Rafael Benitez

[thomas]

“But the main thing is as a team, as a club, as a city we have to be sure that we keep doing things in the right way.

 

“We cannot have over-confidence. Everybody is asking me about complacency, blah, blah, blah.

 

“Yes, I am passing the message on to my players; but it’s the same for the fans, the city, the staff and for everyone.

 

“We have to be sure that if something is wrong, we keep pushing. And if something is right, we will push and enjoy.

 

“But there will be no over-confidence and no complacency, especially from the top of the club and the people in the city or the fans in the stand.

 

“It’s everyone here, not just the players. We can win together and we can succeed together.

 

Love this man.  The way he talks about 'the city' as part of the club and vice versa says to me he really gets it.

 

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rafa-benitez-names-biggest-danger-12129575

had to check if the 'blah, blah, blah' was part of the article. Love rafa, me

[Guest firetotheworks]

"Interestingly, Benitez insists it is not just the Newcastle squad who need to be wary of over-confidence though, but also the club’s staff, the supporters and the city as a whole."

 

Reading the recent comments in this thread, he's got a point like.

[Guest firetotheworks]

8 points clear of third and it's the 5th of November. All thanks to this man. 

[U2]

imagine where we'd be having appointed a man with championship experience.

[James]

I'm sure Pardew or McClaren would have been smug and self congratulory over such a win.

 

But Rafa will be business as usual and would have privately wanted to win by two goals and will work hard to improve. Which is why we can trust him.

[TRon]

8 points clear of third and it's the 5th of November. All thanks to this man. 

 

Probably headed for the semis of the cup as well. That is going to be special.

[Tooj]

"Interestingly, Benitez insists it is not just the Newcastle squad who need to be wary of over-confidence though, but also the club’s staff, the supporters and the city as a whole."

 

Reading the recent comments in this thread, he's got a point like.

Not if he'd have read some of the shite being spouted when we were getting beat off Norwich.

[Benwell Lad]

Good chat with a (Spanish) Barca supporting friend who told me how unfairly he was treat at Real Madrid by both the club and the press and that it still continues with Rafa having been ridiculed on a couple of occasions recently.

He said that Zidane gets away with stuff that Rafa wouldn't because he is seen as an establishment figure who toes the line, which is something Rafa would never be.

Pretty much summed up that Madrid was the wrong place for him because he couldn't be his own man and he is now at the right kind of club.

[samptime29]

I just love he always talks about constant improvement, and that we can play better.

 

He never rests, he gets pissed off if we go slack and concede.

 

The circumstances just feels right. Fans love him, he has complete control, players respect him, and he's very close to family.

 

 

 

 

[Jayson]

8 points clear of third and it's the 5th of November. All thanks to this man. 

 

Probably headed for the semis of the cup as well. That is going to be special.

 

Can't see any of this overconfidence Rafa's on about.

[Wallsendmag]

8 points clear of third and it's the 5th of November. All thanks to this man. 

 

Probably headed for the semis of the cup as well. That is going to be special.

 

Can't see any of this overconfidence Rafa's on about.

 

[Dan Gleebals]

8 points clear of third and it's the 5th of November. All thanks to this man. 

 

Probably headed for the semis of the cup as well. That is going to be special.

 

Be interesting to see how we get on against Hull. Not sure I want the Sunderland to win but if they do and West Brom get a result, they might not fancy a cup game too much.

 

We need to win against Leeds and Blackburn and this is a bonus game for us.

[Guest Ogden]

Good chat with a (Spanish) Barca supporting friend who told me how unfairly he was treat at Real Madrid by both the club and the press and that it still continues with Rafa having been ridiculed on a couple of occasions recently.

He said that Zidane gets away with stuff that Rafa wouldn't because he is seen as an establishment figure who toes the line, which is something Rafa would never be.

Pretty much summed up that Madrid was the wrong place for him because he couldn't be his own man and he is now at the right kind of club.

 

Rafa has been a success and his clubs have played good football everywhere he has been.  The problem with Madrid is that there are more prima donas than you have fingers and they all have Perez in the palm of their hands.

[pinkeye]

My life long Liverpool supporting mate, actually from Liverpool to add gravitas, told me at the weekend that he really thinks that Rafa has taken to Newcastle in a similar way to how he took to Liverpool.  He sees many similarities between the way that Rafa is behaving now to how he did when he started on the long successful road with Liverpool.

 

I told him that my short experience of Rafa has definitely made me understand why they all still seem to hold him in such high regard. 

 

Nice!

[Village Idiot]

Zidane has had worse patches than Benítez had, but the problem is that Rafa doesn't have time for politics and Real Madrid is a very politic club. Once he had bad results - and he had bad results -, nobody (media, dressing room leaders, club staff) had his back. Zidane has had enough clout and a more appeasing personality to see off his bad streaks.

[AlanSkÃrare]

Problem for Benitez at Real was, understandably, that he came into the job with little credibility after seeing his stock fall in the jobs he had just lost at Inter and Napoli. Point to external factors and unfair treatment, sure, but the fact was that he was in a downward spiral since leaving Liverpool, disqualified by supporters, unable to create the defensive stability that he had relied upon before, but now suddenly in control of a club that is arguably one of the two best in the world. It was always going to be vulnerable.

 

As much as I'm taking to him and love what he has done at NUFC so far, I'm still vary of what he will serve up over a longer period of time in the Premiership. On a positive note, he's got everything in place to apply his methods and thinking here. We're a club at the perfect frequency for him. He's been allowed to sign players with a hunger to learn from him, they're receptive of his message, he's shaping pretty much everything to suit his approach, and we'll reap rewards from that. There is every reason to believe he'll have much greater success here than at the clubs he left prior to coming here because of the timing and where we are meeting him in his career, but also because of the working conditions.

 

All in all, he's the best thing that has happened to us for fucking ages, I'll be happy for us to fight under his leadership for a long time, regardless of the speed of our progress, but that doesn't forbid questioning of his tactical orientation.

 

To me, there is no denying that his idea of football is not exactly at the forefront of the tactical development at the moment. For all his sharp, sophisticated and calculated ideas, for all the defensive solidity we're showing, there is not much emphasis on the high pressing or formational flexibility that is characteristic for most ground-winning managers at the moment. I think his orientation may be able to do wonders for us anyway, like I said above, and all teams don't have to play in the same way - but I'm waiting to see how well it serves him when he comes up against the increasingly competitive managerial opposition in the Premier League. To me, the more cautious approach, deeper defenses, seem to be sitting ducks when coming up against high-intensity, high-pressing sides, a little too often.

 

Hopefully his analytical mind will see this and develop us into a dynamic team, capable of coping with different sorts of opposition. There is evidence in the past that he has that tendency.

[xLiaaamx]

We aren't even defensive though. We're better in possesion than we have been for years.

[bowlingcrofty]

...and our closing down is the best it's been for years.

[Hanshithispantz]

We'll be a different side in the Premiership like, we're far from a defensive side in this league though. We're disciplined but the bluster at the start of the season about us playing 2 defensive midfielders etc was bollocks really. Same with Dummett & Colback not being suited to this league/being exposed more than they will in the Premiership etc.

[r0cafella]

Zidane has had worse patches than Benítez had, but the problem is that Rafa doesn't have time for politics and Real Madrid is a very politic club. Once he had bad results - and he had bad results -, nobody (media, dressing room leaders, club staff) had his back. Zidane has had enough clout and a more appeasing personality to see off his bad streaks.

Is Rafa getting any press in Spain VI? If so what do they make of it?

[TRon]

Problem for Benitez at Real was, understandably, that he came into the job with little credibility after seeing his stock fall in the jobs he had just lost at Inter and Napoli. Point to external factors and unfair treatment, sure, but the fact was that he was in a downward spiral since leaving Liverpool, disqualified by supporters, unable to create the defensive stability that he had relied upon before, but now suddenly in control of a club that is arguably one of the two best in the world. It was always going to be vulnerable.

 

As much as I'm taking to him and love what he has done at NUFC so far, I'm still vary of what he will serve up over a longer period of time in the Premiership. On a positive note, he's got everything in place to apply his methods and thinking here. We're a club at the perfect frequency for him. He's been allowed to sign players with a hunger to learn from him, they're receptive of his message, he's shaping pretty much everything to suit his approach, and we'll reap rewards from that. There is every reason to believe he'll have much greater success here than at the clubs he left prior to coming here because of the timing and where we are meeting him in his career, but also because of the working conditions.

 

All in all, he's the best thing that has happened to us for fucking ages, I'll be happy for us to fight under his leadership for a long time, regardless of the speed of our progress, but that doesn't forbid questioning of his tactical orientation.

 

To me, there is no denying that his idea of football is not exactly at the forefront of the tactical development at the moment. For all his sharp, sophisticated and calculated ideas, for all the defensive solidity we're showing, there is not much emphasis on the high pressing or formational flexibility that is characteristic for most ground-winning managers at the moment. I think his orientation may be able to do wonders for us anyway, like I said above, and all teams don't have to play in the same way - but I'm waiting to see how well it serves him when he comes up against the increasingly competitive managerial opposition in the Premier League. To me, the more cautious approach, deeper defenses, seem to be sitting ducks when coming up against high-intensity, high-pressing sides, a little too often.

 

Hopefully his analytical mind will see this and develop us into a dynamic team, capable of coping with different sorts of opposition. There is evidence in the past that he has that tendency.

 

This reminds me of our state of mind when we hired Gullitt to blow away the defensive cobwebs of Dalglish and get back to the attacking football we used to love under Keegan. I totally get where you are coming from, it's just right now it's a case of getting back to basics. The teams playing high pressing attacking football successfully are usually loaded with superstars. It's great to watch, but probably one of the few managers who can counter that style effectively is Rafa as we saw with the dismantling of Spurs last season. Rafa might play a compact style, but it's not particularly defensive. I think with him in charge we'll do surprisingly well next season. He was probably too over-cautious to win the title at Liverpool, but he still came mighty close.

[Mole_Toonfan]

Personally Rafa was forced to be someone he's not in Madrid to please them, i mean against Barca they played without a DM and they were exposed.

 

That isn't Rafa in the slightest and he'll never do that here.

[Hanshithispantz]

Personally Rafa was forced to be someone he's not in Madrid to please them, i mean against Barca they played without a DM and they were exposed.

 

That isn't Rafa in the slightest and he'll never do that here.

It was probably linked on here but there was an article that claimed he played the team the board told him to play at one point? Something along those lines anyway.

[Village Idiot]

Zidane has had worse patches than Benítez had, but the problem is that Rafa doesn't have time for politics and Real Madrid is a very politic club. Once he had bad results - and he had bad results -, nobody (media, dressing room leaders, club staff) had his back. Zidane has had enough clout and a more appeasing personality to see off his bad streaks.

Is Rafa getting any press in Spain VI? If so what do they make of it?

 

Yeah. Take into account that the C'ship gets nearly zero coverage here, yet you get small weekly pieces about Benítez and Newcastle. They're pretty laudatory.

 

You're getting more coverage under Benítez in the C'ship than in the PL under Pardew or McLaren, actually. But that's to be expected.

 

[Guest Ogden]

 

snip

 

 

The teams playing high pressing attacking football successfully are usually loaded with superstars. It's great to watch, but probably one of the few managers who can counter that style effectively is Rafa as we saw with the dismantling of Spurs last season. Rafa might play a compact style, but it's not particularly defensive. I think with him in charge we'll do surprisingly well next season. He was probably too over-cautious to win the title at Liverpool, but he still came mighty close.

 

That's the best description I've seen of Rafa's style.  You can't really buttonhole how he plays since he tweaks it based on the opposition and who he puts on the field, but one thing is consistent, he wants his team to be compact and also score the ball as TRon said.