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Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)


Would you have Rafa back?   

463 members have voted

  1. 1. Would you have Rafa back?

    • Yes, as manager, immediately
    • Yes, as manager, but at some point in the future (eg if relegated)
    • Yes, in an advisory or DoF role
    • No, not in any meaningful capacity

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If it was a one-off then, yeah, maybe the other team just got on top and pressed us too much but it's not.  We've seen a few games where we score and then suddenly sit back.

 

Which, in this instance, was probably the right thing to do. Palace have devastating pace and players who can hurt you on the break.

If we had gone for the jugular i think we'd have been picked off pretty quickly.

Against lesser teams we shouldn't be sitting back but against teams with an abundance of pace, especially away from home, I think it's the right move.

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If it was a one-off then, yeah, maybe the other team just got on top and pressed us too much but it's not.  We've seen a few games where we score and then suddenly sit back.

 

That's what happens with a Championship team playing in the league above.

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We noticeably drop back and actively surrender possession and territory after scoring like, there's definitely an element of tactics about it. Rafa talks all the time about managing the game and situation, the players may be low on quality and confidence but I'm not having that they all collectively shit themselves after we take the lead, in every match we've done so. It's totally counter-intuitive that.

 

Obviously quality is a factor, as is the opposition reacting to going behind, but we need to be much better at pressing home an advantage.

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Guest firetotheworks

I'm hoping that we can negate for it by scoring more goals tbh. Imo, if we'd got the second goal against Burnley, as we should have, Burnley probably wouldn't have even got one because we'd have been able to look after the ball better without the players and the crowd going into shit yourself mode.

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After we scored yesterday we were still going for it. Kenedy and Perez had that double chance in particular. Palace naturally started growing into the game after that with their 'big' players becoming more influential.

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Guest firetotheworks

It hasn't been mentioned much as well, probably because it was Kenedy who's been very good otherwise, but he massively fucked up when we were on the break and he could have squared it to Perez earlier or taken their defender on. That really should have wrapped it up.

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We noticeably drop back and actively surrender possession and territory after scoring like, there's definitely an element of tactics about it. Rafa talks all the time about managing the game and situation, the players may be low on quality and confidence but I'm not having that they all collectively shit themselves after we take the lead, in every match we've done so. It's totally counter-intuitive that.

 

Obviously quality is a factor, as is the opposition reacting to going behind, but we need to be much better at pressing home an advantage.

 

It's a definite tactic to drop back, it makes sense in as much as it makes it harder to break us down, but I'd be surprised if the idea is to hand the ball back to the opposition as soon as we get possession. The problem is we can't pass when we are pressed, especially the players at the back who aren't comfortable on the ball. Dummett was literally signalling to Darlow not to give him the ball at one point yesterday. The good teams when they get the ball at the back use it as a chance to murder the opposition on the counter, we just give the ball away.

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It hasn't been mentioned much as well, probably because it was Kenedy who's been very good otherwise, but he massively f***ed up when we were on the break and he could have squared it to Perez earlier or taken their defender on. That really should have wrapped it up.

 

Aye, really annoying that. Was an easy pass to make.

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After we scored yesterday we were still going for it. Kenedy and Perez had that double chance in particular. Palace naturally started growing into the game after that with their 'big' players becoming more influential.

 

Don't think it was much to do with individuals, they changed shape and approach (especially in the way they pressed) and we couldn't cope.

 

They had completely stood off our defenders/Shelvey/Diame for the first 35 minutes, which made it a very easy game for us to play. Mental tactics from Hodgson to begin with against a team with no aerial outlet and defenders who are poor in possession.

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Does anyone know how many games in a row have we played without Rafa changing the team? Does he always like squad rotation at the clubs he’s been at? Personally I wish he would just stick with what he thinks is his best team.

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Don't you remember earlier in the season when people said he was too stubborn with his formation, system and favourites? :rolleyes:

 

Very few of our players are good enough to be in the team every single week, that's the whole problem.

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Guest firetotheworks

Can't make wine out of water. Without Rafa we'd be relegated already, a long time ago..

Oh really?

Yes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daft cunt.

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