Rafael Benitez Sack Watch - Madrid Edition

Unique, regardless of whether or not Zidane does well, Rafa had to go. Simple as that. He wasn't the only problem, but he was one of the main problems facing the club and it's always good to get rid of one of them every once in a while.

He's a decent coach, but needs a patient club with expectations and standards way lower than Madrid's.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:Unique, regardless of whether or not Zidane does well, Rafa had to go. Simple as that. He wasn't the only problem, but he was one of the main problems facing the club and it's always good to get rid of one of them every once in a while.

He's a decent coach, but needs a patient club with expectations and standards way lower than Madrid's.

and that's exactly why giving Zidane the job was dumb.

I agree with you, but it's not like there were any elite managers available. There's only Mourinho, and I'd rather be coached by Benitez than Mourinho.

But Rafa had to go.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:I agree with you, but it's not like there were any elite managers available. There's only Mourinho, and I'd rather be coached by Benitez than Mourinho.

But Rafa had to go.

you have had them all

Exactly but tbf it's very hard to get an elite coach in midseason.

And I guess Zidane is Karma for firing Carlo, the last and best thing that ever happened to us since Del Bosque.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:Exactly but tbf it's very hard to get an elite coach in midseason.

And I guess Zidane is Karma for firing Carlo, the last and best thing that ever happened to us since Del Bosque.

It looks similar to sack with Inter.
The real mistake is to have him signed for his old hype when he was already finished.
Even in this case he had a bad relationship with the team .. and I wonder if the problem is Benitez if he has these problems everywhere he goes..
He deserves to be sacked after that 0-4 or after that Copa del Rey pie than after this legit tie against Valencia ... same this for Inter. Sacked after  the FIFA Club World Cup  won and not after some very bad matches or losses.
Basically the real mistake was sign him in June , not sacking now ( even if it was avoidable ). (same for Inter, I repeat).

Disaster waiting to happen , came from a 5th in Italy with the 2nd quality Italian team  of the league - Sarri is looking like Sacchi after Benitez's experience ffs
Luckily for the Real the other Spanish bigs aren't having a great consistency and so the league is not compromised now.
But he did badly .
As expected.

i can't wait to read Materazzi's tweets now

Lmao Madrid is such a joke

yes, back home. my take on the matter at hand. first and foremost, rafa benitez- signing him in the first place as robespierre (who is probably knowledgeable enough to opine on this based on his team's experience with rafa and their hunger to win) stated was very very foolish. my feeling is, it was a political move, advised to florentino by his cronies to win over the spanish fans, which was foolish cos, rafa has friends at madrid, board members and in the media, but i doubt the madrid spanish fans have ever cared much for him

did he deserve to be sacked? yes. was this the wrong time? i think so. its easy for fans of clubs that are winning to say, "give manager x time", well, when their clubs don't win, they and their media do the same thing. i remember when fergie was at the helm, every time a coach at a top club got fired, utd fans would talk about the consistency of one manager....well that's out the window with moyes and some are calling for van gaal's head. i mean that as no disrespect to utd or its fans, just pointing out an example as to how these things work

now back to rafa. i'm not sure i like firing a manager in the middle of the season, trust me, even though the players don't like him, it never helps their confidence when a manager is booted out at this stage. BUT i Totally understand it. if u lose the dressing room, you can't stay; when u lose the dressing room, u don't have a standard formation or line up at this stage of the season, and cannot buy a win against any top 4 side, along with losing woefully to a rival at home, its very very difficult to argue on your behalf. i don't like mid-season firing, but there's no way i can see rafa doing anything to fix the situation. he'll do well at a mid-table club, where he can exceed expectations, and even surprise them with titles. at a top club where the pressure is on, winning is expected, and an unforgiving hierarchy, he's out of his league

Can anyone remember how the word IGWE took this forum by storm?

I read some ancient thread and lol'd, but I can't remember how it came to be.

now zidane...i don't like this move either. too inexperienced, i get it, i get that its an interim move, and unless he performs magic, i hope that's all it is. i don't like the move cos of what i want the team to achieve, as well as my respect for zidane. great players doesn't always equate to managing, especially with a team in disarray, talent wise and mentally. on paper the talent looks good. in reality its so unbalanced, to heap the task on an inexperienced zidane is tough and i hope he pulls through. it will look tacky to see fans whistle at him

secondly, the zidane appointment is a smart political move by florentino. it deflects a lot of pressure off him and the foolish decision to hire rafa who flopped badly with napoli. already, the press and fans are focused on ; what zidane's tactics are, how he'll shape the team, who he'll play? getting a legend (and i don't use that term loosely), like zidane in, would give florentino time away from the media to analyze his next managerial move. remember he wanted to bring in an inexperienced raul as sporting director- another political move

if zidane's team flops the remainder of the season, i fear huntsman will become a madrid fan once again, come next summer. nothing against huntsman, i actually like to read his views, but i'm not sure how keen i am about the manager he supports

Pedram wrote:

Unique wrote:the thing is rafa would have finished 2nd to barca this season. and so would any other manager that went to madrid. what flo and madrid fans are to dumb to see is barca are just to good for madrid no matter who is in charge. madrid fans need to understand that barca are now the big boys in spain its as simple as that.

So what ? basically what you're saying is just because Barca is currently at their best period in history, Real Madrid should give up trying and simply accept the second place. what you don't understand is that unlike Liverpool, Real Madrid is a ambitious club and won't accept mediocrity.

no. what I'm saying is jesus Christ him self could not make madrid beat barca this season. so sacking rafa and getting Zidane wont help will it. :cheers:you sacked your manager because your players are not good enough

finally the players; rafa's not the best manager in town. his personality and sometimes stringent strategies don't always rub off well on his players. for a manager who is touted as being meticulous, i hardly saw such in our defense or midfield, but i digress....

anyway, the players are playing garbage, these guys look so ordinary its painful. a winger that has forgotten how to man the flank, zero presence in midfield, 80 million euro player who sulk when they're benched, instead of taking the field and proving the coach wrong- see david beckham's  attitude when capello told him he'd never play again...yes becks in his prime was largely overrated, and people criticized him for only knowing how to cross, but that man won over fabio capello, and capello is a lot tougher than mourinho; yet we have this team that gets benched and cry to the media or make sarcastic jokes on the bench. catch becks' performance when capello brought him back, that's what player's attitude should be like

we've got a lousy defense. i don't always agree with chad, as a matter of fact, i'm a bit worried for my mental state that i'm doing so, lol. but he pointed out something bout ramos two days ago, if ramos would go for defensive aerial threats, the way he does offensive corners and free kicks, it would make a huge difference. i won't slam danilo, its his first season at an unbalanced side, he doesn't look technically efficient, but hey, benefit of doubt

zidane really has his work cut out for him. @unique, i don't think zidane is being hired to build a temple and dominate all of europe. this is merely papering the cracks. imo i think the way we've been playing under rafa has brought tears coming out of florentino's ears as well as many madrid fans. the thought process isn't "zidane, take this bunch of prima donas and win it all", its more like "hey it can't get any worse, we might as well just get zidane there to pause the bleeding"....i don't think its a long term move, unless he works magic, which is a huge stretch

Igwe anyone?

Pedram wrote:

Unique wrote:

Pedram wrote:

So what ? basically what you're saying is just because Barca is currently at their best period in history, Real Madrid should give up trying and simply accept the second place. what you don't understand is that unlike Liverpool, Real Madrid is a ambitious club and won't accept mediocrity.

no. what I'm saying is jesus Christ him self could not make madrid beat barca this season. so sacking rafa and getting Zidane wont help will it.

Who's talking about beating Barca, let's start with tactics, i don't know if you follow our matches but we were playing 5-0-5 under Benitez.

Dude Benitez was sacked because he was failing at simple things, not because he couldn't beat Barca.

rafa was playing the team flo told him to play. and when flo thought hold up barca will win another title he sacked rafa. your fickle fans and flo are the problem with your club. its win every game 5-0 or your sacked. if it wasent for barca rafa would proberbly won the title in the end. what you and your madrid mates need to except is barca are now the big dogs in spain and are miles infront of madrid.

that's kind of a loser's mentality to say "this team is better than us, so let's just be happy with not winning" no? lebron james is the best player in the nba (ok curry's the top right now), dallas would never have won a chip if they went "lebron and the heat are the best, let's accept that", spurs won't have won with that mindset either. sports isn't math, the best doesn't always win, so madrid shouldn't have to sit down and accept anything without a fight. i do agree, that florentino and fans have been very reckless especially with the carlo move recently....rafa should have never ever been here in the first place

Unique wrote:

Pedram wrote:

Unique wrote:the thing is rafa would have finished 2nd to barca this season. and so would any other manager that went to madrid. what flo and madrid fans are to dumb to see is barca are just to good for madrid no matter who is in charge. madrid fans need to understand that barca are now the big boys in spain its as simple as that.

So what ? basically what you're saying is just because Barca is currently at their best period in history, Real Madrid should give up trying and simply accept the second place. what you don't understand is that unlike Liverpool, Real Madrid is a ambitious club and won't accept mediocrity.

no. what I'm saying is jesus Christ him self could not make madrid beat barca this season. so sacking rafa and getting Zidane wont help will it. :cheers:you sacked your manager because your players are not good enough

No. Barca are not really doing doing that great this season and Real Madrid should be able to keep up with that. Barca is on course to finish the season with 87 points and while I can easily see them finish the season with more than that, there's no excuse Real Madrid can't keep up so far. It's January and Real Madrid is on course to finish the season with less than 80 points.

zigra wrote:

Unique wrote:

Pedram wrote:

So what ? basically what you're saying is just because Barca is currently at their best period in history, Real Madrid should give up trying and simply accept the second place. what you don't understand is that unlike Liverpool, Real Madrid is a ambitious club and won't accept mediocrity.

no. what I'm saying is jesus Christ him self could not make madrid beat barca this season. so sacking rafa and getting Zidane wont help will it. :cheers:you sacked your manager because your players are not good enough

No. Barca are not really doing doing that great this season and Real Madrid should be able to keep up with that. Barca is on course to finish the season with 87 points and while I can easily see them finish the season with more than that, there's no excuse Real Madrid can't keep up so far. It's January and Real Madrid is on course to finish the season with less than 80 points.

wtf are you on about on course for this and that points. anything can happen in a game. as a wise man once said don't count your chickens before they hatch.

titosantill wrote:that's kind of a loser's mentality to say "this team is better than us, so let's just be happy with not winning" no? lebron james is the best player in the nba (ok curry's the top right now), dallas would never have won a chip if they went "lebron and the heat are the best, let's accept that", spurs won't have won with that mindset either. sports isn't math, the best doesn't always win, so madrid shouldn't have to sit down and accept anything without a fight. i do agree, that florentino and fans have been very reckless especially with the carlo move recently....rafa should have never ever been here in the first place

I'm not saying anyone should be happy with not winning. but with rafa incharge you were never gonna win the title. and with Zidane incharge you will not win the title. barca are just to good for you and sacking rafa will not change that.

barca are the best in the world and rafa was givern 18 games to change that.

It's really not that hard to understand so I guess you just don't want to hear anything that doesn't fit your argument.

Barcelona are not having a great season SO FAR. They have a good season but it's hardly out of the world. Real Madrid should be able to keep up with it. SO FAR.
It's not about Barca being too good. It just isn't.

zigra wrote: It's really not that hard to understand so I guess you just don't want to hear anything that doesn't fit your argument.

Barcelona are not having a great season SO FAR. They have a good season but it's hardly out of the world. Real Madrid should be able to keep up with it. SO FAR.
It's not about Barca being too good. It just isn't.

if barca was 5th rafa would not have been sacked imo. what was expected of rafa after 18 games.

Rafa played Lucas Vazquez over James freaking Rodriguez when needing a win. Not much else is needed to be added. I still think a sacking is wrong and that the power structure in our club is the most glaring problem. But holy hell is Rafa retarded in his man management.

Can't play good football. Probably the worst big game manager we've ever had so far.