2021/22 Rafael Benitez

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Got 59 points last season. So something clearly suits them.

Playing Alladyce ball defending on our own 6 yard line for 89 minutes with often 3-4 CB's on the pitch looking to nick a 1-0 from a set piece / DCL tap in.

The sort of football fans chased Alladyce out the door for and would do to any other manager long term.

When the penny drops that this job is a poisoned chalice for that very reason (damned if you defend damned if you try play more open) you'll realise why every manager is on to a hiding with this squad.

Take 4-5 players out of it and its a mess.
 
Playing Alladyce ball defending on our own 6 yard line for 89 minutes with often 3-4 CB's on the pitch looking to nick a 1-0 from a set piece / DCL tap in.

The sort of football fans chased Alladyce out the door for and would do to any other manager long term.

When the penny drops that this job is a poisoned chalice for that very reason (damned if you defend damned if you try play more open) you'll realise why every manager is on to a hiding with this squad.

Take 4-5 players out of it and its a mess.
Noone asking for it long term though. But with the form as it is, we need to get back to making ourselves solid defensively. Play with what's available. Without mina, we needed to be defensive, as that suits what defenders were available. He hasn't adapted.

We are shipping goals all over the place. Even if dcl was fit so we had a goalscorer, we won't won't games if we continue to let teams walk through us and not be defensively solid.
 

Playing Alladyce ball defending on our own 6 yard line for 89 minutes with often 3-4 CB's on the pitch looking to nick a 1-0 from a set piece / DCL tap in.

The sort of football fans chased Alladyce out the door for and would do to any other manager long term.

When the penny drops that this job is a poisoned chalice for that very reason (damned if you defend damned if you try play more open) you'll realise why every manager is on to a hiding with this squad.

Take 4-5 players out of it and its a mess.

That’s most clubs in the world.
 
Noone asking for it long term though. But with the form as it is, we need to get back to making ourselves solid defensively. Play with what's available. Without mina, we needed to be defensive, as that suits what defenders were available. He hasn't adapted.

Ok - so he goes Alladyce style and we win the next 2 games - 11 points clear of the bottom 3 - what happens then?

Because if he sticks to that and we are playing Newcastle at home with 4 CB's on the pitch playing for set pieces he gets hammered by the home crowd OR he plays more expansive and results likely start to tumble.

This isn't a new thing - we were in the bottom 3 under both Koeman and Silva who tried playing open football we've only looked somewhat stable in the last 5-6 years results wise under Alladyce and when Carlo made us ultra defensive but the matchday fans wont accept that all season long!

Fans need to wake up fast and see this squad for what it is.
 

Ok - so he goes Alladyce style and we win the next 2 games - 11 points clear of the bottom 3 - what happens then?

Because if he sticks to that and we are playing Newcastle at home with 4 CB's on the pitch playing for set pieces he gets hammered by the home crowd OR he plays more expansive and results likely start to tumble.

This isn't a new thing - we were in the bottom 3 under both Koeman and Silva who tried playing open football we've only looked somewhat stable in the last 5-6 years results wise under Alladyce and when Carlo made us ultra defensive but the matchday fans wont accept that all season long!

Fans need to wake up fast and see this squad for what it is.
I get the whole 27mins thing but in all honesty why are we owed any success? Because we had a boss mid 80's? This squad is mid table tosh at best.
 
Playing Alladyce ball defending on our own 6 yard line for 89 minutes with often 3-4 CB's on the pitch looking to nick a 1-0 from a set piece / DCL tap in.

The sort of football fans chased Alladyce out the door for and would do to any other manager long term.

When the penny drops that this job is a poisoned chalice for that very reason (damned if you defend damned if you try play more open) you'll realise why every manager is on to a hiding with this squad.

Take 4-5 players out of it and its a mess.
As opposed to the free-flowing total football your man Benitez has us playing.
 
Ok - so he goes Alladyce style and we win the next 2 games - 11 points clear of the bottom 3 - what happens then?

Because if he sticks to that and we are playing Newcastle at home with 4 CB's on the pitch playing for set pieces he gets hammered by the home crowd OR he plays more expansive and results likely start to tumble.

This isn't a new thing - we were in the bottom under both Koeman and Silva who tried playing open football we've only looked in decent in the last 5-6 years results wise under Alladyce and when Carlo made us ultra defensive but the matchday fans wont accept that all season long!

Fans need to wake up fast and see this squad for what it is
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I hope you aren't criticising the squad there. Your view matters not one jot so you need to be backing them. :hayee:

But really, he hasn't changed tactics regardless of who we are playing. He is meant to be known for his defensive nous and we are conceding left right and centre. Grind a couple of results out defensively, then start to adapt it. If he has got some results, he has got himself some leeway to start becoming more expansive. It doesn't need to go from a defensive set up, directly to an expansive set up. There is middle ground.

He should be able to have us beating newcastle.or Burnley without playing defensive, so why would results tumble if he has ground out a few results and he then starts to tinker with it?

The issue is, we have no discernable style of play. We aren't defensive or expansive currently. Even when we had a full squad, for large portions of games we didn't look like there was a solid plan.
 

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