2021/22 Rafael Benitez

[Efcjake]

who keeps us up then?
let me guess, this is where you go all coy, and say it's not your job to appoint the manager.

Anybody we could replace him with.

He's got us in our worst form in 22 years. Any one of the last managers in that period would do a better than job than he has and they were crap too.

It won't be hard to find better than a clueless washed up yesterday's man.

 

[ToffeeTim]

The money argument is a nonsense as well. We dont have any to spend so we need a good manager. We cant just stick by a manager until money magically is available again.

 

[Kev50]

But he did though.

They're welcome to him. On a free soon.

he took them over when they were already in the zone.

 

[Nymzee]

We've been rolled over by Watford, beaten by Brentford. I'm not confident in our ability to beat any other side, except Norwich.

Even they’d beat us now under Smith

 

[blue to the bone]

he took them over when they were already in the zone.

Did they get relegated?

 

[Kev50]

Anybody we could replace him with.

He's got us in our worst form in 22 years. Any one of the last managers in that period would do a better than job than he has and they were crap too.

It won't be hard to find better than a clueless washed up yesterday's man.

Every Everton fan on this board knows we've been much worse than this, in the last 12 months, let alone the last 22 years. this is where you slip up, your bias trips you up continually

 

[tommye]

Everton chairman Bill Kenwright claimed lavishly earlier this year that other clubs look admiringly in the direction of Goodison Park's boardroom when examples of how to conduct their affairs are required.
Kenwright stated: "One very famous football club said to me two or three days ago 'whenever we have a problem we say 'what would the Everton board do' because they always get it right?'"
On recent evidence, "always" is rather a stretch and it is to be hoped this club did not gaze too longingly at Everton's board - for their own peace of mind if nothing else - because they have got precious little right for a very long time.
In fact, this nameless organisation might have been best served doing the complete opposite given the recent dismal track record at Everton.
Kenwright's message certainly seemed lost on those Everton supporters in mutinous mood at the end of a 4-1 home derby defeat by Liverpool as they made it clear they were wondering what the club's board were planning to do about the hot mess they find themselves in after spending almost half a billion pounds.
They were certainly not congratulating Kenwright and his colleagues on always getting it right.
Everton supporters in the beating heart of their fanbase, the Gwladys Street End, unfurled a large banner criticising the board when Liverpool raced into an early 2-0 lead but the real antipathy was reserved for the final whistle.
There were loud chants of "sack the board" with Kenwright and director of football Marcel Brand particular targets for what might politely be described as "colourful" words from furious supporters gathered near the directors' box as they made their way out.

Benitez history a 'sideshow' in derby​

At the epicentre of this wave of discontent is manager Rafael Benitez, a high-risk appointment unpopular with many Everton followers and now presiding over a worrying decline of eight games without a win after a bright start.

This had the potential to be a very uncomfortable night for Benitez, a Champions League and FA Cup winner with Liverpool but never forgiven by many of an Everton persuasion for describing them as a "small club" in 2007. And so it proved.

It is a tired old battle that is barely worth revisiting now because Everton's problems run a lot deeper than an unflattering remark made 14 years ago.

Benitez was inevitably going to provide a sideshow as the first man to manager both clubs since William Edward Barclay in the 1890s and this was an open goal for gloating Liverpool fans once Jurgen Klopp's team took charge inside the first 20 minutes.

The loud chants of "Rafael Benitez" started in the small corner of Goodison Park housing Liverpool's followers and concluded with a brutal "Rafael's at the wheel" when the formalities were done and dusted.
This was always going to be something Benitez would face if he failed to get off to a good, sustained start but in any list of those responsible for Everton's current plight, the manager would be near the bottom.
It looked like Everton's fans felt the same as it was the board, particularly Kenwright and Brands, who took most of the flak here. Kenwright's defence, although few were listening as he returned to the sanctuary of the boardroom, is that he has now ceded most of his power to owner Farhad Moshiri.
Benitez has made mistakes and must get more out of a squad that is better - although no-one can be sure by how much - than the recent run of abject performances suggest. He is renowned as a master strategist but Everton have lacked direction so he must take responsibility.
In his defence, however, is the fact that he has been without the spine of his team for large parts of this season.
Yerry Mina was still missing here and England striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been a long-term absentee since scoring three goals in three games yielding seven points at the start of the season.
Abdoulaye Doucoure was also out for several weeks after an outstanding start to the campaign.
And this hints at the paucity of depth in the squad Benitez inherited at the start of the season, when he was then hamstrung by Financial Fair Play regulations that only allowed him to spend £1.7m on Demarai Gray, Everton's scorer here, and bring in Andros Townsend, Salomon Rondon and keeper Asmir Begovic on free transfers.

'A scattergun, wasteful transfer policy'​

This squad needed a serious overhaul, which Benitez will know, but he has been left an almost non-existent transfer budget because of the profligacy of previous regimes, with hundreds of millions squandered under Ronald Koeman, Sam Allardyce, Marco Silva and Carlo Ancelotti.
Moshiri and his boardroom cohorts oversaw a scattergun, wasteful transfer policy lacking any sort of structure, with no-one quite sure of how much influence Brands wields any more, and the fortune that came to Goodison Park when the saviour arrived has been spent fruitlessly in large part.
The reaction at the final whistle seemed like a moment of significance when patience finally snapped, not helped by the sight of Klopp fist-pumping in triumph in front of Liverpool's elated fans.
Make no mistake, Everton's board have allowed a crisis and a transfer straitjacket to grip the club on their watch and they cannot simply use Benitez as a human shield for their own failings.
So what now?
Of course the pressure will increase on Benitez because of results, who he is and his Liverpool lineage - but are Everton seriously going to sack another manager only months after he arrived and 14 games into the new season?
It would be an act of panic under pressure but such is Moshiri's volatility no-one can predict with confidence what he will do. While it might satisfy some fans, it would be very harsh on Benitez, who deserves longer to put his stamp on affairs at Everton.
What is beyond dispute, however, is that Benitez now faces a crucial match at home to Arsenal next Monday night. The mood at Everton is currently toxic and when boards come under attack from supporters it is often the manager who suffers.
The scenes at the final whistle suggest the match against the Gunners is a game Everton and Benitez cannot afford to lose. Victory would release the pressure valve, temporarily at least - although whether it does much for a board that felt the fans noisily turning against them after this damaging defeat is another question.

'Everton are at crisis point - and board can't use Benitez as a human shield'

BBC Sport's Phil McNulty takes a closer look at Everton's problems after their 4-1 thrashing by Liverpool.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[BlueToff]

Any manager we hire will probably get results January/February due to the easy fixture list before City in Feb, exactly as Benitez will do if he isn't sacked. He'd then 'hit the wall' when reality hits home and we go on more bad runs from March onwards, followed by a bit of a boost in September as the players can be arsed playing football for a few weeks, followed by another abysmal run and the fans calling for the sack by December/January.

Night follows day. If people can't identify the patterns by this point, there's no helping them, but personally I can predict pretty much game on game exactly what's going to happen. Because these players are cowards, and until you stick it out with one manager, even if it means short term pain, we're going to keep resetting the board and ending up with the same thing happening, over and over again.

Unless we're nailed on for relegation, sticking with the manager is the right call. It has to be. The alternative has got us to where we are today.

What are you basing this on mate?

We haven't exactly had a difficult run up until now and have won 1 game in 9.

In January we lose Iwobi to AFCON (no big loss) and most likely Richarlison and Mina to their international teams (there's another international break in late Jan for the South American teams).

So we could be just as short of numbers as we are now (3 players out), and that's assuming we don't pick up injuries over the festive period and January.

Oh I see the patterns, absolutely. But doesn't mean that you stick with the dreadful choice that we have right now does it?

 

[blue to the bone]

Every Everton fan on this board knows we've been much worse than this, in the last 12 months, let alone the last 22 years. this is where you slip up, your bias trips you up continually

We haven't mert

 

[Kev50]

Did they get relegated?

they were already ihe zone when he took them over. Do you see the point?

 

[windymiller]

I don’t think he will. The fans aren’t going to turn up and back the team for a much needed win, they’re not going to create a bear pit at 0-0. They want blood. They’ll sit quietly whilst it’s level and then as soon as we concede the showcase will start. The atmosphere will be poisonous and this group of cowardly players will be only too happy to oblige, and the cowardly board won’t hesitate to take the easy route.

First it was the players fault. Then it was the fans fault. Next (I'm guessing) it's the board's fault. Never did it occur to him that it was the man who picked the team, decided the tactics, made the substitutions fault.

 

[BlueStevie35]

Rondon was a free and was a last ditch attempt by Benitez to find someone decent, in compliance with our current shambolic budget.

Last ditch? He had the whole summer to get a striker, even on a loan deal, he went with Rondon

 

[windymiller]

You want me to randomly name managers?

He does, so he can say a) they would never come here or b) they're rubbish.

 

[Saint Domingo]

No one is suggesting our squad are world beaters but you can set them up to do the basics. Case in point our set piece defending from last season to this season: the players are average but were good at it once, crap at it now = coaching.

Basics like not passing the ball to the opposition striker?

Let’s not forget the tone for this season was set in the first game. The first meaningful thing any Everton player did this season was Keane just giving the ball to a Southampton striker for him to score. He did something very similar against Leeds.

How many times has Pickford been beaten on his near post this season, or the ridiculous goal against the team where he had it headed out his hands.

Davies going though against United at Old Trafford, and deciding to play a blatantly offside pass rather than hit it anywhere at goal to win the game

Holgate’s red card against Spurs. Godfrey passing it to the Wolves player, messing up tonight as well, Coleman doing the same. Townsend booting the Brentford player in the head.

If you want to say that Benitez hasn’t stopped these players from making asinine mistakes then yes I’d agree with you. If I genuinely thought a new manager would come in and they’d stop doing this crap every week then I’d have Benitez out the door in a second .

They’ve done it for years though. Every manager is the same, they all say coaching is going well, players looking good in training, players fully committed to their methods, then it gets to match day and everything is out the window. Even tonight the first set piece comes in and both Liverpool centre backs are free in the six yard box. Do you think even marking zonally that Benitez coaches that?

Silva tried to coach zonal marking as well. It seems that Chelsea players have no problem with it, and indeed lots of top European sides have no problem with it either. Benitez’s teams in the past didn’t have a problem with it. Keane Coleman Digne Mina Holgate Godfrey do. Most of them did under Silva as well. They can’t concentrate, they can’t execute on tactical instructions.

It’s clear Benitez can’t improve these players, so he’ll be fired that’s inevitable now, I won’t shed a single tear over that believe me. I just do t think anyone can coach them. So what they did alright last season on set pieces when we played 4 CBS and basically told them to sit on the 6 yard line and run at the ball. I’ve not seen any team set up that way before or since. If it was the way forward then Tuchel Guardiola would be using it, but they don’t because they play high defensive lines or zonal marking. I’ve not seen Ancelotti’s Madrid all sitting on the goal line at set pieces either this season.

The players are stupid, have no football intelligence, can’t translate performance storm the training ground to the football pitch and can’t stop making fatal errors. They undermine everything. Another manager will now be fired, it’s inevitable, im sure the new manager won’t have any problems though unlike the previous five.

 

[StreetEndBlue]

Benitez has been past his best as a manager for sometime, but I understood why the club gave him the job considering the other jokers who were linked with it.

But even if they get rid the structure of the club will remain the same and that is an even bigger problem than the manager for me. Brands has failed, Kenwright has been failing for 22 years as head honcho and Moshiri is clearly clueless about football. The bigger issues at our club are way above Benitez and have been for years.

Getting rid of him is an easy cop out for the board but the three names I've named above staying will mean little changes. They'll just get rid of the next manager when things are bad and the cycle will start again.