Richard Keys claims Rafael Benitez tried to leave Newcastle United for Everton twice

[Lord Buckethead]

Everton??? no thanks.

 

[Cool_Blue]

One freak season. Things went pear shaped not long after and Fulham was a mess.

Wish we could have a freak season

 

[Deleted member 38674]

Wait, so, there might not be a problem with zonal marking?

No. Some of the best managers in the world swear by it. All depends on the players and how it’s implemented.

It’s down to personal preference, man for man marking is hardly fool proof. It just makes accountability easier, post-mistake - which doesn’t ultimately help in preventing the goal.

 

[Stephenlloyd]

The state of the team on the pitch.

I don't think it would happen, but if there is someone with a better record than Benitez, spread over multiple clubs and countries, and willing to give it a shot here, then I'll really like to know who that is.

If there was genuine interest from him, we should take that very seriously. We can't cut off our nose to spite our face, particularly if we end up with another non-entity as manager.

It may have been Alan Myers I know, I know.
Last year saying Benítez will never get the job, because of Bill.
Hopefully Brands now has the final say.

 

[Lanolin]

No. Some of the best managers in the world swear by it. All depends on the players and how it’s implemented.

It’s down to personal preference, man for man marking is hardly fool proof. It just makes accountability easier, post-mistake - which doesn’t ultimately help in preventing the goal.

A thousand times this. Literally 99% of the complaints you see on here about zonal marking can be explained by the person just not being able to see what has gone wrong, and so blaming the whole system rather than the person who made the error. Man marking means they can put it in a nice convenient box and say 'it was Keane/Mina/DCL's fault'.

 

[Deleted member 38674]

One freak season. Things went pear shaped not long after and Fulham was a mess.

Did well with Chelsea too. Got them into the Champions League for the first time. People forget that. Also did very well with Monaco.

Fulham was a disaster but he’s not a bad manager, far from it. For a manager to work at any club, lot’s of things have to fall into place. It’s not just about the quality of the manager - which is why our situation doesn’t rest solely on Silva’s shoulders.

 

[Stephenlloyd]

He’s one of the best tacticians around. As far as knockout, cup football goes, he's won the lot.



And had the best defence in the league doing it when he was at Liverpool.

If we got Benítez and say he stayed for 4yrs. I’d be very confident we would win a trophy and get champions league football at least once.

 

[Zatara]

I agree we have to take it seriously. My proposal would be we continue to find a manager who works well with and develops young players. Someone who fits the German/Dutch model and would be in keeping with Brands. There's a lot of assumptions on my part in this though, namely this is what Moshiri's objective is and that Brands came to Everton to replicate what he did at PSV rather than have a qualitative shift from it. Those assumptions are not without merit, but they could well be untrue.

The big fall back in such a plan (for me) is that I sense Moshiri is too impatient to see such a plan through. At no point has any really serious position being taken that patience and progression is important. There's lots of talk of needing to "win" and win quickly.

There has to be an honesty that the two things contradict each other. You might get lucky, but with most young managers it will be a bit up and down. At present, as a fan base but also as a club management we seem unwilling to accept the difficult times to get the good times.

If you look at Moyes, at the end of 2005, we sat with 18 points from 20 games, having really remained remained stagnant over the course of 4 years. Thats an over simplification as there was clearly a lot of positives to go with some poor runs, but really it took him four years to really start to progress forward in something approaching a linear fashion. I have my doubts any coach would be given 4 years of essentially buying around at 48-55 points finishing 10-7th every season.

If we accept that premise, you start looking for a more experienced coach, one who knows the league and ultimately one who can make quite a quick impression. Benitez is a perfect fit for that, vastly experienced, coached lots of top teams so can handle pressure and big egos, knows the area and city well and is a very good tactician.

You also have to factor in, that some of his best work has not been with clubs right at the top of their leagues (Real Madrid, Inter spring to mind) but sides that slight level below (Valencia, Liverpool, Chelsea- when he arrived there). I don't think we are in that bracket yet, but maybe we are not a million miles away from where say Liverpool where when Houllier eventually left.

In his own bizarre way he clearly fancies the job. He is clearly very fond of the city and feels there's some unfinished business. It's strange a manager with his calibre and experience would covet the job so highly, and it's not in the typical way you would expect but there's a lot of positives for him.

There are lots of difficulties with it. Not just the ex Liverpool thing but how he could work with Brands and vice versa. Both men would probably have to give a little.That being said you look at a lot of our intake and I don't think Benitez would be wholly against a lot of them, players like Iwobi, Bernard, Digne, Gomes all fit his profile he'd try to sign.

I'd be happy for it. I know people say we need someone to unite the fans, but I don't think that person really exists. Given the amount that has gone wrong there are vastly different intepretations of whats needed (as can be seen from the manager poll) and there isn't really one stand out candidate.

What I will say though, is what will unite the fans is a successful teams that wins games. Ultimately we are all a fickle bunch. I can tell you now, Steven Gerrard with a coaching staff of Jamie Carragher and Robbie Fowler winning a league would be more popular than Tim Cahill, Duncan Ferguson and Joe Royle getting Everton relegated. If Benitez came in and improved the team (as he did at Newcastle) and got us into the champions league, very few supporters would be in opposition to him.

I would imagine there are all sorts of opt outs on that contract as Benitez is an astute man. I'd also say he will just walk if needs be. He will get out of that contract pretty easily if he wanted too.

He would also not expect to be paid what he is in China. There are other advantages to managing in England that don't come with that.

If we got Benítez and say he stayed for 4yrs. I’d be very confident we would win a trophy and get champions league football at least once.

He did very well at Valencia.

At Liverpool he had Carragher, Gerrard + brought in Mascherano, Torres and Alonso but the other signings were mostly awful.

Was awful at Inter, ok short term at Chelsea not good at Napoli or Madrid and ok at Newcastle.

I dont see the fuss...i think hes massively overrated based on Valencia and Liverpool and if were going for experience + a big name theres others out there.

Just because his family lives in the city how does this make him a more attractive proposition than a real top manager...i mean give him Klopps squad a couple of years ago and i cant see Benitez doing as well.

We need to either stick with Silva allowing him to develop over time or get someone who can go toe to toe with the very best.

 

[diggerdestroyer]

Would have taken him over silva,koeman and martinez any day of the week. Sint care he managed the kopptes. He is a top manager. Rate Rafael big time. Liked by fans of every club he manages and that says everything.

 

[MikeH72]

Would have taken him over silva,koeman and martinez any day of the week. Sint care he managed the kopptes. He is a top manager. Rate Rafael big time. Liked by fans of every club he manages and that says everything.

Apart from Chelsea, Real Madrid and Inter whose fans unanimously despise him.

 

[diggerdestroyer]

Apart from Chelsea, Real Madrid and Inter.

He did well enough at chelsea and i think they have time for him. Who does well at madrid? Win the league and lose in last min if champs league final and ull get slated. Inter is the iffy one alright. Look at the clubs u named. He managed the all. And liverpool. He wouldnt be good enough for us . We are on a different level to them alright!!!

 

[MikeH72]

He did well enough at chelsea and i think they have time for him. Who does well at madrid? Win the league and lose in last min if champs league final and ull get slated. Inter is the iffy one alright. Look at the clubs u named. He managed the all. And liverpool. He wouldnt be good enough for us . We are on a different level to them alright!!!

You’re talking about the fans all loving him though, I was just pointing out some fans that didn’t like him.

 

[Lanolin]

He did well enough at chelsea and i think they have time for him. Who does well at madrid? Win the league and lose in last min if champs league final and ull get slated. Inter is the iffy one alright. Look at the clubs u named. He managed the all. And liverpool. He wouldnt be good enough for us . We are on a different level to them alright!!!

Chelsea fans definitely don't have time for him, they absolutely hate him to a man.

 

[Toffeelover]

He did very well at Valencia.

At Liverpool he had Carragher, Gerrard + brought in Mascherano, Torres and Alonso but the other signings were mostly awful.

Was awful at Inter, ok short term at Chelsea not good at Napoli or Madrid and ok at Newcastle.

I dont see the fuss...i think hes massively overrated based on Valencia and Liverpool and if were going for experience + a big name theres others out there.

Just because his family lives in the city how does this make him a more attractive proposition than a real top manager...i mean give him Klopps squad a couple of years ago and i cant see Benitez doing as well.

We need to either stick with Silva allowing him to develop over time or get someone who can go toe to toe with the very best.

Silva has us in the bottom 3, 8 games 7 points. What time can he be allowed when you look at the teams we have been beaten, by is there hope? Well there is always hop but we are in an awful no two ways about it awful position. To say he is not worried is mind boggiling.

If he is sacked, who ever comes in has a tough job.

 

[diggerdestroyer]

You’re talking about the fans all loving him though, I was just pointing out some fans that didn’t like him.

In fairness i dont think they hated him. Maybe didnt do as well as they wanted but i think they still respected him. I just think he is a top manager. Clubs that we named are some of the best in the world. If he is good enough for them well. Thats why id have had him anyday above martinez who went down with wigan, koeman who didnt do much with aouthampton and silva who went down with hull . Wigan , southampton and hull. Had to repeat those to myself . Rafael had liverpool, chelsea, real madrid, inter