Homepage Article Whatever people say I am, I am not

[Buckers]

I am glad Ancellotti’s gone. His football was drab and ineffective, and his management style seemed half arsed and not suited to Everton.

Totally agree. Couldn’t watch us defend a one goal lead for 84 mins again. Hope the style of play will be different this year.

 

[msb]

Totally agree. Couldn’t watch us defend a one goal lead for 84 mins again. Hope the style of play will be different this year.

It surely will. We are unlikely to go 1-0 up and then have to defend it, as we won't go 1-0 up . Other than that, can't wait for the season to start.

 

[catcherintherye]

We had that honesty of endeavour under Moyes, yes. We needed more cash to make it work. If half the cash supplied to managers after Martnez left had been handed to Moyes then maybe we'd have broken into the top 5 on a more regular basis than we did. The other argument is that the type of players you pay for to get you over the line and into the CL places would have been distrusted by Moyes and he'd not have the tactical nous to steer us to the 70 odd point seasons you usually need for CL qualification. We needed to get shut of Moyes and look for a better coach playing more expansive football who knew how to set up and go for it. Martinez was the manager we should have got when Moshiri came in rather than the last of the Kenwright managers who were hamstrung by lack of resources to get into the elite. Bad timing.

What we need now is not a return to Moyes but a turn toward a Bielsa type set up of hungry and mostly unsung younger players who are full of movement with one or two class players. That should be what we're aiming for right now. You can do that without spending the half a billion we've seen wasted in the last 5 years here.

I think that's the big problem Benitez faces, beyond some of the tribalism, is he's just not what I think a lot of the fans wanted. He's not a guy who plays with a particularly distinctive system that suits what the crowd wants. I'd say there was a general acceptance we could take a step forward to get someone in akin to Bielsa who could get us playing a way (with ferocity and tempo) that the fans have always wanted. For everything good that Benitez does, that is not his strength at all and he just won't do it.

 

[davek]

I think that's the big problem Benitez faces, beyond some of the tribalism, is he's just not what I think a lot of the fans wanted. He's not a guy who plays with a particularly distinctive system that suits what the crowd wants. I'd say there was a general acceptance we could take a step forward to get someone in akin to Bielsa who could get us playing a way (with ferocity and tempo) that the fans have always wanted. For everything good that Benitez does, that is not his strength at all and he just won't do it.

Benitez is all about results. That's his trade mark.

Style doesn't really come into it.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

Benitez is all about results. That's his trade mark.

Style doesn't really come into it.

If by season we end up further away from Europe qualification or final appearance, he will style himself out of the club quicker than former manager, could be sooner if those goals evaporate sooner.

 

[TimHowardsBeardJuice]

I tell you what - every single person connected to this club, be they players, managers, owners or fans, need to acquire a humbleness that's been absent from Everton since Moshiri came in.

I think if I were watching on from another club I'd be repulsed at the stunts that a classic English football club like Everton have been getting up to in half a decade of waste and profligacy and claims of imminent success. In fact, if I were a fan of another club I'd be cock-a-hoop at a club that's tried to be the new rich kids on the block and ended up as sad and humiliated parvenus falling flat on its face looking down the back of the couch again for cash to spend because they'd been spectacularly mis-governed.

It's time we rediscovered our identity as a hard working organisation that makes every opponent earn the right to take a single point off us...and every club need to pay top dollar for one of ours if they want one for themselves and we need to play hardball with them when they want too much for one of theirs.

That's not to say we cant achieve, just that we need to close the door on the tone and strategy of the first failed five years of the Moshiri period.

Asceticism, prudence and honest hard work. That's what we should be looking to. Players who dont want to be here can GTF out now because we have no need for them. And fans need to ditch the dreams of spending our way to success. That ship has sailed and sunk.

I agree with this, and think that Rafael may be a better fit than Carlo or other recent managers accordingly.

Rafael is a pragmatist, he's not looking to puff his players up or be their best buddy, he drills his team hard, he demands fitness and attention to detail.

This is what we need imo - more prose, fewer attempts at poetry.

said without prejudice to anyone's feelings about Rafael re: his RS past or re: his relatively poor recent record at Newcastle and in China. The latter is fair play and the former I feel not competent to judge.

 

[gonetomorrow]

I'm prepared to like the big fellow but he shouldn't wear shorts in training.

 

[Crestfallen]

Excellent this! Need more of this instead of infant school name calling!

 

[Bluebonic]

Why is he getting called Rafael? His name is Benitez, that is what we should refer to him as, when not insulting him after a defeat.