Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

[Paully]

If all the things around ownership and funds are in place, Rafa would be here in a shot. Relegated, League One all irrelevant imo.

 

He wants a project and we're it if we've been bought out properly.

 

100% this!

 

 

[Sean]

If all the things around ownership and funds are in place, Rafa would be here in a shot. Relegated, League One all irrelevant imo.

 

He wants a project and we're it if we've been bought out properly.

 

Yep.

[Kanj]

If the stage is set for Rafa under all the right circumstances he's coming back in a heartbeat and getting to work.

[Lazarus]

Yeah - even if we were related and the takeover goes through, rafa would be here in a shot.

 

Relegation woould be a chance to get the coaching set up in place, the training ground upgraded, a few signing bedded in ready for the return to the premier league.

[Dr Jinx]

January was the time to make a change. We needed personnel in and all we got was Willock. He’d be on a hiding to nothing if he came back to this mess.

 

This team without Wilson does not have goals in it, even just from his overall play and making space for others. Without him it doesn’t work.

[Candi_Hills]

Rafa + PIF money in the 2nd division. You’d be disappointed to see us concede a corner.

[geordie_b]

 

Not enough sulking, shaking head or drinking water for me

[nufcjb]

 

Not enough sulking, shaking head or drinking water for me

At least his hands are moving. The bloke in charge now has his hands in his pocket wanking thinking of his post-match bacon.

[St1pe]

 

Can anyone paste this? Particularly the Rafa bit. I checked but the search didn’t bring up a Woodman thread so I’ve put it in here.

[David Edgar]

The Rafa bit is interesting.  Woodman didn't like the directions from Rafa and is happier now with a different approach.

[Darth Crooks]

I’m a supply teacher and kids are happier when my approach is to play games and stick videos on. Woodman seems like an honest pro tbf but the same credence is taken from lazies like Shelvey and colback. Different responses by different characters but one seems to yield success more for sure.

[Kanj]

Rafa asked him to come out more, play lower, etc. he seems better and more comfortable playing deeper and being higher in his stance. Rafa used the example of Pepe Reina. Freddie’s dad didn’t agree and had a different thought on how to play the position. Freddie said that there are so many different ways to play it etc.

[Darth Crooks]

Fair enough I guess.

[Hughesy]

I don't think it read that badly re Rafa.  It sounded like even his current coach has a different approach to Rafa and Woodman's dad.  I think he was merely acknowledging there are different goalkeeping styles.

[ATF]

Here's the section about styles and his development:

 

'His relationship with Cooper is “possibly the best I’ve had with a manager” but it is the tutelage of Martyn Margetson, the Swansea and England goalkeeper coach, which Woodman has found revolutionary.

 

“Goalkeeping can be so complex — I’m not sure people realise how different and difficult it actually is — but Marge has helped me make more sense of it,” Woodman says. “He has really opened my eyes to a different way of keeping goal, which I’ve seen huge benefits from.

 

“Every coach has different styles. I talked with Rafa on numerous occasions; he loved his goalkeeping and he’d tell me to get low and try and block, like Pepe Reina. I remember going home to my dad and saying, ‘Rafa wants me to do this’ and he was like, ‘No, that’s not proper goalkeeping. You need to dive at their feet’. It made me think, ‘God, there are just so many different styles’. None of them are right or wrong. They’re just different. It’s important to find the one that works for you.”

 

With Margetson, Woodman has discovered a new way, one that he believes suits him more. He watches videos with his dad, before-and-after tapes of how he operated pre-Swansea and how he plays now. “The difference is huge,” he says.

 

Already, Woodman has kept 16 clean sheets in just 27 appearances this season, having managed just 12 in 43 across 2019-20. In what way has he changed, though?

 

“My all-round goalkeeping has improved,” Woodman, who has bulked up physically, says. “Fundamentally, there are three key differences.

 

“First, in my set position for shots, I’m higher in my stance. Under Rafa, I’d be encouraged to get down and do more blocking, but, being higher, I think it helps me protect the goal better.

 

“Also, I played a lot higher under Rafa; I came out of my goal a lot more, sometimes I feel possibly unnecessarily. But now I am a little deeper.

 

“And, because we try to play it out from the back, you’ll see me taking more risks in possession than I would have done before.”

 

Swansea supporters rate Woodman highly but many would argue that distribution remains his weakest attribute.

 

“In terms of retaining possession, that is something I continue to work on,” says Woodman. “Being away with the England sides, playing ‘The England Way’, helped prepare me for that, but so did Chris Terpcou, my goalkeeping coach at Newcastle’s academy. When I was 14, he had me watching videos of Ajax and doing extra distribution sessions. I used to think, ‘Jesus, he’s working the socks off me here’. Now, whenever he rings me, I tell him, ‘Terps, I owe you’.

 

“With playing out from the back, you’ve got to accept that it’s not always going to go right. You’ll give passes away, even if you’d prefer not to. I watch a lot of Ederson (at Manchester City) and he is a wonderful footballer, but sometimes he kicks it long. He watches the other team press, thinks about it, and chooses to kick long. In my eyes, it’s all about good decision-making, which is another component of my goalkeeping I want to keep improving.”'

[Consortium of one]

I'm sure Rafa and Freddie can work things out.

[astraguy]

I still sing Rafa songs everytime i see an article/image etc of him  Where as the moment Bruce hits the screen its nothing but  :rant: can't stop singing now 

[St1pe]

Really interesting read that. Thanks for posting it ATF ?

[PlymouthGeordie]

[Scoot]

Even if it was true, can see what Rafa would say.

[PlymouthGeordie]

Even if it was true, can see what Rafa would say.

 

Yeah I don't think it'll happen but thought it was worth sharing.

 

He also mentions the Saudi's no longer want to buy us which is not in sync with what Caulkin, Douglas, Kennedy etc have been reporting.

[New Beginnings]

I can see this happening of we lose to Man U

[SUPERTOON]

Would love him to tell Ashley to f**k off tbh.

[Strawberry]

I can see this happening of we lose to Man U

 

As if there is any other outcome.3

[Ameritoon]

Has anything Duncan Castles said ever come true?