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Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

Greg

by Greg
in Football

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Would you have Rafa back?   

463 members have voted

  1. 1. Would you have Rafa back?

    • Yes, as manager, immediately
      101
    • Yes, as manager, but at some point in the future (eg if relegated)
      97
    • Yes, in an advisory or DoF role
      74
    • No, not in any meaningful capacity
      132

This poll is closed to new votes


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Away Toon

Away Toon

Posted
Posted

He would be a much better bet to keep us up than Howe is, though I'm sure it would have been extremely ugly to watch as it often was in his spell in charge here. We need a manager who can organise us defensively and extremely quickly, an improvement in the attacking play and a bit more possession that I'm sure we will see under Howe won't make any difference unless we stop conceding goals at the current rate. Anybody want to bet against Pukki scoring on Tuesday?

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HaydnNUFC

HaydnNUFC

Posted
Posted

Howe can make a difference, we saw it against Brentford. We deserved to win and Darlow being a spacka was what only prevented us from doing so. Yesterday is a fixture I'm not going to judge Howe on, his first game in the dugout after not being at any of the training sessions running up to the game. Not an ideal scenario.

 

Rafa would sort our defence out which is what we need tbf. But Everton look absolutely dreadful, Rondon looks finished and he's constantly playing him and plodders like Iwobi. Not that I'm judging Rafa on this stint at Everton alone, he certainly is terrible at choosing jobs. Should never have taken this one.

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Thiago

Thiago

Posted
Posted

Yikes. 

 

In an ideal world he'd have ended up back here where there was good will and patience for his long-term vision. His history down there meant he really needed to start fast and it's not even like he could correct the transfer fuckups of the past this summer. I do wonder if Mandy Stavs will be in touch if/when he goes with our situation in mind. A lot of that is contingent on us going down/stopping up, but it would be interesting. I do worry he's in the cycle of not really thinking his jobs out and getting a reputation for being not that good when in reality he just keeps picking bad projects.

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TRon

TRon

Posted
Posted

As a side note, Mourinho was mentioned as a similar type of manager philosophy wise at least, and I think he could do a good job for one of the teams below the top 4. He's still a good organiser, although him being a massive prick is always going to be an obstacle to any relative success. We might see him in the Premier again I feel. 

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nufcnick

nufcnick

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, Danh1 said:

Everton are definitely bearable like, it’s one we should be targeting for 3 points. Especially with a toxic home crowd. 

He will be gone by then, with a new guy in ready for the transfer window 

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nufcnick

nufcnick

Posted
Posted (edited)
11 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

So what’s different in January?

The spending from the summer of 2019 drops of their FFP, it’s worked out on a rolling 3 year period and in the summer of 2019 they spent almost £120m.

if there’s anyone to take lessons from on how not to spend money it’s Everton 

 

 

Edited by nufcnick

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Yorkie

Yorkie

Posted
Posted

Haven't followed Everton much this season but I seriously doubt Rafa has become a bad manager over the last two and a bit years. He did a really good job here, winning the Championship (a feat that is forever underrated in football) before comfortably keeping us in the league two years on the bounce; this despite being obstructed by the transfer policy itself and the glacial approach to signings the players he was actually allowed to recruit. 

 

The big thing with Rafa for us is that he so rarely (if literally ever) let us down in the biggest moments. Whenever it came to those really crucial games, we invariably pulled it out of the bag. Massive games where defeats would have had us either scuppering promotion or leaving us on the brink of relegation - they just never happened. We always found a way eventually during those three years and he was the key reason for that. 

 

I just can't understand how he's lost that ability to play the long game which he did so brilliantly with us. If Everton keep him, I can see them finishing strongly and then having a run at the European places next season, if he's given freedom to build the squad in his image. But equally, I wouldn't be surprised if it's simply just a bad fit and therefore they - somewhat justifiably - pull the trigger and move on. 

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Danh1

Danh1

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

Haven't followed Everton much this season but I seriously doubt Rafa has become a bad manager over the last two and a bit years. He did a really good job here, winning the Championship (a feat that is forever underrated in football) before comfortably keeping us in the league two years on the bounce; this despite being obstructed by the transfer policy itself and the glacial approach to signings the players he was actually allowed to recruit. 

 

The big thing with Rafa for us is that he so rarely (if literally ever) let us down in the biggest moments. Whenever it came to those really crucial games, we invariably pulled it out of the bag. Massive games where defeats would have had us either scuppering promotion or leaving us on the brink of relegation - they just never happened. We always found a way eventually during those three years and he was the key reason for that. 

 

I just can't understand how he's lost that ability to play the long game which he did so brilliantly with us. If Everton keep him, I can see them finishing strongly and then having a run at the European places next season, if he's given freedom to build the squad in his image. But equally, I wouldn't be surprised if it's simply just a bad fit and therefore they - somewhat justifiably - pull the trigger and move on. 


Bang on and great point about the big moments. I remember the week in the Championship where we had Brighton, Huddersfield and Reading away in the space of 8 days and we won the first two and drew the other.

 

Then the big games in the PL, we were never ‘out’ of too many matches due to the way we were set up. 

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Yorkie

Yorkie

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Danh1 said:


Bang on and great point about the big moments. I remember the week in the Championship where we had Brighton, Huddersfield and Reading away in the space of 8 days and we won the first two and drew the other.

 

Then the big games in the PL, we were never ‘out’ of too many matches due to the way we were set up. 

 

Yeah, there were a few in the Championship, like. At 3-1 down at home to Norwich in that epic one, we'd just come from a home defeat against Wolves and a poxy draw at Villa. Lose there and we were in danger of getting dragged into the fat end of the play-offs, but obviously we turned out around. Derby at home, too; don't pick up a win there and all of a sudden its a run of draws and defeats against Sheff Wed, Blackburn, QPR, Derby, with no signings in January either. But they did it. Then, as you say, those few big ones near the end (Preston at home to secure promotion as well). Just constantly delivered in those big moments. 

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Yorkie

Yorkie

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

We had the best and most expensive squad in Championship history, If memory serves. 

 

Hardly that impressive. 

 

:lol: sure. Winning leagues is just a piece of piss if you've got a bit of cash, you can't lose. That's why dozens of other incredibly well-backed teams that have dropped down a division have all flown back at the first attempt. Of course, one team having money also means all other competitors at the top end are all automatically shit. 

 

Pretty sure the most expensively-assembled side that year was Villa anyway, and they spent most (all?) of that season in the bottom half. 

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Thumbheed

Thumbheed

Posted
Posted (edited)

I honestly wonder sometimes if I watched the same team that others when it comes to Rafa. 

 

Genuinly surprised at how those 3 years are portrayed by some as though we've ever been any better in any other year under Ashley. 

 

The most exciting thing Rafa brought to the team was his defensive organisation, I've never seen a better drilled defence in my lifetime as a Newcastle fan and that was refreshing as fuck to see. 

 

I just think if you appreciate football, then you appreciate that side of the game just as much as the goals, dribbles and assists and Rafa was a master with that element of the game. 

 

By the time he'd left I seem to remember talk of top half/Europe being a possibility with the way we ended his last season. 

 

I dunno how anyone saw Rafa's period with us as anything but positive.

 

 

 

 

Edited by Thumbheed

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Wilson

Wilson

Posted
Posted

At the time, plenty of people whinged about us being too negative and playing shit football. 

 

Didn't seem to matter that we were clearly punching above our weight thanks to the way he set us up.

 

To this day I still know people who think we were bad under him which again, I just don't get. 

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Ronaldo

Ronaldo

Posted
Posted
46 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

We had the best and most expensive squad in Championship history, If memory serves. 

 

Hardly that impressive. 


It wasn’t even the most expensive EFL squad that season. ?

 

Not to mention the fact we literally sold about £75m worth of players in pre-season that year.  

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Abacus

Abacus

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Yorkie said:

 

:lol: sure. Winning leagues is just a piece of piss if you've got a bit of cash, you can't lose. That's why dozens of other incredibly well-backed teams that have dropped down a division have all flown back at the first attempt. Of course, one team having money also means all other competitors at the top end are all automatically shit. 

 

Pretty sure the most expensively-assembled side that year was Villa anyway, and they spent most (all?) of that season in the bottom half. 

 

Minor quibble, my memory is that we sort of fluked that championship title since Brighton went on holiday for the last few games, having already been promoted themselves.

 

It certainly never felt as easy as the Hughton promotion. But in either case, it's no easy job to turn around a team in freefall.

 

I actually think Hughton's promotion was better, since there were so many stinking attitudes in the squad he inherited. But then again, maybe he had a better squad to start a rebuild with as well.

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