Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

[Toonjam88]

I'm not criticising Rafa far from it without him here we would be in a much worse poisition. I just couldn't understand taking Joselu off and replacing him with Perez. I thought it played into their hands a bit. We are all human even Rafa. I think he has been getting 110% out of the current squad of players but even Rafa isn't a magician and without investment in January I think we will struggle. Only way I see investment happening is if Ashley is gone.

[Dokko]

The game should’ve been out of sight in the first half. Rafa got his tactics and game plan spot-on as usual but the players weren’t clinical enough and then the officials robbed us of a legitimate goal. To criticise Rafa after that is bullshit! It’s typical knee jerk stuff to say he should’ve done this or he should’ve played this guy. We have a world class manager who knows better than the lot of us. He was just as let down as we were by the players he selected and I’m sure he’ll react.

 

He was talking about a reaction from the Burnley game. Either the players don't have it in them or the manager isn't reacting enough with his team selection.

 

Major concern now in what he spent in the last window. Joselu, Manqullio & Murphy have been pointless signings bringing nothing to the table. We could have had one player who made a difference, instead we've now got another 3 players we need to shift if we are to move forward. (I'll include Murphy in that as no one would pay half what we did right now and it will be loans out before we see anything back on him as i don't think he will be ready in the next 2 seasons for a place in this dire team)

[UncleBingo]

He's no where near immune from criticism as some would be believed.

 

That bright sunshine that shone out his arse is dimming dramatically. He's making poor decisions.

 

We're midtable in the PL. Given the lack of funds made available to him, and the quality of players at his disposal, where did you expect us to be?

 

[Optimistic Nut]

Given that we had the worst team to ever get promoted, 21st.

[Guest neesy111]

That post was just the way some fans refuse to criticise Rafa despite when he makes some stinking decisions, which he did yesterday.

 

I believe he's working miracles with how poor the squad is.  I really think our midfield is pretty poor from an attacking point of view.

[TRon]

The game should’ve been out of sight in the first half. Rafa got his tactics and game plan spot-on as usual but the players weren’t clinical enough and then the officials robbed us of a legitimate goal. To criticise Rafa after that is bullshit! It’s typical knee jerk stuff to say he should’ve done this or he should’ve played this guy. We have a world class manager who knows better than the lot of us. He was just as let down as we were by the players he selected and I’m sure he’ll react.

 

He was talking about a reaction from the Burnley game. Either the players don't have it in them or the manager isn't reacting enough with his team selection.

 

Major concern now in what he spent in the last window. Joselu, Manqullio & Murphy have been pointless signings bringing nothing to the table. We could have had one player who made a difference, instead we've now got another 3 players we need to shift if we are to move forward. (I'll include Murphy in that as no one would pay half what we did right now and it will be loans out before we see anything back on him as i don't think he will be ready in the next 2 seasons for a place in this dire team)

 

I don't have any problem in us signing shit players, when your budget is limited, you are likely to end up making poorer decisions. My only real issue with Rafa is his refusal to use Mitro. I'm not even a huge fan, but the other options are worse. Joselu is £5m worth of cack. Fine use him as an alternative target man...but alternate him ffs.

[Infinitely Content]

My criticism of Rafa yesterday was due to his subs. We were having all of our joy in the game through long balls being won by Joselu and Gayle or Atsu trying to make something of them. To then remove Joselu and not put on Mitrovic in his place was just bizarre and wasn't playing to the course of the game at all. Mitrovic would have created chances for us yesterday, I don't doubt that for a moment.

[Ketsbaia]

Just frustrating when it's "ahh but he's got a Championship squad" when we're consistently losing 1-0 to worse squads.

[Guest neesy111]

What worse squads are these?

[Ketsbaia]

Huddersfield and Brighton for sure. Burnley and Bournemouth are arguable.

 

[Guest neesy111]

Huddersfield and Brighton for sure. Burnley and Bournemouth are arguable.

 

 

I'd say Burnley and Bournemouth have got better squad's at this time.  I'd agree with the 2 promoted clubs, but they were away games and our away form in the PL is still pretty iffy.

[The College Dropout]

Just frustrating when it's "ahh but he's got a Championship squad" when we're consistently losing 1-0 to worse squads.

 

I don't think our squad is any better than anything else in this league imo.

 

Can blame Rafa for some of his signings. But our front 4 is as bad as it gets.

[Ketsbaia]

Huddersfield and Brighton for sure. Burnley and Bournemouth are arguable.

 

 

I'd say Burnley and Bournemouth have got better squad's at this time.  I'd agree with the 2 promoted clubs, but they were away games and our away form in the PL is still pretty iffy.

 

Perhaps, I just think the players he's working with aren't an excuse in these defeats.

[Guest neesy111]

Huddersfield and Brighton for sure. Burnley and Bournemouth are arguable.

 

 

I'd say Burnley and Bournemouth have got better squad's at this time.  I'd agree with the 2 promoted clubs, but they were away games and our away form in the PL is still pretty iffy.

 

Perhaps, I just think the players he's working with aren't an excuse in these defeats.

 

I'd say yesterday Rafa's decisions were poor.  But look at the lack of goals in our forward players, it's no wonder why we are struggling for goals.

[steve_69]

Mitrovic is obviously doing something in training, or not doing something that is causing Rafa to not pick him. We know the kind of manager he is and the standards he sets. If Mitro is resigned to leaving maybe his attitude and effort have dropped in training, maybe he’s running around knacking other players, who knows?! The one thing we can be certain of is that every decision Rafa makes is in the interests of the team, not born out of some imagined vendetta.

We all knew the squad was shit when the transfer window closed and we were punching way above our weight for the first few games. We’ve now lost a couple in a row that we could’ve easily won and sadly cracks are starting to show in our support.

I guess the only way people will calm down is if Rafa bows to supporter-pressure and plays Mitro but part of me doesn’t want that to happen because he’ll be compromising his approach to the game that has served us so well thus far. That’s the kind of shit a weak manager like Pardew would do just to appease the fans.

[toon25]

It seems like we’ve been worked out by other sides. They know we’re far more likely to concede than we are to score, so they sit tight and let us huff and puff until the later stages of a game before chancing their arm.

 

Rafa needs to get Gayle firing sooner rather than later, as frankly he’s the most likely to present a modicum if a goal threat.

[Infinitely Content]

Mitrovic is obviously doing something in training, or not doing something that is causing Rafa to not pick him. We know the kind of manager he is and the standards he sets. If Mitro is resigned to leaving maybe his attitude and effort have dropped in training, maybe he’s running around knacking other players, who knows?! The one thing we can be certain of is that every decision Rafa makes is in the interests of the team, not born out of some imagined vendetta.

We all knew the squad was s*** when the transfer window closed and we were punching way above our weight for the first few games. We’ve now lost a couple in a row that we could’ve easily won and sadly cracks are starting to show in our support.

I guess the only way people will calm down is if Rafa bows to supporter-pressure and plays Mitro but part of me doesn’t want that to happen because he’ll be compromising his approach to the game that has served us so well thus far. That’s the kind of s*** a weak manager like Pardew would do just to appease the fans.

 

Fact of the matter is, Joselu and Gayle aren't scoring goals and aren't offering too much else to our game either, so giving Mitrovic a chance is hardly compromising a lot. It's kind of a case of what have we got to lose, as continuing with our current attack is going to see us massively short on goals. Maybe, just maybe Mitrovic can find some form, and tbh, I don't think he's had a fair run of games the entire time he's been our player, which is out of order imo.

[Guest reefatoon]

As soon as some fans started singing Mitrovic's name, I thought, well that's him not coming on. Managers don't like to be told what to do.

[Hanshithispantz]

Rafael McCarthy

[mofo]

I would of liked to see Mitro coming on yesterday BUT.. I'm not sure what he would have offered? He cant hold the ball up, doesn't look like the best finisher, rarely tracks back or hounds defenders and to be fair there was not many balls going into the box.. Like I say I would have brought him on but I can sort of understand why Rafa didn't.

[Optimistic Nut]

Why would you bring him on if he can't do any of those things?

[Toonjam88]

As soon as some fans started singing Mitrovic's name, I thought, well that's him not coming on. Managers don't like to be told what to do.

I thought they were singing his name as he was coming on then I saw Perez head pop up from the dugout.

[mofo]

Why would you bring him on if he can't do any of those things?

 

fair comment.

[green tony]

It's about time our midfield step up and put the ball in the back of the net. Every team must now know we are toothless, we will soon start to get steamrollered if we don't threaten teams defences with goals.

[Minhosa]

I can't think what he'd have to do to attract criticism from me but when I look back at the Ashley reign and the hopeless shithouses he's employed in this position, I'll be forever grateful to Rafa for coming and staying which buys him so much more leniency from me.

 

Love the man.