Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

[Fantail Breeze]

1 minute ago, Abacus said:

 

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.

 

We were a Mo Diame fluke away from being in massive trouble with automatic promotion.

 

Although, as others have said, under Rafa the big moments always seemed to go our way. Only can be down to luck a few times.

[Amir_9]

1 hour ago, Wilson said:

 

Idiots basically.

 

I don't get it either.

 

I saw someone on Facebook earlier saying how stupid "the great Raffa" was for letting Mitro go

 

Honestly, some of our fans... Yes it was a good decision, because we got Rondon instead and he was ace for us that season. Mitro on the other hand is still not a proven prem striker, why on earth is he still at Fulham if he had that level about him. Honestly man, he finished 10th in our first season back with a Championship squad.

 

Rafa, could have built something here. As someone mentioned earlier, his choice of jobs after us have played a massive part of his current downfall. I still think, in fact I know he has something about him to manage at a respectable standard in this league, for goodness sake Carlo fucking Ancelotti couldn't take that dross anywhere.

 

 

Edited November 28, 2021 by Amir_9

[Rod]

2 hours ago, Thumbheed said:

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.

 

 

 

 

 

I love this post.  If you know anything at all about football then this should resonate with you.  Just read it again.

[Magpie]

2 hours ago, Thumbheed said:

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.

 

 

 

 

 

Nailed on. Just have to look at how dreadfully inept the same set of defenders are now. Shambolic.

[St. Maximin]

I’d say for balance as much as the lazy and ignorant comparisons with Bruce to suggest they performed similarly annoy me, I also find the refusal to criticise him from many of our fans a bit puzzling. I’d often hear that he’s a “world class manager” that knows best but tbh I don’t see how he still counts as that based on the last 10 or so years. He was often deemed in the top 5 managers in the league on here recently and again I don’t see how that was warranted. 
 

No doubt here you could clearly show he did a great job here, but I’m not sure it’s much more remarkable than what a lot of less successful managers had done in the Championship and post-promotion. I do think you sometimes have to jump through hopes to argue how well he’d done at times talking about plans and organisation, when it can be easily acknowledged we were in relegation battles, had an even worse first 10 games than this year in 2018 and at times we did look toothless even at home to weaker opposition. It was interesting that back then we had a ‘Championship squad’ but then last year under Bruce the narrative switched to an underperforming squad despite many of the same players. Even a few weeks back when Everton lost embarrassingly to Watford, the comments here were focussing on how toxic the Everton fans were, but regardless he needs to take responsibility as those goals were shambolic. 

 

 

Edited November 29, 2021 by St. Maximin

[r0cafella]

Hindsight is 20/20 and All but going to a club where your hated from day 1 and have no money to spend was a mistake. 

[Karjala]

If Rafa had stayed and got the money Brucey blew that summer (~£70m) i'm pretty sure we'd have been close to Europe the next season. Sheff United were 5pts off it.

[xLiaaamx]

Doesn't really look to be trying to do anything different to what he did here. They're doing pretty similar to our first year back up so far. 

[Superior Acuña]

2 hours ago, Fantail Breeze said:

 

We were a Mo Diame fluke away from being in massive trouble with automatic promotion.

 

Although, as others have said, under Rafa the big moments always seemed to go our way. Only can be down to luck a few times.

It was an important goal, but if we'd drawn that game instead we'd have made automatic promotion by 7 points.

 

 

1 hour ago, St. Maximin said:

I’d say for balance as much as the lazy and ignorant comparisons with Bruce to suggest they performed similarly annoy me, I also find the refusal to criticise him from many of our fans a bit puzzling. I’d often hear that he’s a “world class manager” that knows best but tbh I don’t see how he still counts as that based on the last 10 or so years. He was often deemed in the top 5 managers in the league on here recently and again I don’t see how that was warranted. 
 

No doubt here you could clearly show he did a great job here, but I’m not sure it’s much more remarkable than what a lot of less successful managers had done in the Championship and post-promotion. I do think you sometimes have to jump through hopes to argue how well he’d done at times talking about plans and organisation, when it can be easily acknowledged we were in relegation battles, had an even worse first 10 games than this year in 2018 and at times we did look toothless even at home to weaker opposition. It was interesting that back then we had a ‘Championship squad’ but then last year under Bruce the narrative switched to an underperforming squad despite many of the same players. Even a few weeks back when Everton lost embarrassingly to Watford, the comments here were focussing on how toxic the Everton fans were, but regardless he needs to take responsibility as those goals were shambolic. 

 

 

 

 

I mean about half a year before he came here he was appointed Real Madrid manager, which you'd think he'd have to be considered 'world class' to get. I don't think his time there could be seen to drop him out of that category - he was sacked with them 2 points behind Barca and 4 behind Atletico (and coasting the CL). He then succeeded here in a difficult challenge here. If he's dropped out of that category since getting the RM job, can only really be from him taking the job in China and not doing so well there, then a few poor months at Everton.

 

 

Edited November 29, 2021 by Inferior Acuña

[The Prophet]

If Ancelotti and Benitez, both former Champions League winners, can't get a tune out of this Everton side, you've got go wonder how deep their issues are.

[Raconteur]

21 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

If Ancelotti and Benitez, both former Champions League winners, can't get a tune out of this Everton side, you've got go wonder how deep their issues are.

 

Yep - they're obscenely rich and have had two of the best managers in the world. Something rotten in the state of Goodison Park

[wormy]

He was always on a hiding to nothing purely because of the fans having no time for him. But I'm still sure if the club dare to give him time they'll be looking fine by the end of the season as he proved with us every year when we would finish stronger than most teams in the league. He had to shop in the bargain bin thanks to FFP and player absences seem to have massively hampered them. As others have said, Ancelotti didn't manage any better than 10th with practically the same squad so it's not really much of a surprise that they are where they are.

 

I guess it's easy enough for us with experience of the bad spells to say stick with him and it'll come good but equally I don't think it can be objectively argued against if they did give in and bin him if this run goes much longer.

 

Granted, I may have been a bit out of touch when I told mates he'd get them pushing for Europe at the start of the season. But I've made enough shit predictions before and I'll make a lot more, I'm sure. Watch 'they'll be looking fine by the end of the season' come back to bite me in the arse as well now.

[christ]

I think there is a tendency to view Rafa’s tenure through rose tinted glasses to some degree, mainly because of how positively he spoke about the club. There were periods of poor performance and there were points left on the table against lesser opposition. At times we played some absolutely manky anti-football that was designed to achieve a 1-0 loss.

 

All that said I’ve never seen a Newcastle United side so well organised. So often we looked more than the sum of our parts. And when we did get into a position where we actually played football we were capable of producing some really good looking stuff. I was never worried about relegation, even when we were knee deep in it because everything we did was designed to help us hit a higher gear in the second half of the season.

 

The great what if will always be how much more he could’ve achieved with different owners, or even if Ashley wasn’t such a dickhead. I don’t think his time at Everton will ever be a good indicator of what might have happened here, circumstances are totally different. Not like we’ll ever find out.

[jackyboy]

Under Rafa, no matter how good the opposition were, I never felt like we would get hammered.  When we were left with Joselu as our main striker, Rafa kept it tight knowing that come the end of the season goal average could be important.

When people go on about him being negative they forget that we didn't have a decent striker for a lot of the time so needed to play the way we did

[Boo Boy]

If they take a real beating on Wednesday in the derby he won't survive it as alot have turned on him (some from day 1). 

[madras]

13 hours ago, Thumbheed said:

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.

 

 

 

 

 

For much that season I didn't see a well drilled defence, I saw a back 7 with 2 centre mids playing on the toes of the centre halves and loads of last ditch defending. A deliberate plan of holding in there and hoping to snatch something. I'd rather him than Bruce but the way some go on about Rafa in here is like a personality cult.

 

[Rich]

You've posted some shite in your time, like, but that might just take the biscuit.

[andyc35i]

For me, the best thing Rafa brought to the team was stability no matter how “defensive” some people make it out to be - we were genuinely organised. I used to turn on the tv for those tough away games and know that we weren’t going to get hammered. Granted, we may have been sitting deep, but you knew there was a plan at least in place and that was something we lacked the last two years.

[Dr Jinx]

Had a similar argument with a cretin on Facebook about Rafa over the weekend.

 

He did the very best with what he had, remember, we had nothing down the left. Had to loan Kenedy and got half a season out of him.

 

Made Lascelles look like Baresi and turned Diame into a powerhouse midfielder.

 

He built things methodically, you could see how things changed once Almiron was added, all we needed was a goal scorer then and full backs of his choosing.

 

He was dialled in here, 2 seasons of total confidence from the supporters gave him the time to gain that insight. He’s not got that at Everton, they’ve been on him from day 1.

 

Our current squad is overall better now, aside from losing Lejeune. We should be doing better. Hopefully Howe can see some of our squad are just shell shocked at present and need to be taken out of the firing line.

[Paully]

5 hours ago, madras said:

For much that season I didn't see a well drilled defence, I saw a back 7 with 2 centre mids playing on the toes of the centre halves and loads of last ditch defending. A deliberate plan of holding in there and hoping to snatch something. I'd rather him than Bruce but the way some go on about Rafa in here is like a personality cult.

 

Examples of when we played a back 7?!

 

Clueless if you’re being serious!

[Yorkie]

That Man City game around Christmas time in 17/18 has really stood the test of time. 

[HaydnNUFC]

16 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

That Man City game around Christmas time in 17/18 has really stood the test of time. 

 

Aye. Posted about it before but pundits and fans alike have taken that game and have applied it to the entirety of Benitez' tenure here. It's bullshit. We had won 1 game in 10, not won at home since October, were a newly promoted side with a bulk of Championship quality players and were facing a side who had won 18 out of 19 games, drawing the other, and slapping sides left, right and centre. We stayed in the game and might've gotten something had; Aarons not had a chip cleared off the line by Otamendi in the first half, Gayle's header just being saved by Ederson or Gayle diving in the box instead of pulling the trigger late on. Same with the away game against them tbh: Murphy pulls it back to 2-1 with a while left, Diame then bulldozes into their box and has a powerful shot saved. It was hard to watch but it bore results, especially in 17-18.

 

But because pundits on TV, the main ones, are only on for our games that involve the big 6 teams they only see us against the big 6 teams. They don't watch us play Southampton, Huddersfield, Burnley; sides that we saw the best football against. They take those game-plans against the top sides and think it was like that for the whole of Benitez' time here. Fuck off.

 

 

Edited November 29, 2021 by HaydnNUFC

[madras]

4 hours ago, Paully said:

Examples of when we played a back 7?!

 

Clueless if you’re being serious!

Back 5 with central midfield so deep it may as well have been a 7. 

[Plastician]

9 hours ago, Yorkie said:

That Man City game around Christmas time in 17/18 has really stood the test of time. 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

"Redundant football" - Gary Neville. Apparently sitting off the best side in the world, and still getting a win... Because Sky Sports' highest paid pundit said so. 

 

Even peak Barcelona/Guardiola didn't win La Liga in 11/12 - Real Madrid won. Real, Getafe and Osasuna beating them. Not many teams pull off beating City going at them. Watford tried and got hit for 6-0 in a FA Cup final - now that's embarrassing. 

 

Bruce's approach against City in the FA Quarter Final took the piss though. 

[HaydnNUFC]

13 minutes ago, Plastician said:

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

"Redundant football" - Gary Neville. Apparently sitting off the best side in the world, and still getting a win... Because Sky Sports' highest paid pundit said so. 

 

Even peak Barcelona/Guardiola didn't win La Liga in 11/12 - Real Madrid won. Real, Getafe and Osasuna beating them. Not many teams pull off beating City going at them. Watford tried and got hit for 6-0 in a FA Cup final - now that's embarrassing. 

 

Bruce's approach against City in the FA Quarter Final took the piss though. 

 

That's from the following season. 2017-18 was where we lost 0-1 and were lambasted for it on Sky. That game is from 2018-19 where we beat them, on BT.