Rafael Benitez

[markjazzbassist]

2 hours ago, Cornish Steve said:

Every team around us spent more money, that's for sure. It remains to be seen whether they improved. After all, we spent more than most in some recent seasons but didn't improve.

This

[Palfy]

4 hours ago, Cornish Steve said:

Every team around us spent more money, that's for sure. It remains to be seen whether they improved. After all, we spent more than most in some recent seasons but didn't improve.

We aren’t talking about every team around us, Mark was very explicit in the terms of the team’s he was talking about and they have bought some of the best players in the world, slightly different from us, we never bought a Ronaldo a Grealish or a Lukaku to name a few in the last five years. Surely you can recognise the difference between let’s say Utd or Chelsea of this season and last and see they have improved their squads hugely with their transfer dealings, this season definitely isn’t like for like, Rafa has much stronger team’s to contend with when it comes to the team’s Mark was on about, to say you are going to judge him on the results of those games compared to last season is totally wrong. 

[Gwlad]

No problem with being underdogs, we got turned over by Fulham and Sheffild Utd to name but two.

[pete0]

On 13/08/2021 at 15:10, Palfy said:

I maybe gullible but Benitez wouldn’t be that stupid would he he would easily be caught out if lying  

The same Benitiz who successfully turned Liverpool fans against Alonso. (Kopites only called him world class after he left and FIFA made him better at passing in a video game, most bought into the waiter and wanted Barry instead). 

[pete0]

Happy to keep Delph but wanted rid of Davies. Joke of a manager.

[Palfy]

4 hours ago, pete0 said:

The same Benitiz who successfully turned Liverpool fans against Alonso. (Kopites only called him world class after he left and FIFA made him better at passing in a video game, most bought into the waiter and wanted Barry instead). 

You’ve just decided after 22 days at 2:30am to respond to a post I made you are either pissed slow or just come out of hibernation, but just to indulge you I couldn’t give a fuck if turned the fans against Alonso in-fact good, just a shame it wasn’t Gerrard or Carragher as well then he really would have done us all a favour. You may not like him as a person or a manager that’s your prerogative but I’m not here to agree or disagree with your opinion, it’s your opinion and we both know that you won’t change it so there’s really nothing to discuss particularly on something that occurred over god knows how many year’s ago.

Try and can’t back to me with your response by December mate it’s a busy month for me, with most of my clients end of financial year and needing house numbers to appease their share holders

[Shukes]

Rafa is, at the moment, getting more out of our players then we have saw for the last few years.

Its almost like you could call him more a manager than a coach.

How many times have saw a team full of superstars, perform average? I tell my son all the time, to be a successful footballer….. it’s more about application than ability.

Im more than happy with our start. 

[Aidan]

He seems to have made things simpler. Watching his press confrences he seems to be a very likeable person and always remains composed. I'm surprised at how a lot of the fans have already changed their tune from when he was announced. I'm still struggling to see how we finish in the top 8 this season with the lack of recruitment, however I'm actually enjoying the football we have been playing. I've got a sneaky feeling we are going to give some of the big boys a really tough game this season.

[Matt]

On 03/09/2021 at 00:09, Cornish Steve said:

Every team around us spent more money, that's for sure. It remains to be seen whether they improved. After all, we spent more than most in some recent seasons but didn't improve.

True, but you see the names United bought and they're not overpriced or gambles like we'd be doing. They're established serial winners.

[c1982]

1 hour ago, Matt said:

True, but you see the names United bought and they're not overpriced or gambles like we'd be doing. They're established serial winners.

There’s a lot more to an acquisition of a football player than a reported transfer fee. These players may not be overpriced in transfer fee but their wages and other fees are astronomical. Yes, Ronaldo is arguably the best player in the world and £15m seems a ridiculously low price but factor in £480k a week - yes, probably still worth it but you get my point…

[Matt]

33 minutes ago, c1982 said:

There’s a lot more to an accusation of a football player than a reported transfer fee. These players may not be overpriced in transfer fee but their wages and other fees are astronomical. Yes, Ronaldo is arguably the best player in the world and £15m seems a ridiculously low price but factor in £480k a week - yes, probably still worth it but you get my point…

I'd rather acquire players rather than accuse them and guilt them into signing....

[c1982]

18 minutes ago, Matt said:

I'd rather acquire players rather than accuse them and guilt them into signing....

* acquisition

[pete0]

@dunlopp9987 @duncanmckenzieismagic you think we should keep Delph over Davies?

[Matt]

8 hours ago, c1982 said:

* acquisition

I know mate  I was replying in a rush, apologies. 

there is a key part of your original post that actually contradicts your point though; they're worth it. Our mass spending hasn't been worth it and that's the fundamental difference. 

[c1982]

2 hours ago, Matt said:

I know mate  I was replying in a rush, apologies. 

there is a key part of your original post that actually contradicts your point though; they're worth it. Our mass spending hasn't been worth it and that's the fundamental difference. 

It remains to be seen whether Sancho for £85m and £300k per week is value; personally, that’s massively overpriced to me, and they’ll need to win something with the Varane outlay… regardless, this is a completely different level to our spending.

[Romey 1878]

17 minutes ago, c1982 said:

It remains to be seen whether Sancho for £85m and £300k per week is value; personally, that’s massively overpriced to me, and they’ll need to win something with the Varane outlay… regardless, this is a completely different level to our spending.

I don't think I've been impressed with Sancho once when I've watched him tbh. He's looked very ordinary.

[Shukes]

14 minutes ago, Romey 1878 said:

I don't think I've been impressed with Sancho once when I've watched him tbh. He's looked very ordinary.

I don’t get the whole Sancho thing at all. 
So he played for a German club! So did Kenny!

[Matt]

2 hours ago, c1982 said:

It remains to be seen whether Sancho for £85m and £300k per week is value; personally, that’s massively overpriced to me, and they’ll need to win something with the Varane outlay… regardless, this is a completely different level to our spending.

Point taken. Varane and Ronaldo have how many domestic and European titles between them, also on stupid wages but older. Its all irrelevant if any or all helps win the league etc. though 

[c1982]

24 minutes ago, Matt said:

Point taken. Varane and Ronaldo have how many domestic and European titles between them, also on stupid wages but older. Its all irrelevant if any or all helps win the league etc. though 

Of course - United not winning the league is the equivalent of us not qualifying for Europe - failure.

[duncanmckenzieismagic]

12 hours ago, pete0 said:

@dunlopp9987 @duncanmckenzieismagic you think we should keep Delph over Davies?

Neither are good enough to be starting for us but maybe the logic behind it was that it would be easier to find a taker for Davies than it would be for Delph given his age and the wages he is on 

I’m sure had a serious offer came in for either we would have accepted it

Personally I would like to see Davies go out on loan for a season somewhere where he can play every week to see if his game develops 

Whereas I would just like to see Delph go full stop

[Palfy]

23 minutes ago, duncanmckenzieismagic said:

Neither are good enough to be starting for us but maybe the logic behind it was that it would be easier to find a taker for Davies than it would be for Delph given his age and the wages he is on 

I’m sure had a serious offer came in for either we would have accepted it

Personally I would like to see Davies go out on loan for a season somewhere where he can play every week to see if his game develops 

Whereas I would just like to see Delph go full stop

For me Davies is the type of squad player who you need in the team, he knows he’s going to struggle to be a starter but he doesn’t accept it he keeps on fighting for what he believes in, that he’s good enough to play and doesn’t want the easy route out. 

[duncanmckenzieismagic]

30 minutes ago, Palfy said:

For me Davies is the type of squad player who you need in the team, he knows he’s going to struggle to be a starter but he doesn’t accept it he keeps on fighting for what he believes in, that he’s good enough to play and doesn’t want the easy route out. 

I agree he is a good squad filler but he is stagnating here, if anything he’s gone backwards

He needs to be playing regularly if he wants to develop and that is not going to happen here unless we have a spate of injuries 

 

[duncanmckenzieismagic]

1 hour ago, duncanmckenzieismagic said:

Neither are good enough to be starting for us but maybe the logic behind it was that it would be easier to find a taker for Davies than it would be for Delph given his age and the wages he is on 

I’m sure had a serious offer came in for either we would have accepted it

Personally I would like to see Davies go out on loan for a season somewhere where he can play every week to see if his game develops 

Whereas I would just like to see Delph go full stop

Who are you dropping for him then Pete?

[Matt]

41 minutes ago, duncanmckenzieismagic said:

Who are you dropping for him then Pete?

Keane probably. 

[pete0]

48 minutes ago, duncanmckenzieismagic said:

Who are you dropping for him then Pete?

Allan. Out performed him last season. 

Ancelotti said Davies was the player most like himself. Ferguson and Alladyce put him straight in. Koeman stopped him going to the kids world cup as he wanted him around the first team. All bar Silva have rated him. Find it mad our fans don't get behind him.

[SpartyBlue]

On 02/09/2021 at 18:45, dunlopp9987 said:

Mark you're not getting it Sure our team is the same, but arguably every team around us improved.

This is always so strange to me. Why do we think new players equal improvement year after year? If this were true then the level of football in the Premier League would rise year on year and teams would be far better than they were 5 or 10 years ago. It’s a mentality that doesn’t exist to nearly the same degree in other sports. The Chicago Bulls changed very little when they were winning their six titles, as one example. Having a team that is used to playing together that improves as a unit can be just as valuable or more so than new signings. I’ve seen no evidence that you simply get passed by all your competition if you don’t match them in signings. 

[dunlopp9987]

31 minutes ago, SpartyBlue said:

This is always so strange to me. Why do we think new players equal improvement year after year? If this were true then the level of football in the Premier League would rise year on year and teams would be far better than they were 5 or 10 years ago. It’s a mentality that doesn’t exist to nearly the same degree in other sports. The Chicago Bulls changed very little when they were winning their six titles, as one example. Having a team that is used to playing together that improves as a unit can be just as valuable or more so than new signings. I’ve seen no evidence that you simply get passed by all your competition if you don’t match them in signings. 

I agree with most of this, except for the veiled comparison of Everton to the Chicago Bulls of the 90's. They didn't change much because they were already an unbelievably talented fucking team.

When you have Delphs and Keanes and Holgateses still playing significant minutes for you, you should maybe compare Everton to the Denver Nuggets of the 90's.

[SpartyBlue]

15 minutes ago, dunlopp9987 said:

I agree with most of this, except for the veiled comparison of Everton to the Chicago Bulls of the 90's. They didn't change much because they were already an unbelievably talented fucking team.

When you have Delphs and Keanes and Holgateses still playing significant minutes for you, you should maybe compare Everton to the Denver Nuggets of the 90's.

Fair. I was just making the point that additions don’t equal improvement. Even at the very top of football it seems it’s always about the next big thing. I suppose everyone secretly thinks they are going to win the league and they realize they aren’t getting there with their current squads. I just don’t believe in additions for the sake of it. 

[duncanmckenzieismagic]

3 hours ago, pete0 said:

Allan. Out performed him last season. 

Ancelotti said Davies was the player most like himself. Ferguson and Alladyce put him straight in. Koeman stopped him going to the kids world cup as he wanted him around the first team. All bar Silva have rated him. Find it mad our fans don't get behind him.

Tbf Allan did have a dip in form when he came back from injury but he is still light years ahead of Davies, he has probably been our best player this season ( yes I know it’s early doors ) so there is no way on Gods green earth he should be dropped for Davies

If all these managers loved him so much why has he failed to nail down a staring spot under any of them ?

Listen I actually like the lad and I love nothing more than local lads making it into the staring XI and hatching out a good career with us . I just think at his age he needs to be playing week in week out and he simply has no chance of that here while we have a fully fit squad

I agree he is a good squad player and he will come in and do a good job when called upon, but not so sure I’d want him playing every week for us at the moment though, but I want more than that for him. I’m not witting him off, which is why I said I would like him to go out on loan 

 

…… probably should be talking about this in the Tom Davies thread but that appears to have gone off on some weird tangent anyway!

 

[Gwlad]

5 minutes ago, duncanmckenzieismagic said:

Tbf Allan did have a dip in form when he came back from injury but he is still light years ahead of Davies, he has probably been our best player this season ( yes I know it’s early doors ) so there is no way on Gods green earth he should be dropped for Davies

If all these managers loved him so much why has he failed to nail down a staring spot under any of them ?

Listen I actually like the lad and I love nothing more than local lads making it into the staring XI and hatching out a good career with us . I just think at his age he needs to be playing week in week out and he simply has no chance of that here while we have a fully fit squad

I agree he is a good squad player and he will come in and do a good job when called upon, but not so sure I’d want him playing every week for us at the moment though, but I want more than that for him. I’m not witting him off, which is why I said I would like him to go out on loan 

 

…… probably should be talking about this in the Tom Davies thread but that appears to have gone off on some wired tangent anyway!

Happens here!!