Jump to content

Recommended Posts

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3497826/Rafa-Benitez-tells-underperforming-Newcastle-United-players-no-days-new-manager-bids-up.html

 

Rafa Benitez has got tough with Newcastle's underperforming squad, scrapping days off and introducing double training sessions in a bid to save the club from relegation.

 

Newcastle are second from bottom in the Premier League table and have suffered eight straight away defeats ahead of Sunday's Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland.

 

Now Sportsmail can reveal that the Spaniard has axed days off in the build-up to matches, a tradition under sacked head coach Steve McClaren which saw the players enjoy time off 72 hours before a game.

 

Think I'd heard of this 'tradition' before but for fuck's sake  :lol: No wonder they took to the pitch like a bunch of strangers again every week and looking half asleep.

 

You'd think when you're running out of ideas for what's going wrong to the point you take a punt on starting Riviere up front in the game widely tipped as your last chance to avoid the sack, you might have experimented with actually meeting your players for a quick training session before a match just to see if that had anything to do with it.

 

"Hi lads, long time no see.  Nice few days off?  Anyway, just before we go out on the pitch, everyone remember what we went over in training on Wednesday?  Was it Wednesday?"

Link to post
Share on other sites

Surely they don't mean, they get 3 days off in a row?  Just 3 days before a game, they get the day off?

 

If I remember correctly.  The week when McClaren finally got sacked.  They had the Monday off and then the Friday, as well.  As it was the game was on the following Monday. 

 

It's still ridiculous, like.  I know a lot of clubs are going to give players days off during the week.  But in our position.  We should have had everyone in the building, working around the clock, trying to find a way out of this mess.  Instead, we were just doing morning sessions and missing 1-2 days training a week.

 

:idiot2:

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest Howaythetoon

Rafa is big on fitness, Liverpool were a very fit side that could go the distance in any match against anyone. Players should get 1 day off.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I assume the regularity and quantity of training is based mainly keeping the players in the best condition possible for the games, but you'd think you could do a hell of a lot of tactical work/walk throughs of tactical moves and/or set pieces on days where they should be "resting".

Link to post
Share on other sites

I assume the regularity and quantity of training is based mainly keeping the players in the best condition possible for the games, but you'd think you could do a hell of a lot of tactical work/walk throughs of tactical moves and/or set pieces on days where they should be "resting".

 

Or you could go buy a Ferrari.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Aye. A lot of Dalglish's dealings were rebuilding a reserve team (Brady, Serrant, Pinas, Gudjonnson (sp?), Coppinger, Robinson, etc). Obviously there were a few poor signings, but as well as the 4 who went on to be important in the Sir Bobby team, there was also Hamann who second half of the 98/99 season was probably the best midfielder I've seen here.

 

Think he gets a raw deal personally.

 

He doesn't get the shit he deserves, he set us back massively by trying to build his own team because he didn't want Keegan to get any credit if we'd won something.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Aye. A lot of Dalglish's dealings were rebuilding a reserve team (Brady, Serrant, Pinas, Gudjonnson (sp?), Coppinger, Robinson, etc). Obviously there were a few poor signings, but as well as the 4 who went on to be important in the Sir Bobby team, there was also Hamann who second half of the 98/99 season was probably the best midfielder I've seen here.

 

Think he gets a raw deal personally.

 

He doesn't get the s*** he deserves, he set us back massively by trying to build his own team because he didn't want Keegan to get any credit if we'd won something.

 

Totally agree, he dismantled a great fucking side so he could give his bindipper buddies one last payday. His only redeeming thing was the 35m he spent on Carroll.

 

We went from being the entertainers to dads fucking army in a matter of months because of this guy. Never forgive, never forget.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Aye. A lot of Dalglish's dealings were rebuilding a reserve team (Brady, Serrant, Pinas, Gudjonnson (sp?), Coppinger, Robinson, etc). Obviously there were a few poor signings, but as well as the 4 who went on to be important in the Sir Bobby team, there was also Hamann who second half of the 98/99 season was probably the best midfielder I've seen here.

 

Think he gets a raw deal personally.

 

He doesn't get the s*** he deserves, he set us back massively by trying to build his own team because he didn't want Keegan to get any credit if we'd won something.

 

Totally agree, he dismantled a great f***ing side so he could give his bindipper buddies one last payday. His only redeeming thing was the 35m he spent on Carroll.

 

We went from being the entertainers to dads f***ing army in a matter of months because of this guy. Never forgive, never forget.

I'll never forget the SJP Barcelona game (...though to be fair, it was even sweeter given how low expectations were, based on how we'd been playing) and Nobby Solano (possibly my favourite ever player). I'll never forgive the dad's army jobs for the "boys" plus Des Hamilton, or Guivarc'h.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Watch him end up at someone like Blackburn to replace Lambert, and we get them first game on Sky on the Friday night.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Aye. A lot of Dalglish's dealings were rebuilding a reserve team (Brady, Serrant, Pinas, Gudjonnson (sp?), Coppinger, Robinson, etc). Obviously there were a few poor signings, but as well as the 4 who went on to be important in the Sir Bobby team, there was also Hamann who second half of the 98/99 season was probably the best midfielder I've seen here.

 

Think he gets a raw deal personally.

 

He doesn't get the s*** he deserves, he set us back massively by trying to build his own team because he didn't want Keegan to get any credit if we'd won something.

 

Totally agree, he dismantled a great f***ing side so he could give his bindipper buddies one last payday. His only redeeming thing was the 35m he spent on Carroll.

 

We went from being the entertainers to dads f***ing army in a matter of months because of this guy. Never forgive, never forget.

 

There is the argument that we needed to rein in spending due to moving to a Plc at the time, which tbf I think was partly accurate and something SJH made a lot of money from and escaped with not much criticism. Having said that, bringing in dads army and some shocking lower league players exposed Dalglish's bad judgement which was pretty much compounded by the mess he made at Celtic.

Link to post
Share on other sites

You set us on this path, Steve. Thanks very much.

 

Well, in fairness.  The rot started with Pardew.  Carver then managed to somehow make it worse :lol: 

 

McClaren just continued the shit work of his predecessors.

Link to post
Share on other sites

You set us on this path, Steve. Thanks very much.

 

Well, in fairness.  The rot started with Pardew.  Carver then managed to somehow make it worse :lol: 

 

McClaren just continued the s*** work of his predecessors.

 

Aye, he just wasn't good enough to stop it.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Late December, we'd just lost 1-0 to WBA.

 

Mick Lowes: "The need for a striker is obvious, though, isn't it, Steve?"

 

McClueless: "Well, the attitude of the players was first class today......"

 

Hope he rots in hell.

Link to post
Share on other sites

SMC is a decent bloke

 

Beg to differ. I met him professionally more than once and found him to be hugely conceited, boorish, and an arrogant, self-satisfied twat.

 

In my book, a small amount of arrogance (say, Roger Federer) is easily tolerable if, and only if, you can produce the goods...

Link to post
Share on other sites

His time here, for me, will be remembered as one of cognitive dissonance. Game after game we would get battered or lose, and he would come out smiling from ear to ear, telling everyone what a wonderful performance it was, and if only we'd play like this all season, we'd be fine. Well we did fucking play the same way all season, you cunt, and we're going down. Fucking wanker.

Link to post
Share on other sites

He's finished at the top level.  He was given an amazing opportunity and couldn't have made a bigger mess of it.  We'll come back up one day.  He won't.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...