Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

[Pilko]

What worries me most is that his changes of late have been absolutely random with very little rhyme or reason.

 

Murphy - thrown in, plays well for 3-4 games, then dropped for Atsu while Ritchie is retained despite 7 or 8 awful showings

 

Mbemba - in the side one week, banished from the 18 the next, then back, then gone again

 

Joselu - perseveres with him through barren run, he scores, then is dropped for fucking Diame

 

Lejeune - desperately needs taking out of the firing line but constantly retained

 

Perez - in and out of the side like a fiddlers elbow, left wing as a sub on Saturday, effectively centre mid last night as a sub

 

Shelvey, Hayden, Merino - a random pairing of two of these which seems like he's picking names out of a hat

 

Diame - recalled every 3 games despite being garbage and having no legs, engine, skill or brains anymore

 

It's all a bit scattergun for me. Worrying times.

[Guest ElCid]

ElCid was outed as a WUM many moons ago.

 

He's had it explained to him, just leave it.

 

Mr clueless speaks again

[Lush Vlad]

I kind of hear what you are saying, Pilko. But the more I think about it. The more I just think Rafa barely trusts any of the players and realises we don’t really have anyone good enough. He’s always loved his rotation and Liverpool fans I know say his subs and team selection will almost always leave you a bit baffled.

 

First live game for me of the season last night and I can’t quite believe how bad some of our players are at this level. Forget our wage bill or what some of them cost. This squad has to be bottom three, if not the very worst in this league.

[Sho Time]

He made hard work of last season and is certainly struggling this season too.

 

Ah shit. I thought you were dead.

[Collage]

N-O has been a warm and cozy place lately.

[HaydnNUFC]

He made hard work of last season and is certainly struggling this season too.

 

Ah s***. I thought you were dead.

Shame he isn't.

[Sho Time]

He made hard work of last season and is certainly struggling this season too.

 

Ah s***. I thought you were dead.

Shame he isn't.

 

I mean that's what I was implying but it felt too far to just say it outright.

[Robster]

I think we'll see a new Rafa once the deal is confirmed (which ironically is the old Rafa)

 

I think this has probably put as much strain on him as any stage of his managerial career but once it's confirmed that Ashley is gone, or going, then I think he'll get his mojo back.

 

[mozy]

You need to rotate the squad around at times, the real crime is that our squad is shite built upon shite. For this, blame Ashley, not Rafa.

[ElDiablo]

That's like 2 average players now.

[Guest firetotheworks]

Ashley's fucking obsessed with wages like, the fucking plum.

[Twinport53]

Is Rafa allowed to lay blame without understanding the mechanisms of psychology?

[Jimburst]

What worries me most is that his changes of late have been absolutely random with very little rhyme or reason.

 

Murphy - thrown in, plays well for 3-4 games, then dropped for Atsu while Ritchie is retained despite 7 or 8 awful showings

 

Mbemba - in the side one week, banished from the 18 the next, then back, then gone again

 

Joselu - perseveres with him through barren run, he scores, then is dropped for fucking Diame

 

Lejeune - desperately needs taking out of the firing line but constantly retained

 

Perez - in and out of the side like a fiddlers elbow, left wing as a sub on Saturday, effectively centre mid last night as a sub

 

Shelvey, Hayden, Merino - a random pairing of two of these which seems like he's picking names out of a hat

 

Diame - recalled every 3 games despite being garbage and having no legs, engine, skill or brains anymore

 

It's all a bit scattergun for me. Worrying times.

 

You have to think that Rafa is looking at who we're playing and trying to intelligently make the team up as some kind of matchup, whilst also rotating the players. I'm not saying it's right, but really, the one thing we know Rafa isn't is scattergun.

 

I think it's to the detriment of the team though, someone needs to play themselves into some form. Some partnerships need to be ground out.

[Happinesstan]

I kind of hear what you are saying, Pilko. But the more I think about it. The more I just think Rafa barely trusts any of the players and realises we don’t really have anyone good enough. He’s always loved his rotation and Liverpool fans I know say his subs and team selection will almost always leave you a bit baffled.

 

First live game for me of the season last night and I can’t quite believe how bad some of our players are at this level. Forget our wage bill or what some of them cost. This squad has to be bottom three, if not the very worst in this league.

 

Was just going to say similar.

 

I remember Rafa being famous for his weird rotations, but he generally ended up vindicated by the teams finish. Only thing is he was rotating better players. Still think we will benefit in the long run.

 

[The College Dropout]

Got to start earning his massive salary now like.

 

What is it you expect him to do? Order his defence to stop conceding goals? Get what we always knew was a poor strike force to start scoring freely? All he can really do is organise the team and hope they do their jobs.

 

Don’t sign them in the first place because they are not good enough.

 

 

Most of them were signed to take us out of the championship.

 

This^

 

Anyone who cant see this is a bit special.

 

So Joselu and Manquillo were bought for the Championship were they? Get your facts right first before you try and be clever.

 

Joselu was a Murphy replacement and Manquillo was obvious cover for fullbacks. Rafa didn’t sign them with the intention of being regulars in the first team and their fees reflect that. It’s well documented he got screwed over in the transfer window and we didn’t land the players he wanted or spend the money he was promised so it’s a bit daft to judge this as a Rafa side.

 

You don’t buy s*** end of are people honestly on a different planet here. If you buy s*** you get s*** and if he didn’t intend them to be first team players well they are though and that’s the problem. I’ve said all along I think he was shafted but you don’t then settle for your 5th and 6th choices just because you want bodies in your team. If you buy s*** you get s*** but the biggest criticism is that these two continuously keep getting regular game time when their performances have been woeful.

 

Eh?

 

What should he have done instead in your opinion? Genuine question.

 

Just don’t buy the players and keep coming out at Ashley as to the reasons why. What is the point in buying players who were never good enough and will never be good enough. But to me the most worrying thing is these players are still getting regular game time despite being woeful

This is weird logic.  He doesn’t rate Mbemba and he’s not a fullback - he needed someone there. We only had 2 strikers on our books. 1 he doesn’t rate at all.  He needed someone. Likewise we should’ve signed anyone better than Eliot in goal. 

[Dinho lad]

What worries me most is that his changes of late have been absolutely random with very little rhyme or reason.

 

Murphy - thrown in, plays well for 3-4 games, then dropped for Atsu while Ritchie is retained despite 7 or 8 awful showings

 

Mbemba - in the side one week, banished from the 18 the next, then back, then gone again

 

Joselu - perseveres with him through barren run, he scores, then is dropped for fucking Diame

 

Lejeune - desperately needs taking out of the firing line but constantly retained

 

Perez - in and out of the side like a fiddlers elbow, left wing as a sub on Saturday, effectively centre mid last night as a sub

 

Shelvey, Hayden, Merino - a random pairing of two of these which seems like he's picking names out of a hat

 

Diame - recalled every 3 games despite being garbage and having no legs, engine, skill or brains anymore

 

It's all a bit scattergun for me. Worrying times.

 

Not exactly random, is it?

 

Also, for the trio of midfield combination, maybe he was trying to see how they complement each other as a pair/trio in a run of games?

 

Rafa takes in a lot of data, whether it's from his coaching staff, fitness staff, match and training analysis or whatever else, therefore his decision making is bound to be a little bit mysterious, particularly as us, the fans, just don't see a lot of the data.

 

But, certainly, sometimes relying on this numerous sources of data can over complicate the decision making process.

 

Anyway, I'd say 70% of it is down to the players being shit. (and therefore 90 per cent is down to Mike Ashley.)

[Guest Howaythetoon]

While Rafa isn’t or shouldn’t be immune to criticism, he should get a free pass this season regardless of what happens. Had he left us after the Spurs game, the club would have imploded and there would have been no promotion, only a lifeless club with Ashley still the owner, existing in the Championship or beyond as just another former PL club like so many.

 

Thanks to Rafa, however, we are now a Premier League club having stayed on to take us back up which he achieved at the first time of asking, as Champions. Here was a CL winner, one of the best coaches in the world, staying at a Championship club that he owed nothing to. A club that was badly broken after a decade of total mismanagement and neglect on and off the pitch.

 

He stayed because he loves the club and us fans, he wanted to help us in the way KK did when he returned from his Spanish exile to help us avoid relegation to the the then 3rd tier of English football.

 

And boy has he helped us...

 

We are now on the verge of being taken over which Rafa has been massively instrumental in helping achieve. And that’s before you get into what he has done behind the scenes in uniting the fans, reconnecting the fans to the players, working with the community and building bridges between the media and the club and City itself from the local council to local businesses, all of who, wanted nowt to do with the club and rightly so because it was toxic to everything and everyone.

 

Yes we are not playing well and yes our run of form isn’t good enough, but he is no Pardew, McClaren or Carver. This isn’t some kind of regular run for him, in fact it’s a first for him. Everything he has done for our club, it’s us who owe him so much and as fans the least we can give him is our 100% support and backing.

 

If we go down, Rafa will have to share some of the blame, but he won’t get any stick from me because if we do go down, it won’t be because he’s a crap manager like Pardew or because he’s negative or dumb when it comes to tactics or anything like that. It will be because once again the owner will have gambled on the one thing he loves more than anything - cheap tat which is basically what our squad is full of.

 

He thought because he had Rafa we would stay up on the cheap and has once again gambled with the club’s fortunes by being a tight bastard just like he had been last January when he failed to back Rafa to really cement our position at the top and guaranteed promotion. Because he thought in his wisdom we were already up.

 

The players Rafa wanted in January were for the PL and the players he wanted in the summer were to help establish us back in the top-flight. He wasn't backed, however, and lo and behold a Championship team is struggling in a league of Premier League teams. Who would have guesssed...

 

If we do gown and I now think it’s a real,possibility even with a takeover and some spending in January (damage done/little too late) I won’t be thinking any less of Rafa as a manager or as NUFC manager. As a man, well, he’s a modern day saint in an industry full of rouges, cowards, charlatans and down right scumbags. We should know, we’ve employed enough of them in the boardroom, dugout and on the pitch...

 

For me, he is the man and my Christmas wish for all of us is that he can keep us up and once the takeover happens, be allowed to rebuild the club as he sees fit because if he is backed fully, there is no limit to what we can achieve with Rafa. His CV alone speaks for that, then add in the kind of man he is and the love and ambition and more important the belief he has for our club and well, that’s a recipe for success in my book.

 

Remember when we were relegated? One man believed in the club enough to put his hard earned and well deserved reputation on the line to help us when no-one else would have, no one. I get the criticism of our football, team lineups, substitutions, player purchases etc. because I’ve been critical, but I will never get any notion of wanting to replace the man even if by March we were rooted to the bottom of the table.

 

He joined a sinking ship and is currently trying to keep that ship afloat with plaster bands while the fat owner pokes more holes into it, if it goes down, we go down with him, not against him.

 

Estamos Unidos!

[Dave]

Amen.

[Infinitely Content]

I agree with a lot of that HTT, good post.

 

I also put the flag movement down to Rafa's presence, who has inspired us to feel like we have something to get behind again; and the displays are a great reflection of that on match days, even if recent results have been disappointing.

[NEEJ]

While Rafa isn’t or shouldn’t be immune to criticism, he should get a free pass this season regardless of what happens. Had he left us after the Spurs game, the club would have imploded and there would have been no promotion, only a lifeless club with Ashley still the owner, existing in the Championship or beyond as just another former PL club like so many.

 

Thanks to Rafa, however, we are now a Premier League club having stayed on to take us back up which he achieved at the first time of asking, as Champions. Here was a CL winner, one of the best coaches in the world, staying at a Championship club that he owed nothing to. A club that was badly broken after a decade of total mismanagement and neglect on and off the pitch.

 

He stayed because he loves the club and us fans, he wanted to help us in the way KK did when he returned from his Spanish exile to help us avoid relegation to the the then 3rd tier of English football.

 

And boy has he helped us...

 

We are now on the verge of being taken over which Rafa has been massively instrumental in helping achieve. And that’s before you get into what he has done behind the scenes in uniting the fans, reconnecting the fans to the players, working with the community and building bridges between the media and the club and City itself from the local council to local businesses, all of who, wanted nowt to do with the club and rightly so because it was toxic to everything and everyone.

 

Yes we are not playing well and yes our run of form isn’t good enough, but he is no Pardew, McClaren or Carver. This isn’t some kind of regular run for him, in fact it’s a first for him. Everything he has done for our club, it’s us who owe him so much and as fans the least we can give him is our 100% support and backing.

 

If we go down, Rafa will have to share some of the blame, but he won’t get any stick from me because if we do go down, it won’t be because he’s a crap manager like Pardew or because he’s negative or dumb when it comes to tactics or anything like that. It will be because once again the owner will have gambled on the one thing he loves more than anything - cheap tat which is basically what our squad is full of.

 

He thought because he had Rafa we would stay up on the cheap and has once again gambled with the club’s fortunes by being a tight b****** just like he had been last January when he failed to back Rafa to really cement our position at the top and guaranteed promotion. Because he thought in his wisdom we were already up.

 

The players Rafa wanted in January were for the PL and the players he wanted in the summer were to help establish us back in the top-flight. He wasn't backed, however, and lo and behold a Championship team is struggling in a league of Premier League teams. Who would have guesssed...

 

If we do gown and I now think it’s a real,possibility even with a takeover and some spending in January (damage done/little too late) I won’t be thinking any less of Rafa as a manager or as NUFC manager. As a man, well, he’s a modern day saint in an industry full of rouges, cowards, charlatans and down right scumbags. We should know, we’ve employed enough of them in the boardroom, dugout and on the pitch...

 

For me, he is the man and my Christmas wish for all of us is that he can keep us up and once the takeover happens, be allowed to rebuild the club as he sees fit because if he is backed fully, there is no limit to what we can achieve with Rafa. His CV alone speaks for that, then add in the kind of man he is and the love and ambition and more important the belief he has for our club and well, that’s a recipe for success in my book.

 

Remember when we were relegated? One man believed in the club enough to put his hard earned and well deserved reputation on the line to help us when no-one else would have, no one. I get the criticism of our football, team lineups, substitutions, player purchases etc. because I’ve been critical, but I will never get any notion of wanting to replace the man even if by March we were rooted to the bottom of the table.

 

He joined a sinking ship and is currently trying to keep that ship afloat with plaster bands while the fat owner pokes more holes into it, if it goes down, we go down with him, not against him.

 

Estamos Unidos!

Tl;dr.

 

Pretty well expressed

 

[Guest Howaythetoon]

I agree with a lot of that HTT, good post.

 

I also put the flag movement down to Rafa's presence, who has inspired us to feel like we have something to get behind again; and the displays are a great reflection of that on match days, even if recent results have been disappointing.

 

I hadn't even thought of them and while I’m sure they have many reasons to do what they do, I don’t think without Rafa, they would exist and for me along with Rafa they are one of the best things about this club at the moment. I fucking love what they do, even if they have a naff name. What they do, how they go about their business and how they have helped the atmosphere and also how they have promoted the club too has been immense. I spoke to a few Leicester fans after the match at the weekend and they were bowled over by the flag display. As ever the fans do more for the club than the club does for the fans. Fans’ flag displays and own 125 year celebration efforts outstripped the club’s own efforts which were OK, but howay...

[summerof69]

What a brilliant post HTT. Magnificent

[madras]

I'm kind of with htt. I'm only still going to the match because Rafa is there, I thought he'd have more strength to work against Asley and I don't think any takeover would be in the offing with a Pardew/Allardyce type mamager in charge.

 

I just find htt's first sentence to be a bit contradictory and even neutral fans are starting to comment on us becoming RBFC in our support, which is a bit creepy.

[Robster]

HTT

[Collage]

HTT