Archangel

Benitez Cranky unprofessional eccentric press conferences Political s*** stirrer Control freak on and off pitch Very hit and miss on transfer selection Dubious man management techniques Poor media relations Stubborn but focused Passionate about his football philosophy Shrewd and tactically intuitive I think we will always be successful with Benitez but I dont think it will ever be in the premiership unless he can change the habits of a lifetime

I completely disagree, though I dont necessarily see sacking Benitez as the only solution I could guarantee you that if he did leave there would be no shortage of world class managers willing to take the gig Whether Hicks and Gillett could ever agree on a successor is another point oh and this argument that Benitez has been deprived of a decent transfer budget is just not credible, or valid, Benitez isnt a sign your edge of the seat type player person. He buys functional grafters who follow instructions in the main

If only it was as simple as that I agree with NYR for the most part, but the club is rudderless though

We have surrendered this title not United have won it, we were top at Xmas and failed to establish distance between ourselves and the chasing pack. We showed little or no ambition at home and have been weak, even paralysed with fear. There are still games to play and who knows United might slip up but thats not going to happen. The only thing thats going to rescue this season is going to the final of the Champions League hopefully knocking the inbreds out along the way. Next season is going to be f***ing unbelievable if we dont get a wholesale change in attitude

Incidentally his refusal to sign the contract has echoes of the M Owen saga, loves the club, money not a problem etc etc Ironic about Madrid eh?

Benitez is becoming a pain in the f***ing a*** and a drama queen. He wants to sort his s*** out no matter how good a manager he is

In mitigation, the squad selection for the Portsmouth game was unorthodox to say the least but with respect to the manager he made the call and got it right. He obviously knew the situation with his players before the game, took the risk and it paid off, but looking at it from the outside i think you can understand why the pundits cfound the selection bizarre.

For god's sake why don't we just wait to see what they actually decide when it actually happens before going off on one. I read into it that they will probably agree to it but wont create a precedent unless they have to. The rest of the world does not revolve around this club nor should we expect it to. If the date is selected then we should refuse to play and create the problem for them but as it stands lets cut them some slack eh. After all it was a UEFA dispensation which allowed us to enter as the fifth english side a couple of years back so lets not get on that high horse yet or am I being too sensible

Like the rest of premiership football we seem to have got into a rut assuming the club can't develop without an endless supply of new faces. Perhaps who are we going to bring in is not so much the right question as how are we going to play. We are second with this squad and could and perhaps should still be top, which says all you need to know

Personally I think he is that good though its pretty academic anyway, in fact I'd say his influence in midfield is more likely the reason Everton are doing well this season than the ability of Moyes who appears to be creaming off all the credit - quite why escapes me Yes we still need a wide player and definitely a striker with Keane and Pennant parcelled off in the transfer window, but we are crying out for more creativity, Bennyoun's useful to have and has been playing out of his skin for the last few games but its an important area which I think Benitez undervalues too readily. Signing Arteta would give me the biggest laugh of the close season but it wouldn't happen for so many reasons

Dont know whether this was utter madness or utter genius on the part of Benitez. Certainly i dont think there is another manager in the league who would have done what he did today. He's had his fair share of misfortune this season so i;m glad this one's paid off. Took a lot of courage to do what he did

rafa's law

Yeah I'd go for normal time. penalties gives them more dignity if we cant beat them during the game itself, Quick, clinical and emphatic

You've hit the nail on the head with that. The 451 seems to suit him more than any other formation. In some ways I see Kuyt as a classic premier league player, full of running, highly committed, and constantly mobile, its quite obvious what Benitez see's in him and I'm sure he's a nightmare for defenders to track but to his credit he has also been vital in our european games as well. His finishing is not the strongest point but for the majority of our games in this league thats not a big problem if we create enough chances. the arguement is do we want to be tied to 451 all season.

Personally I'd agree with you there but I dont think Joe Cole would go down as a Benitez type player The current wisdom seems to be that Benitez was more interested in filling his midfield options with another defensively minded midfielder last summer, even at the price of 18m. I'm not going to comment too much on that because Barry is a very good player but it does indicate where the manager's heart lies and spending heavily on flair players with that extra bit of quality and invention is unlikely to happen - too much of a risk On the other hand he did chance a punt on Torres but then that was probably one of rick's Poaching Arteta would be a laugh though

I completely agree with you and Benitez would probably want it so What has been done has been done rightly or wrongly, its all a bit eccentric but Rafa now stands or falls by the courage of those convictions. If we win the league or come within spitting distance at the end he is vindicated and my doubts aren't. but what needs to end now is the tendancy to excuse the manager by loading all the blame onto the other parties. Lets just hope in particular that the Keane saga doesn't end with the striker getting the one goal that sinks our title challenge this year - the fall out from that would be too unbearable

Yet when we bought peter crouch, he failed to score for months, Benitez (rightly) backed him all the way and in time crouch settled in. Yet with Keane we pay 20m, not a word of doubt from the manger about the purchase who then systematically dismantles any hope the lad had at settling in. Scored two goals after a drought recently and was then benched the next game If thats not ego what is I said before, Keane was not the problem - benitez's ego was and this could cost the club because in terms of experienced quality strikers we are light with one of the most important seasons ahead of us in years

12m is the price quoted on 5live and selling a quality striker mid season is madness and a very high price to pay for a manager's ego

I really really really doubt things are so dysfunctional at the club that the CEO buys a 20m striker in spite of the manager's wishes and 20m is the ridiculous fee you pay for British players these days, Bent being a good example. Also I think the idea that the money spent on Keane put the ki-bosh on the Barry transfer is pretty lame far more likely was the fact that Benitez had thought he could obtain the player for roughly the same amount of money for Alonso. Someone is playing cute with the truth. Reades article makes some pretty valid observations and I cant argue with it in general but as with eveything written about Liverpool these days, its heavily laced with his own slant on events

Keane ain't the problem.

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There may be some kneejerk reactions but the manager's approach to this league is fundamentally flawed. If we win the title this season or in the future under Benitez it wil be because we have over excelled in some other capacity to compensate. His mentality has to change as it is materially damaging our ability to sustain a serious challenge. His structured organised approach will succeed in cup competitions because its a knockout format which plays advantage to teams who make fewer mistakes, if you are happy with that, then there's absolutely nothing wrong with what Benitez is doing currently

Blameshift is a word that springs to mind Maybe we should sack Parry for refusing Benitez the opportunity of selling Alonso at 12m to buy Barry at 18m or did I dream that.

I'm tired of this, must it always be about functionality and effort. Cant Benitez bend just for a bit, could we care a little less about the detail and what the opposition are capable of and how we are going to stop them and a little bit more about making them worried about how we are going to play instead. Fear thats all I'm seeing in our players, no conviction because the manager has got them playing like a bunch of f***ing robots.

Moores screwed up yes, but he doesn't deserve this, He needs to resign once the Americans have gone Overall, I have reasonably good memories of his time as chairman.