robm Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 The only thing which caught me off guard was your performance in the second half of the season. Rafa's team usually pick up steam in the second half. Considering your position in November, I thought winning the Championship was a foregone conclusion. The dip in the second half surprised me. Maybe it was the injuries to key players? Off the top of my head, imo it was a combination of the following: Gayle's injury, Mitrovic being unable to score, Gayle's injury making Shelvey far less effective, Hayden being injured meaning that Colback got game time, Having no really effective number 10, Clark being injured, Lascelles underperforming, or being kind to him having a double hernia. Player under-performing and/or simply not being good enough. For the most part Perez, Mitrovic, Diame, and Atsu all performed below the level we thought they would. And yes, sometimes conservative tactics and poor player choices/substitutions. All compounded by not signing anyone in January, really. It really can't be emphasised enough just how much Matt Ritchie dragged us through some of those games towards the end. Also the Shelvey ban and ACON for Diame and Atsu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sempuki Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 Pool fan here. I come in peace. I am a bit of a Rafa fan and thought would share my views on positives and negatives of Rafa. Style of Play: Functional. Check. Hates loosing more than loves winning. Check. Players will be drilled, day in day out. Check. You will have the best defense seen at the club for ages. This will take time. It can grate fans who like the attacking style of football Check. but I can guarantee one thing - Newcastle United will never let the fans down in terms of effort. Check. He will demand every player to cover every blade of grass 10 times over in each game. Once his tactics take shape, expect Newcastle to suffocate the opposition. One of the reasons he is unpopular in the media is that he never bows down to others. His attitude towards Mourinho "F*** you", towards Ferguson " F*** you", towards Allardyc " F*** F*** F*** you". You will go to Nou Camp, Madrid, San Siro and play with the "F** you we are Geordies, this is how we play attitude". His Valencia and Liverpool teams never bowed to anyone. Ayala used to say about how Rafa wanted him to kick players in the shower and create fights in the dressing room when someone was giving less than 100%. Expect the same at Newcastle. Difficult to say at this point but no reason to doubt. Player management: He is not the best at managing egos. I don't think we have any tbh. He views each player as a chess piece. If he believes the team performance improves after drinking tea which Alan Shearer makes, he will ask Alan Shearer to make tea. He is all about drills. Players come in repeat the drills over and over again till it becomes second nature. He is from the Sacchi school than Cryuff. Seen nothing to suggest otherwise. Attention to details: Obsessive. He will spend hours analyzing every bit of detail about the opposition. Stop him on the street and ask about next weeks game, he will be able to recite the height and weight of all opposition players from memory. He will give you 400%. Check. When he got fired from Inter he started coaching the U 10 or U 8 football team his daughters played for, and apparently parents got bewildered when he stood at the sidelines and started shouting at 8 year old girls for not following his instruction. Relationship with owners: Not the best at maintaining relationship with owners. Frequently gets into fights. I guess we'll see, but he's clearly a political manager. Relationship with fans: Dont listen to the media who portray him as a cold person. You will love him. Check. He embraces the city, the culture and when you loose you can see the hurt in his eyes. Check. He will give you his everything. Check. Him and his wife Montse Benitez are wonderful human beings who will do a lot for charity. Check. When he left he gave the HJC a check for $96000. I know he makes millions but having the presence of mind to pick that number shows everything about him. Google for Montse Benitez charities. She and Rafa have done a lot. Tranfers: A bit of a mixed bag. Check. His transfers initially were brilliant. Check - the initial key signings have been spot on. He loves choir boys than mavericks. Check. But when he gets it right, he really gets it right - Alonso, Torres, Mascherano, Reina. Fully believe you. The right type of players love him. "Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano has expressed his gratitude to Rafa Benitez and feels the Real Madrid coach saved his career. Mascherano has not forgotten about his former mentor and has stressed he will always be grateful to Benitez. He's a great man, and a diligent and excellent coach," Mascherano told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "Former Liverpool striker Fernando Torres has thanked Rafa Benitez for helping him to a reach a level he never expected to hit." Bellamy: "I have gone on record recently and I will say it again now that I have learnt more from Rafael Benitez than any other coach I have worked with. I am a much better player for the time I've spent working with him and if I do go on to manage at some point in the future he's the model I'll use in my career. I can't make my respect for him any clearer than that." Football infrastructure: He builds the long term football infrastructure along with the first team. His coaching staff are serious technical people - not people who get jobs because of their playing career. He revamped the youth setup at LFC and Sterling, Ibe, Flanagan - not exactly class of 92 but still the best youth setup LFC had in ages. Expect some personnel from Sevilla, Barcelona, Madrid youth setup to join yu guys in the future. Check. There is definitely evidence of this sort of thing taking place. Will Newcastle win the Premier League if Rafa is the boss for the next 10 years? Not sure. But you will definitely win cups and most likely nice shiny European ones. If my life depended on the outcome of a two legged European tie, there is no one on the planet I would pick to manage my club other than Rafa Benitez. Loose to Reading on Saturday and then go to Nou Camp and defeat reining European champion Barcelona on their home turf. Expect a lot of weeks like that. Good luck. Wonderful manager, great person. You will love him I posted this on page 111 of this thread. Now that you have had a year of Rafa, I wonder how many of you agree with my assessment of him. Are there parts which you disagree? Also unless Ashley does something major to p*ss Rafa off, I absolutely do not see him moving to West Ham. You all can relax about that. I also think because his family is settled in England, he will not move to another European club unless he is approached by a club of the stature of Bayern. So much of your post rings true. Impressed. 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sempuki Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 I guess Adam Chambers has a brother called Calum: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/05/03/newcastle-united-manager-rafael-benitez-hold-crunch-talks-owner/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 Telegraph Sport understands Ashley is unwilling to put in any more of his own money, after injecting more than £30m this season to help cover the cost of running a Premier League budget in the Championship. Indeed, he may even seek to recoup some of those interest free loans. Why is this shite still being peddled? Nobody expects the cunt to put up his own money for fuck's sake, and personally I wouldn't even want him to. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 Think we just need to ignore any reporting of that nature TBH. Either Rafa will get the backing or he won't, either way we'll know soon enough. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest firetotheworks Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 They go on like we're not a massively profitable club in the most profitable league out there, it's fucking ridiculous, you have to already be in debt to not have money money to spend in the PL and they go on like Ashley's keeping us from going under, they're fucking useless. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole_Toonfan Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 Going to repeat myself but genuinely things being reported before June are more than likely 99% bullshit, even then the media are clueless regardless. None of them have a f***ing clue. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMc Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 Edwards, though he usually revels in the pessimistic line, usually has decent sources. If he says it'll be 70m he'll not be far wrong. I think that plus sales is pretty reasonable Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole_Toonfan Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 Edwards, though he usually revels in the pessimistic line, usually has decent sources. If he says it'll be 70m he'll not be far wrong. I think that plus sales is pretty reasonable I just find it hard to believe considering Rafa and Ashley haven't spoken yet, i genuinely doubt any of that is decided yet so i struggle to believe anyone knows. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMc Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 For better or worse the national hacks clearly take media briefings from the club and they're unerringly accurate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cronky Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 I don't think that article has been written with any insider knowledge. Any of us could have written it just based on the bits and pieces of speculation that are already out there in the media. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMc Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 I don't think that article has been written with any insider knowledge. Any of us could have written it just based on the bits and pieces of speculation that are already out there in the media. We could guess but I he has sources in the club. He has reported with insight in past and so is likely to be on this occasion too. I don't like him or some of the content of the article - but it is likely at least partially accurate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki679 Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 The willingness to allow the manager the freedom to try and win a cup competition will also not be altered. Why is 'let the manager try and win things' such a radical concept at our club? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
r0cafella Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 The willingness to allow the manager the freedom to try and win a cup competition will also not be altered. Why is 'let the manager try and win things' such a radical concept at our club? We will know if this is true or not if Rafa leaves no chance he will put up with such nonsense. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Telegraph Sport understands Ashley is unwilling to put in any more of his own money, after injecting more than £30m this season to help cover the cost of running a Premier League budget in the Championship. Indeed, he may even seek to recoup some of those interest free loans. Why is this s**** still being peddled? Nobody expects the c*** to put up his own money for f***'s sake, and personally I wouldn't even want him to. Given that in 2015/16 there was a net spend of 70.7million and an operating profit after tax of 4.9million https://www.nufc.co.uk/news/latest-news/annual-accounts I don't see why this shouldn't be seen as a starting point. I know it's not as simple as that, free transfers can work out expensive over the course of the contract and I can't remember any large sales in that time (?) but in general a 50million net spend should be the very minimum for the summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happinesstan Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 I don't think that article has been written with any insider knowledge. Any of us could have written it just based on the bits and pieces of speculation that are already out there in the media. We could guess but I he has sources in the club. He has reported with insight in past and so is likely to be on this occasion too. I don't like him or some of the content of the article - but it is likely at least partially accurate. How many people at the club will be currently aware of what our transfer budget is going to be next season though? Not many I would guess, so it wouldn't be difficult to detect who the source is and therefore the source, unless a complete dildo, probably wouldn't tell the press. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NG32 Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 The willingness to allow the manager the freedom to try and win a cup competition will also not be altered. Why is 'let the manager try and win things' such a radical concept at our club? A mental concept for the lunatics who run the club, its probably been calculated on Supercalc that we can run a bare minimum squad and retain our prem status ( :lol: ) as long as we don't endanger the thin squad with extra cup games. Beucase that plan has worked SO well in previous seasons. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
magorific Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 I don't think that article has been written with any insider knowledge. Any of us could have written it just based on the bits and pieces of speculation that are already out there in the media. We could guess but I he has sources in the club. He has reported with insight in past and so is likely to be on this occasion too. I don't like him or some of the content of the article - but it is likely at least partially accurate. How many people at the club will be currently aware of what our transfer budget is going to be next season though? Not many I would guess, so it wouldn't be difficult to detect who the source is and therefore the source, unless a complete dildo, probably wouldn't tell the press. This piece certainly won't have come from a source within SJP. It may have come from someone around Ashley (although I also doubt that). But people are missing the real picture here, and that is that Martin Hardy wrote a piece a few weeks ago (Sunday Times, I think) saying Rafa was now planning to stay long term. Hardy was the only guy reporting this. A few weeks later, it turns out he's obviously been speaking to Rafa regularly for his next book. It's not difficult to join the dots and draw the happy conclusion that Rafa has received assurances that he'll be given what he needs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Telegraph Sport understands Ashley is unwilling to put in any more of his own money, after injecting more than £30m this season to help cover the cost of running a Premier League budget in the Championship. Indeed, he may even seek to recoup some of those interest free loans. Why is this s**** still being peddled? Nobody expects the c*** to put up his own money for f***'s sake, and personally I wouldn't even want him to. Given that in 2015/16 there was a net spend of 70.7million and an operating profit after tax of 4.9million https://www.nufc.co.uk/news/latest-news/annual-accounts I don't see why this shouldn't be seen as a starting point. I know it's not as simple as that, free transfers can work out expensive over the course of the contract and I can't remember any large sales in that time (?) but in general a 50million net spend should be the very minimum for the summer. We spent £50m worth of the club's cash in the bank that season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
54 Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Been charged by the FA for the comment about the ref :lol: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaydnNUFC Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Been charged by the FA for the comment about the ref :lol: But Warnock got away with what he said after last Friday? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest reefatoon Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Nice. A final fuck you from this shit pot league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Telegraph Sport understands Ashley is unwilling to put in any more of his own money, after injecting more than £30m this season to help cover the cost of running a Premier League budget in the Championship. Indeed, he may even seek to recoup some of those interest free loans. Why is this shite still being peddled? Nobody expects the cunt to put up his own money for fuck's sake, and personally I wouldn't even want him to. Read the article and it's stuff most could have a guess at without any real substance to back it up. Absolutely meaningless as far as genuine insight goes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Nice. A final fuck you from this shit pot league. Got nothing to do with the league. This would happen in the Premier League. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minhosa Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Fucking hell - he's been way more restrained and respectful than virtually any other manager would be during this shitfest of a season ref-wise. Cunts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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