2021/22 Rafael Benitez

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

It will be interesting to see if he sticks with a winning formula or not

He can either stick to his "vision" or be pragmatic

It's well known that I like 442 as a formation, but if a different formation works better for our players then that's the one we should employ

You should tailor the formation to suit the players. not vice versa IMO

 

[Thomasc]

I’m not sure you can call it fan boys v pragmatists.

Most of these ‘fanboys’ were saying that whatever your opinion of Benitez there’s bigger problems at Everton that need fixing before we just fire another manager.

A lot of the ‘pragmatists’ were calling for the manager to be fired, claiming we would be relegated, talking about how we were playing the worst football in the league. He’d apparently lost the players etc.

The fact that we’re mid table after a win where the players put in a huge effort for the manager shows most of that wasn’t actually the case.

It could be argued that the toxic Goodson crowd riled up by two disallowed goals got the players to perform, I would say that is far more likely to be the case than a manager who hasn’t managed to get a performance out of his team since mid September.
I guess we will see how it transpires in the next game.

 

[ForeverBlue92]

End of the day this season is a write off - we aint getting europe or likely winning a pot.

Need to use it to assess his overall performances from now until the end of the season as he isn't going anywhere until the summer at the earliest.

 

[neil999]

I really enjoyed watching the game last night, thats it really

 

[toffeeblue9]

It will be interesting to see if he sticks with a winning formula or not

He can either stick to his "vision" or be pragmatic

It's well known that I like 442 as a formation, but if a different formation works better for our players then that's the one we should employ

You should tailor the formation to suit the players. not vice versa IMO

I've no issue with a 442 or a 4411 or a 4231, but one of the major problems we have is that we don't have a holding midfielder (worth mentioning) at the club, so it has been easy to get behind our midfield. Even when we went to a 3 man midfield last night there were times that Arsenal exploited Allan's lack of positional discipline and managed to get behind us. It's a glaring weakness in the squad and it's going to continue to undermine us. Of the players we have, Delph is probably best-suited to the role, but it isn't his natural game either.

 

[Deleted member 48881]

Incredible, he would have been sacked if the match ended 0-1. Now I think he will unfortunately stay till February at least.

Fixture looks good.

 

[ToffeeTim]

Howard Kendall used to say that we Evertonians were like the 12th man. That’s exactly what we were against Arsenal last night.

We gave the team a massive lift. Why can’t we be like that every week instead of murmuring discontentedly and/or criticising our own players and our own manager?

After last night’s performance against an excellent Arsenal that were in 5th until the weekend and that have destroyed teams like Spurs and Leicester this season… I have confidence that R.A.F.A. can eventually arrest this seemingly terminal decline, win us a trophy and eventually get us into the top 4.

Sadly he has inherited a desperately poor squad. It’s not that the lads don’t try; it’s just that they’re not on the same level technically as the players at the top clubs. Plus we’ve been desperately unlucky with injuries. Take the RS’ best defender, best midfielder and leading goal-scorer out of their team for months on end and they wouldn’t be much higher up that table than we are now.

Arsenal are definitely not excellent! They are as soft as us

 

[Saint Domingo]

The injuries in the squad. The fact he has spent nothing. These reasons give him time in my eyes.

He’s got more out of Demarai Gray than anyone thought was there. This is probably the best we’ve seen Docuoure for us. This is the best form we’ve seen from Gordon and probably also Iwobi (although it’s by no
means good).

The players that get on board with him and work hard will improve.

 

[Toff33Blues99]

Some aren’t because they know the moment to get Benitez fired is gone. The emotion has drained out of it, the revolution is dead. Nothing to see here now.

Haha you are deluding yourself. A loss on Sun and the pressure will be right back on. 1 win against a poor Arsenal doesn't make Benitez more popular.

 

[ToffeeTim]

He’s got more out of Demarai Gray than anyone thought was there. This is probably the best we’ve seen Docuoure for us. This is the best form we’ve seen from Gordon and probably also Iwobi (although it’s by no
means good).

The players that get on board with him and work hard will improve.

We need better consistency now. 1 win helps, but it's not enough and it needs to be followed up. Our defending is still an area which concerns me a lot. We gave up some big chances last night too that Arsenal missed. The Nketiah one was harder to miss.

 

[Saint Domingo]

Haha you are deluding yourself. A loss on Sun and the pressure will be right back on. 1 win against a poor Arsenal doesn't make Benitez more popular.

The same sort of pressure won’t be on though will it. We’re not going to be slumping to 17th 5 points above the relegation zone with no win in 10 games whatever happens on Sunday.

Why are they suddenly a poor Arsenal just because we beat them? They’re 7th in the league, they’re the same Arsenal they’ve been for ages, can be very good, can be inconsistent, have dangerous players. They’re not a poor team though by any stretch.

 

[Thomasc]

Some aren’t because they know the moment to get Benitez fired is gone. The emotion has drained out of it, the revolution is dead. Nothing to see here now.

I enjoyed a win, but am a realist enough to understand that it’s still 5 points in 27 and he’s just equalled our 2nd longest spell without winning prior to last night.

So at the moment last night looks like the anomaly. Why don’t you maybe wait until the next performance before claiming you have witnessed the second coming of Christ?

 

[Toff33Blues99]

The same sort of pressure won’t be on though will it. We’re not going to be slumping to 17th 5 points above the relegation zone with no win in 10 games whatever happens on Sunday.

Why are they suddenly a poor Arsenal just because we beat them? They’re 7th in the league, they’re the same Arsenal they’ve been for ages, can be very good, can be inconsistent, have dangerous players. They’re not a poor team though by any stretch.

Lost 3 on the bounce away from home, they are doing an Arsenal. ..again. Our form still isnt great, the performance while spirited , was again pretty poor. This is the problem with appointing this manager, he will never be accepted and any loss will put major pressure right back on him

 

[ForeverBlue92]

We need better consistency now. 1 win helps, but it's not enough and it needs to be followed up. Our defending is still an area which concerns me a lot. We gave up some big chances last night too that Arsenal missed. The Nketiah one was harder to miss.

The defence/CM is an issue but its been that way for years when we do play a bit more open.

People laugh at the £1.7m thing but for me it holds water as we dont know what the team will be like with his own players.

If he was to bring in a Gana Type next to Doucoure, 2x full backs who can actually defend and a fully fit Yerry Mina Type who knows his system could be sound with his own players.

Gray's come in and done great, Townsend is a solid squad player who'll put a few good crosses on a plate for DCL when he's back so its all about patience for me.

I dont understand why we aint willing to give this fella or anyone else 2-3 seasons after the sheer instability of the last 6 or so years.

We literally have nothing to lose!

 

[Simon Buttle]

The defence/CM is an issue but its been that way for years when we do play a bit more open.

People laugh at the £1.7m thing but for me it holds water as we dont know what the team will be like with his own players.

If he was to bring in a Gana Type next to Doucoure, 2x full backs who can actually defend and a fully fit Yerry Mina Type who knows his system could be sound with his own players.

Gray's come in and done great, Townsend is a solid squad player who'll put a few good crosses on a plate for DCL when he's back so its all about patience for me.

I dont understand why we aint willing to give this fella or anyone else 2-3 seasons after the sheer instability of the last 6 or so years.

We literally have nothing to lose!

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