Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

[Mr Logic]

The impossible job.

[Robster]

He's at it again.

But Benitez says he has no idea on how much he has to spend.

He said: Rafa on money: “I will not give any figure because I do not have a figure now.”

What an ignoramus

[ujpest doza]

Even if he does know how much he'd be stupid telling the whole world what his budget is in advance.

 

[cubaricho]

Even if he does know how much he'd be stupid telling the whole world what his budget is in advance.

 

[Dave]

To clarify, I meant Lee Ryder. Only Smal seemed to notice.

[Robster]

To clarify, I meant Lee Ryder. Only Smal seemed to notice.

[Dave]

And Boat in Lorry.

[Robster]

[Dave]

From the other thread:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/dec/15/isaac-hayden-newcastle-arsenal-flamini-premier-league

To Hayden, Wenger was difficult to read; his style slightly off the cuff. The contrast to Rafael Benítez is vivid. When Newcastle were made aware Hayden was available, Benítez watched 12 videos of him overnight before deciding to sign him, and the Spaniard made quite an impression on Hayden during their first meeting.

 

“It was at the Rosewood hotel in London and there was a big bowl of chocolates on the table,” Hayden says. “All of a sudden, he got two big handfuls of them and he lined them up in formation. He started asking me questions. ‘Right, if the ball came in from here and the centre-halves are here, where would you be?’ Sometimes, he said: ‘Brilliant.’ Other times, he said: ‘No. That’s a very English answer.’ It was like a coaching session at the first meeting. After it, I told my agent: ‘I don’t care what it takes. I just want to make this transfer happen.’”

 

Benítez takes meticulous to the next level. According to Hayden, the manager has written a thesis on the holding midfield role – a comparative analysis of the position across five countries, including England and Spain. Hayden thinks Benítez studied it at university in Madrid.

 

“He’s literally obsessed with it,” Hayden says. “He played that position himself. He wants to talk non-stop. I could play really well and he’ll never say: ‘Well played.’ He will always tell me I was out of position by two yards in a particular situation. It’s just how he is. You have to be bang on it in every way.”

 

When Hayden moved to Newcastle, he lived in the same apartment block as Benítez. “I’ve moved out now,” Hayden says. “I’d get my dinner from a restaurant around the corner, which did lovely chicken and pasta dishes, and I’d collect it after training. He’d come home at the same time and he used to catch me as I got out of my car. One time, I was sitting in the car, waiting and waiting for him to go up in the lift but he was waiting for me. My food was getting cold. He’d just want to talk about football for half an hour.”

 

 

What a guy.

[Wilson]

"One time, I was sitting in the car, waiting and waiting for him to go up in the lift but he was waiting for me. My food was getting cold. He’d just want to talk about football for half an hour."

 

[Dinho lad]

[Dinho lad]

Fucking new page wanker at least three times today!! 

[Bimpy474]

"One time, I was sitting in the car, waiting and waiting for him to go up in the lift but he was waiting for me. My food was getting cold. He’d just want to talk about football for half an hour."

 

 

Brilliant 

[sbnufc]

https://www.nufc.co.uk/nufc-tv/latest-videos/benitez-pre-arsenal-a-media-briefing-17-18

[TRon]

  How could you want anyone else as manager?

 

 

[Dave]

Try this for depressing:

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/newcastle-rafa-benitez-fighting-a-losing-battle-arsenal-a8113141.html

Rafa Benitez looks to be fighting a losing battle at Newcastle - time is running out

The Ashley decade has taken a heavy toll. There is a lack of patience and a growing belief among the club's argumentative fanbase that Benitez is making too many mistakes

 

Martin Hardy @mhardysport 21 mins ago

 

 

Of the first 65 league games Rafa Benitez was manager of Newcastle United, 16 were lost. Of the last eight, seven have ended in defeat. It is difficult to search for context in the Wild West that is Tyneside football, but those statistics will tell you why the club is once more on the brink of civil war.

 

Benitez, the Champions League-winning manager who took the unlikely step of leading a club on the brink of turmoil out of the Championship, is fighting fires in a way that will bring back painful memories for most of his predecessors.

 

Kenny Dalglish, Sam Allardyce, Ruud Gullit and Graeme Souness all left saying the position as manager of Newcastle was nigh on impossible. Kevin Keegan said he feared he would end up dead if he saw out his ten-year contract at the club and Sir Bobby Robson was caught on camera criticising the support after the majority snubbed a final-home game lap of honour in a season that would finish fifth.

 

And that was before Mike Ashley rolled into town ten years ago.

 

Two relegations in that period have left huge scars.

 

It is once more a romantic football club without any romance. There is a lack of patience and a growing belief among the club's argumentative fanbase that Benitez is making too many mistakes

 

The movement against him is growing. Newcastle supporters were arguing with each other inside St James’ Park during the latest defeat, against Everton, on Wednesday.

 

It is widely known that Benitez is unhappy with the club’s board, and the transfer activity of the summer. He admitted he held a meeting with Lee Charnley the managing director, on Thursday, about what can be spent in January and the truth is nobody has a clue.

 

Benitez is treading precariously with the confidence and backing of his players, who keep making mistakes. He was at his most angry in the dark hours that followed the loss to Sam Allardyce on Wednesday because of a goalkeeping mistake, a position he had identified as a problem as soon as the transfer window was opened.

 

The local newspaper, the Evening Chronicle, did a poll of its five Newcastle writers to see who should play in goal against Arsenal on Saturday. Four went for Rob Elliot, who was dropped after conceding seven goals in two games, one went for the England Under-21 international Freddy Woodman, who has not played a minute of first team football for the club, and none went for Darlow, who has leaked nine in four.

 

Benitez wanted a goalkeeper, a left-back, a number ten and a striker at the start of a summer that has the potential to be another historically significant mistake, so inside his anger and hurt of the current situation is a major element of ‘I told you so.’

 

There has been a long-standing call for two centre forwards to be played, even in the midst of a start to the season that had the club fourth and fifth early on and then ninth after beating Crystal Palace. Benitez has appeared to relent on that one, and it has been to a cost.

 

He has risked further anger by overlooking Aleksandar Mitrovic, who he thinks is not quick enough to play on the counter attack and Jonjo Shelvey (who received his second red card of the season on Wednesday and now has a two-game suspension).

 

Benitez’s lengthy argument is that, armed with a myriad of statistics on every single player, there is no magic wand which the supporters are desperately searching for.

 

Into the mounting concern of relegation then, one quickly approaching mild hysteria, is a trip to the Emirates, where Newcastle have won one of the eleven games they have played there.

 

Then it is West Ham, and then it is Manchester City at home. If Newcastle lose to Pep Guardiola’s side at St James’, it will be the first time they have lost five successive home league games since 1953. That number is many home defeats as when they were relegated in 2016.

 

It means Benitez is fighting for the one thing that has always seemed a given - his relationship with Newcastle’s fans.

 

“The reality is when we decided to stay everyone appreciated that,” said Benitez. “When we were in the Championship, everyone appreciated that. We won the title, everyone appreciated that.

 

“Then the fans know where we are and what we have. In terms of that, I have to do my job in the best way possible and that is it. You have to be the first one to have the confidence and believe we can do it and I do believe that this team will improve.

 

“When you have bad results you have to lead the team and the confidence. I know what we have to do.”

 

There is a need for Benitez to come out fighting and on that, when asked about how he expressed his anger in defeat, he said: “I don’t have to go home. I can do it in the dressing room. I did it at Liverpool when I was in the dressing room and I smashed one of the boxes there.

 

“We lost against Middlesbrough and we were fighting for the title. I had to make a decision about a player who could not play, and we made mistakes, and smash!”

 

There is no suggestion the club has a replacement lined up - Steve McClaren, John Carver and Alan Pardew preceded him - but it is a volatile situation with an owner eager to sell. Heading into a relegation fight has not helped negotiation. The losing run will not be allowed to go on indefinitely.

[sbnufc]

The movement against him is growing.

 

Is it?

[Guest firetotheworks]

The criticism of some of our fans at the moment is completely justified and anyone who's too precious to accept any criticism of any fans can get fucked tbh. It takes a special kind of moron to go on the way some people have about Rafa and the players recently. It's thankfully in the minority, but it's still shameful and it's good to hear that others have taken collective responsibility (like telling that mouth breather to STFU when he was telling Rafa to sit down) , but it's a growingly problem and one that I've only really appreciated since we've had Rafa.

[Interpolic]

From the other thread:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/dec/15/isaac-hayden-newcastle-arsenal-flamini-premier-league

To Hayden, Wenger was difficult to read; his style slightly off the cuff. The contrast to Rafael Benítez is vivid. When Newcastle were made aware Hayden was available, Benítez watched 12 videos of him overnight before deciding to sign him, and the Spaniard made quite an impression on Hayden during their first meeting.

 

“It was at the Rosewood hotel in London and there was a big bowl of chocolates on the table,” Hayden says. “All of a sudden, he got two big handfuls of them and he lined them up in formation. He started asking me questions. ‘Right, if the ball came in from here and the centre-halves are here, where would you be?’ Sometimes, he said: ‘Brilliant.’ Other times, he said: ‘No. That’s a very English answer.’ It was like a coaching session at the first meeting. After it, I told my agent: ‘I don’t care what it takes. I just want to make this transfer happen.’”

 

Benítez takes meticulous to the next level. According to Hayden, the manager has written a thesis on the holding midfield role – a comparative analysis of the position across five countries, including England and Spain. Hayden thinks Benítez studied it at university in Madrid.

 

“He’s literally obsessed with it,” Hayden says. “He played that position himself. He wants to talk non-stop. I could play really well and he’ll never say: ‘Well played.’ He will always tell me I was out of position by two yards in a particular situation. It’s just how he is. You have to be bang on it in every way.”

 

When Hayden moved to Newcastle, he lived in the same apartment block as Benítez. “I’ve moved out now,” Hayden says. “I’d get my dinner from a restaurant around the corner, which did lovely chicken and pasta dishes, and I’d collect it after training. He’d come home at the same time and he used to catch me as I got out of my car. One time, I was sitting in the car, waiting and waiting for him to go up in the lift but he was waiting for me. My food was getting cold. He’d just want to talk about football for half an hour.”

 

 

What a guy.

[emoji38] What a fantastic interview that is.

[HaydnNUFC]

That Hardy article is utter garbage.

[sempuki]

From the other thread:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/dec/15/isaac-hayden-newcastle-arsenal-flamini-premier-league

To Hayden, Wenger was difficult to read; his style slightly off the cuff. The contrast to Rafael Benítez is vivid. When Newcastle were made aware Hayden was available, Benítez watched 12 videos of him overnight before deciding to sign him, and the Spaniard made quite an impression on Hayden during their first meeting.

 

“It was at the Rosewood hotel in London and there was a big bowl of chocolates on the table,” Hayden says. “All of a sudden, he got two big handfuls of them and he lined them up in formation. He started asking me questions. ‘Right, if the ball came in from here and the centre-halves are here, where would you be?’ Sometimes, he said: ‘Brilliant.’ Other times, he said: ‘No. That’s a very English answer.’ It was like a coaching session at the first meeting. After it, I told my agent: ‘I don’t care what it takes. I just want to make this transfer happen.’”

 

Benítez takes meticulous to the next level. According to Hayden, the manager has written a thesis on the holding midfield role – a comparative analysis of the position across five countries, including England and Spain. Hayden thinks Benítez studied it at university in Madrid.

 

“He’s literally obsessed with it,” Hayden says. “He played that position himself. He wants to talk non-stop. I could play really well and he’ll never say: ‘Well played.’ He will always tell me I was out of position by two yards in a particular situation. It’s just how he is. You have to be bang on it in every way.”

 

When Hayden moved to Newcastle, he lived in the same apartment block as Benítez. “I’ve moved out now,” Hayden says. “I’d get my dinner from a restaurant around the corner, which did lovely chicken and pasta dishes, and I’d collect it after training. He’d come home at the same time and he used to catch me as I got out of my car. One time, I was sitting in the car, waiting and waiting for him to go up in the lift but he was waiting for me. My food was getting cold. He’d just want to talk about football for half an hour.”

 

 

What a guy.

[emoji38] What a fantastic interview that is.

Brilliant.

[Robster]

Rafa isnt going anywhere.

He's intrinsically linked to Amanda Staveley and PCP. I'm sure their opinion of him hasn't changed. He just needs to stay calm, like he is telling everyone else to, and he, and we, will come through this once the club is sold.

 

[Danh1]

Utter bollocks that by Hardy.

 

If Rafa walked tomorrow I would always be thankful for what he's done and gutted that things never worked out. If the takeover goes ahead then it'd be the start of something specia I think. Sadly it is a big if though I reckon.

[Ryan]

Find that article hard to believe when Rafa's name was being chanted around the ground on Wednesday even when we were 1-0 down and even at HT the Gallowgate had that Rafa flag with the translation 'we are with you' (?) next to it.

 

If there's any discontent in the fanbase, it's a very minor number.

[Crumpy Gunt]

Keep losing games and eventually you'll be peddled.