Rafael Benitez

Hate this. The man underperforms with Napoli and is rewarded with arguably the biggest job in football?
I feel like he's being brought in to accommodate Bale. Bale's pretty much lost his entire support structure with no more Carlo and more importantly Clemente.

Rafa taking over at Madrid is a bit like Redknapp being given the England job at this point. It should've happened at some point, but now its too late. Damaged goods, feels like second rate.

Before Mou and Carlo you had

Pellegrini
Juande Ramos
Bernd Schuster
Lopez Caro
Luxemburgo
Mariano Garcia Remon
Jose Antonio Camacho
Carlos Queiroz

Capello is an out liar there

Rafa shits on all the rest of them. What makes you think you have had some glorious line of managers that Rafa taints that list?

You're comparing Rafa to the coaches during our dark ages? Not really a comparison that is worth anything

And btw, he does not shat all over Pellegrini and Queiroz.

I give you Pellegrini. While Rafa is still better than him imo he doesn't shit on him.

But Queiroz What has he done or won as a manager? His most successful stint was being Fergie's boot shiner.

Any Man U fan will tell you that the best periods in Man U history were when Queiroz was running things technically for them...  both stints.  I thought he had Portugal going in the right direction and they looked good in WC 2010 before losing to eventual champions Spain 1-0 (they could have won that game easily) in elimination rounds...  much better than WC 2014 lol.

He just preferred NT coaching over club coaching because he wasn't the best with constant attention. He was more a technician.  His NT coaching record is excellent btw.  He took South Africa to its first WC in 2002, then Portugal made a good run in 2010... finally, Iran did well in WC 2014 too considering what he had to deal with there.  They looked very decent against Argentina.

At Madrid, he was victim to Flo... it was the start of the galactico era.  The club started great despite being awfully unbalanced but finished poorly as any club would with no defense, 2 strikers and 4 attacking wingers/AMs/CMs being forced to start  Typical Flo fashion, he blamed the coach for his own transfers craziness.

The Madrid job should be a meritocracy and Rafa just hasn't done enough in recent times to be given the Madrid job.

He's more qualified for the Madrid job than 90% of the managers you've had this century, I don't get the argument he hadn't done enough.

Overall CV sure, but for whatever reasons in the past few years he hasn't done enough to be worthy of getting the biggest job in club football

the guy has the job now. i've been critical of this move, but what the man and the team needs at this point is support. we should consider it a clean slate. he hasn't coached a team with this squad so let's give him time and the confidence he needs to instill his methods. the deal has been finalized, so its no use complaining about it at this point; let's see who he wants to bring in, the formation he wishes to chose, and most importantly what is done on the pitch....hopefully its a better season in store for us

Like the majority of fans and neutrals, I definitely think Ancelotti should've been allowed to stay. However, I don't think it's fair to judge Benitez based on his results since leaving Liverpool. We all know he was left with Mourinho's trademark leftovers at Chelsea, and it's not like he's enjoyed the same quality players as most other coaches that are considered to be top tier, these days.

I assume he's capable of playing attractive football. I've hardly watched Napoli play under him, but I read that he insisted on using an attacking 4-2-3-1 formation. I'm genuinely excited to see if he'll implement something similar to this squad, and I'm definitely looking forward to see how he'll handle Bale (if he ends up staying). If there's anything I admire about Benitez, it's his willingness to put star players in their place, if the situation requires it - and it doesn't entail causing a lot of unnecessary drama á la Mourinho.

Napoli was one of the best attacking teams in serie a this season,contrary to Rafa's popular pragmatic image , although they did concede 54(i think) goals , only bettered by sides in the bottom half of the table.

That's because they have AlbiLOL in their defense.

Lord Hades wrote:The Madrid job should be a meritocracy  and Rafa just hasn't done enough in recent times to be given the Madrid job.

No offence but that is some poor logic

Do you think Luis Enrique done enough to be given the Barca job? I didnt either and now he's on a verge of a historical season.

smh this club

linetty wrote:

Lord Hades wrote:The Madrid job should be a meritocracy  and Rafa just hasn't done enough in recent times to be given the Madrid job.

No offence but that is some poor logic

Do you think Luis Enrique done enough to be given the Barca job? I didnt either and now he's on a verge of a historical season.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but the fact remains that you and many other Barca fans weren't convinced he would do so well (impliedly using the same logic) because of his prior failures (although he did do reaosnably well at Celta). Rafa could be a roaring success, sure I really hope he does but the fact remains that he comes on the back of a disappointing season with Napoli given the kind of expectations which prevailed at the club when he was appointed.

linetty wrote:

Lord Hades wrote:The Madrid job should be a meritocracy  and Rafa just hasn't done enough in recent times to be given the Madrid job.

No offence but that is some poor logic

Do you think Luis Enrique done enough to be given the Barca job? I didnt either and now he's on a verge of a historical season.

do you think luis Enrique would have kept QPR up. I don't.

Unique wrote:

linetty wrote:

Lord Hades wrote:The Madrid job should be a meritocracy  and Rafa just hasn't done enough in recent times to be given the Madrid job.

No offence but that is some poor logic

Do you think Luis Enrique done enough to be given the Barca job? I didnt either and now he's on a verge of a historical season.

do you think luis Enrique would have kept QPR up. I don't.

You win.

linetty wrote:

Unique wrote:

linetty wrote:

No offence but that is some poor logic

Do you think Luis Enrique done enough to be given the Barca job? I didnt either and now he's on a verge of a historical season.

do you think luis Enrique would have kept QPR up. I don't.

You win.

what do I get.

linetty wrote:

Lord Hades wrote:The Madrid job should be a meritocracy  and Rafa just hasn't done enough in recent times to be given the Madrid job.

No offence but that is some poor logic

Do you think Luis Enrique done enough to be given the Barca job? I didnt either and now he's on a verge of a historical season.

Luis Enrique is carried by Messi, nothing special about him.

Adit wrote:

linetty wrote:

Lord Hades wrote:The Madrid job should be a meritocracy  and Rafa just hasn't done enough in recent times to be given the Madrid job.

No offence but that is some poor logic

Do you think Luis Enrique done enough to be given the Barca job? I didnt either and now he's on a verge of a historical season.

Luis Enrique is carried by Messi, nothing special about him.

This.

McAgger still trying to hide his former Madridista ways Don't worry man, I know you were a big Madridista. You can't erase the past.

Rafa would be fine regardless. He'll either win a bunch of trophies and be fired or not win shit and still be fired. Either way, he'll be receiving a lovely monetary package when he gets fired.

Adit wrote:

linetty wrote:

Lord Hades wrote:The Madrid job should be a meritocracy  and Rafa just hasn't done enough in recent times to be given the Madrid job.

No offence but that is some poor logic

Do you think Luis Enrique done enough to be given the Barca job? I didnt either and now he's on a verge of a historical season.

Luis Enrique is carried by Messi, nothing special about him.

His side also has the best defence this season. Obviously nothing special about a treble winning coach.

Keep the hate flowing. I love it.