chasing a goal unless he asks to come off or he’s clearly struggling. Neither of those situations seemed apparent.

He hasn’t played since, ergo there was clearly a problem that the bench knew about.

 

[Abertonian]

Bruno Lage has been at Wolves the same amount of time as RB has been here and they have not conceded from one corner, not one!

That's an amazing stat. Wow.

Maybe the difference between a manager whose career is in the ascendancy and another who is seriously out of touch with the modern game.

 

[BainesontoastNEW]

and this is in a league with Norwich, Newcastle, Burnley etc.... absolute joke, but...but... 'restructuring'

Newcastle have better ball progression stats than us now thanks to Howe. I think they overtook us recently in their game v Man United! It's shambolic and by no means restructuring.

 

[Yarrgh]

Grim reading.

That's saying hello to relegation. When will we get a manager who works.

 

[malfosse]

But how many of your pts are from the fit birds thread?

Why is your avatar a J?
Sod it I'm going to the top @GrandOldTeam why is his avatar a J?

It's a no on Benitez for me.

 

[Efcjake]

But he was right to take Richarlison off but for some reason some forget to mention that, and people have been moaning about Rafael since before a ball was kicked, which kind of devalues any arguments against him when some were against him from day one.

Before anyone knew that they were having a go at fans just for the boos to the big man.

All good blues should never have wanted him anywhere near the club and should have spoken up, especially if they had a medium like the podcast or local paper to do so.

They didn't. They just put down the supporters who wanted nothing to do with him and I'm convinced many of them in private never wanted him here either but wouldn't or couldn't say it publicly.

I’ve no memory of any of the other stuff you’re referring to, but r.e. Rondon I think their comments were fair enough.

It was a crap sub, and personally I think it’s understandable why the substitution as an act deserved booing - but there’s no distinction as far as Rondon himself is concerned. “I’m coming on and that’s making our fans boo,” is the only way for him to frame that.

It didn’t help Everton in moment, or for the rest of the match. And it’s not going to help whenever Rondon finds himself on the pitch for us in future.

Even if you disagree with that, you can see it’s a valid viewpoint.

That aside, they were very critical of Benitez’s decisions throughout, I thought.

I think it’s fair enough if you don’t like listening to them. But I am left wondering why anyone who dislikes what they hear so much continues to listen. I’d have switched off long ago.

The point is there's been many, many times this season they have had a go at the support while at the same time they've made constant excuses for the fat man. It's very transparent what they're up to.

I don't think they've been anywhere near as critical about Benitez as they have about the fans and that's disgraceful.

I'm still listening because I'm curious what spin doctoring they are going to go with after yet another poor result while waiting for the penny to drop and the floodgates to open on what they really think about Benitez.

They did the same for Koeman and Ancelotti and then trashed both of them as soon as they were gone. I don't know how anyone takes what they say seriously because they clearly aren't being honest.

 

[joey_macmo]

Cowards + Zonal marking

It’s the same players and we used zonal marking last year too, just a different system.

Set pieces are the most coachable aspect of the game with the fewest variables.

We are currently 12 goals down on last season on set pieces alone

(20/21 +7 21/22 -5 so far)

 

[BlueToff]

DCL reaggravation of his quad injury then. Was probably never gonna play v Hull but it means Rondon up top. Hope to try and get DCL back for Leicester. But after four months out DCL isn't going to be able to keep playing 2 games every few days and that's what we now have to do because of the postponed fixtures.

Second half of the season will be great though,ey.

@Saint Domingo and this is why it's one thing for fans to say 'the second half of the season will be better' but another thing all together for the manager to be saying it.