Rafael Benitez Discussion Thread

You can "imagine" lots of things and it's certainly possible if Rafa were managing City or Madrid that they'd win everything. Whether it's probable or not I don't know. He did take over once at the reigning European Champions and at a team which had won their domestic title five times on the bounce and that didn't go too well, so you never really know for sure. It does make you wonder sometimes, given how many people are certain he'd be a success at such clubs why on earth one of them doesn't ever go for him.

What we do know for sure is that Napoli are currently 7th after tonights 2-0 defeat and haven't won a league game for a while. My suspicion is like yours that they probably will end up in third place. The front two have pulled clear already, so my guess is Rafa will switch his attention to the Europa league or something, maybe the Italian Cup again?

On the bright side (for some) is that come the end of the season unless things improve by a fair margin, he might well be available and looking for a club again which'll save on the compensation if FSG fancy it.

Its easy to see when they last won Mick. Secondly they beat Roma quite easily. He will finish 3rd and win silverware. They will be in the CL again. He will keep the money rolling in like he did for us for 5 seasons until H&G destroyed the club. He has never outspent the opposition like Mourinho an Ancellotti .. even Pellegrini and Mancini have won the EPL.
Napoli's owner knows that to beat Juventus and compete in Europe without throwing everything at it will take time.

As for Inter, he left when they were through to the next round of the CL and a few point off the top. He left because Moratti had brought him in to do a caretakers job. No transfers apart form an 18 yr old Coutinho and a french kid. An ageing squad who just played 100 games including a world cup, which he then had to take to the world club championships on top of the regular season. Rafa knew why Moratti had brought him in and he called him on it.

Rafa has won major trophies with Valencia and Liverpool. He has won wih Napoli and even got a trophy with Chelsea after 6 months. He has never outpsent the opposition like Mourinho and Ancelotti always do. LIke I said PSG, City, Chelsea winning leagues, CL why? .. Money Mick. Bayern, Madrid ... money. Rafa cannot be accused of buying success like the others. Napoli will do fine unless there is a breakdown between him and De Laurentis where Rafa feels he is being played i.e. De Laurentis uses him as a buffer with the fans

Its easy to see when they last won Mick. Secondly they beat Roma quite easily. He will finish 3rd and win silverware. They will be in the CL again. He will keep the money rolling in like he did for us for 5 seasons until H&G destroyed the club. He has never outspent the opposition like Mourinho an Ancellotti .. even Pellegrini and Mancini have won the EPL.
Napoli's owner knows that to beat Juventus and compete in Europe without throwing everything at it will take time.

As for Inter, he left when they were through to the next round of the CL and a few point off the top. He left because Moratti had brought him in to do a caretakers job. No transfers apart form an 18 yr old Coutinho and a french kid. An ageing squad who just played 100 games including a world cup, which he then had to take to the world club championships on top of the regular season. Rafa knew why Moratti had brought him in and he called him on it.

Rafa has won major trophies with Valencia and Liverpool. He has won wih Napoli and even got a trophy with Chelsea after 6 months. He has never outpsent the opposition like Mourinho and Ancelotti always do. LIke I said PSG, City, Chelsea winning leagues, CL why? .. Money Mick. Bayern, Madrid ... money. Rafa cannot be accused of buying success like the others. Napoli will do fine unless there is a breakdown between him and De Laurentis where Rafa feels he is being played i.e. De Laurentis uses him as a buffer with the fans

Yep, fair enough mate there's always different ways of assessing the same information. Like I say I do agree he'll no doubt get Napoli into third anyway.

Yep, fair enough mate there's always different ways of assessing the same information. Like I say I do agree he'll no doubt get Napoli into third anyway.

Ok. Personally I would not like to see him come back under FSG's current arrangement and be made to compete unfairly and bear the brunt of criticism. I think BR is under a lot of restrictions too. We buy 120 million fair enough, but we sell Suarez. More importantly we sell or cut loose players on big wages i.e. experienced players who in my view would cut down on the variability in our results.

It is hard to compete when you don't pay the wages. American sport is in a bubble on this front. They pay huge wages
but the three tiers basketball, NFL and baseball live in isolation as there is no other leagues around the world to challenge their hegemony. So change is absent i.e. the status quo remains. Money ball could work theoretically by offering another avenue when the status quo is so established. However they have the draft system, the leagues itself is what is protected. You start moneyballing here and players go to other leagues and all of them at once if the wages are too low. It is strange situation we are in.

there'll be a few on here cheering on Milan I suppose tonight, at Home to Napoli. Might even get a bit of synergy going, Brendan gets let go by FSG and Rafa suddenly and unexpectedly becomes available. Stranger things have happened.

Right, so fans want to fire a coach in mid-table well off the pace, and replace him with a coach in mid-table well off the pace? That is strange.

Anyway, looks like winning the Italian Cup isn't exactly relieving the pressure or changing the demands. And the "minimum acceptable target" of finishing top 3 isn't worth the hassle tbh if you then go out of the European Cup before it even begins.

That pesky net spend figure was constantly thrown back at me when querying Rafa's transfer budgets. Nowadays though Brendan doesn't have a net spend of €40m, instead he "wasted" €120m this summer. One pundit said earlier this week that us spending €40m isn't enough to challenge on a regular basis. It's very difficult to disagree, but many still try.

That pesky net spend figure was constantly thrown back at me when querying Rafa's transfer budgets.

More than likely what should have been thrown back at you is

Valencia won La Liga twice and the Uefa Cup; Liverpool were ranked the best team in Europe winning the CL once, reaching 2 finals and 2 more semis in 6 years. Other than 4 other minor trophies and records including a points record in the EPL for liverpool. Rafa constructed a structure at Valencia since copied all over Europe. He constructed a team at LFC that had Mascherano, Alonso forming part of the best Midfield in Europe. All of this happened agains the backdrop of the biggest spending teams in history Chelsea and Man City an the Galacticos.

..... but you draw failure from this ... failure how... He did not win everything with no money.

Yep, fair enough mate there's always different ways of assessing the same information. Like I say I do agree he'll no doubt get Napoli into third anyway.

So he'd be your first choice if Rodgers did get the bullet then Mick? 

Serious note, anybody pining for Rafa needs to wake up. Not happening. They wouldn't even interview him last time around. At most they'd give him it until the end of the season if they pulled the trigger on Brendan in the next month and Benitez was the extreme last option.

As long as Ayre is still at the club Rafa coming back is not happening.

Ayre remains as long as FSG are our owners.

I wouldn't write it off.

Now that FSG have more experience of football under their belts they will be re-evaluating Rafa's time here.

We are constantly being told that all they are interested in is TV money from the Champions league - well Rafa achieved consistent Champion's League qualification, a win and another final as well as getting two points more than our wonder season just gone plus a massive boost in worldwide TV audiences from our performances in those competitions.

Also in hiring Kenny and reinvesting the Torres money they have shown they have a keen eye on fan approval for the "brand".

Add to that that both Comolli and the transfer committee have been disasters - signing the right players is our biggest headache right now - and they will reflect that Masch was a Rafa signing, Alonso was a Rafa signing, Torres was a Rafa signing, Sterling was a Rafa signing, Suraez was a Rafa signing (the deal was done when Comolli wa shere but we were well down the road to sign him by the time he came), Coutinho was recommended to the club by Rafa and Sturridge was sold to us when Rafa was in charge of the plastics. All of them had massive increases in value.

Think Klopp, Simeone, AVB will be their first port of call if Brendan gets the chop (hopefully not) but they will be looking at Rafa too since he ticks so many boxes.

Ayre is employed as a useful idiot who doesn't get in the way too much - he will be given the boot if he proves a hindrance.


Maybe they will even us a hundred million so we can buy our new Messiah - Robbie Keane! 

Rafa still has his own staff as well I think.
Still has his scouting network.
Has all his stats people.
He would do well to kiss and make up with Pako Ayestarán though. The 2 compliment each other very well.

Speaking of the season we came second under Rafa, to me that was a much more complete team, and when he "let them off the leash" as some insisted on calling it, we were a much more potent attacking force than last season under BR.
The reason I say this is because we didn't just dominate teams for 20 minutes, then drop deeper and deeper, we absolutely pummeled teams for the entire 90.
I remember Real's players coming off the pitch looking shell shocked. They simply couldn't believe what had just happened to them.
That wasn't a one off either, we did that to a lot of teams, and I think I'm right in saying that that team still holds the club record for 4 goals scored in consecutive matches.

FSG ideal candidate & only one.

According to the Mirror today he'll be available soon. Gazetta del sport apparently saying he is in line for the sack at Napoli if things don't improve sharpish. I'd stick with what we've got, although almost certainly I'll be in the minority.

He would do well to kiss and make up with Pako Ayestarán though. The 2 compliment each other very well.

Agreed Swab. If I remember rightly, the wheels started to wobble when Pako left.

According to the Mirror today he'll be available soon. Gazetta del sport apparently saying he is in line for the sack at Napoli if things don't improve sharpish. I'd stick with what we've got, although almost certainly I'll be in the minority.

You certainly are not, he will be getting the sack again for the right reasons in my opinion and I'm with you, if the choice is Brendan or Rafa I will stick with Brendan.

You certainly are not, he will be getting the sack again for the right reasons in my opinion and I'm with you, if the choice is Brendan or Rafa I will stick with Brendan.

Why do you follow Rafa's career in Italy just to hope he'll get the sack? For the right reasons .. what underperforming.. is BR underforming for the wrong reasons then. Rafa's record stands alone and unlike Moronho, Ancellotti and Guadridola he did not come form an already unassailable position where it was his to lose. He had ot win it. We see in Europe what happens when its Rafa's to lose ... he doesn't. Check and MATE!

While FSG may not have had any interest in him when they hired Rodgers (I wanted Rafa when Kenny got the sack mind you) they have now seen first hand what he can do while he was at Chelsea. I absolutely think he would be in the running and if FSG didn't consider him (all hypothetical of course, hoping Rodgers doesn't get the shaft yet) that would be utterly stupid.

While FSG may not have had any interest in him when they hired Rodgers (I wanted Rafa when Kenny got the sack mind you) they have now seen first hand what he can do while he was at Chelsea. I absolutely think he would be in the running and if FSG didn't consider him (all hypothetical of course, hoping Rodgers doesn't get the shaft yet) that would be utterly stupid.

Considering JWH opted to keep Ian Ayres on the commitee when H&G were fu**ed off and Ayres was on the board that sacked Rafa - the chances of him being reinstated are remote if not dead in the water.

As I said in another thread John Henry pointed the finger at Rafa and said he was appalled at the lack of quality and depth in the squad and Rafa had to shoulder responsibility for that.

As I said in another thread John Henry pointed the finger at Rafa and said he was appalled at the lack of quality and depth in the squad and Rafa had to shoulder responsibility for that.

Yet they hung about in getting rid of Woy who had previously signed Konchesky and Poulsen for us whilst getting rid of a very talented youngster in order for the former to arrive (admittedly before the FSG time) but just shows they had no idea about football when they took over IMO or they would have given him the boot sooner. Maybe not signed the likes of Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing either. When the owners of City and the Chavs took over they wanted the best players available...Not quite sure if FSG knew what to want/expect from any potential transfer so I cant see how they can cast any real opinion of the players left from the Rafa era who then went on to be our most important players for the first year nearly under them, the likes of Rodriguez and Kuyt who were then sold off cheap just to lower the wage bill and replaced by what?

Yet they hung about in getting rid of Woy who had previously signed Konchesky and Poulsen for us whilst getting rid of a very talented youngster in order for the former to arrive (admittedly before the FSG time) but just shows they had no idea about football when they took over IMO or they would have given him the boot sooner. Maybe not signed the likes of Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing either. When the owners of City and the Chavs took over they wanted the best players available...Not quite sure if FSG knew what to want/expect from any potential transfer so I cant see how they can cast any real opinion of the players left from the Rafa era who then went on to be our most important players for the first year nearly under them, the likes of Rodriguez and Kuyt who were then sold off cheap just to lower the wage bill and replaced by what?

FSG have it all under control, the blame for any shortcomings lies at the feet of this week's scapegoat, our owners are entirely faultless.
Unbelievably this week's fall guy is an FSG appointment, namely Ian Ayres with the apologists still refusing to point the finger at the owners.

FSG have it all under control, the blame for any shortcomings lies at the feet of this week's scapegoat, our owners are entirely faultless.
Unbelievably this week's fall guy is an FSG appointment, namely Ian Ayres with the apologists still refusing to point the finger at the owners.

Also quite ironic (if that's the right term to use here), that if they did have that view of Rafa then why after a good few of years into their ownership do we still have a noticeable lack of quality and depth within the squad when under them, we have signed 31 players (including loans) for around £315million roughly. Quite shocking really as that isn't really too far off figures that the likes of those challenging have paid out.

Also quite ironic (if that's the right term to use here), that if they did have that view of Rafa then why after a good few of years into their ownership do we still have a noticeable lack of quality and depth within the squad when under them, we have signed 31 players (including loans) for around £315million roughly. Quite shocking really as that isn't really too far off figures that the likes of those challenging have paid out.

That's as ironic as it gets mate.
A bit more irony is none of those players were what JWH considered over-priced.
With one exception of course - Andy Carroll. Signed with the assistance of another FSG appointment Damian Comolli.
Consequently FSG used the exceptional signing to despatch Kenny Dalglish - after first jettisoning their man Comolli.
Isn't it ironic don't ya think?

Another trophy to add to his collection.

Italian Super Cup.