Rafael Benitez returns to Real Madrid

meh not really happy about rafa tbh, but if bale is sold then i guess i can give him a fair chance, if not and he doesn't bench bale when he is going donkey, then i expect to win nothing again next season

Bale is not getting sold. what we need to do is turn CR into our focal point centrally, move bale to the left side

Nick you need to stop with this Ronaldo centrally fantasy

It's not gonna happen and further more he'd be a million times easier to defend as i have explained before.

Art ...doesn't rate Benitez.....yet his 2 most rated managers are Paul Lambert and Mick McCarthy

also LOOOOOOOOL @ Free's posts. Looks like someone who has only seen Benitez' teams play in CL semi-finals and never anything else

Mr Nick09 wrote:Bale is not getting sold. what we need to do is turn CR into our focal point centrally, move bale to the left side

cr can't play pure cf to save his life, needs a proper cf to play off of, so it has to be 2 up top, or he continues to make runs from the wings, even if bale plays on the left and provides nothing, then its still 2 players contributing little to nothing other than goals, there is more than enough proof to show cr and bale on the pitch together is redundant

let me dream ffs,

i have said i would sell him tho, to psg for verratti + money, fap fap fap

"Football is made up of subjective feeling, of suggestion – and, in that, Anfield is unbeatable. Put shit hanging from a stick in the middle of this passionate, crazy stadium and there are people who will tell you it’s a work of art. It’s not: it’s shit hanging from a stick.

Chelsea and Liverpool are the clearest, most exaggerated example of the way football is going: very intense, very collective, very tactical, very physical, and very direct. But, a short pass? Noooo. A feint? Noooo. A change of pace? Noooo. A one-two? A nutmeg? A backheel? Don’t be ridiculous. None of that. The extreme control and seriousness with which both teams played the semi-final neutralised any creative licence, any moments of exquisite skill.

If Didier Drogba was the best player in the first match it was purely because he was the one who ran the fastest, jumped the highest and crashed into people the hardest. Such extreme intensity wipes away talent, even leaving a player of Joe Cole’s class disoriented. If football is going the way Chelsea and Liverpool are taking it, we had better be ready to wave goodbye to any expression of the cleverness and talent we have enjoyed for a century.

Mourinho and Benítez have two things in common: a previously denied, hitherto unsatisfied hunger for glory, and a desire to have everything under control. Both of those things stem from one key factor: neither Mourinho nor Benítez made it as a player. That has made them channel all their vanity into coaching. Those who did not have the talent to make it as players do not believe in the talent of players, they do not believe in the ability to improvise in order to win football matches. In short, Benítez and Mourinho are exactly the kind of coaches that Benítez and Mourinho would have needed to have made it as players."

Nivash wrote:
Mourinho and Benítez have two things in common: a previously denied, hitherto unsatisfied hunger for glory, and a desire to have everything under control.

isn't that a bit silly to say?
do you know any manager who doesn't like having full control or hunger? because i don't..

Apparently Carlo is just super chill.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Nick you need to stop with this Ronaldo centrally fantasy

It's not gonna happen and further more he'd be a million times easier to defend as i have explained before.

He makes the same run over and over again Allergic to making diagonal runs or off-shoulder runs because it means that he would often sacrifice his run to open space for others... everything he does is designed for himself to score. It would be awful.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

S wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:I think we can all agree that in that competition he's the top dog, but to me there's a lot more to it than just GOATing in Europe.

It's not just about his record and rotations in league competition either, i see a man who regularly makes errors in judgement during the league season from a tactical and positional point of view.

Mind you i used to consider Pep the best and he's shown quite the few flaws himself recently....

Basically there's no such thing as 'best manager in the world'.

I think i agree yeah.

John Carver disagrees

Donuts wrote:

Nivash wrote:
Mourinho and Benítez have two things in common: a previously denied, hitherto unsatisfied hunger for glory, and a desire to have everything under control.

isn't that a bit silly to say?
do you know any manager who doesn't like having full control or hunger? because i don't..

I didn't say it, Valdano did. But the point is that you can't have absolute control and be able to play attractively. Certain types of players need the freedom to express themselves, which players also happen to be the types that Mourinho and Benitez do not value in their systems.

Such rigidity as those managers loves comes at the expense of fluid and creative play. It's the way that players like Ronaldo and Bale are able to flourish. ie. by relying so heavily on their physical strengths rather than attacking flair/creativity.

Full quote

Valdano wrote:Mourinho and Benítez have two things in common: a previously denied, hitherto unsatisfied hunger for glory, and a desire to have everything under control. Both of those things stem from one key factor: neither Mourinho nor Benítez made it as a player. That has made them channel all their vanity into coaching. Those who did not have the talent to make it as players do not believe in the talent of players, they do not believe in the ability to improvise in order to win football matches. In short, Benítez and Mourinho are exactly the kind of coaches that Benítez and Mourinho would have needed to have made it as players.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2007/may/08/newsstory.sport16

Freeza wrote:Playing 11 players all season when you have 23 will get you fired.

Since Peps second season, to this one, that's pretty much what Barca does. Just look at our bench quality vs our starters quality, it's always been our starting 11 pretty much playing every single game. The first half of this season Lucho tried to rotate, Messi and Neymar didn't like it, and since that moment he went right back to playing the same starting 11 and we have won just about every single match since.

btw, apparently Carlo is going to Milan

That's simply not true. Pep was always rotating the squad. He might have had a "big game" team, but he tweaked and made sure everyone was fresh all the time.

Well, except for Messi.

First season he rotated heavily, after that first season he gradually stopped rotating as much and by his fourth he wasn't rotating hardly at all.

I hope rafa is coming home. Liverpool need him now.

windkick wrote:First season he rotated heavily, after that first season he gradually stopped rotating as much and by his fourth he wasn't rotating hardly at all.

Yes and this is why Barca fans were complaining about Keita getting minutes right until his last season?

Interesting to see how Rafa implements his 4-2-3-1 if he joins

I really think it's okay to rotate, but don't rotate the core of the team. In Napoli, Rafa rotating the back 4 too much for my liking.

He'll kick Bale back to the zoo and buy Dries Mertens and dominate La Liga for the next 2 decades. GL barca fans, stay safe.

gota love rafa.

I'll aask agani. Is there anything substantial abou this by now?!
!=!

It's a done dealio

first off, i'm not a fan of rafa benitez, not sure how this is a step up, granted he'll have more talent than he did at valencia, liverpool, or napoli, but i'm not sure he's what we need.

secondly, this was what worried me about the "ancelotti out" threads. my concern was, we (madrid fans) were all yelling carlo out but nobody was raising any suggestions as to who to take over and why. i posed that question mainly to see if people understood what any other manager would bring or whether our frustrations and emotions were just getting in the way of reason

there were suggestions about klopp and what he could implement, but with the "news" or rumors about rafa, its almost like if marca put up a headline saying "(insert name here) is the next coach of madrid" everyone will jump for joy, like (insert name) is the chosen one.

now i ask again, with those heralding beintez, is there something he has done (more recently; not valencia nor pool) at napoli, in terms of tactics, and don't just say "rotations" because our problems this season aren't limited to rotations or lack of rotations alone

if these rumors are indeed true, i just hope fans and the board have the necessary patience to at least, for the sake of stability give the guy time. it baffles me that fans try to critique florentino, when they have similar mindsets with respect to managerial merry go-rounds, signing players that aren't needed (based on international tournaments, hype, "super star" status) and selling players the squad actually needs (to accommodate the new toy).

whilst i don't like him, and i'm not sure what positives he'll bring in order to unseat barcelona, if this is true, for the sake of the team i love i wish rafa luck, and hope we can do better this time