just got some observations and opinions on Benitez... don't know if it's right though... sorry about not fluent English...
Won't be slick and sly about anything. When he sees a problem, he confronted it even though it means continuous struggles and sometimes chaos during the process. Every player gets his own ego and comfort zone, nobody wants to be pushed consistently without soothing. All his stubbornness on "improvements" with owners and players (esp. established stars) mostly end up with tension and disputes. Sometimes, it did make fans fell in love with him like the time at Newcastle.
If a player complied with his demand on attitude, efforts, belief, then there are dedicated Gray, Gordon, Townsend and Coleman.. If a player was never going to endure and treat it as a job, then end up playing the mind game of outlasting each other. But the fact some players get heart but no longer good with football like Rondon versus those didn't fit with the "attitude" profile but got huge talents like James and Digne made it like a cronyism. He would rather pick someone who's motivated, trained hard and followed his instructions, then putting someone who actually got more talent to grind out results. It may explain placing Coleman on LB then choosing other suitable options. That's the decisions (mistakes?) he has made over the years. No one can fill a full team of dedicated AND talented footballers. Not even Man City or Chelsea...
When Carlo and Coleman discovered something wrong with "attitude" (
link), they can talk and express and move on. But not Benitez. His obsession to get things right made him the source of the problem or turmoil.
He is always in the race to assemble a glorified team that is loyal to his "philosophy" before the players who's "doing an above average job" decided to turn against him. In this case, I don't think he will have enough time. Unless Gray, DCL, Richarlison, Doucoure or even Patterson and Mykolenko decided to put in a heroic performance like "Gordon vs Brighton". Not to mention if most of them can stay healthy and contribute on the pitch.
Sorry, just hurting my eyes by watching those performances while somehow touched by several individuals' passion and fighting spirit. Make me wonder if there's ever one day with that 11 on the pitch.