RAFA! DOES HE STAND A CHANCE AT EVERTON?

The English Premier League season kicks off this weekend! Already!! Crowds will be returning and in the wake of the Euros, excitement and expectation will no doubt be starting to build. This is despite the fact, Manchester City dominates the EPL in one way or another! As I look forward to the season I would love to know what my Evertonian peers feel about Liverpool legend Rafael Benitez becoming their manager? A tough baptism last weekend .. Manchester United 4 - Everton 0!! It had already been made crystal clear that many "Blue Noses" were against this appointment. A pre-season dressing down at Old Trafford has a few fans singing about "the sack". Much of their malice to Rafa can be traced to comments he made about the Blues following a dour Merseyside Derby draw when he was Liverpool manager. Many of Rafa’s comments in his early years in England were often not translated very well. Other times his English was not always the best so perhaps the nuances of what he was trying to convey were not expressed correctly.

Many Liverpool fans were also against the move. I might bracket myself in this group. It’s not because I would want to deny Everton a top manager, and that is exactly what Rafa Benitez is, it’s because I had hoped that eventually he would find his way back to Anfield and put proper closure to his time as manager of the Reds. Klopp is going to leave in another couple of years. Rafa might have returned, you never know.

Previously, Rafa did an incredible job at Liverpool. Unfortunately, after Istanbul & the Steven Gerrard FA Cup Final his time coincided with the arrival of the first American ownership. As we all know this was a disaster ending with the club on the verge of bankruptcy. In spite of all the turmoil, Benitez put together a Liverpool team that was the best in the land even if they fell just short of the title in 2008-09 as his re-build was close to completion. His tenure was not a Chelsea or Man City scenario but more a gradual step-by-step development due to the financial restraints of the club. He gradually added quality one player at a time … Alonso, Reina, Agger, Torres, Benayoun, etc. Rafa also showed himself to be an outstanding coach tactically as well as one who was extremely resourceful. He didn’t have the squad depth of Chelsea or Manchester United but was still able to challenge their dominance in the EPL over this period.

Make no mistake Everton is getting a top manager! Moreover, he’s a good guy. His affinity for Merseyside and the charitable work he has done in the area is well chronicled. However, for some reason, the media does not always regard him in such a favourable light. There has been an overall misconception that he is purely a defensive coach. In England most recently, Benitez was coach at Newcastle United where with limited resources he was able to keep the Geordies in the Premier League with a style of play that was unquestionably pragmatic. What else could he do especially as the owner didn’t share the ambitions of both Rafa and Newcastle's fanatical fan base? Throughout the last season, Robbie Savage & Chris Sutton on BBC 606 tried to sell weekly that Steve Bruce was just as good a manager as Rafa had been at Newcastle! Newcastle fans weren’t buying it!! The majority would have Benitez back in a heartbeat and he would have probably been happy to stay on if there had been more support from owner Mike Ashley. Newcastle is perhaps the ultimate sleeping giant in English football and Rafa knew it. It was not to be. I was also dumbfounded to hear former Everton and Liverpool player Don Hutchison speak of him as though he were a run-of-the-mill appointment. Look at his CV Don and what he has accomplished in his career!

So what are his chances at Goodison? If he didn’t have the LFC baggage I would say better than they are at present!! Compared to recent Goodison managerial choices he’s light years ahead in my opinion … Marco Silva, Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman, Sam Allardyce!! None of them compare. Carlo Ancellotti was a manager of the top echelon. He had his moments at Everton including a first Derby win in a decade but overall in his time, it showed that getting the Blues back to where they were in the 60s & 80s is not going to be an easy task. I would love to know how Evertoniams view the Ancellotti era? This is truly a "project" that will take time. Benitez sees the potential of Everton Football Club and I'm sure that was a factor in his wish to be their manager.

At present, Everton has some good players, several promising youngsters, and a new state-of-the-art stadium to come down the road. There is hope and things to look forward to! But will Rafa be given the necessary time to build something? Probably not by many of the Goodison faithful. The road to improvement is never going to be a smooth one for whoever is in the hot seat. I’m sure that when Everton hits a few bumps in the road the pressure on Benitez will start to mount. I would doubt a preseason game against an improving Man United team would not have been his choice had he been around earlier. I know it wouldn't be mine at this stage of the project! However, what is done is done and Rafa and the team need to move on. A shame that it already has some sharpening their knives.

Conversely, if the fans can show a degree of patience look at what Benitez accomplished at Anfield and how he did so. It may have taken 5 seasons but his 2008-09 team was the best Liverpool team of the Premier League era pre-Jurgen Klopp. Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Hyypia, Agger, Skrtel, Aurelio; Alonso, Mascherano, Gerrard, Lucas, Benayoun; Kuyt, Torres, Riera, Babel. 16 good players but beyond that throughout a typical season of injuries and suspensions not a big enough squad to secure a League title while also playing Champions League. The Reds only lost twice that season but drew eleven times finishing second to the “Evil Empire” who had both a bigger squad and were very well versed in winning the EPL. That Liverpool team was very strong defensively conceding only 27 goals. But defensive?!! No way! Reds fans will well remember the week when they stuck 4 past Real Madrid in the Champions League and the following Saturday went to Old Trafford and repeated the dose against United. Many in the media at the time labeled Liverpool a "2 player team" but one neglected fact is that during that season Steven Gerrard & Fernando Torres only started 12 of the 38 league games together due to injuries. With better ownership support providing greater squad depth could Liverpool have accomplished more sooner? Will he be able to get those kinds of opportunities at Everton? If he can who knows what he might be able to accomplish given the chance?

Indications are that Everton owner Farhad Moshiri may give more support to Benitez on a consistent basis than that he enjoyed in his time at Anfield. That said to be competitive within the elite of the EPL is becoming harder and harder. Financially, the Manchester clubs and Chelsea are opening up a gap. Liverpool may be one of the biggest clubs in the world but still struggles to keep pace after the pandemic. Consequently how reasonable are expectations that Everton can join this group in the short run particularly when they will be facing the finances surrounding the construction of a new stadium? They will need a manager who is tactically strong, resourceful, and well connected through this period. For me, Rafa Benitez has all those characteristics.

As noted, some of the early reactions to Rafa from EFC fans have not been necessarily promising even before the Man United debacle. I recall a video from his time as manager of Real Madrid with James Rodriguez disrespecting Benitez. James is now at Goodison and supposedly the star player. I see Everton fans bemoaning the fact that Benitez may want him out forgetting that James was rumored to want out anyway once Ancellotti called it quits. James is unquestionably a big talent but from what I can see he has more than a touch of the Pogba’s about him. i.e. he’s good when it suits him to be good! I think that they are better off without him (ditto Pogba at Man U!). Hopefully, now he will be returning from the Olympics Richarlison can assume the mantle. He appears to be a more stable personality and more compatible with a good team ethos.

Early Benitez signings Begovic & Townsend are solid squad additions for the team. Demarai Gray is an absolute steal and I’ve always believed he’s a player of real potential. Rafa is very good at identifying talent for specific roles for his teams. At Liverpool, he wanted to sign David Silva long before he went to City, Gareth Bale when he was struggling in his early days at Tottenham and James Milner was another on his shopping list. If Everton fans can show some degree of patience you have a manager that can build a good team if he is supported by the team's owner. And by the fans as well!!

Beyond the fans, the relationship between Moshiri and Benitez over time is going to be critical. If Rafa does have one recurring weakness it is that he gets distracted in disagreements with the club owners. Besides Liverpool, it ended his time at Valencia, Inter Milan & Newcastle. Although I may not have wanted him to take over at Goodison I can understand his decision and hope that he does well. Not better than Liverpool of course but I would rather Everton were successful ahead of City & United.

Good luck Rafa. I suspect you are going to need a lot of it but I do hope the Blue Noses will give you a proper opportunity to show what you can do. An Everton “Istanbul” on the horizon? Who knows? It's ironic that the roots of the "Evil Empire" came from a Liverpool legend in Matt Busby. Could history repeat but this time to the benefit of the Everton FC?

If it doesn’t work out Rafa there are always Tranmere Rovers! Even closer to your home!! Meantime, Spanish football expert Guillem Balague provides several interesting insights and a strong football case for Rafa’s appointment at Everton. Evertonians, in Rafa Benitez we are not talking "Big Sam"!! Give him a chance!

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/57673841?fbclid=IwAR11YKekTO5FoaPUsQxVqUUcJNjhpdtkcipiVEqKy9fw39ZwxLjqgzRWGLo