2021/22 Rafael Benitez

[blu87554]

Just looking back objectively now at his time here, based on facts of what’s happened:

- came in, insisted he’d done a full squad audit and knew what Everton fans wanted, talked a lot about running and effort
- definitely improved the fitness of the side
- brought in Gray which is an excellent signing for that price. Townsend on a free is very meh and he’s a Benitez player - he’ll be useful for whoever else comes in because he’s always committed. Begovic is what he is, Lonergan for training needs
- did well first few games in terms of results, team looked fitter but wasn’t really organised bar the Brighton game. There seemed no real plan to how we played but the intensity was there at least
- poor deadline day, demanded we got Rondon and we got Rondon
- injuries hit, results start to tail off, matching the poor level of performance
- James Rodriguez left the club even though Everton couldn’t replace him
- Bit of a bounce around that United game, the last good display. I credit Benitez that day, looked like he had got something to build on even with limited options (DCL and Rich out), but Utd were awful
- Went very, very rubbish very quickly. He tried to replace Doucoure with Tom Davies. His insistence on only ever playing 2 in midfield became apparent. By the wolves game, it was clear he was stuck in a time football forgot
- worst derby home defeat in 40 years, fans protest, but try to be too clever and insist that it’s not the manager’s fault. This results in DoF going and the manager gets more power
- half-decent performance v Arsenal, but relied on moment of magic and could easily have lost. Overshadows it by ditching Digne
- hapless v Palace, he changes it up after 20 mins and thinks Gomes can play second striker in his absurd 4411
- resilient display v Chelsea but very lucky to not have been 3-0 down by 20 mins in. Decides same formation must be used in every games
- completely loses his head over Digne, alienates one of the best players then inexplicably puts him on the bench v Brighton, even though he was never gonna bring him on. Seemingly gets annoyed by fans clapping Digne when he warms up, when Everton are 2-0 down at home after 15 mins
- Sells said player having already spent more than what we got for him on two very inexperienced players, one of whom is thrown straight into a struggling side
- leaves by suffering a defeat which leads Everton to become the only side to lose to all the newly promoted teams
- gets fat compo packaged club’s now a complete mess. No DoF, owner’s a lunatic, Bill’s crying and the fans hate each other and the players

Cheers Rafael. It’s some effort

Nicely summed up. He just lost his way somewhere. Last night he even mentioned the excuse of losing because Iwobi is in the Africa cup. He actually said that.

It makes you wonder why he signed up in the first place. There was no transfer budget and up and until december the results where not suprising. But as you noted, increasingly he seemed to put his own ego above the actual task at hand. If you dont have a transfer budget but you have some kind of star player in Rodrigues, why not build a team around him? Dig in, compact and one or two attacks. Ancelotti saw that better than him. But the Iwobi mention alone for me, was enough to shut the door.

Now we need a manager without the ego. No more hollywood signings. We dont have a hollywood squad nor the budget.

 

[Bluedyhell]

I think we will all find he is given the full season. Why else is the club backing him week in week out and giving him the funds to spend so he can build 'his team'. Hope to God I am wrong but prepare to be fed up and even angrier.

 

[Harryflashman]

I understand Harry. Not sure where you were but I look back to the 60s, 70s and 80s when we were a proper football team and club. I am fortunate that I have seen those years many even on here have not.

Started going in the 70’s then on my own in the 80’s . I’ve never felt so disconnected but like you its the younger generation I feel for , they’ve had nothing and they deserve better .

 

[Caolam]

Not Southgate, the man’s as dull as the football he wants to play.

We need someone to steady the ship, we need someone who is going to unite the club; dull is exactly what this club needs for a while. When Benitez talked about fixing the problems at the club which have been there not for five months but for five years he was right, just about the only thing he was right about. No one is riding in on a white charger to save us, no one will take over and turn us into a top six club next season. We were in a poor state when Benitez took over and he has managed to make us worse. We are a “fixer upper “, realistically we are years away from being competitive. We need a dull, dogged, determined figure who will laboriously set about sorting things out. Another flash manager coming in promising untold success , buying players who aren’t premier league standard and giving them big wages and long contract, a man who thinks he can impose a style of play on players who can’t play that way, another one of those could finish us as a premier league team. So, forgive me but “dull” seems pretty exciting to me at this minute.

 

[MrGrumpy]

I'm not sure he'll go, Moshiri has to say he was wrong in the first place....I cant see him doing that, especially after throwing Brands out, he was clearly showing the fans that he was putting all the blame on him.
If he stays, I don't think I'll watch the next game. It will be venomous, seeing Gerrard smirking at the fans, it won't end well this.

He gone, far to many reports otherwise including trusted Journos

 

[MACCA75]

I think set pieces have killed us this season. We were very solid defending them last season and very good at attacking them. It’s how we got 59 points.

The injuries to DCL and Mina haven’t helped (nor has the loss of Gylfi) but it was Benitez’ choice to get rid of James and Digne, his choice to ditch Davide Ancelotti’s way of defending them and his lack of invention on the training ground that still keeps us floating balls into the box.

 

[Tel001]

Looking back, the summer of Marco Silva’s second season was a turning point and opportunity missed. Second half of the season we’d started to see the shape of a team forming. Zouma and Keane were forming a good partnership at centre back, Gueye and Gomes looked good together, Richie on the left had good figures for goals, Siggi behind the striker was scoring and Calvert Lewis was starting to emerge.

That summer if we’d made Zouma permanent, not sold Gueye and added a right winger who contributed similar numbers to what Richie and Siggi were doing behind DCL I think that team was showing signs of going in the right direction.

Instead, we didn’t/couldn’t make Zouma permanent, sold Gueye and replaces him with Gbamin and instead of adding a right winger that would contribute we added Iwobi who really wanted to play on the left. Team went backwards and has been going backwards since.

We’ve absolutely had the money to be pushing top four, West Ham are doing it having spent a fraction. We’ve lost good players who were key parts of the team we should have been building on and replaced with poorer players. Add a toxic personality like Rafael into the mix and well, we all know how it turns out.

You are conviently forgetting that we literally conceeded from set prices on almost a weekly basis . It was shocking and conceeding a free kick in a wide area almost felt like we had just given them a penalty

 

[BigDuncTributeBand]

I'm not sure he'll go, Moshiri has to say he was wrong in the first place....I cant see him doing that, especially after throwing Brands out, he was clearly showing the fans that he was putting all the blame on him.
If he stays, I don't think I'll watch the next game. It will be venomous, seeing Gerrard smirking at the fans, it won't end well this.

In what, 6 months, he’s allowed Benitez to clear out the head of the medical department, director of football and his two recruitment heads and sell one of our best players in Digne only to them sack Benitez leaving a massive vacuum at the club.

It’ll be a major personal embarrassment for Moshiri to sack Benitez now, mind you it’s embarrassing keeping him any longer.

 

[R.Reddington]

Just announce his sacking will ya

It’ll be announced Monday morning.

 

[cbrect]

I think

We should have ploughed our money into bringing the very best youth players into the club - looking at the thing long term rather than trying to hijack the top 4 quickly

In what world was buying Gylfi Sigurddson for £45m ever going to elevate us?

Just absolutely ludicrous and baffling short term thinking

This kind of sums up the issue with PL football. Of course the best way for us to progress is to build over time.

I for one enjoyed our time with limited funds, it encouraged creativity and solving issues with brains rather than cash and yes, it was frustrating at times but at least we had soul and identity. I cannot identify with my club at the moment and it feels soulless and disconnected.

We were far too late to the ‘wealthy owner’ party and whilst we have a great history, we are not currently going to attract players at the very top level.

So then we’re left with two sensible options. Buy the better players from the average clubs + the average players from the better clubs, pay outrageous fees and offer crazy wages / contract lengths. Or we build over time investing in youth and lower league rough diamonds.

Sadly the tolerance levels of the fans / ego of the owner will simply not allow us to rebuild over 3-5 years with a young manager and a clear football strategy.

I actually feel that there are green shoots of progress. We have a good base of young players, some sell value to reinvest later and a number of lead weights due to leave soon so it’s not all doom and gloom but we just need to weather this storm and stay up obviously.

We have to change though, doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity. The question is will the owner adapt and the fans accept where we are and what we can expect.

I understand the mantra “we just expect hard work and effort” but when you are engulfed in negativity and failure it’s not always easy to get motivated, we assume money and the badge is enough but times have changed and people are not built the way they once were and beyond football, there are just everyday blokes and in any workplace, most of the staff will only do just enough.

We need a catalyst to spark a change, right now a win would help and of course a manager we can all get behind.

 

[Parker]

But the club wanted a Digne sale. People seem to think this was pure Benitez, but he was the board's patsy on this. Frankly, from an economic perspective, selling a player just past his peak and replacing him with two younger, hungrier players is, potentially, a very sound model. In theory, the long-term benefits will more than offset the short-term costs. In theory.

The club needs to continue this model - but to do so they have to have a good eye for the younger player they are bringing in. It stands or falls on the quality and impact of the Pattersons of the world. So, we'll have to reserve judgement for quite some time, but, in theory, selling Digne as he passes his peak for a good price is straight out of the Brian Clough/Peter Taylor playbook.

Passes his peak? He's only 28.

Players can play at a high level until they're into their early 30s nowadays. Digne has a good 4 or 5 years at a high level left.

Hes still playing for the best international team on the planet and we've replaced him with a lad who was playing in a 2 team league a month ago.

We're 15th, you don't weaken your side with the threat of relegation.

And also, it was Benitez mate. That fat, arrogant, little nobhead couldn't stand a player telling him how it is so he spitefully gave himself less chance of winning games for his employers just because of a personal spat. He should've been sacked for pure unprofessionalism. Good managers manage personalities and egos, and not just his own.

 

[Colonel Getafe]

Has he facht off yet ?

NEIN, not yet

 

[Colonel Getafe]

Imagine thinking this would end any other way , laughable

And yet this is a contingent of fans who still seem to think he'd have somehow gotten 40 points from the last 3 games and finished 5th, if only we'd have been patient enough........ ?

 

[Tel001]

Is anyone able to explain what changed in the team after the good run at the start of the season?

We were lucky at the start . Even in a lot of the games we won we fell behind . We managed to pull a few wins out of the bag but in the prem the stats show that coming from behind to win is rare. His tactics have not changed , we sit back until we concede and when he has no other option the team start to try and salvage the game , we managed to do it at the start and we’re lucky… needed a worldly from Townsend to beat burnley , another from gray to get our single win the the last 13 games, even saints we had to come from behind .

So to answer your question , our luck changed , we were lucky and it papered over some huge cracks at the start

 

[BigDuncTributeBand]

We need someone to steady the ship, we need someone who is going to unite the club; dull is exactly what this club needs for a while. When Benitez talked about fixing the problems at the club which have been there not for five months but for five years he was right, just about the only thing he was right about. No one is riding in on a white charger to save us, no one will take over and turn us into a top six club next season. We were in a poor state when Benitez took over and he has managed to make us worse. We are a “fixer upper “, realistically we are years away from being competitive. We need a dull, dogged, determined figure who will laboriously set about sorting things out. Another flash manager coming in promising untold success , buying players who aren’t premier league standard and giving them big wages and long contract, a man who thinks he can impose a style of play on players who can’t play that way, another one of those could finish us as a premier league team. So, forgive me but “dull” seems pretty exciting to me at this minute.

Agree with an awful lot of that and can’t fault it other than Gareth Southgate. I just don’t think he’s a very good manager, found his level dicking on San Marino.