2021/22 Rafael Benitez

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About 50 pages added to this thread today, not sure what the extra angst is about today?? Did people expect to win at City? I am ignoring today’s result as it was totally expected. We get our injuries sorted, hopefully, and start winning games. This season was always going to be a struggle with a weak squad not strengthened in the summer. The season is 38 games not 12
 
We average 39.83% Possession per game this season, only Burnley average less on 38.83%. Number of passes played in games at the Ethihad this season

Norwich 362 City 730
Arsenal 185 City 757
Southampton 319 City 555
Burnley 318 City 768
Palace 319 City 654
Everton 246 City 853

This has nothing to do with injuries and everything to do with how we set up and what our game plan is. That is 100% on the manager but once you keep inviting pressure onto you, you are bound to end up losing games, there will just be no other outcome. We average 337 passes per game, our opposition averages 542, so we play 200 less passes per game on average, that has nothing to do with injuries or squads or anything else and has everything to do with an outdated philosophy and an inability to adapt to the modern game.

Is that such a problem though? To concede possession isn't such a bad thing if there is a broader plan around it. In all of our wins this season (bar Burnley) we've had lower possession.

When you look at number of passes this season as a whole, beyond the top three who'd you'd expect to rank highest anyway (Chelsea, City & Liverpool) you have Man Utd, Brighton and Crystal Palace with the most passes in the league (all of whom who are barely 2 points above us).

In our best season over the last 10 years, 13/14, we made more passes than Chelsea, who finished 3rd, just 4 points off the title. Bizarrely, Swansea had the 2nd most passes in the league that season, they finished 12th.

My point is that number of passes per game isn't a precursor for success or number of points (outside the top teams anyway).
 
Is that such a problem though? To concede possession isn't such a bad thing if there is a broader plan around it. In all of our wins this season (bar Burnley) we've had lower possession.

When you look at number of passes this season as a whole, beyond the top three who'd you'd expect to rank highest anyway (Chelsea, City & Liverpool) you have Man Utd, Brighton and Crystal Palace with the most passes in the league (all of whom who are barely 2 points above us).

In our best season over the last 10 years, 13/14, we made more passes than Chelsea, who finished 3rd, just 4 points off the title. Bizarrely, Swansea had the 2nd most passes in the league that season, they finished 12th.

My point is that number of passes per game isn't a precursor for success or number of points (outside the top teams anyway).

I think the more you have the ball, generally the more control you have of the game.

And quite apart from that, I’d rather watch a team that can put two passes together.
 

No manager can do anything with this squad

I back the manager to rebuild said squad.

Soz if that makes me a bad fan.

Rather be bad than a clueless one expecting any better from the next fella who takes to our dugout.
Based on what?
His spell with Newcastle?
China?

You know you are only doing this as you have backed yourself into a corner and are backing him unreservedly, which kind of does make you clueless to be fair.
 
In those 6/7/8 years did we have a ghost of a chance to go toe-to-toe with the big-financed-boys in terms of getting higher skilled (Read costly here) players. And if my memory serves right, we did set out defensively from the get-go, but we rarely if ever lacked the endeavour.

So I don't get what's the point. Should we just write off games against the Reds, Chelsea, Manchester clubs, because we are starting from rock bottom (Is it really, I don't know if it is)? Is that what you are suggesting. Why not , write off games against London clubs or England clubs as well (I know, I know hyperbole).

During those Moyes years we rarely had our best players out for most of the season and he was given time to build a tenacious team. For years we've had a side that if we haven't got the best players on the pitch everyone else phones in a performance. This is not new to this manager and shouldn't have come as a shock

Given that we are depleted there is little chance of getting many points from 3 (THREE, remember this number as you seem to be missing it) teams that are settled, are managed by world class managers and are as good as any teams in the world. Outside of Chelsea, City and RS we have a chance. Given time to build we may get to the point where we can stop writing off these type of games, but if we keep changing managers we will always be swapping out players without a cohesive plan and it will be a case of hitting and hoping.
 

Purely out of interest what is "the agenda"?
Oh right, okayeee.

My take on this is that FB92 actually doesn't care about Benitez. His agenda is taking the opposite view on him to posters he sees as defending Ancelotti
Don't know what you've got against Farke to be honest.
Think this needs a poll
 
The substitutions today summed it up. Gray injured, bring on Iwobi, ok I guess, although I'd have preferred onyango on in midfield and Townsend going on the wing. Taking off one of our midfield 2 and replacing them with the joke player Rondon was just stupid. Bringing on Onyango was a decent sub 20 minutes too late. Benitez was every bit as bad as the worst of our players today.
 
I don't even know where to start....
Just do yourself a favour and don't . I actually quite like Forever . He's knowledgeable, passionate, for the most part polite and he can use paragraphs . A dying art .
However for all of his interesting points , he's firmly behind the stance he took from the beginning . Rightly or wrongly I admire that .

I'm fully opposed to his feelings but I feel for the bloke as he has had to repeat his thoughts over and over again against a rising tide ( I'm one of them ) of people who want Rafael out .
You gotta admire that kind of stubbornness especially as I would actually quite like everything he says to actually come good .
 

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