Rafael Benitez Sack Watch - Madrid Edition

Three other interesting articles :-

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/guillem-balague-exclusive--no-experience-and-no-motivational-skills--is-zidane-the-real-deal-154159692.html

http://blog.paddypower.com/2016/01/05/graham-hunter-florentino-perez-is-the-real-problem-but-can-zinedine-zidane-be-the-solution/?AFF_ID=16562&dclid=CPzI2vifk8oCFYoWjwodgEgCoA

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/12087/10119510/rafa-benitez-undermined-by-bored-real-madrid-players-and-florentino-perez-says-guillem-balague

Perez is an idiot.

Guillem Ballague - "If Perez became only a president, the one who dealt with the money and the commercial side of things he would be brilliant. But he's not as good as a director of football."

Perhaps the fairest assessment that I have read yet. While I cannot stand Florentino Perez Ballague is probably being very fair here by mentioning how the man is really good with the financial side of things.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11835/10119296/is-rafa-benitez-or-club-president-florentino-perez-to-blame-for-real-madrids-problems

messixaviesta wrote:Two other interesting articles :-

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/guillem-balague-exclusive--no-experience-and-no-motivational-skills--is-zidane-the-real-deal-154159692.html

http://blog.paddypower.com/2016/01/05/graham-hunter-florentino-perez-is-the-real-problem-but-can-zinedine-zidane-be-the-solution/?AFF_ID=16562&dclid=CPzI2vifk8oCFYoWjwodgEgCoA

Balague is a bit funny, his buddy Benitez got sacked so he writes an article to tear down Zidane. It's frankly petty, those guys are no better than some posters here, they just have the platform to write about anything they want.

he is some shameful piece of shit, using the example of Odegaard to justify that Zidane is not a good man manager or at least failed at that level with castilla. Odegaard refused to train with the B team last season, consequently, the others players did not accept him just as much. And calling him "prodigiously talented" is a complete joke, the guy is not due to become the next maradona ffs, he has flaws in his game i.e he is a boy playing against grown men in segunda and he gets pushed around. fck i hate this type of drivel

Mr Nick09 wrote:

messixaviesta wrote:Two other interesting articles :-

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/guillem-balague-exclusive--no-experience-and-no-motivational-skills--is-zidane-the-real-deal-154159692.html

http://blog.paddypower.com/2016/01/05/graham-hunter-florentino-perez-is-the-real-problem-but-can-zinedine-zidane-be-the-solution/?AFF_ID=16562&dclid=CPzI2vifk8oCFYoWjwodgEgCoA

Balague is a bit funny, his buddy Benitez got sacked so he writes an article to tear down Zidane. It's frankly petty, those guys are no better than some posters here, they just have the platform to write about anything they want.

he is some shameful piece of shit, using the example of Odegaard to justify that Zidane is not a good man manager or at least failed at that level with castilla. Odegaard refused to train with the B team last season, consequently, the others players did not accept him just as much. And calling him "prodigiously talented" is a complete joke, the guy is not due to become the next maradona ffs, he has flaws in his game i.e he is a boy playing against grown men in segunda and he gets pushed around. fck i hate this type of drivel

I don't always accept what Ballague says. He welcomed the appointment of Benitez when I thought it was preposterous. Still I do enjoy some of his articles.

What you say may have some truth to it.

I don't consider the appointment of Zidane a bad one. It's a risk of course. However it doesn't seem to me to be complete madness unlike what I had felt at the time of Benitez's appointment. What makes it more difficult though is taking over mid-season and having Perez for a president who is so used to showing people the door politely.

I will wait and see how things go with Zidane instead of trying to judge this now. Most great players starting off as coaches have not impressed but then once in a while you do find a Pep Guardiola. So let time decide.

BALAGUE IS BENITEZ's PERSONAL FRIEND, let that sink in

Mr Nick09 wrote:BALAGUE IS BENITEZ's PERSONAL FRIEND, let that sink in

Hadn't known that earlier.

What could have been the reasons for Real Madrid having hired Rafael Benitez?

I have tried to think a lot on this but could hardly come up with any reason.

The main quality of Benitez used to be his ability to win big matches in which his team was the underdog but with largely negative and defensive tactics. That also I don't think he has done even once since the 2008-09 season.

Winning league titles at Valencia may have been great but his last league title came in 2003-04. The name he built subsequently was largely built on the UCL triumph of 2004-05. While Liverpool supporters may always appreciate him for that, I think a certain section of the fans may also feel that they should have won the EPL title in 2008-09 and the main reason they lost it was Benitez. Even when Liverpool was the best team in England Benitez just couldn't get a consistent run of wins in the league. In the end what it came down to was Sir Alex Ferguson's knack of over-achieving and Benitez's knack of under-achieving, at least in league football.

What he did at Inter Milan was beyond disastrous and this summer when Madrid appointed him pretty much the first thought that had come to my mind was this is likely to be a repeat of the Inter scenario. In the end it didn't turn out all that different.

After his Inter stint Benitez had to take a long break likely because no one, at least no top club, wanted to hire him. Then Chelsea gave him a chance but they never treated him with respect. They labelled him an interim manager even at the time of hiring him, as if he was the caretaker types whom clubs appoint to handle for a few days or months before they can find the right man. Ironically this is when Benitez actually did well, the last time in his career that he has done anything well. He won the Europa League and secured 3rd place for Chelsea. He had proved that he could do a job. However since when did Real Madrid start hiring coaches merely to do a job? As Real Madrid fans at this forum have told us theirs is a club that dreams big every season.

Just when it seemed that maybe Benitez can rediscover something in himself as a commendable coach his work at Napoli was quite poor. Both his predecessor and successor have done better than him at the same club.

If you want attractive football will Benitez give you that? No.

If you want a manager with whom the squad is very happy will Benitez give you that? No.

If you want a manager who is great in the transfer market will Benitez give you that? No.

So for heaven's sake what the hell will he give you? Why was he hired? It was a mind boggling decision to say the least.

As we all know Real Madrid is a club that aims high every season. Signing a coach like Benitez is like killing those expectations even before they have been fully dreamed. It's not about hiring a low profile coach. Hiring something of an unknown entity, even a rookie, can at least excite people. It can create some suspense within the mind saying let's see what happens. Like when Barca hired Tata Martino I wasn't disappointed at all. Instead I was interested in seeing what would be different. With Benitez you don't even get the curiosity factor. You know what he is about and you know that boring and depressing times are about to come your way.

So WHY was he HIRED ???

I can understand why Perez hired Pellegrini, why he next hired Mourinho, why after that he hired Ancelotti and why now he has appointed Zidane. However I just cannot understand why he hired Benitez. It cannot be simply to make someone's childhood dream come true or maybe I underestimate the generosity of the Madrid president.

Ottmar Hitzfield says the appointment of Zidane is insane :-

http://www.goal.com/en/news/722/la-liga/2016/01/06/19033262/real-madrid-insane-to-appoint-zidane-hitzfeld?ICID=OP

did pep not happen? or crystal balls being sold by the local kebab dealer?

chad4401 wrote:did pep not happen? or crystal balls being sold by the local kebab dealer?

What's this nonsense. For every Pep there's 30 examples of playing legends NOT making it as a coach.

You guys really haven't understood anything.

"Benitez HAD to go" ...

Why? What did he do? Come onto Perez' daughter? Wipe his arse with a di Stefano jersey from the Real museum?

"he had to go" after half a year with decent results lmao.

Clueless club, clueless fans.

Loving it.

I think decision to sack Rafa was very whats the word uhhhh ummm justifiable if u may. After all this is Real Madrid u are talking about u see. Here u win trophies or gtfo. Haters call it glory hunting But Darwin calls it survival of the fittest. I know Darwin doesn't know much about football but hey lets not get into technicalities.

Hapless_Hans wrote:Wipe his arse with a di Stefano jersey from the Real museum?

What is visualized can't be unvisualized.

It isn't as much the results as the man management that got Benitez sacked. He completely lost entire sections of the team, and started keeping stars entirely out of games. This is not a good way to go about things in Madrid.

Also, he had one of the hardest tasks of any manager when talking about man management, which is his weakest quality even without the added challenge of succeeding Ancelotti.
Ancelotti was so beloved by our players, and any replacement just wasn't going to make it.

Perez has been ignorant in handling this situation with Ancelotti's sacking. Our players are human too, despite being pretty arrogant and too powerful, they felt betrayed by the president. I'd rather Benitez was fired sooner than later, because there's no way he could've gained the support of the squad again.

Zidane is probably the perfect kind of coach for our current squad. His status as a footballing legend is what's needed to shut up Ramos and Ronaldo and keep them somewhat in check. They'll respect him in a way that Benitez could never get their respect.

Hopefully we can change the course of this ship. I just hope Zidane gets a good chance to prove him self. We have to reach a turning point soon and with our current squad I can't see a better coaching choice than Zidane, given our limited options.

Hapless_Hans wrote:

chad4401 wrote:did pep not happen? or crystal balls being sold by the local kebab dealer?

What's this nonsense. For every Pep there's 30 examples of playing legends NOT making it as a coach.

You guys really haven't understood anything.

"Benitez HAD to go" ...

Why? What did he do? Come onto Perez' daughter? Wipe his arse with a di Stefano jersey from the Real museum?

"he had to go" after half a year with decent results lmao.

Clueless club, clueless fans.

Loving it.

again more like you lining up playing dumb, you are not watching these games, the team is losing to any decent opponent, players all over the place in a 5-0-5 formation, almost wanted to quit watching games, and your gonna tell me its wrong to sack rafa? shut up.

all i see is chumps looking for excuses to go on a anti madrid rant, why can't i use pep? team hasn't kicked a ball and doom is inevitable no matter what? why cause you say so? again shut up.

stupid posts, stupid insight and a stupid finish.

messixaviesta wrote:What could have been the reasons for Real Madrid having hired Rafael Benitez?

I have tried to think a lot on this but could hardly come up with any reason.

The main quality of Benitez used to be his ability to win big matches in which his team was the underdog but with largely negative and defensive tactics. That also I don't think he has done even once since the 2008-09 season.

Winning league titles at Valencia may have been great but his last league title came in 2003-04. The name he built subsequently was largely built on the UCL triumph of 2004-05. While Liverpool supporters may always appreciate him for that, I think a certain section of the fans may also feel that they should have won the EPL title in 2008-09 and the main reason they lost it was Benitez. Even when Liverpool was the best team in England Benitez just couldn't get a consistent run of wins in the league. In the end what it came down to was Sir Alex Ferguson's knack of over-achieving and Benitez's knack of under-achieving, at least in league football.

What he did at Inter Milan was beyond disastrous and this summer when Madrid appointed him pretty much the first thought that had come to my mind was this is likely to be a repeat of the Inter scenario. In the end it didn't turn out all that different.

After his Inter stint Benitez had to take a long break likely because no one, at least no top club, wanted to hire him. Then Chelsea gave him a chance but they never treated him with respect. They labelled him an interim manager even at the time of hiring him, as if he was the caretaker types whom clubs appoint to handle for a few days or months before they can find the right man. Ironically this is when Benitez actually did well, the last time in his career that he has done anything well. He won the Europa League and secured 3rd place for Chelsea. He had proved that he could do a job. However since when did Real Madrid start hiring coaches merely to do a job? As Real Madrid fans at this forum have told us theirs is a club that dreams big every season.

Just when it seemed that maybe Benitez can rediscover something in himself as a commendable coach his work at Napoli was quite poor. Both his predecessor and successor have done better than him at the same club.

If you want attractive football will Benitez give you that? No.

If you want a manager with whom the squad is very happy will Benitez give you that? No.

If you want a manager who is great in the transfer market will Benitez give you that? No.

So for heaven's sake what the hell will he give you? Why was he hired? It was a mind boggling decision to say the least.

As we all know Real Madrid is a club that aims high every season. Signing a coach like Benitez is like killing those expectations even before they have been fully dreamed. It's not about hiring a low profile coach. Hiring something of an unknown entity, even a rookie, can at least excite people. It can create some suspense within the mind saying let's see what happens. Like when Barca hired Tata Martino I wasn't disappointed at all. Instead I was interested in seeing what would be different. With Benitez you don't even get the curiosity factor. You know what he is about and you know that boring and depressing times are about to come your way.

So WHY was he HIRED ???

I can understand why Perez hired Pellegrini, why he next hired Mourinho, why after that he hired Ancelotti and why now he has appointed Zidane. However I just cannot understand why he hired Benitez. It cannot be simply to make someone's childhood dream come true or maybe I underestimate the generosity of the Madrid president.

You are trying to figure out the reasoning of Perez?? As Ballaque correctly pointed out, he is a smart businessman on financial and commercial side of business but he is absolutely terrible on the futbol side. He should leave that to experts but he refuses to and thus the major problem with our club. His reasoning is pretty simple, he has won trophies before, has managed big clubs. Nothing more nothing less. The only other consideration I believe was Kloop but he doesn't speak Spanish (and that would be a major problem). You're expecting Perez to do some due diligence, have some sort of analysis of what is needed in a coach! This is the same guy that signed Bale, Beckham and wouldn't pay Makelele a decent salary, all because of what he perceives as marketability, nothing to do with needs of futbol club.

@Nick - weren't you boosting a couple of years ago about Ballague, that he was one of a very few credible sports journalists out there?

as to why Benitez had to go, it's pretty obvious if you watched any of our games. Lines separated by probably 100 metres, front three completely immobile in offensive zone. Midfield no help to defense at all and a very incompetent RB, that together with a LB that is weak defensively. He had the club beating the small teams, didn't belong on same field as big teams and struggling against mid table teams. Biggest factor was his man management (which always has been a problem). He had lost team, certainly the majority of them.

And about Zidane. He has been appointed Interim coach. He knows this lineup very well and has seen what has worked and what hasn't now under three different coaches. He more than anyone can make change in this club. But let's face facts, this year is a writeoff and Zidane is being given an opportunity to prove himself and earn the title without the word interim in front. He can do this with much improved man management and improving play that we can at least be on same field as the Barcas or Bayerns or Atleti of this world. He doesn't have to win anything, expecting so is simply unrealistic at this point. If he doesn't turn out to be another Pep, then nothing really lost, we just go after a more established coach in the summer (after we shed Ronaldo).

"This is Real Madrid, you must win trophies if you don't want to be sacked"

*looks at table*

https://i.servimg.com/u/f68/16/72/25/30/rafa_b10.png

"You must win trophies if you don't want to be sacked"

*looks at CL draw*

https://i.servimg.com/u/f68/16/72/25/30/real_m10.png

*looks at date* 06 January 2016

You really are clueless as many other in this thread. Benitez wasn't fired for that but his horrible team managment as other have explained nicely which I know is a hard thing to read here in GL.

I mean, that's your opinion and you stick to it

Shouldn't that same sentence apply to everyone else who has been commenting considering this is all about opinions based on facts.

Speaking of opinions, pretty much of the belief Perez has played his final hand in all this madness. He no longer has any more scapegoats and the next person whose head would be on a block is his.

Hapless_Hans wrote:

chad4401 wrote:did pep not happen? or crystal balls being sold by the local kebab dealer?

What's this nonsense. For every Pep there's 30 examples of playing legends NOT making it as a coach.

You guys really haven't understood anything.

"Benitez HAD to go" ...

Why? What did he do? Come onto Perez' daughter? Wipe his arse with a di Stefano jersey from the Real museum?

"he had to go" after half a year with decent results lmao.

Clueless club, clueless fans.

Loving it.

There are German Real Madrid fans. Real Madrid fans are clueless. Germans are clueless.

Generalization.

Loving it

What is more intriguing is why Perez got rid of Carlo. On the Football Show (on Sirius) Charlie Stillitano gave us his take months ago. Charlie knows nearly everyone in world football. He also very brave as he speaks his mind even though he relies on the presidents and managers of the biggest clubs to be able to organize the off-season friendlies he sets up under the guise of the International Champions Cups in North America and Asia/Oceania. He knows Perez.

He said that Perez gets antsy when a manager becomes too powerful. Charlie believes that Carlo, while not a power hungry type and quite humble, was becoming too loved by the players. This, to Perez, is a threat to his overreaching need to be the "main man".

or maybe running your core 13 players into the ground, 2 seasons in row maybe had something to do with it? and some heavy losses, but lets works with players loving him too much.... internet sometimes gotta love it .

Thank you, it's been an honour
05/01/2016

Now, at the end of my time as first team coach of Real Madrid,I would like to use this article to say goodbye to everyone at every level of the club. I want everyone at the club from the Board of directors, executives, workers and all of the fans, know that it has been an honour and privilege to be in charge at this club.were I grew up as a person, player and coach from the lowest categories through to the first team. As a madridista from Madrid, steeped in the traditions and values of this institution, which I learned in the old sports city of Castellana, it has been an honour to work for these colours. I would especially like to thank everyone at the new sports city and the Santiago Bernabéu who since my first steps through the door have supported me and made my work easier. Thanks to all for helping.

With all that I have said still in mind, I would like to wish good luck to Zinedine Zidane,my successor, and his staff. To all the players, coaches and staff in both Valdebebas and Bernabéu, I wish all the best and also good luck.

With all my respect and thanks... HALA MADRID and NOTHING ELSE.

http://www.rafabenitez.com/web/in/whats-on/thank-you-its-been-an-honour/187/

Fusbal posting news without sarcasm must be a new years resolution

Tbh I didn't post it without a hidden agenda.

Trying to make Madrid fans feel sorry for sacking such a decent person.