Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

[loki679]

Joselu, Muto and Murphy were the ones I was thinking as being outright failures; but the Hoss just seems like a really unfair stick to beat Rafa with  because he had so little money to spend on a striker that summer.

 

Joselu was £5m

 

For the money we paid he was alright.  OK he was shit at football but...... £5m

[Kanj]

I think on a caulkin pod on the athletic it was mentioned that Murphy was highly rated by Nickson and was really one Rafa got behind rather than lead himself.

[Yorkie]

Makes sense.

[xLiaaamx]

On the flip side, though of those three. I feel like Joselu had nothing else to give while I'm not convinced we ever saw the best of Murphy. Atsu kept getting picked ahead of him even when he was playing well and Atsu was being his usual self. Felt like the lad couldn't catch a break and just get a fair run in the side because we couldn't afford to give him time.

[Kanj]

My take:

 

Atsu - served purpose in Championship, was good rotation player at times, was never meant to be starter. Rafa trusted him and he seemed to always perform in 2nd half of season

Lejeune - when fit, outstanding. injuries out of his control. one of the classier CBs we've ever had.

Manquillo - looked like he was a player reborn in the RWB role back end of last season. Could see him really growing into that role under Rafa.

Merino - looked class. left too soon.

Murphy - pure confidence player. but was a Nickson signing if ever.

Joselu - extremely limited, never meant to be the main man, but served his purpose for Rafa.

Kenedy - that loan spell was brilliant and had he been signed permanently that summer i think he would have carried that momentum into being class last season.

Dubravka - one of our best keepers in a long long time

Slimani - late loan, looked a different side when he came on versus Southampton and Arsenal. Shame it didn't work out for him.

Schar - fantastic player and would have continued to be brilliant under Rafa

Muto - believe he would have been a good player hthis

Rondon - brilliant. should still be our #9

Fernandez - outstanding player, leader.

Ki - served his purpose under Rafa but was never meant to be more than rotation

 

 

Seemed like majority of hits and very few misses - Murphy, Muto glaring. Loans don't really count when they can be sent right back.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I don’t really feel the need to justify it anyway. We all know Rafa was working under very bad restrictions and he’s a million times the manager that Bruce is. Simple as that really.

[Paully]

It's so annoying that we didn’t build on the last half of last season when we were the 4th top scorers and the 7th best team in the league. To think these wankers decided to pay £40m (HA HA) for Joelinton rather than keep Rafa and Rondon. With the league this year, I think if those had of stayed – Perez more than likely would have too – and a few more decent additions then we’d be where Sheff Utd are at least.

 

Utter bellends they are and the same applies to any NUFC fans who are slating Rafa whilst praising the utter foreskin that we currently have in our dug-out.

 

 

[Ikon]

Mike Ashley = Caesar

Rafa = Maximus

 

He couldn't handle Rafa becoming so powerful, popular and respected so fast. While also challenging the "leaders" to be more ambitious and make this club what it can and should become again. It's utter fucking depressing and shit. Shit cunts! Wonder what could have been...

[BirtleyMag]

It's so annoying that we didn’t build on the last half of last season when we were the 4th top scorers and the 7th best team in the league. To think these w*****s decided to pay £40m (HA HA) for Joelinton rather than keep Rafa and Rondon is beyond me. With the league this year, I think if those had of stayed – Perez more than likely would have too – and a few more decent additions then we’d be where Sheff Utd are at least.

 

Utter bellends they are and the same applies to any NUFC fans who are slating Rafa whilst praisng the utter foreskin that we currently have in our dug-out.

 

If we were where Sheff Utd are now then the club would be bricking it because we might qualify for Europe and the fat man won’t want that.

 

Our relatively comfortable position at the moment is exactly where Ashley wants us to be. The sad thing is many will see it as an acceptable season if we manage to get past West Brom (We’ll get knocked out in the quarters by the first good side we face) and go on to avoid relegation. The cycle then starts again next year to be repeated once more...

 

I keep saying to myself that I can’t be bothered to watch/keep track of our games but still do every week, even though it’s pointless in the grand scheme of things.

[Happinesstan]

It's so annoying that we didn’t build on the last half of last season when we were the 4th top scorers and the 7th best team in the league. To think these wankers decided to pay £40m (HA HA) for Joelinton rather than keep Rafa and Rondon. With the league this year, I think if those had of stayed – Perez more than likely would have too – and a few more decent additions then we’d be where Sheff Utd are at least.

 

Utter bellends they are and the same applies to any NUFC fans who are slating Rafa whilst praising the utter foreskin that we currently have in our dug-out.

 

They actually spent £44M to replace them both.

[Paully]

It's so annoying that we didn’t build on the last half of last season when we were the 4th top scorers and the 7th best team in the league. To think these wankers decided to pay £40m (HA HA) for Joelinton rather than keep Rafa and Rondon. With the league this year, I think if those had of stayed – Perez more than likely would have too – and a few more decent additions then we’d be where Sheff Utd are at least.

 

Utter bellends they are and the same applies to any NUFC fans who are slating Rafa whilst praising the utter foreskin that we currently have in our dug-out.

 

They actually spent £44M to replace them both.

 

FFS I forgot about that 

 

 

[Kanj]

It's so annoying that we didn’t build on the last half of last season when we were the 4th top scorers and the 7th best team in the league. To think these wankers decided to pay £40m (HA HA) for Joelinton rather than keep Rafa and Rondon. With the league this year, I think if those had of stayed – Perez more than likely would have too – and a few more decent additions then we’d be where Sheff Utd are at least.

 

Utter bellends they are and the same applies to any NUFC fans who are slating Rafa whilst praising the utter foreskin that we currently have in our dug-out.

 

 

 

Couldn't agree with you more, Paully. Spot on as usual tbh.

[cambb]

Has anybody worked out what the net spend is between Rafa and Bruce todate?

[Hhtoon]

I think on a caulkin pod on the athletic it was mentioned that Murphy was highly rated by Nickson and was really one Rafa got behind rather than lead himself.

 

Wouldn't that make him a puppet ala Bruce/Joelinton?

[Paully]

Letting this man walkaway and then replacing him with Bruce - absolutely disgraceful

 

 

 

Rondon chats for 90 minutes and would readily stay longer. “I could sit here for four, five hours with a coffee, talking football,” he says and laughs. “I learned that from Rafa.” He has also trained himself to listen. Benitez is obsessive about the sport and meticulous in his role, always teaching, always explaining, focusing on the little details that make players better. “It’s something I love,” Rondon says, although it has taken him a while to reach this point.

 

He is increasingly expressive, animated. “I was in Miami on my holidays when Rafa first called me,” Rondon says. “I turned to my wife and whispered, ‘Oh my God, it’s Rafa Benitez!’ I said — very cool — ‘yes, hello Rafa, hi, how are you?’ He told me he’d tried to buy me for Newcastle but instead they were going to get me on loan. I wasn’t worried; I just wanted to go. ‘Don’t worry Rafa, I’ll be there.’ I put the phone down. And then I said to my wife, ‘ARGHHH! RAFA BENITEZ!’

 

“I remember our first meeting, the day I passed my medical and signed. I was waiting for the paperwork to go through. He talked to me for 45 minutes! I was in his office and he drew a horizontal line on a whiteboard and then a picture of a goal.

 

‘What’s that?’ he asked me. ‘Er … A pitch?’ I said. ‘No’, he said, ‘you can go back to West Brom. This is a target. A target. Are you a striker?’ ‘Yes, I’m a striker,’ I said. ‘Well, where should you shoot?’ ‘Umm. Wherever the keeper can’t reach it?’ I asked. ‘No. Where? Which side?’

 

“So on the drawing he divided the goal into six squares. He told me the maximum percentage for goals is in the bottom left and bottom right corners. ‘If you shoot there and miss high you still might score’, he said. ‘I know strikers want to score goals with quality and style, but shoot here and you’ll score. Pass the ball into the net. Pass, pass!’ It went on for a long time, but it was really good. I’m still learning from him.”

 

[Si]

Letting this man walkaway man and then replacing him with Bruce - absolutely disgraceful

 

 

 

Rondon chats for 90 minutes and would readily stay longer. “I could sit here for four, five hours with a coffee, talking football,” he says and laughs. “I learned that from Rafa.” He has also trained himself to listen. Benitez is obsessive about the sport and meticulous in his role, always teaching, always explaining, focusing on the little details that make players better. “It’s something I love,” Rondon says, although it has taken him a while to reach this point.

 

He is increasingly expressive, animated. “I was in Miami on my holidays when Rafa first called me,” Rondon says. “I turned to my wife and whispered, ‘Oh my God, it’s Rafa Benitez!’ I said — very cool — ‘yes, hello Rafa, hi, how are you?’ He told me he’d tried to buy me for Newcastle but instead they were going to get me on loan. I wasn’t worried; I just wanted to go. ‘Don’t worry Rafa, I’ll be there.’ I put the phone down. And then I said to my wife, ‘ARGHHH! RAFA BENITEZ!’

 

“I remember our first meeting, the day I passed my medical and signed. I was waiting for the paperwork to go through. He talked to me for 45 minutes! I was in his office and he drew a horizontal line on a whiteboard and then a picture of a goal.

 

‘What’s that?’ he asked me. ‘Er … A pitch?’ I said. ‘No’, he said, ‘you can go back to West Brom. This is a target. A target. Are you a striker?’ ‘Yes, I’m a striker,’ I said. ‘Well, where should you shoot?’ ‘Umm. Wherever the keeper can’t reach it?’ I asked. ‘No. Where? Which side?’

 

“So on the drawing he divided the goal into six squares. He told me the maximum percentage for goals is in the bottom left and bottom right corners. ‘If you shoot there and miss high you still might score’, he said. ‘I know strikers want to score goals with quality and style, but shoot here and you’ll score. Pass the ball into the net. Pass, pass!’ It went on for a long time, but it was really good. I’m still learning from him.”

It's enough to make you weep man, imagine that meeting with Bruce.

[KaKa]

This is so painful man.

 

Just read that little bit there for goodness sake!

 

That is why he was getting the best out of the likes of Longstaff and developing him into a top player, and now he has fallen to pieces.

 

It's also why someone like Almiron wasn't playing so haphazardly and pelting forward like a maniac headless chicken all the time.

 

He was constantly emphasising the final details and really getting guys to think about the game and the decisions they were making out there on the pitch.

 

It's just so unfair.

[mrmojorisin75]

every little anecdote is like a kick in the balls and a knife to the heart at the same time

[Bimpy474]

Letting this man walkaway man and then replacing him with Bruce - absolutely disgraceful

 

 

 

Rondon chats for 90 minutes and would readily stay longer. “I could sit here for four, five hours with a coffee, talking football,” he says and laughs. “I learned that from Rafa.” He has also trained himself to listen. Benitez is obsessive about the sport and meticulous in his role, always teaching, always explaining, focusing on the little details that make players better. “It’s something I love,” Rondon says, although it has taken him a while to reach this point.

 

He is increasingly expressive, animated. “I was in Miami on my holidays when Rafa first called me,” Rondon says. “I turned to my wife and whispered, ‘Oh my God, it’s Rafa Benitez!’ I said — very cool — ‘yes, hello Rafa, hi, how are you?’ He told me he’d tried to buy me for Newcastle but instead they were going to get me on loan. I wasn’t worried; I just wanted to go. ‘Don’t worry Rafa, I’ll be there.’ I put the phone down. And then I said to my wife, ‘ARGHHH! RAFA BENITEZ!’

 

“I remember our first meeting, the day I passed my medical and signed. I was waiting for the paperwork to go through. He talked to me for 45 minutes! I was in his office and he drew a horizontal line on a whiteboard and then a picture of a goal.

 

‘What’s that?’ he asked me. ‘Er … A pitch?’ I said. ‘No’, he said, ‘you can go back to West Brom. This is a target. A target. Are you a striker?’ ‘Yes, I’m a striker,’ I said. ‘Well, where should you shoot?’ ‘Umm. Wherever the keeper can’t reach it?’ I asked. ‘No. Where? Which side?’

 

“So on the drawing he divided the goal into six squares. He told me the maximum percentage for goals is in the bottom left and bottom right corners. ‘If you shoot there and miss high you still might score’, he said. ‘I know strikers want to score goals with quality and style, but shoot here and you’ll score. Pass the ball into the net. Pass, pass!’ It went on for a long time, but it was really good. I’m still learning from him.”

 

[samptime29]

Yeah, this is painful like. 

[Shearergol]

Letting this man walkaway man and then replacing him with Bruce - absolutely disgraceful

 

 

 

Rondon chats for 90 minutes and would readily stay longer. “I could sit here for four, five hours with a coffee, talking football,” he says and laughs. “I learned that from Rafa.” He has also trained himself to listen. Benitez is obsessive about the sport and meticulous in his role, always teaching, always explaining, focusing on the little details that make players better. “It’s something I love,” Rondon says, although it has taken him a while to reach this point.

 

He is increasingly expressive, animated. “I was in Miami on my holidays when Rafa first called me,” Rondon says. “I turned to my wife and whispered, ‘Oh my God, it’s Rafa Benitez!’ I said — very cool — ‘yes, hello Rafa, hi, how are you?’ He told me he’d tried to buy me for Newcastle but instead they were going to get me on loan. I wasn’t worried; I just wanted to go. ‘Don’t worry Rafa, I’ll be there.’ I put the phone down. And then I said to my wife, ‘ARGHHH! RAFA BENITEZ!’

 

“I remember our first meeting, the day I passed my medical and signed. I was waiting for the paperwork to go through. He talked to me for 45 minutes! I was in his office and he drew a horizontal line on a whiteboard and then a picture of a goal.

 

‘What’s that?’ he asked me. ‘Er … A pitch?’ I said. ‘No’, he said, ‘you can go back to West Brom. This is a target. A target. Are you a striker?’ ‘Yes, I’m a striker,’ I said. ‘Well, where should you shoot?’ ‘Umm. Wherever the keeper can’t reach it?’ I asked. ‘No. Where? Which side?’

 

“So on the drawing he divided the goal into six squares. He told me the maximum percentage for goals is in the bottom left and bottom right corners. ‘If you shoot there and miss high you still might score’, he said. ‘I know strikers want to score goals with quality and style, but shoot here and you’ll score. Pass the ball into the net. Pass, pass!’ It went on for a long time, but it was really good. I’m still learning from him.”

 

 

Prefect usage

[Rafalove]

Would be great if RAfa could coach me for 5-a-side

[St1pe]

Echoing everyone else on this but reading Rondon talking about Rafa has spoiled my morning ?

[Captain Underpants]

I miss you Rafa. ?

[TBG]

Letting this man walkaway man and then replacing him with Bruce - absolutely disgraceful

 

 

 

Rondon chats for 90 minutes and would readily stay longer. “I could sit here for four, five hours with a coffee, talking football,” he says and laughs. “I learned that from Rafa.” He has also trained himself to listen. Benitez is obsessive about the sport and meticulous in his role, always teaching, always explaining, focusing on the little details that make players better. “It’s something I love,” Rondon says, although it has taken him a while to reach this point.

 

He is increasingly expressive, animated. “I was in Miami on my holidays when Rafa first called me,” Rondon says. “I turned to my wife and whispered, ‘Oh my God, it’s Rafa Benitez!’ I said — very cool — ‘yes, hello Rafa, hi, how are you?’ He told me he’d tried to buy me for Newcastle but instead they were going to get me on loan. I wasn’t worried; I just wanted to go. ‘Don’t worry Rafa, I’ll be there.’ I put the phone down. And then I said to my wife, ‘ARGHHH! RAFA BENITEZ!’

 

“I remember our first meeting, the day I passed my medical and signed. I was waiting for the paperwork to go through. He talked to me for 45 minutes! I was in his office and he drew a horizontal line on a whiteboard and then a picture of a goal.

 

‘What’s that?’ he asked me. ‘Er … A pitch?’ I said. ‘No’, he said, ‘you can go back to West Brom. This is a target. A target. Are you a striker?’ ‘Yes, I’m a striker,’ I said. ‘Well, where should you shoot?’ ‘Umm. Wherever the keeper can’t reach it?’ I asked. ‘No. Where? Which side?’

 

“So on the drawing he divided the goal into six squares. He told me the maximum percentage for goals is in the bottom left and bottom right corners. ‘If you shoot there and miss high you still might score’, he said. ‘I know strikers want to score goals with quality and style, but shoot here and you’ll score. Pass the ball into the net. Pass, pass!’ It went on for a long time, but it was really good. I’m still learning from him.”

 

 

From that to "lets play"