How do you assess Benitez' 2 seasons at Napoli?

2012/13

League position: 2nd, 78 points, GF 71 GA 24

Starting team:


2014/15

League position: 5th, 63 points, GF 70, GA 54

Starting team:


Total transfer spent (2013-15): 118.8m pounds
Total transfer sold (2013-15): 78.98m pounds

Titlles won: (2013-15): Coppa Italia 2013-14, Supercoppa Italiana 2014

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Personally, I have mixed feelings about his tenure. I think he fails the "leave a stronger team than the one you found" test. The defense doesn't have a single noteworthy player, and you can see this in the abismal difference between goals conceded. This could be forgiven if he at least had the excuse of entertaining football, but they were often quite dull to watch. Napoli scored 70 goals this season, compared to 71 by Roma and 72 by Juve, so clearly in this department they have kept up with the other challengers.

On the other hand, Napoli had only won the Coppa Italia 4 times in their history before and the Supercoppa only once, so from this perspective he was a huge success, making a significant contribution to their silverware count.

BC, i think you put in the wrong Napoli team in Benitez' first season

That was the pre-Benitez team, for comparison

I give him a 2/5.

He was bought to take Napoli to the next level yet he leaves them in a worse position than they were before he came. Mazzari did a better job than him. And it's not like he was cash strapped. He spent over a 100 million in two seasons to buy flops like Ghoulam and Jorginho. Compare that to Lazio signing De Vrij and Felipe Anderson. Higuain was probably his best signing but even that is a downgrade from Cavani though I don't blame him for that. Higuain was the best striker that was available to Napoli.

His silverware is significant. That is what stops him from being a complete failure. He made Napoli achieve history but the trouble is he leaves them in a position where making history again in recent years seems like a tall task for the team. He had the budget but he misused it. He had a disappointing tenure overall.

PS: BC ffs I was going to make this thread tomorrow morning.

I don't think it would be that hard to make Napoli a challenger. If they invest in 3 very good defensive players and get a manager that can get the best of Jorginho they would be making important strides (say, 1 CB, 1 LB and a DM). Their top 4 is quite good, and Insigne and Gabbiadini are quality options to have on the bench.

On average, over the past 2 seasons they have a spent a net 20m pounds, which with some sales I feel is enough to bring them those kinds of players. Of course, this year they won't have CL group money, so that could be an issue.

Jorginho staying at Napoli is tentative since he's co-owned and co-ownerships will be abolished this summer. Also, i'd add a RB to your list as well since Maggio isn't going to cut it.

I think he puts Napoli in a worse place than he found them in.

With smart purchases and better coaching, Napoli should have been a comfortable top 3 team with an upward momentum. However, they are out of CL football and this might make it easier for the Milan teams to creep in (assuming they get their acts together).

In many ways, he was unlucky in many steps, especially in his first CL campaign. However, Napoli flopped in too many important games these two years. A trophy they could have arguably won with Mazzari doesn't excuse the abject failure of the team.

I think the biggest criticism is not that he flopped in many big games, where I think they did relatively well, but that they lost too many games they should have won. While their home record is pretty good, away they lost 8 games and only won 7. They lost against sides like Verona, Empoli, Chievo and AC Milan. It's the small games that make you win the championship.

Honestly, I didn't expect much more of him.

I don't rate him that highly as a manager and am not surprised he didn't take Napoli to the next level.

He failed mostly in transfers... some good ones, but a lot of flops. The key to Benitez is to take away personnel decisions from him. He should just manage and he's good at that.

He's a poor man's Mourinho tbh.

It's extremely hard to gauge what success is at a club like Napoli.  Did anyone seriously think he was going to win the league and topple Juve?

I think he did a decent job, sure had Higgy buried that PK today this season looks a lot better, Rafa can't go take the PK for him.

I think people forget when they say Rafa did bad in the transfer market or he should of bought this player or that player that not everyone wants to play in Italy and for Napoli, for top class players its a step down, so then you're gambling on transfers and on mid-top tier talent that other top teams don't really want or choose not to buy, kind of like Spurs have for years now.

Spanish teams excel at this because they grow there own players where as if you're going to bring in a hired gun like Rafa you can't bank on your youth system.

I'm sure there's a ton of players he wanted and the club would have paid the cash but again players don't really go there.  

The margins for success are very slim in Serie A as it's a great competitive league with only 3 champions league spots and it's hard on foreign managers to understand how the league works and the style of play needed to succeed.

With that being said the defense his teams played was just poor at times.  But all in all I think he did a decent enough job.

I mean I'm sure a lot of Rafa's "faults" will be washed away when he gets to Real and has his roster and bank roll behind him similar to Enrique at Barca.

Winning the league would have been an instant 5.
Finishing in the CL spots in his last season would have been 4.
Now I give him just 2, that's how important the CL-finish is.

Well done for the cup success, but with both Milano clubs being absent, this period has been a golden opportunity for Napoli. Now it's the capitol clubs instead who took advantage.

lol at " did ok " .
he took over at a time when Napoli were looking to improve on their second place finish and at least give Juve a fight for the title .
instead ,he fell behind Roma .

the following year he couldn't even qualify to the CL group stage , finished outside of the top 3 despite Lazio and Roma's inconsistent form throughout the season, and got eliminated by Dnipro in the semis .

utter failure .

i don't see how anyone can rate his two seasons as anything more than a 2 out of 5, 2 out of 5 seems too much even, i'm thinking one and a half, considering the moneys they spent two summers ago, the most the club had ever spent on transfers

the idea was to better what mazzarri did and topple juve, that didn't happen, they failed to get past the group stage a season ago, and this season failed in the qualifiers as well as the last game debacle.

it also doesn't help that mazzarri developed some players into valuable commodities on the market, cavani, lavezzi, and at one point hamsik was being considered as a 30 million plus midfielder; but now the team isn't left with any prospects that can bring in a boatload of cash......maybe higuain, depending on how desperate the buyer is, but i doubt if he is sold, it would be for more than what they signed him for......especially considering the clubs linked with him are not exactly swimming in cash.

i'll give rafa one and a half for the cup, not being able to best mazzarri in the league and not being able to make any impact in europe- champs league, qualifiers, and two europa league opportunities, is very poor. hope he is able to build something positive with us at madrid

I had the misfortune of watching Benitez' Napoli couple of times last season, and I almost fell out of love with the beautiful game. Traumatic.