Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

[cubaricho]

6 minutes ago, Fantail Breeze said:

Hope they give it to Big Dunc until the end of the season, he might actually take them down  

Unfortunately, for Rafa, the team is going to start playing immeasurably better once he’s gone.

[Paully]

Bring him home 

[wormy]

I love Rafa but I've decided we'd be just as fucked with him.

 

Half the squad came out spaffing themselves silly over Bruce's appointment. I wonder if he'd have the effect the second time around, especially after his last two roles taking the sheen off his previous achievements. 

[St. Maximin]

3 minutes ago, BlackandWhite said:

So anyone who wants a manager who comfortably kept us up with very limited resources, was loved by the fans, and improved all our shit players (who’ve all pretty much regressed since he left) back is a lunatic?

 

Jesus. I can understand why you would want rafa back at the moment, but there are plenty of reason why we’d take him back, too. If he had more than ten games to get the shit together back in 2016, we would have stayed up for sure. We were playing pretty well those last 6 games or so we were unbeaten, too.

 

Personally, if Howe was to prove not to be good enough and send us down with a whimper, I’d have him back in the summer.

I’m not going to support the lunatic claim. However…

- He didn’t keep us up when he joined. He had less time of course, but a far better squad. 
- Bruce also kept us up comfortably and nobody would argue keeping him would have been a lunatic move. 
- He’s going to be sacked from having an absolute stinker at his latest club. 
 

As I’ve said before I get the logic for the Championship but getting a man in who failed to keep us up for the purpose of keeping us up just seems silly and desperate. 

[LV]

13 minutes ago, Amir_9 said:

 

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/everton-news-live-benitez-sacking-22762619

Why let Digne go if your manager is one game from the sack?? 

[Amir_9]

Just now, LV said:

Why let Digne go if your manager is one game from the sack?? 

 

Because Moshiri is clueless

[LV]

1 minute ago, POOT 2.0 said:

Maybe Digne going because of Rafa was just a convenient story to cover the fact he wanted to go because, well, Everton  

I dunno man, his leaving statement says otherwise 

[wormy]

Think it's as simple as Everton not knowing what in God's name they're doing.

[MarkyMark]

I’m caught in the middle ground of being sympathetic because it’s Rafa, and also shaking my head thinking ‘he’d have to be fucking daft to think this would go well.  And he’s done a shite job there regardless of other factors’

 

We’re not looking for a manager, so any thoughts of his return are moot at this point.  And I’m not especially convinced it would work in any case. 

[Dr Venkman]

We could well be looking for one soon TBH.

[Amir_9]

I would personally give Howe until next month after our signings are finished if there is no improvement we have to get Rafa in and start from fresh with the intention of rebuilding in the Championship with him if we do go down.

[LV]

Just now, POOT 2.0 said:

 

Oh, missed that due to not being too interested  Did he lay into Rafa?

A bit

 

Basically said an ‘outsider’ killed his love affair

[Ronaldo]

14 minutes ago, St. Maximin said:

I’m not going to support the lunatic claim. However…

- He didn’t keep us up when he joined. He had less time of course, but a far better squad. 
- Bruce also kept us up comfortably and nobody would argue keeping him would have been a lunatic move. 
- He’s going to be sacked from having an absolute stinker at his latest club. 
 

As I’ve said before I get the logic for the Championship but getting a man in who failed to keep us up for the purpose of keeping us up just seems silly and desperate. 

Crazy post. We got 12 points from our last 6 games under Rafa when we went down. He made a huge impact. It just wasn’t enough to undo McClaren’s tidal wave of damage. 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2022 by Ronaldo

[Fantail Breeze]

I quite like the thought of Rafa being single though.

 

Waiting in the wings to put a bit of pressure on Howe, knowing Rafa could get a call any minute to save our season.

 

Maybe I’m fantasising a bit too much, but hopefully it’ll be a bit of a kick up the arse for Howe.

[wormy]

Fantail with an avatar makes me unreasonably uneasy. 

[Neil]

10 minutes ago, wormy said:

Think it's as simple as Everton not knowing what in God's name they're doing.

 

There is this and I know we are shambolic but let's not pretend he hadn't majorly contributed. 6 points in 13 games man.

 

Also us sacking him 2 days after selling one of our best players he ostracised is Everton. It is so Everton.

[St. Maximin]

1 minute ago, Ronaldo said:

Crazy post. We got 12 points from our last 6 games under Rafa when we went down. He make a huge impact. It just wasn’t enough to undo McClaren’s tidal wave of damage. 

Crazy post for questioning bringing in a manager who didn’t keep us up, for the sole purpose of keeping us up   

Yes, with a much better team that still needed some time to gel. The belief here is our squad is crap so not sure why he’d change this so quickly.

 

However, he did indeed almost keep us up in a short time. Why are people so confident he’d be better than Howe though? He’s had an absolute stinker at Everton so it just seems odd people are assuming he’d turn it around based on previous form, when that’s the sole reason Howe is questioned over. 

[Robster]

1 minute ago, Neil said:

6 points in 13 games man.

Would bite your hand off for that.

[xLiaaamx]

Howe, who isn't good enough, has more points in less games than that. Benitez would be a massive risk to switch too as aswell. 

[wormy]

1 minute ago, Neil said:

 

There is this and I know we are shambolic but let's not pretend he hadn't majorly contributed. 6 points in 13 games man.

 

Also us sacking him 2 days after selling one of our best players he ostracised is Everton. It is so Everton.

 

Normally can't be arsed to respond to rebuttals but by God I love you and your medium value wine loving arse.

 

I would like to reiterate I don't believe Rafa is blameless. Love the guy but he was an idiot taking the job in the first place, and has only made the situation worse for himself.

 

Equally, the club in general doesn't know what the fuck it's doing and it's seeped down to an appointment that simply shouldn't have happened in the first place. It's not the sole reason that Rafa had failed at all, but the reaction to his rumoured appointment should've been enough to tell the higher powers that it was going to end in tears. 

[TheHoob]

Hope Benitez being available doesn't become another distraction, not sure this does us any favours at the moment. 

[Danh1]

If Benitez comes here, he destroys his reputation at the club sadly. 
 

We need to move on. I say that as someone with his name tattooed on my leg 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2022 by Danh1

[Andy]

6 minutes ago, xLiaaamx said:

Howe, who isn't good enough, has more points in less games than that. Benitez would be a massive risk to switch too as aswell. 

 

Not sure the comparison is so simple though. The players at Everton know they can half arse it and Rafa will take the fall due to his frosty relationship with the fans, which I think has been a contributing factor. 

 

That's not to say he hasn't dropped some bollocks since he's been there, because he certainly has, but "vibe" is important in football and it clearly wasn't right from the start. 

[Thumbheed]

He's done poorly at Everton, no doubt, but the same set of players finished 10th with one of the greatest managers of all time at the helm. 

 

That to me suggests there's something terminal at Everton which goes beyond tactics, formations and management style. 

 

I'd wouldn't think twice about taking him, either way, I'd fancy us more in the championship with him than with Howe at this point in time. 

[Neil]

Tbh I think we're on the same side here. It's absolute madness to say he's been the reason alone but fuck me he has been shite.