The Benitez Thread

[Rmpr 8,977]

There is only one Rafa, one Henrique, one Jose, one Zolayes, one Pep, etc....

I dont get it.

[Henrique 9,133]

I thought you were starting to get better ...my mistake ....

"Henrique is getting better, all the time" Lennon/McCartney

[Fulham Broadway 17,371]

Ray Wilkins -

"Will the fans start warming to him now?"

"The fans aren't stupid Jeff"

[Changingman_2000 876]

Time to stop Benitez bashing. Fact.

One result against a pub team and suddenly Rafa is the man?

You are clearly barking mad, or you court the infamy. Either way, you aint the sharpest tool in the shed.

[Changingman_2000 876]

His track record is mediocre at best, He said he would never manage Chelsea, and took the piss out of plastic flags. He spent over £230m on signings the majority of which were rubbish, He has had the worst start of any Chelsea manager. The 'prejudices' are justified in my opinion. The club is nothing without us.We all know the real reason he has been brought in is to save face with the owner as an expensive last resort to get Fernando the Wonderhorse scoring.

A result tonight would lift the pressure, and a Shaktar win would even win some fans round. Many, however will still be looking forward to the day he gets the call to leave.

Intrigued -who are your sources at the club ? My guess is some players are undoubtably ambivalent to his arrival -the longer stalwarts will also shrug their shoulders at the revolving door -but they would also be disgusted at the way RDM was unceremoniously thrown out.

I agree with every word of this /\

[Rupert 130]

1. Rafa never said he would not manage Chelsea - that is just one of the many lies about him told by the southern Media and believed by opposition fans. He said he would never manage two teams out of respect for Liverpool fans and he said Liverpool fans knew which they were - i.e. Everton and Manchester Untied. In fact he has several times said he would manage Chelsea that it was one of his preferred options.

2. He never referred to plastic flags or" plastic" anything at Chelsea.. In response to Mourinho's constant taunts in the press he did say that LFC supporters did not need to be given flags. He never mentioned Chelsea although he probably meant it.

3. His transfer record is the best in the UK. His "net spend" over six years was about 12 million per year. When he began he was forced to buy his second and third choice because the LFC management were too slow to buy or could not afford to buy his 1st choice. In his last two years there was a negative net spend. He bought to trade and upgrade. He did this successfully. In addition to all the profits he made for the club when he sold on, there is also a lot of profit still left after he went e.g. Torres - 30 million profit - and this last year there were bids for Agger, Reina, Skyrtel, Johnson and others which would have greatly increased his "profit " for the club..

4. He reformed the youth program brought in the two leading figures from the Barcelona youth set-up and in a short time has produced a stream of first team players from youngsters he brought to LFC - e.g. Sterling, Suso.

5. It is not true that he has no job offers for two years. He has had many and turned them down because he wanted to stay in the UK. In the UK he turned down three offers because he wanted a team capable of winning top honours.

6. It is not true that he was "sacked" at Inter. Technically he left by mutual arrangement. He engineered it. He won the World Up (Club) and immediately announced publicly that if the owner would not buy new players (which he had promised to do when Rafa took the job) then he should speak to Rafa's agent about releasing him from his contract.

7. It is not true that Inter fans wanted him to go. There were many demonstrations by Inter fans against the owner and in favour of Rafa and large flags/banners asking him to stay.

.

[Muzchap 8,966]

1. Rafa never said he would not manage Chelsea - that is just one of the many lies about him told by the southern Media and believed by opposition fans. He said he would never manage two teams out of respect for Liverpool fans and he said Liverpool fans knew which they were - i.e. Everton and Manchester Untied. In fact he has several times said he would manage Chelsea that it was one of his preferred options.

2. He never referred to plastic flags or" plastic" anything at Chelsea.. In response to Mourinho's constant taunts in the press he did say that LFC supporters did not need to be given flags. He never mentioned Chelsea although he probably meant it.

3. His transfer record is the best in the UK. His "net spend" over six years was about 12 million per year. When he began he was forced to buy his second and third choice because the LFC management were too slow to buy or could not afford to buy his 1st choice. In his last two years there was a negative net spend. He bought to trade and upgrade. He did this successfully. In addition to all the profits he made for the club when he sold on, there is also a lot of profit still left after he went e.g. Torres - 30 million profit - and this last year there were bids for Agger, Reina, Skyrtel, Johnson and others which would have greatly increased his "profit " for the club..

4. He reformed the youth program brought in the two leading figures from the Barcelona youth set-up and in a short time has produced a stream of first team players from youngsters he brought to LFC - e.g. Sterling, Suso.

5. It is not true that he has no job offers for two years. He has had many and turned them down because he wanted to stay in the UK. In the UK he turned down three offers because he wanted a team capable of winning top honours.

6. It is not true that he was "sacked" at Inter. Technically he left by mutual arrangement. He engineered it. He won the World Up (Club) and immediately announced publicly that if the owner would not buy new players (which he had promised to do when Rafa took the job) then he should speak to Rafa's agent about releasing him from his contract.

7. It is not true that Inter fans wanted him to go. There were many demonstrations by Inter fans against the owner and in favour of Rafa and large flags/banners asking him to stay.

.

Nice - but people only believe what they want to believe, or what suits their argument at any given time.

I'm 'meh' on his appointment, but would prefer him to Avram Grant.

The only question I have is - is this REALLY a temporary appointment? Or, is that being used as a smokescreen?

Whatever happens, I can't see an 'established' Manager wanting to join us - as Ray Wilkins et al said last night - why would you risk your reputation and be booted out after <6 months... With a squad of young players, this approach just won't work anymore, as the Jose Mourinho spine of the team is now gone - there's no leaders on the pitch.

I know the strategy of firing managers has been successful - but at some point it will stop, the odds are heavily stacked against us... just need 1 manager for 2-3 seasons to impose a playing style on the team and build consistency... But, let's see what happens to Utd when SAF retires - got a feeling they will change managers a few times quickly...

[The only place to be 11,313]

1. Rafa never said he would not manage Chelsea - that is just one of the many lies about him told by the southern Media and believed by opposition fans. He said he would never manage two teams out of respect for Liverpool fans and he said Liverpool fans knew which they were - i.e. Everton and Manchester Untied. In fact he has several times said he would manage Chelsea that it was one of his preferred options.

I just tried googling the 'I would never manage Chelsea' quote and I can't find any results for it before 2012. But apparently it was made in 2007 so maybe my Googling skills are failing me.

[Rupert 130]

I just tried googling the 'I would never manage Chelsea' quote and I can't find any results for it before 2012. But apparently it was made in 2007 so maybe my Googling skills are failing me.

You'll never find it because he never said it. But you will find hundreds if not thousands of times people said he said it - all of them wrong.

[MHL 47 378]

You'll never find it because he never said it. But you will find hundreds if not thousands of times people said he said it - all of them wrong.

He might have done, you know

http://www.standard....im-8343813.html

[Las7 951]

Benitez was the one complaining that the players were burned out, yet at the first opportunity to give them a proper rest against an opposition which had a make shift defence he played our big guns. If we end up with a negative result against Sunderland I wonder if he will back to blaming fatigue

[Sheva. 5,373]

Benitez was the one complaining that the players were burned out, yet at the first opportunity to give them a proper rest against an opposition which had a make shift defence he played our big guns. If we end up with a negative result against Sunderland I wonder if he will back to blaming fatigue

Rest?! we had to win our game to stand any possibility of going through, would have been stupid to not play our best players.

[robsblubot 3,595]

Well, Ramires and Iva have been playing a lot, so I expected those 2 to be given a rest, but I guess it's a balance between resting/training vs confidence.

In Benitez's mind, Torres' problems include a huge confidence problem, and by signing Benitez, Abramovich may agree with that (prob other coaches do as well).

I don't think it's one or another personally, but a combination of a number of things, specially lack of power and pace.

[Las7 951]

Rest?! we had to win our game to stand any possibility of going through, would have been stupid to not play our best players.

You think we would not win against Nords if Marin and Piazon were on the field ahead of Mata or Hazard ?

I find that type of thinking absolutely misguided

[Sheva. 5,373]

You think we would not win against Nords if Marin and Piazon were on the field ahead of Mata or Hazard ?

I find that type of thinking absolutely misguided

It would sure not have been as easy as we made it look.

[Las7 951]

It would sure not have been as easy as we made it look.

Nope we didn't make it look easy - Nords were abject and their team was suffering injuries to key players fielding a right back and central midfielder in their central defence.

[Changingman_2000 876]

Interesting angles from the press, both broadsheet and gutter, on the arrival of FSW

http://www.101greatgoals.com/comment-analysis-round-up/chelsea-fans-hate-benitez-west-ham-fans-hate-at-jews-spurs-pep-tipped-for-man-city-everton-eye-an-ex-arsenal-goalie/

[Muzchap 8,966]

He might have done, you know

http://www.standard....im-8343813.html

He was still manager in 2007, so how was it his former club? I call bullshit...

And did he really say Sheila sad it crossed the line? I can't find other quotes?

Looks like lazy sensationalist journalism to me...

Anything to grab a headline and unsettle CFC...

Well fuck em all

We might not like him, but if we finish 4th with some cups - fuck everyone else!!!

Trophies talk!

[MHL 47 378]

He was still manager in 2007, so how was it his former club? I call bullshit...

And did he really say Sheila sad it crossed the line? I can't find other quotes?

Looks like lazy sensationalist journalism to me...

Anything to grab a headline and unsettle CFC...

Well fuck em all

We might not like him, but if we finish 4th with some cups - fuck everyone else!!!

Trophies talk!

It's in too many places to be BS. I think he was talking from the view of one day him not being the Manager of them.

From my experience at games, a lot of he fans don't need any stoking up, emotions are still running pretty high.

My own view is that he'll probably never be accepted here, his red roots are too deep and the ill feeling a lot of fans have for that particular club is strong.

What he said in the past and what he says now, doesn't effect me too much, it just confirms my thoughts of football managers and players generally, namely they'll say whatever they feel will ingratiate them to the fans the most.

Most of them don't have he emotional bonds we have, and that's why things like his appointment here has hurt so many of us.

[Madmax 9,219]

As far as I'm concerned, the fans' anger should be directed at the man who employed Benitez. Fair enough, Benitez isn't liked around these parts for whatever reasons, but Roman was the one in charge of taking cognizance of the support base's feelings about Benitez.