Rafael Benitez

[Gallowgate Toon]

We've played some sumptuous football under Rafa, like. Some of the orchestrated movements are a genuine joy to watch. I hate hearing the cliché about him being defensive; he's the ultimate pragmatist, tailoring the team to the situation.

[shintonsghost]

Ive seen none of this defensive style this season.

 

He played it wrong at the end of last, trying to eek out draws instead of going for teams like Villa, he had nothing to lose but chose to be cautious, my only worry is he may revert back to this IF we go up.However he is building a great base , he has brought a sense of pride to us again.We know its a long journey still, our number one target is promotion, nothing else and we really need to think of nothing else.The cup match v Hull is a welcome distraction, nothing else , it will be much harder than anything we have faced this season, i feel supporters are expecting us to beat Hull and i dont get why, we have a chance due to confidence but in truth they are favourites.

 

Back to Rafa, its all calm, its gone perfect.

[xLiaaamx]

Ive seen none of this defensive style this season.

 

He played it wrong at the end of last, trying to eek out draws instead of going for teams like Villa, he had nothing to lose but chose to be cautious, my only worry is he may revert back to this IF we go up.However he is building a great base , he has brought a sense of pride to us again.We know its a long journey still, our number one target is promotion, nothing else and we really need to think of nothing else.The cup match v Hull is a welcome distraction, nothing else , it will be much harder than anything we have faced this season, i feel supporters are expecting us to beat Hull and i dont get why, we have a chance due to confidence but in truth they are favourites.

 

Back to Rafa, its all calm, its gone perfect.

 

Hull aren't a better side than us. We have the better individuals and are better organised, hence why people expect us to beat them.

[frankpingel]

We're 5/4 favourites to beat Hull with bookies.

[Figures 1-0 Football]

He hasn't been  particularly defensive so far, he just organises the team very well.

 

Pardew was defensive, hoying 11 men behind the ball and praying for a moment of magic. I've not seen Benitez set us up like that, even away at Anfield last year we went there to score goals.

[ExiledGeordie]

 

I'm enjoying the resolute solid nature of our displays and I'll happily sacrifice some free flowing football for that. We've been a soft touch and poor defensively for too long. Hopefully as the team improves and he brings in better players we will add that bit of qualify going forward.

[STM]

Let's make no bones, Benitez is a defensive minded coach, his first thought is to stop the opposition but that's fine, because he's good at it.

 

He still encourages his players to retain possession, play on the deck and dominate games, it's just based on a solid foundation.

[mrmojorisin75]

Let's make no bones, Benitez is a defensive minded coach, his first thought is to stop the opposition but that's fine, because he's good at it.

 

He still encourages his players to retain possession, play on the deck and dominate games, it's just based on a solid foundation.

 

precisely

 

 

[TheDonis]

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 f***ing 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.

 

It's not right to say he lost the job at Napoli. Though his second season was not as as successful as his first, the job was still his to keep and it's likely he would have stayed had Real not come in for him, though there were rumours he was looking to come back to England too. But the the choice to leave was his, not the club's.

 

As for how he might cope in the modern Prem, that's an entirely justifiable question. I'm biased as a Liverpool fan obv, but he'll find a way. You have to remember that when he was at Liverpool that no one was better at shutting down and beating teams with better players. The whole of the 2005 CL run was based on that (and much of the 2007 run to the final too, which we should have won)- tactically snuffing out the likes of Juve and Chelsea. Interestingly, in that season he deployed a 4-1-4-1 system many times. He does cut cloth according to means. He 'stumbled' across 4-2-3-1 when he  finally had the players to make it work, namely when we signed Torres, and as a way to get Gerrard involved higher up the pitch and more centrally. He never trusted Stevie as a CM, with very good reason. In fact some LFC fans argue Gerrard's best season came in 2007 (2006 maybe- the mind plays tricks) when he played on the right of midfield, scored loads of goals and was instrumental. But of course Stevie hated it and needed to be pacified, so that's how 4-2-3-1 became his favoured system. With better players we beat better teams, beat them well too, hence the 4-0v Real in 2009 and the 4-1 stuffing of Man Utd at OT.

 

Incidentally that last match was another classic example of Rafa's ability to develop tactically. He basically showed the blueprint of how to beat Fergie's Utd. Other teams copied what we did and for a few matches they wobbled. We should have won the league that year but fucking Macheda and Howard Webb gave them a couple of wins and they went and won every game (as did we) until the end of the season.

 

Rafa will find a way, is what I'm saying. It might not be instantaneous, and it might always be pretty. But given time and resources, good results will come and it will end up being pretty enough.

 

 

 

 

[TheDonis]

Just to add re 'not pretty', you won't be surprised to learn that when you beat Barca 2-0 in the Nou Camp, the fact you won 'ugly' doesn't detract from the feeling 

[loki679]

We have scored 34 goals in 16 games and have a +21 goal difference too, remember

 

That's the kind of defensive football I can live with.

[Hanshithispantz]

Ive seen none of this defensive style this season.

 

He played it wrong at the end of last, trying to eek out draws instead of going for teams like Villa, he had nothing to lose but chose to be cautious, my only worry is he may revert back to this IF we go up.However he is building a great base , he has brought a sense of pride to us again.We know its a long journey still, our number one target is promotion, nothing else and we really need to think of nothing else.The cup match v Hull is a welcome distraction, nothing else , it will be much harder than anything we have faced this season, i feel supporters are expecting us to beat Hull and i dont get why, we have a chance due to confidence but in truth they are favourites.

 

Back to Rafa, its all calm, its gone perfect.

He wasn't trying to eek out draws, man, the team was shot to bits and he tried to sort us out as a unit so we'd stop shipping dozens of goals every game. It worked and had he arrived a week or so earlier I've got no doubt he'd have kept us up.

 

http://i.imgur.com/AjfrdKJ.png

 

[xLiaaamx]

The only thing he got wrong last year was trusting Cisse with a spot in the team.

[Guest neesy111]

The only thing he got wrong last year was trusting Cisse with a spot in the team.

 

Wrong.  It got us 12 points from 6 games.

[xLiaaamx]

The only thing he got wrong last year was trusting Cisse with a spot in the team.

 

Wrong.  It got us 12 points from 6 games.

 

Would have been more with someone else upfront.

[Hanshithispantz]

Our options were Cisse or a 21 year old who'd been in the country for less than a year.

[Hanshithispantz]

I suppose if he'd played Suarez up top we'd have been better off like.

[Mole_Toonfan]

Besides it's not like Mitrovic played bad in his role, at the time it was probably the best thing for him.

[afar]

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 f***ing 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.

 

It's not right to say he lost the job at Napoli. Though his second season was not as as successful as his first, the job was still his to keep and it's likely he would have stayed had Real not come in for him, though there were rumours he was looking to come back to England too. But the the choice to leave was his, not the club's.

 

As for how he might cope in the modern Prem, that's an entirely justifiable question. I'm biased as a Liverpool fan obv, but he'll find a way. You have to remember that when he was at Liverpool that no one was better at shutting down and beating teams with better players. The whole of the 2005 CL run was based on that (and much of the 2007 run to the final too, which we should have won)- tactically snuffing out the likes of Juve and Chelsea. Interestingly, in that season he deployed a 4-1-4-1 system many times. He does cut cloth according to means. He 'stumbled' across 4-2-3-1 when he  finally had the players to make it work, namely when we signed Torres, and as a way to get Gerrard involved higher up the pitch and more centrally. He never trusted Stevie as a CM, with very good reason. In fact some LFC fans argue Gerrard's best season came in 2007 (2006 maybe- the mind plays tricks) when he played on the right of midfield, scored loads of goals and was instrumental. But of course Stevie hated it and needed to be pacified, so that's how 4-2-3-1 became his favoured system. With better players we beat better teams, beat them well too, hence the 4-0v Real in 2009 and the 4-1 stuffing of Man Utd at OT.

 

Incidentally that last match was another classic example of Rafa's ability to develop tactically. He basically showed the blueprint of how to beat Fergie's Utd. Other teams copied what we did and for a few matches they wobbled. We should have won the league that year but f***ing Macheda and Howard Webb gave them a couple of wins and they went and won every game (as did we) until the end of the season.

 

Rafa will find a way, is what I'm saying. It might not be instantaneous, and it might always be pretty. But given time and resources, good results will come and it will end up being pretty enough.

 

 

 

 

 

Appreciate the insight man, thanks for posting this.

[Ryan]

That 5-1 Spurs game still baffles me, not quite sure how that happened

[DJ_NUFC]

That 5-1 Spurs game still baffles me, not quite sure how that happened

 

Not at all. The team always had talent, enough to stay up. The West Ham game and a couple of other performances under McClaren clearly showed. He was just fucking too shit to stick with a winning formula, and approached every away game as if we're playing at the Nou Camp. Shitting bricks. His away record at his former clubs seemed to back this theory that he lacked the balls to stick to a winning team as he always thought about stopping the opposition first, and always unsuccessfully.

[Dr.Spaceman]

That 5-1 Spurs game still baffles me, not quite sure how that happened

 

Because we had a few very decent but ultimately spineless mercenaries in our team who turned up when they felt like turning up?

[HaydnNUFC]

Should've got a point at Norwich as well. Handball in the build-up to their winner.

[Ryan]

That 5-1 Spurs game still baffles me, not quite sure how that happened

 

Because we had a few very decent but ultimately spineless mercenaries in our team who turned up when they felt like turning up?

 

Aye, but 5-1 at home to the 2nd best team in the league (granted they were in poor form come that game) was just completely mental. Even if someone had said that we would play to our full potential and Spurs would have an off day, I'd never have said we'd have beaten them by a 4 goal margin

 

Hopefully plenty more games like that to come if we go up this year.

[BlackandWhite]

Seen a few people talking about him being a defensive minded coach I wouldn't put it that way.

 

Tony Pulis is a defenive minded coach, Rafa is a perfctionist he looks to get everything from every part of the pitch and that starts with the defence but he always demands we be very good going foward and not just sit back and wait for a lucky opportunity. Our GD alone shows that he is not just defence orientated.