Jump to content

Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)


Greg

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

This poll is closed to new votes


Recommended Posts

This is why he gets the team to dig in and stay in matches. Apart from the Liverpool away game we’ve not been out of the game in any fixture against the top 6 clubs. Tonight’s an example that sometimes over the 90

Minutes things can fall your way.

Link to post
Share on other sites

best part about that is it's basically the same approach he's been absolutely slated for the last couple of years vs. top 6 teams, difference is tonight our players were able to impose themselves a bit more than usual at the right times and citeh weren't up to their usual standard

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest Howaythetoon

Got to go down as the best tactical performance from a manager in the clubs history?

 

Steady on man :lol:

 

I’m sure Carver would have something to say about that like.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Would another manager in our history have got this set of players to beat the set of players Man City had out tonight?

Anyone can beat a team once like. I think what’s more impressive is that we’ve played them four times the last two seasons and they’ve found it tough each time

Link to post
Share on other sites

Would another manager in our history have got this set of players to beat the set of players Man City had out tonight?

Anyone can beat a team once like. I think what’s more impressive is that we’ve played them four times the last two seasons and they’ve found it tough each time

Generally speaking we give the better teams a tougher ride under Rafa, our 4-0 defeat to Liverpool this season and our 4-1 defeat to Man Utd last season being the outliers.

For all the talk of this being unexpected, when you look at how compact and organised we can be against such teams it shouldn’t have been unexpected, in all honesty this season we were due a good result against one of the better teams, it’s just a shock that it came against arguably the best team in such circumstances.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest neesy111

Would another manager in our history have got this set of players to beat the set of players Man City had out tonight?

Anyone can beat a team once like. I think what’s more impressive is that we’ve played them four times the last two seasons and they’ve found it tough each time

 

We played well and caught Man City on an off day.  Another day we get beat.

 

Didn't think it was much different to how we've played recently.  Think the early goal helped us as it put city into 1st gear for the match.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest Howaythetoon

Would another manager in our history have got this set of players to beat the set of players Man City had out tonight?

Anyone can beat a team once like. I think what’s more impressive is that we’ve played them four times the last two seasons and they’ve found it tough each time

 

We played well and caught Man City on an off day.  Another day we get beat.

 

Didn't think it was much different to how we've played recently.  Think the early goal helped us as it put city into 1st gear for the match.

 

I think we are actually better suited playing teams like them than most of the others in terms of how we set up and our tactics, especially at home.

 

We simply lack the creativity in midfield and real pace out wide to go at any team and although we could vary our tactics so we have more possession and get forward more against the lesser teams, it’s not going to be any more effective in terms of the end result really, not until we have the right players.

 

I think Rafa is correct to set us up in this way whether it’s at home to Man City or Cardiff given the players he has to work with. You would hope with more quality players though, setting up like we do will only be reserved for when we face a team like Man City where even with better players, playing any other way we would still get torn apart.

Link to post
Share on other sites

 

In the car on way home last night (before the match). Totalsport was on ,and there was doom and gloom after Rafa's comments about no guarantees he'd see the season out.

 

I said to the wife, if/when he leaves, it'll probably be the biggest "What If" ever, and we'll probably never know what we could have achieved, had he had a reasonable level of support and backing from the owner.

 

Whether Almiron comes in, along with any more loans this window, and whether Rafa decides he will stay on and extend his stay, I still don't see much/anything changing from the last 3 years, as long as 'the saviour of the high street' remains as owner of the club.  :undecided:

Link to post
Share on other sites

 

In the car on way home last night (before the match). Totalsport was on ,and there was doom and gloom after Rafa's comments about no guarantees he'd see the season out.

 

I said to the wife, if/when he leaves, it'll probably be the biggest "What If" ever, and we'll probably never know what we could have achieved, had he had a reasonable level of support and backing from the owner.

 

Whether Almiron comes in, along with any more loans this window, and whether Rafa decides he will stay on and extend his stay, I still don't see much/anything changing from the last 3 years, as long as 'the saviour of the high street' remains as owner of the club.  :undecided:

 

Would be 2nd to "what if Mike sold us to the Sheikh instead of being an insufferable moron"

Link to post
Share on other sites

Would another manager in our history have got this set of players to beat the set of players Man City had out tonight?

 

Anyone can beat City once. But I haven't seen a manager who can consistently pull rabbits out of the hat over two decades now. He did for Valencia, he did it for us, and not he is going the same for you. The longevity is impressive.

 

I think a big part of it is how he views football. He grew up playing subbuteo and chess. And apparently kids used to hate playing him. Because he always won. In the rare event he lost he used to torment the other kid by analyzing all of his moves and continuously playing against him until he won many times. That is how he views football. He is an all time great in identifying weaknesses in oppositions and creating systems through drills which nullify oppositions strengths and exploit their weaknesses.

 

That is the reason he is good at European football. I think in the 11 or 12 times he participated in Europe, he has reached the semifinal 8 times which is a phenomenal record as in most cases he managed less fancy squads. With a little bit of quality, you are safe backing his team in a one on one fight.

 

In a way, I think that is why he is not that suited for teams like Madrid. He will start complicating things there.  He is like that kid in high school who can understand fermats theorem's but will still get only 70s in the final as solving quadratic equations is too boring.

 

In a way, I am surprised some of the international teams haven't taken a chance on him. He offers a more than decent chance for teams like Japan, Korea, and Senegal for world cup glory. To win a world cup you need to win 7 games right. I cannot see anyone better at devising systems to neutralize those teams.

Link to post
Share on other sites

 

Offline

RedForeverTT

 

    Believer

    *****

    Posts: 1,279

    Vitamin D surplus gives crows feet - Kylie Jenner

 

Re: Chasing the Title, The Pack Chasing Us

« Reply #3435 on: Yesterday at 10:23:19 PM »

Always said Newcastle would proved to be the title decider, not some unheard of team like Everton.

 

Rafa setting the team up like a European competition and schooled Pep. No different to how he set us up against Ronaldinho's Barca in the Champions League.

:smitten:

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...