2021/22 Rafael Benitez

[ToffeeTim]

Ancelotti had been at the club 18 months and had spent £70 million yet we saw zero progression

Benitez has been here around 3 months and has spent £1.5 million

Apples and oranges.

Did Liverpool play a weakened side tonight? Had they lost tonight would they have been calling for Klopps head?

Take a cold shower Tim and reflect on what you are saying as its nonsense im afraid. There is a reason why the same 3-4 clubs hoover up all the trophies every year and thats because they have squads full of quality.

Rotation is a part of football every club does it including QPR!!!

I'm not going to change my mind and I won't be taking lectures.

You have your opinion and I have mine. I cant warm to the manager and I will never defend a manager who is complacent and loses to a lower league side.

Rotation is not necessary when you are desperate for a trophy. If people think the manager picked the right team tonight then fine, but i don't, and I'm not going to think differently tomorrow. It was arrogant and backfired. Completely unnecessary and avoidable.

 

[BlueToff]

that should have still been enough to win the game

the reason we didn’t is because the defenders played below the level they csn

I know knocking Holgate is a favourite pastime for some on here, but he’s good enough to beat QPR, as is Godfrey

Benitez could have had reasonable expectation that they could have got the job done

This is less a selection issue and more just the players not delivering, just like when we went out on pens when Silva was here

Benitez’s continued baffling omission of Simms when Rondon clearly can’t do a full 90 is something that should be questioned, as will be any exclusion of Gordon going forward now Gordon has shown what he can do if given the chance

However, I’m not kicking him for the result tonight. That team was good enough and a lot of them let him down, just as a lot of them have let down previous managers

Tbf mate, Simms has had 4 days training and has just come back from a 6-month injury lay off

The real issue here is letting a manager decide that Rondon was absolutely the answer and no matter how long a deal took it must be done – he must be the back-up striker

Played in China and Russia for the last two years, and he's 32

 

[davek]

He didn’t have to take the job like,

He was promised cash for the squad.

 

[davek]

Exactly, it’s the epitome of Everton that ?

It wont happen. Bleach back in the cupboard.

 

[Ring master]

 

[Milkman]

No real surprise from the Benitez fan club.

I don't even know what this means.

 

[LocalNative]

I think it's becoming more obvious by the day here's here to tick things over and keep us afloat until BMD. Anything extra is a bonus for the circus running the club.

 

[andy4efc]

If that's City away, I'd have said play the kids, got unlucky with the draw, so be it. I couldn't give a toss about the League Cup.

But I understand that others do, so when you get QPR away then with the scenario we have then you don't take risks with it - you put the game to bed and make sure you're in the next round.

Benitez - in my mind inexplicably - decided to be Billy Big Bollocks about it and play a reserve team. He deserves every ounce of criticism for it, because if he didn't have the nous to understand the damage this has caused him, then he deserves that damage.

not just that mate, after Saturday, it was important to win this and get back on track. We’ve gone from a poor result against villa which could have easily been a win, to being embarrassed against a lower division team.
Doesn’t all fall at Benitez door, the fact that we still have kenny, holgate Davies at the club isn’t on him, and no back up left back isn’t on him.
Lack of ambition on the pitch is though.

 

[andy4efc]

I think it's becoming more obvious by the day here's here to tick things over and keep us afloat until BMD. Anything extra is a bonus for the circus running the club.

That is what I tell myself. I can feel as disconnected as I’ve ever been with the club because at the end of the day it’s to aid a greater good.

 

[BlueToff]

When discourse is on, his energy alone makes us better. He’s not a brilliant footballer but he is very athletic and does simple things well and that in itself aids more control. Even if we aren’t having 60% possession we can still look comfortable. He’s everything Gomes and Davies aren’t.

I agree regarding Keane. Godfrey was poor and holgate is dreadful. Keane or Mina would have been ideal. I assume Mina has missed out because he is made of spaghetti.

Godfrey was poor. He's also very clearly unfit and struggling after COVID. As in he looks weak and knackered and slow. We can all say his positioning wasn't great last year (it isn't great), but physically he more than made for it on a lot of occasions. Now he hasn't got that physicality. I appreciate he has to get match fit but he has now played 3 games in 8 days, and had to deal with being completely bullied by Austin tonight. It was a mad decision from the manager.

 

[tommye]

You're basically Jimmy Nail at this point, pal

Crocodile Bluuueees....
?????

 

[ToffeeTim]

I cant watch the in house interviews after a bad loss. They usually push me over the edge lol

Probably talking about how magnificent the character of the team was to equalise in normal time

 

[davek]

I don't even know what this means.

He doesn't either.

 

[adi dassler]

We lost a game of football

SACK THE MANAGER!!!

Didnt know we were Real Madrid.

Some of you need to give your heads a wobble so much self entitlement.

Lad we’ve just exited a cup to a lower league team, meaning we now have just one chance this season of ending a barren spell of 26 years!!

People are entitled to be unhappy with that and entitled to question the team selection that contributed to that.

If you could remove your head from Benitez’s portly behind you would see that.

 

[roy vernon]

The owners and DoF should be apologising to Benitez publicly.

They've left him to carry the can for the midden they made with half a billion quid.

They don’t need to apologies to him Dave, he knew the score when he accepted the job, in fact, that’s why he got the job. He accepted the job with the current financial restraints because, the location, wage package, contract length and opportunity to show that he is still a top manager we’re too tempting for him to resist.

His brief is as plain as a pikestaff, keep us away from the relegation battle until we balance the books and get into Bramley-Moore.