Why Benitez's Transfer Strategy Must Be Backed

I don't think there will be arguments regarding injuries adding to our woes, but we knew that we didn't have sufficient cover in certain positions, an issue he recognises and is dealing with in the transfer market.

I'm in favour of giving Benitez time to build his own squad, keep us in this league and assess his decisions over the summer and into the first ten games next season.

He is yet another Everton manager who inherited a disjointed squad and we have to break the cycle of regularly replacing the manager as a solution to squad deficiencies.

He also has the reputation of being defensively minded and inflexible, not the kind of manager I wanted to see at Everton.

However, he did inherit a poor quality squad and this was compounded by injury and Covid which didn't help our performances on the field. That being said, some of his managerial decisions regarding team selection, game plans, substitutions, zonal marking etc have been bizarre to say the least.

Obviously we don't know everything that goes on behind the scenes but, as injured players return and any new signings settle into the side, we may begin to put a few results together, that's the straw I'm clinging to anyway!

If the players don't respond to his methods on the pitch, however, I fear we will be in deep trouble again!

No manager could have been expected to get things right after six months and of course he has made mistakes, a couple of them unexplainable, he has called the mistakes by the players which have caused the loss of points and put his hands up to his own part in this very poor run.

If you judge him I think it is impossible not to recognise the threadbare squad he inherited, the injuries and suspensions to key players which have contributed to put us very close to a relegation fight and let's see how we perform once the injuries abate, if they ever do, and how the new players fix into the squad once the January window closes with a strong midfielder adding to those already signed.

Dale@ 6, a good analogy, simple and sums it up.

We need to let things play out this year, and lose a lot of the remaining deadwood. We've got Nkounkou coming back next year. We'll have more room to manoeuvre next year. We'l stop paying a fortune to he who cannot be named (at least I think we're paying him... anyone know?). If we sack the manager, we pay loads more compensation. Again. I think that counts to FFP (anyone know?) and we have less to spend. And get back on the carousel. Again.

I don't understand some of the teams and playing Coleman on the wrong side felt very cut-off-your-nose But I guess there's things we may not know.

Let's win today and see what else changes in January.

Any manager at the start of a rebuild needs at least a year.

Mick @4: Every manager signs dross. But you can't deny he's picked a winner in Gray and Townsend has as good an attitude as any player I've seen for us in a long time, plus he's contributed quite a bit so far.

His last couple of jobs he hasn't won anything. But before that, he won the CL with Liverpool, Europa with Chelsea and managed Real Madrid but didn't get on with the owner. How successful was Ancelotti in the years before he joined us? He'd won one Bundesliga in seven years with one of the best Bayern Munich teams they've had. They sacked him, Napoli sacked him and then we got him. He wasn't that successful either, but the common denominator and the reason why Benitez is getting so much stick is because of his history across the park. Nothing else. As a fanbase we can't be that pedantic, we need to wake up and smell the coffee and realise our club is not a quick and easy fix. Barry @10 puts it perfectly.

With regard to his attitude towards Digne questioning tactics...... You can only accept Benitez attitude towards Digne if the team are playing great footy and getting results. We are doing neither. 30 odd thousand fans can see the problems on the pitch with the way the team are set up. Even the pundits are bemused by the way we set up and by the complete lack of organization on defensive set pieces and corners. That is all down to what is not being done well by the coaches/Manager on the training ground.
The only difference between Benitez and Allardyce is that Benitez actually won a few trophies, but soooo long ago. They are both arrogant, stubborn, set in their ways and set up to play yesterday's football. Neither give a hoot about the fans, nor will they ever admit when they are to blame or didn't get it right. Take the praise when something good happens and blame the players when it all goes wrong. The similarities are far too many to be comfortable.

Maybe if Moshiri had appointed a completely different style of Manager, young, progressive, and inspirational to both players and fans, we wouldn't be in this situation again, with the wrong Manager.
I read an interview given by Steve Gerrard, who love him or hate him, you have to respect. He said of Benitez, that he was a manager who stripped him of his confidence. He improved under the management of Houllier before, then felt his confidence ebbing away under Benitez. Only that he was as strong mentally as he was, and felt so pasionate about his club and the shirt he wore, that he rose above it and managed to keep his mentality in tact. If Benitez does that to a player of Steven Gerrards ability and passion, imagine what's going on at Finch Farm, with players already low in confidence.

There is absolutely no indication of individual players improving, team performance improving, or pleasing style of football being developed. And, what we now know, is that this will not change as Benitez is too stubborn to change.

Sorry Matthew, but while I understand the logic of giving a Manager a chance, it has to be the right manager. For all the reasons, above, Benitez is not the right manager to be given any more of a chance and cannot be allowed to continue.

For me, stop booing players when they come onto the field. We need to back Rafa, back this team and give him time.

For me, it is that simple and I am getting fed up with this sacking talk, the negative signs at the grounds, his prior connections and what Gerard thinks of him or anyone else.

I don't agree with all of his tactics but, seriously, what do you expect of a manager with two hands (and okay, one leg) tied behind his back? Most of the new players being brought in are young and enthusiastic. Hopefully we are building for the future.

I read that stat on Rafa and went and looked up the specifics. He signed an awful lot of teenagers on the cheap for Liverpool as opposed to signing 70 expensive established players.

I think Matthew makes a decent point. But I'm inclined to Mick O'Malley's view on Rafa. But I'll give Dave Abrahams a vote of confidence by going with his wise view…

I enjoyed that. Well played. I will look out keenly for your future observations.

Benitez is to be applauded (as is Coleman by supporting him) for taking this stand against low standards and refusing to back down.

If he had gone back to Lucas Digne and asked him to play, what message would that have sent to the rest of the squad? The lazy mercenaries would have continued to take the piss with impunity and those with the right attitude would lose respect for him, with the knock-on effect on his ability to motivate them.

We don't know what goes on behind closed doors but what we do know is players like Townsend, who has demonstrated a good attitude and work ethic throughout his career and who strikes me as an old-school English player, is behind him.

Get behind the man. He is in the job, doing a lot of the things we have been crying out for (wingers, fullbacks, weed out the greedy and lazy) under extremely difficult circumstances while his best players are injured – that is to be applauded and shows fortitude and guts. Something Everton Football Club has been lacking for a long, long time.

I'd love to hear Rondon's views on tactics and performance and especially any thoughts on how to improve it, if at all necessary, but then this might show a hole in the transfer strategy.

Deluded and brain-dead beyond words.

Benitez definitely doesn't come across as a fungi and there is certainly mushroom for improvement.

I sympathise with Benitez for the loss of our spine for most of the season. Our weaknesses are directly related to it. There is no-one to step in or replace Calvert-Lewin up front, Doucoure at centre-midfield, or Yerry Mina at centre-back. Additionally, having Richarlison out for so many games banned or injured is adding to the problems no end.

Then there is the right-back issue: Coleman should have been a back-up right-back for the last 2 years, he is trying but a yard of pace and his directness has gone. Enough to leave us exposed on the right.

So there are issues that any manager would struggle with.

But … I can't understand Benitez's formations and team selections at all. The struggling Coleman being redeployed as a left-back? Part of a three-man centre-back set-up?

These decisions are asking for trouble and must give any opponent reason to be excited and a real boost in motivation and confidence to attack us.

Above all, we need a stable defence that understands their roles. Two centre-backs who compliment each other become a force bigger than each individually.

It's January and there is a big opportunity to get this fundamental building block and foundation of a team sorted out, even if it involves signing a quality experienced loan player at centre-back until June.

Branthwaite totally looks the real deal but a 19-year-old needs to be used intelligently in his development. He will not be consistent at that age; his body is still developing and it needs to be managed. He is going to be our first-choise, long-term, centre-back in the near future.

Mina was starting to look like a £30M defender before he got injured, again. We need more reliability than Yerry can give us and, when he is fit, his committed games with Colombia often take their toll.

From what I've seen, I think this centre-back signing (loan or permanent depending upon sales) has moved up the priority list to the top. The defensive set-up, organisation and stability to be sorted as a matter of urgency. Signing this one player will help sort it out.

You did, however, omit one major setback the new manager could not have possibly anticipated -- the sudden, permanent loss of his most durable player and a consistent scorer. Last season, 44 appearances, 3000 minutes, 8 goals and 10 assists. This year, zeroes. That has done more than any other single factor to wreck the depth of the team.

Dave #5, best response I could imagine.

Karen #13, you make a number of valid points in opposition, but this is not one of them: "There is absolutely no indication of individual players improving..." Gordon, Doucoure, Allan and Pickford are all better players than they were this time last year, and Gray and Townsend have been lifted to complete career revivals under this manager. You can say a lot of bad things about Benitez, but failure to improve players? Not true.

Roy #11, you've hit on the one thing that drives me craziest. Ancelotti was able to to significantly improve on years of horseshit performance on set pieces (under Martinez, Koeman and especially Silva). Now Benitez has us backsliding in that area.

Dale #6, that's such an apropos metaphor than I can only assume you were yourself consuming considerable fungi in the past 24 hours. 'Shrooms, baby. (And Tony, great topper!)

But then I look at WHU. Two owners (plus Karen Brady) universally disliked by the fans. Buying below average players. Moving to a stadium not really fit for purpose. Chopping and changing of managers. Permanent instability etc…

And yet, they took a chance on Dour Dave. Steadied the ship. Bought better players. Improved the fans match day experience and look where they are now. Neither the board or Dour Dave are loved by the fans but they are a club on the up and going in the right direction.

Can Everton emulate WHU? Can Benitez/Moshiri ever be accepted if not loved? Anything is possible in this game.

But, the more I thought about it, the more I began to think someone like Rafa is exactly what we needed. We've all cried out for years about the unprofessional, 'anything will do' attitude of our club. The lack of ambition, the infamous Knife to a Gunfight. And it was going to take a seriously stubborn, established manager with a massive ego to change all that is wrong with our ailing club.

A young, unproven manager simply wouldn't have the nous or gravitas to walk into an established Premier League club, with a good few international players, and start clearing the decks. He simply wouldn't be able to get away with it.

But Rafa has that reputation, he has that CV and he clearly has the ego. I'm not onside with some of his bizarre actions but, when you look at what he's doing, it's the things we've all said we need. New wingers, new full-backs, clear out the Jobs for the Boys mentality, etc.

Despite the odd and infuriating inclusion of the immobile Rondon, he's brought in 3 players for money and all are young, energetic and playing for either the biggest club they've ever been at or playing in the biggest league for the first time. This means they're hungry and motivated. And Townsend has been a brilliant signing, for a free transfer.

I understand everyone's frustrations, and they're valid points. But we could just be onto something with a man who won't accept anything less than the best. It'll take time, obviously, but we're used to that.

I said before that he could be our Frank Lampard, maybe not the man to ultimately bring success but he could be the man to put everything in place before a Tuchel type comes along and finishes the job.

Let's just get behind him.

I do like his mantra of “only wanting players who want to be here”. For far too long we've had too many grifters, mercenaries and downright shite (Iwobi) players milking us for every last penny.

Dropped from the International team in September, he didn't knuckle down and was dropped by Benitez in November, with reports of a bust-up with Benitez over being told to knuckle down.

More competition for his place as an unused sub in last game, now not prepared to play for Everton.

All accompanied with transfer speculation ranging from the heights of Inter Milan or Chelsea to part swap with Newcastle or Aston Villa now trying to force a transfer.

Benitez needs to take a tough stance, players and ex-players have been dictating too much for too long at Everton.

Digne needs to knuckle down and get his club place and International place back, if his career is going to keep going. He may be forced to because he may not have transfer options with his current attitude.

So far, Gray and Townsend have been good additions whilst the 2 full backs look promising.

Given that we messed up the implementation of a DoF and have reverted to total control in the hands of the manager, then we have to back it. Otherwise, we change managers and start again.

He tried his best, talked a good game, divided the dressing room and justifyably got the sack making way for a true Evertonian to galvanise a dressing room and fan base.

Make all the excuses you like. He hasn't got a fully fit team, existing players not good enough, players not wanting to play for us, ffp. Every manager I have known for us had had the same dilemmas. They aren't excuses they are the realities of managing any football team outside of the top 3.

He will never unite the fan base. His style is to always blame everyone else. Most importantly his football tactics and formations are abysmal.

We also need to start assessing character and injury proneness (I know some players could end up with bad luck injuries after joining) but signings like Delph with history of injuries are a waste of time and money.

Hopefully a majority of new signings in the 20-25 bracket sprinkled with a few good experiencing heads brought in on 1-2 year deals.

Also, we need to start taking advantage of the loan system, Moyes was very good at this.

Actually it's pretty much zero.

Despite the Rafa fans thinking he's the only option, managers are simply not in short supply.

Clearly he is a bit deluded, thinking that Everton could negotiate better transfer going out than transfers going in. His agent must be deluded regarding his negotiating ability as well.

I don't think Digne is going anywhere.

My advice is: "Knuckle down, Lucas. "

Benitez has been around and managed clubs that have a better recent history than us, and I believe that he has come into the club and seen what is wrong its wider workings. His mission is to bring us into the 21st century, hence some of the movement behind the scenes - Brands, the doctor, Sharpy being moved on to the board (not sure if this is at RB's behest, but I welcome our second greatest goal scorer and passionate Evertonian having some influence at that level).

We need to stop satisfying ourselves with what is past - whilst the sentiment is understandable I have come to hate 'If you know yer 'istory...' because it is retrograde and irrelevant, and as a philosophy running from terraces to boardroom it needs to be banished.

Our history is not going to win us anything, and if that means experiencing some labour pains as we enter a new, productive and successful era then I endorse it.

As for the spat between Benitez and Digne – losing Digne will be less damaging to our club than losing another manager.

It is popularly known that Benitez has a thick skin and it is good job he has, because at the moment we need a manager who knows his own mind and has his own vision. Long term it might not be the vision I share, but we need stability and he might just provide the platform for the next incumbent to take us to the next level.

Finally, I have read some of the comments about our win last night. Agreed – it was not pretty, but it was a win and we need three wins on the bounce to change the direction of our season. It is the first of those three.

So for the love of mercy will those of you moaning realise that the players are going to respond to praise. I am a teacher and if you want a student to improve you have to focus on the things they do right and praise them, whilst constructively criticising their mistakes.

Over 40 years and more I have often observed that the difference between us and the RS supporters is that if they sign a new left back for cover they are talking about his international prospects and the chances of him featuring in the Champions League final. Whereas too many Evertonians would respond to winning the Champions League, by complaining about the blue hoops at the top of our socks.

Be realistic. Yes.
Be positive. Yes.
Succeed. Yes.

Now come on.

There's a lot of very good points in your post, however, it is far easier to give the beneift of the doubt to the players and the manager if as a fanbase you've never seen a 'poor' team in 60 years and your team has finished no lower than 8th during that 60years.

Evertonians have perhaps been too loyal and too accepting during long periods of substandard players and clueless managers.

Benitez may be the catalyst for change that the club needs; however, staring at the trap-door, hoping that we avoid it, isn't the change too many Blues would have contemplated during the summer.

If the manager can't get a few wins from the next half-dozen league games, he and we will be in big trouble.

Yes, we have had some weird and not so wonderful selections and tactics. We are looking in a very dodgy position in the Premier League. I just hope any new signings can help turn us from an edge of relegation team to one with a positive future.

It has happened before under Howard Kendall when things were looking bleak in the early '80s (ye,s a long time ago and in no way am I comparing managers).

But I live in hope!

On the cards because an U23 player was chomping at the bit, or a recent inexpensive signing was looking good to go.

Benitez creates division wherever he goes, that is how he functions. It diverts attention from stuff that isn't working. Jose Mourinho likewise throws flak around to divert attention.

Digne's performances didn't start to dip when rb arrived. they'd nosedived at least six months prior. So, even if I'm more than disappointed with rafa's shambolic shitshow, I'm blaming Lucas for his form not rafa the duffer.

Poor, listless, apathetic performances are down to players themselves, not a crap manager.

The spat has two parties pointing the finger, but in truth both are to blame and to a degree beyond fair and reasonable justification.

Sell Digne and rinse whoever is fool enough to buy him. Close that chapter. Then get this cretinous manager and his deliberate tactics of idiocy to bugger off.

Lucas Digne only signed a new four year contract last January (I think) and therefore was destined to be the first choice left-back at Everton for many years to come.

Obviously his fall out with the manager has radically altered that situation. He may well remain at Goodison if his wage demands aren't met by another club. It's rumoured that he wants £200k per week, which is unlikely to help any move in this window.

We have a collection of players who are currently underperforming but should be good enough to compete with the likes of Leicester and West Ham. We don't have anyone as good as Rice but is Bowen any better than Richarlison, Gray or even Gordon? The rest of the West Ham squad is no better than that available to Benitez.

The big difference in the clubs is the managers and their relationship with the players. Benitez is a divisive character which breeds disharmony and discontent amongst the players. When this is added to dubious tactics and team selections, it is a recipe for under-achievement.

Moyes, for all his faults, tries to develop unity amongst his squad and consequently he is achieving a level of success we can only dream of at the moment.

Benitez is not the Messiah nor is he Judas, he is simply the wrong man for Everton. The longer he stays, the greater the damage he will do to the club and the prospect of relegation becomes a reality.

I thought you were going to finish off by saying he's just a naughty boy aka Monty Python. Just need to secure safety and take it from there. One thing we know now is Benitez is not the man to guide us to the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. I reckon Potter is the man unless Man City snap him up.

It's not just Rice, who in my eyes is the best player in the Premiere League right now. Antonio is better than any striker we have had since Rom. Yes, Jarrod Bowen is better than Gordon or Gray (very different player from Richarlison), and Benrahma is on a par with Gray and better than Gordon.

Plus Soucek is better than Allan. Coufal is better than Keane at this point, and most people would say Zouma is too. And looking down the Hammers bench and seeing names like Lanzini, Cresswell, Vlasic and Johnson, I'd say yeah, man-for-man they have superior personnel.

I'm not knocking our team, as we've got what we've been left with through some under whelming transfers over the last 5 years. I'd argue, though that Gray is as good as Bowen. But West Ham's team is, overall, much better than ours. It's an interesting point about Benitez.
How is he the wrong man for EFC? Is it because he managed the R/S or because he's a crap manager? Because, apart from Martinez's first season the previous managers haven't exactly excelled. What we've been left with is a load of overpaid players who are average at best, apart from Richarlison, Pickford, Mina, when he's fit, Godfrey, potentially, Nkounkou maybe, Kenny and Seamus, DCL, Gordon and maybe Simms and Dobbin.
We've got Tosun,Holgate, Delph, the nameless one, Gomes, Gbamin, Iwobi, Kean, Rondon, who are either alright or poor.
So the hard part is selling players (or giving them away when their contracts are up

Gray and Townsend have been good transfer dealing (I was goin to say Buys then, but we basically got both for nothing. The two young players he's brought in we'll have to see how they develop but there's potential there. So until the end of this transfer window and see if there's anyone else we can bring in, we're stuck with a team/squad who aren't as good as good as most of those above us.
I think swapping managers half way through a season, yet again, is, in my view, dangerous.
PS Weren't we looking at Jarred Bowen at one time?

They've now reduced us to having to hope that Albert Einstein's bob-on definition of insanity is completely wrong, namely that by doing the same thing over and over again you CAN achieve different/better results.

So sack the manager again - yeh right, that works - NOT!

Or keep all the ex-players at Finch Farm comfy and even add one to the boardroom - as if that works - NOT!

Or hope to J.H. Christ that Benitez can work a miracle because he's here until HE decides to do one by engineering the sack or retiring as far as I'm resignedly concerned!

Getting behind him will need more than a few sets of gritted teeth though.

However, I don't think now is the time to change manager. I think we will improve in the 2nd half of the league season. I believe we will win the FA cup [Honestly!]. We have signed a couple of promising young full-backs, there may be more to come. We will have important players coming back from injury.

This season's most memorable [and important] goals have been scored by Gray and Townsend, players brought in by this manager for loose change.

Benitez may not be the manager for a long and glorious future, but I don't think that's his brief. I believe he was hired, to make sure that we start at the new ground, still in the Premier League. By that measure, I think he will succeed. He is egotistical and divisive: 'my way or the highway', but perhaps that is what this club needs at this precise point in time.

Mike Gaynes makes the very good point, that the absence of 'He who must not be named' may have taken a heavier toll than we imagined.

P.S. We did pursue Jarrod Bowen seriously; Marco Silva had managed him at Hull and wanted him here. I'm not sure why it didn't happen.

Who would replace him? Who could do much worse!

Or maybe we could just swap for the manager that put that team together?