Rafael Benitez Discussion Thread

Personally I would welcome him here.

The majority would be delirious.

One of the things I miss about Rafa at the moment is his tactics, I miss having hope that we can change things and win a game.

Build from the back.
Not exactly rocket science and yet a succession of managers seem to have forgotten this.

That's how winning teams achieve success - start from solid foundations.

One of the things I miss about Rafa at the moment is his tactics, I miss having hope that we can change things and win a game.

'Hope' that is what he gave us & we believed, no matter who we faced we had hope with the other shocker here & there too.

The majority would be delirious.

Elaborate?

Personally I would welcome him here.

Really?
Napoli failed to access Champions League losing to a poor Athletic Bilbao, who finished 3rd in an easy group.
Napoli is 5th in Serie A, 11 points behind Juventus, only 3 points ahead AC Milan, who has huge problems and finished 8th last year.
Benitez would have to fight for Serie A title, but at the moment his team is too inconstant also for 3rd place.
With the likes of Higuain, Callejon, Mertens, Insigne (I don't like him, to be honest) and Hamsik, Napoli lost home against Chievo (unlucky game for them) and above all lost tactically against Cagliari and Empoli, when Napoli drew 3-3 and 2-2 respectively, but deserved to lose against them. Zeman and Sarri (Cagliari and Empoli coaches) in those games have proven to be tactically better than Benitez.
In my opinion it wouldn't be the right choice and then heated soups are never good (as we say in Italy ): the worst seasons for AC Milan in the last 20 years there have been with the returns of Sacchi and Capello.

Elaborate?

Elaborate on what?
The majority of supporters were F***ing raging at the manner of his expulsion from LFC, that coupled with the memory of what the man achieved in his time here would see more than a couple of ''welcome home'' banners unfurled should he ever return.
Your request for clarification is rather puzzling.

Elaborate?

2 Champions League finals in 3 years.
Number 1 ranked team in Europe.

Elaborate on what?
The majority of supporters were f**king raging at the manner of his expulsion from LFC, that coupled with the memory of what the man achieved in his time here would see more than a couple of ''welcome home'' banners unfurled should he ever return.
Your request for clarification is rather puzzling.

You just elaborated so you kind of answered your question there matey but yes most of us would be expecting the treble but after ACMILANLFC's post its made me think twice now about welcoming here but personally I would probably be happy for the first 3 months until he starts f**king up (Which he cant help, with the squad we have), then we have the Brendan Rodgers situation all over again. Sorry if it offended you that i was asking you to elaborate. 

You just elaborated so you kind of answered your question there matey but yes most of us would be expecting the treble but after ACMILANLFC's post its made me think twice now about welcoming here but personally I would probably be happy for the first 3 months until he starts f**king up (Which he cant help, with the squad we have), then we have the Brendan Rodgers situation all over again. Sorry if it offended you that i was asking you to elaborate. 

Why should I be offended?
The point I was making is that the concept doesn't need simplifying or explaining because the majority would welcome him back with open arms, all things being equal.
All things certainly were not equal when he was despatched and I was endeavouring to explain as much to your good self.
In other words elaborating in a general sense is not required.

Really?
Napoli failed to access Champions League losing to a poor Athletic Bilbao, who finished 3rd in an easy group.
Napoli is 5th in Serie A, 11 points behind Juventus, only 3 points ahead AC Milan, who has huge problems and finished 8th last year.
Benitez would have to fight for Serie A title, but at the moment his team is too inconstant also for 3rd place.
With the likes of Higuain, Callejon, Mertens, Insigne (I don't like him, to be honest) and Hamsik, Napoli lost home against Chievo (unlucky game for them) and above all lost tactically against Cagliari and Empoli, when Napoli drew 3-3 and 2-2 respectively, but deserved to lose against them. Zeman and Sarri (Cagliari and Empoli coaches) in those games have proven to be tactically better than Benitez.
In my opinion it wouldn't be the right choice and then heated soups are never good (as we say in Italy ): the worst seasons for AC Milan in the last 20 years there have been with the returns of Sacchi and Capello.

Yes I've said a few times that if we DID want to get Rafa back at the end of the season, unless things markedly improve at Napoli I shouldn't think we'd encounter much resistance. He took over a team which had finished clear second in the league, finishing 9 points behind Juventus and six points clear of the team in third. After one season that gap had stretched out to 24 points behind Juventus and they finished third, seven points behind the team in second. they were then as you say eliminated by Bilbao in the Champions league qualifier, although in fairness to Rafa they have progressed to the latter stages of the Europa league, and they did win the Italian cup last season.

This time around they are currently fifth, already 11 points behind Juventus and 8 behind Roma who are pulling clear. It's hard to argue that his tenure at Napoli so far has been a rip-roaring success (although more than a few on here obviously will). the bit that surprises me most about this season is the fact that Napoli are conceding so many goals relatively, very unusual for a Benitez team. 

Yes I've said a few times that if we DID want to get Rafa back at the end of the season, unless things markedly improve at Napoli I shouldn't think we'd encounter much resistance. He took over a team which had finished clear second in the league, finishing 9 points behind Juventus and six points clear of the team in third. After one season that gap had stretched out to 24 points behind Juventus and they finished third, seven points behind the team in second. they were then as you say eliminated by Bilbao in the Champions league qualifier, although in fairness to Rafa they have progressed to the latter stages of the Europa league, and they did win the Italian cup last season.

This time around they are currently fifth, already 11 points behind Juventus and 8 behind Roma who are pulling clear. It's hard to argue that his tenure at Napoli so far has been a rip-roaring success (although more than a few on here obviously will). the bit that surprises me most about this season is the fact that Napoli are conceding so many goals relatively, very unusual for a Benitez team. 

Could be worse if he does a Klopp.

Really?
Napoli failed to access Champions League losing to a poor Athletic Bilbao, who finished 3rd in an easy group.
Napoli is 5th in Serie A, 11 points behind Juventus, only 3 points ahead AC Milan, who has huge problems and finished 8th last year.
Benitez would have to fight for Serie A title, but at the moment his team is too inconstant also for 3rd place.
With the likes of Higuain, Callejon, Mertens, Insigne (I don't like him, to be honest) and Hamsik, Napoli lost home against Chievo (unlucky game for them) and above all lost tactically against Cagliari and Empoli, when Napoli drew 3-3 and 2-2 respectively, but deserved to lose against them. Zeman and Sarri (Cagliari and Empoli coaches) in those games have proven to be tactically better than Benitez.
In my opinion it wouldn't be the right choice and then heated soups are never good (as we say in Italy ): the worst seasons for AC Milan in the last 20 years there have been with the returns of Sacchi and Capello.

Napoli vs Milan this weekend isn't it? Better hope you don't go 3-0 up in the first half pal

Really?
Napoli failed to access Champions League losing to a poor Athletic Bilbao, who finished 3rd in an easy group.
Napoli is 5th in Serie A, 11 points behind Juventus, only 3 points ahead AC Milan, who has huge problems and finished 8th last year.
Benitez would have to fight for Serie A title, but at the moment his team is too inconstant also for 3rd place.
With the likes of Higuain, Callejon, Mertens, Insigne (I don't like him, to be honest) and Hamsik, Napoli lost home against Chievo (unlucky game for them) and above all lost tactically against Cagliari and Empoli, when Napoli drew 3-3 and 2-2 respectively, but deserved to lose against them. Zeman and Sarri (Cagliari and Empoli coaches) in those games have proven to be tactically better than Benitez.
In my opinion it wouldn't be the right choice and then heated soups are never good (as we say in Italy ): the worst seasons for AC Milan in the last 20 years there have been with the returns of Sacchi and Capello.

Great post mate, exactly my thoughts on him returning. Would be another 2 years wasted.

It doesn't make any difference what league he's in tbh, we sign players playing in leagues across the world every year. The facts are he has scored at every level of the game from Wolves to the World Cup Finals, as he continues to do so. So getting him here was a difficult task and he didn't come cheap. He scored 7 in a side then struggling to score goals and win games, especially at home. He would easily have hit 15-20 that season if he got more than 12 games playing time and in all probability get us over the line. Instead, he was sold with the shops shut, and getting 86 points wasn't enough in the end so the wait went on.

As for Brendan, he mounted a title challenge in half the time with much more attractive football, far less resources, much tighter transfer budgets, without throwing teacups round the boardroom and spitting blood at the press every 5 minutes at something else he didn't get.

We won 16 home league games last year, so it wasn't his fault that 84 points wasn't enough to end the famine either.

Ha ha ha ha so "mounting a title challenge" is good enough now is it?

And it "wasn't Brendan's fault" that 84 points wasn't "enough to end the famine" but somehow it WAS Rafa's fault despite the fact he got 86 points.

you can't even string a logical argument together to support your views. It's just embarrassing.

Keep your fingers crossed though - maybe our next manager will turn to Robbie as the answer to our problems.
 

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.

if everything was aligned it would be a beautiful moment to see him back but not at the expense of his reputation and I don't trust FSG one bit so not just yet for me.

just look how "well" napoli are playing against a sh*t milan, don't want him back at all

just look how "well" napoli are playing against a sh*t milan, don't want him back at all

Wait, and you are suggesting Klopp? Where is his team in the league?

Wait, and you are suggesting Klopp? Where is his team in the league?

that's the only excuse everybody keep posting, 1 bad run of form in 5 years doesn't make him a bad manager, he's done something unthinkable at a club on the brink of disaster

just look how "well" napoli are playing against a sh*t milan, don't want him back at all

Wait until the end of season. 2 pts off third which Napoil will finish quite comfortably in and probably end up with silverware again.

Constant CL football and trophies. Juve are still the richest team followed by Roma.

just look how "well" napoli are playing against a sh*t milan, don't want him back at all

Imagine if he had Man City or Madrid. He would probably win the next 5 CL trophies.

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.