Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

[Guest neesy111]

Martinelli is shite

 

I've heard it all now, he's 20 years old.

 

 

Edited December 2, 2021 by neesy111

[Lush Vlad]

So basically in some strange Everton and Arsenal combined XI (why not, they’re all the rage these days). You’d only have about 3-4 Arsenal players and the bench would be made up of mostly Everton players and all? 
 

Wow  
 

Coleman better than Tomiyasu? Maybe 5-6 years ago, aye. Keane better than White? Partey not as good as Allan? 
 

Shite like Lacazette and Martinelli  

[Fantail Breeze]

5 minutes ago, neesy111 said:

Martinelli is shite

 

I've heard it all now, he's 20 years old.

 

 

 

 

He’s totally unproven.

 

Third season at Arsenal and he’s got six goals and one assist. Hardly setting the world alight and good enough to justify stating Arsenal’s squad is stronger than Everton’s.

 

Interestingly, Iwobi’s stats over three seasons are remarkably similar. Despite being used above as an example of a shocking squad.

[Fantail Breeze]

3 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

So basically in some strange Everton and Arsenal combined XI (why not, they’re all the rage these days). You’d only have about 3-4 Arsenal players and the bench would be made up of mostly Everton players and all? 
 

Wow  
 

Coleman better than Tomiyasu? Maybe 5-6 years ago, aye. Keane better than White? Partey not as good as Allan? 
 

Shite like Lacazette and Martinelli  

 

So despite completely disagreeing with my assessment, you can only pick out three questionable comparisons as being wrong?

 

Still hardly this massive disparity in quality between the two squads.

 

It’s not a combined 11, it’s a direct assessment of their squads as to who is better or if they’re pretty similar. Made easier by grouping two players together.

As I said, the squads are fairly similar.

[xLiaaamx]

They really could have done with Sigurddson not being an absolute wrongun really. 

[Guest neesy111]

Ahh using the Wikipedia headline stats for league goals I see.

 

It's actually 13 goals and he's been injured for most of th last 18 months.

[xLiaaamx]

Hang on why did they sell Bernard for about a million? 

[Super Duper Branko Strupar]

2 minutes ago, xLiaaamx said:

Hang on why did they sell Bernard for about a million? 

 

Think he was out of contract next year.

[Guest neesy111]

2 minutes ago, xLiaaamx said:

Hang on why did they sell Bernard for about a million? 

Age?

[Lush Vlad]

5 minutes ago, Fantail Breeze said:

 

So despite completely disagreeing with my assessment, you can only pick out three questionable comparisons as being wrong?

 

Still hardly this massive disparity in quality between the two squads.

 

It’s not a combined 11, it’s a direct assessment of their squads as to who is better or if they’re pretty similar. Made easier by grouping two players together.

As I said, the squads are fairly similar.

I don’t particularly agree with many of them. But those were the ones that massively stood out. 
 

I don’t even think this current Arsenal team are great by their high standards. But certainly a fair bit better than Everton’s. 

[Guest neesy111]

Would it not occur to people if Rafa was about picking the best jobs he could do etc, then he would've never touched us with a barge pole.

[Pata]

1 hour ago, Fantail Breeze said:

 

You say Arsenal’s squad is so much better and justify that by saying Everton’s is weak if you take their top three players out?

 

Take Smith-Rowe, Saka and Aubameyang away from Arsenal’s team and you’re replacing them with shite like Martinelli and Lacazette who have scored a whopping two goals between them this season.

 

If you went through the teams: 

 

Pickford and Ramsdale are probably on par.

 

Keane and Godfrey are better than White and Gabriel

 

Doucoure and Allan are better than Partay and Lokonga

 

Coleman and Digne are better than Tomiyasu and Tavares

 

Saka and Smith-Rowe are better than Gray and Townsend.

 

Richarlison is better than Odegaard

 

Aubameyang and Calvert-Lewin are pretty close.

 

Arsenal may have one or two better options from the bench, but nobody is telling me they’re miles ahead of Everton as the table evidences.

Everton’s squad is really weak and Rafa has been missing three of their best players for a large part of the season. That has to be a factor when you are saying how poor a job Rafa has been doing this season, no?
 

I really disagree with most of your opinions about both Arsenal and Everton squads too.

[joeyt]

1 hour ago, xLiaaamx said:

They really could have done with Sigurddson not being an absolute wrongun really. 

He's been bobbins for them and cost them an absolute bomb

[Menace]

2 hours ago, The Butcher said:

China was about the 12m net a year. Nowt else.

 

Pretty much. Who else would gladly go to Dalian ffs

[LV]

The fella lives football and doesn’t want to sit at home doing nothing. There were no other decent jobs about. So they happened to pay him a lot, so what?

 

Ashleys lot put out the propaganda about him only going for the money so that it would quell some of the heat on him with Rafa going. Looks like some have swallowed that whole. Awful stuff. 

[Raconteur]

3 hours ago, xLiaaamx said:

They really could have done with Sigurddson not being an absolute wrongun really. 

I’m wondering how much that is impacting on the Everton dressing room.

 

These players have sat beside an alleged sex offender in the change rooms, some probably had the Sigurdssons over for barbecues. They probably get every single rumour about him too. That’s got to be a heavy burden for the dressing room.

[xLiaaamx]

Sunlun's sat and discussed the age of consent with Johnson 

[The Butcher]

1 hour ago, LV said:

The fella lives football and doesn’t want to sit at home doing nothing. There were no other decent jobs about. So they happened to pay him a lot, so what?

 

Ashleys lot put out the propaganda about him only going for the money so that it would quell some of the heat on him with Rafa going. Looks like some have swallowed that whole. Awful stuff. 

He had that China job lined up long before he left us. The rumours started a few months before he joined them. 

 

Ashley propaganda ? 

 

 

[duo]

Am not going to lie I'd have Rafa back in a heart beat - the man is tailor made for this club.

[toontownman]

Head of the academy and reserves. Sorted. 

[LV]

1 hour ago, The Butcher said:

He had that China job lined up long before he left us. The rumours started a few months before he joined them. 

 

Ashley propaganda ? 

 

 

So what? That’s nothing to do with going to China for the money as you’ve claimed ?

 

As if managers don’t explore other options before they leave a club, in this case because the owner is a tawdry cunt who doesn’t have the club’s interest at heart.

The Ashley propaganda was about Rafa going to China purely for the money. Which you’ve hoovered up like a drone. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by LV

[r0cafella]

Context is important here. 
 

Rafa knew as soon as Ashley fucked him on transfers and investment he wasn’t going to renew. 
 

I love how people magically forget how Ashley lied to Rafa on at least two occasions about these things.

[Jaqen]

You can like Rafa and still admit he went to China for the money, like. 

 

The narrative that he wouldn't have had any any better offers football wise from European sides is a bit daft. 

 

There wasn't really much for him to achieve there, the league is abit of a closed shop where a majority of your players have to be Chinese and the top sides can take their pick of the best of them. 

 

He was right to leave us but that and the Everton job have been poor career choices it's fair to say. 

[Abra Dubravka]

I'm a believer of peak trajectory of managers, and right clubs/wrong clubs or wrong/right when judging situations or circumstances when they take up clubs.

 

Watched Lampard's podcast/interview with Neville on Youtube, and he was under no illusions his gig wasn't a long term thing. That was right club, and right circumstances for all involved. Rafa going to Everton is wrong club first and for all, and Everton being Everton is giving you a handicap. 

 

Following on from the managers reaching their peak, it feels disrespectful saying it, but as soon as Newcastle and Rafa parted - off to China - he'd peaked. The harshest of his detractors would say he hit his peak at Valencia, lesser so - his time at Liverpool. However others judge him, I believe he'd have been on a hiding to nothing whatever job after coming back from China, but Everton was perhaps the worst job he could have ever taken.

    

Harry Redknapp for example best example I can best(quickest) example of managers careers peaking and hitting glass ceilings. Took Spurs to top 4, Bale in the San Siro but managing away at the Bernabéu in a Champions League Quarter Final - started managing in 82 with Bournemouth in 3rd Div ffs. Levy tossed him off soon after, England didn't want him nor could afford him due to contract his was blind enough to sign with Levy. 

 

Rafa hit his glass ceiling in management with Liverpool - Istanbul, final two years later, finishing 2nd. As much as it's enjoyable to see Everton nose dive, but it's sad to see Rafa take shit for it. 

 

Objectively speaking, whilst hierarchy of Everton is a laughing stock, Rafa needs to take a lot of blame for how poor Everton have been. Injuries happen, bored of hearing that comment - DCL isn't a 30 a season goalscorer, he's not Everton's difference from finishing 4th-7th to suddenly finishing 12th-16th - he's good to decent on a PL comparison, he's no Henry/Arsenal, Spurs/Kane, us/Shearer, Southampton/Le Tiss degree.

 

The longer Doucoure has been injured the better he's become. Richarlison cost them best part of £50M but I've never seen him have a good game. Other night Rondon seemed to be the player worth £50M up front. Digne last season under was second to Tierney as best LB in the league. Even James turned up and contributed 2/3 of the time. 

 

Rafa's job now as a manager in 2021 is to make good from shit you've been dealt, he got it easy to a certain extent with Ashley as he was only offered up with shit and they never cost anything. (He bombed out £20M Mitro.) At Everton he's expected to get huge purchases performing. It's not 2007 and Antonio Barragan anymore for this guy.

 

Hard to see a player like Seamus Coleman not plant his leg and body through that pass fed too him, not fanny a leg through it as last man and fuck the match for his team. Hard to imagine a Rafa right back ever doing such a thing, especially one who has 300 PL games for club and is captain. Fans have never wanted him, and seeing that from Coleman in a home derby can only tell me dressing room doesn't give an arse either.

 

At the moment Rafa's failing horribly on every metric and deserves the sack.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by Abra Dubravka

[Raconteur]

5 hours ago, Jaqen said:

You can like Rafa and still admit he went to China for the money, like. 

 

The narrative that he wouldn't have had any any better offers football wise from European sides is a bit daft. 

 

There wasn't really much for him to achieve there, the league is abit of a closed shop where a majority of your players have to be Chinese and the top sides can take their pick of the best of them. 

 

He was right to leave us but that and the Everton job have been poor career choices it's fair to say. 

 

Rafa, as we know, is a control freak. Yes, he was given a massive wedge, but he was also given complete freedom to bootstrap a mid-table team into the top tier of Asian football. Remember the training facility with 21 pitches and all the bells and whistles?

 

Then the Chinese FA changed the rules about foreigners and salaries. Then (evidenced in hindsight) the Evergrande financial collapse. Then COVID.

 

His time in China has come to be described as a mercenary failure, but I find that ignores a lot of things out of his control (similar to his Everton experience, but that's a story still being written).