Rafael Benitez

[Bendtners Drinking Buddy]

Agree with everything he said, dont blame him for taking the job - you can pay me shit loads to take some abuse from neanderthals for a few months, no problem

[flash gunner]

Agree with everything he said, dont blame him for taking the job - you can pay me shit loads to take some abuse from neanderthals for a few months, no problem

Lets face it you used to get loads for free on here in the past

[Nick Bendtners Ego]

He's such a moody, snarky wanker.

And what really pisses me off is that Chelsea fans are hounding him out after a month and not a bad word is said about them, yet we dare criticise the almighty AW after eight fucking years without a trophy and we got called 'impatient' and 'fickle'.

Absolutely. Spot on . 100%.

Classic media double standards.

[northbank123]

He's such a moody, snarky wanker.

And what really pisses me off is that Chelsea fans are hounding him out after a month and not a bad word is said about them, yet we dare criticise the almighty AW after eight fucking years without a trophy and we got called 'impatient' and 'fickle'.

Fans of other clubs and sports journalists for years now have been ramming "X years without a trophy" down our throat and generally laughing at our catalogue of embarrassing moments, most notably at St James Park, Wembley, Old Trafford, Valley Parade and now our own patch against Blackburn. They've basked in our failures and gleefully rubbed our noses in how we've fallen. But when any AFC fan has the temerity to complain about our plight - the same wankers purport to have their cock lodged in Lord Wenger's rectum, call us impatient and fickle glory-hunters who have obviously just started supporting AFC recently and normally throw in an idiotic comment along the lines of "would you rather be like Portsmouth/Leeds/Rangers?" for good measure.

I stopped listening to sports radio years ago because it was making me nearly drive the car off the road (to borrow from Ashley Cole's lexicon), and I only read papers that are likely to report things as they are. Even the ones who are now slating Wenger I can't stand because most of them worshipped Wenger's regime until about 3 months ago and they're just taking the opportunity to put the boot in now because of a swing in public opinion.

[Bendtners Drinking Buddy]

Agree with everything he said, dont blame him for taking the job - you can pay me shit loads to take some abuse from neanderthals for a few months, no problem

Lets face it you used to get loads for free on here in the past

haha, still do - but I know you all love me really

[clockender1]

i'd rather have Benitez than Wenger.

Benitez can coach - true, he's faced with a difficult task in an ageing squad with no midfield bite, weak at the back and a superstriker on prozac, but he does prepare, train and coach.

look what he's won since 2005 - Champions League, FA cup, Italian SuperCup, FIFA Club World Cup, add to that the La Liga and UEFA cups won with Valencia in 2004, the guy has a track record even with two years out of the game of 6 major honours of 6 medals in 6 years .

in that time AW has two medals in 8 years.

and in both cases Benitez got kicked out of Inter and Liverpool for demanding financial support from the board, unlike our "make do and mend" attitude our current incumbent has.

Valencia, Liverpool, Inter and Chelsea - imho he is second only to mourinho in track record as he's done it in three tough leagues. Wenger did it for six years in one.

[Natural Born Gooner]

i'd rather have Benitez than Wenger.

Benitez can coach - true, he's faced with a difficult task in an ageing squad with no midfield bite, weak at the back and a superstriker on prozac, but he does prepare, train and coach.

look what he's won since 2005 - Champions League, FA cup, Italian SuperCup, FIFA Club World Cup, add to that the La Liga and UEFA cups won with Valencia in 2004, the guy has a track record even with two years out of the game of 6 major honours of 6 medals in 6 years .

in that time AW has two medals in 8 years.

and in both cases Benitez got kicked out of Inter and Liverpool for demanding financial support from the board, unlike our "make do and mend" attitude our current incumbent has.

Valencia, Liverpool, Inter and Chelsea - imho he is second only to mourinho in track record as he's done it in three tough leagues. Wenger did it for six years in one.

That's like choosing a punch in the face over a kick in the nuts. I would prefer neither.

He's an abysmal manager. Inherited a great Valencia team from Hector Cuper (2 Champions League finals in the previous 3 years) and admittedly pushed them up a level for a while, then the flukiest CL win with the Victims in 05, followed by a meltdown in their title charge (after spunking god knows how much on absolute shite - Robbie Keane for £20 million , Aquilani £20m plus others), and then had the gall to complain about no money being given to him

Fucked up Inter after their treble winning season - they will never forget that there.

Crap man manager, shit transfer record, and a lucky fucker. He won't get near a top level team any time soon after this Chelscum stint ends

If he did come to us I'd give up watching football entirely

[northbank123]

i'd rather have Benitez than Wenger.

Benitez can coach - true, he's faced with a difficult task in an ageing squad with no midfield bite, weak at the back and a superstriker on prozac, but he does prepare, train and coach.

look what he's won since 2005 - Champions League, FA cup, Italian SuperCup, FIFA Club World Cup, add to that the La Liga and UEFA cups won with Valencia in 2004, the guy has a track record even with two years out of the game of 6 major honours of 6 medals in 6 years .

in that time AW has two medals in 8 years.

and in both cases Benitez got kicked out of Inter and Liverpool for demanding financial support from the board, unlike our "make do and mend" attitude our current incumbent has.

Valencia, Liverpool, Inter and Chelsea - imho he is second only to mourinho in track record as he's done it in three tough leagues. Wenger did it for six years in one.

Pretty generous imo. Taking 2006/07 as a starting point bearing in mind that our we reached CL final the season before and the move was somewhat symbolic for us and a symbol of our decline, Benitez's record is hardly prolific. He's won the Italian Super Cup and Club World Cup - both tinpot tournaments involving 1 or 2 games that Mourinho had already done the hard work for him in qualifying and leaving him with by far the strongest team in either. Bear in mind he also managed to blow this year's Club World Cup.

What do you mean he's "done it" in the leagues also? In Liverpool he delivered a pitiful return of one league challenge in several years before selling their best players and leaving the club in a spiralling decline, and he's done fuck all at Chelsea - yes he won the CL but he didn't conquer England by any stretch of the imagine. And he didn't even last til Christmas in Italy as I remember - he did ask for more money but he got sacked because he was doing a terrible job there.

Tbh it doesn't really make much difference if he prepares and coaches if the results are still shit - just means that maybe he's not great at that. The arguments in favour of Benitez hark back to the first half of last decade and before, much like with Wenger.

[clockender1]

That's like choosing a punch in the face over a kick in the nuts. I would prefer neither.

He's an absymal manager. Inherited a good Valencia team from Ranieri and admittedly pushed them up a level for a while, then the flukiest CL win with the Victims in 05, followed by a meltdown in their title charge (after spunking god knows how much on absolute shite - Robbie Keane for £20 million , Aquilani £20m plus others), and then had the gall to complain about no money being given to him

Fucked up Inter after their treble winning season - they will never forget that there.

lol.

two titles in 4 seasons with Valencia - aquilani didn't play til he left though huh ?

and i'm pretty sure he bought Torres, alonso and babel didn't he - all worked well. I give you keane though - most overrated overpaid striker of the 2000's.

and as i said, he won three trophies with Inter , asked for more funds a week after the FIFA club game, and got sacked.

i'd wager a quid he'll win something major in his next job, before Wenger does.

i don't like mourinho btw, but i'd take him to refit the club top to bottom.

[northbank123]

That's like choosing a punch in the face over a kick in the nuts. I would prefer neither.

He's an absymal manager. Inherited a good Valencia team from Ranieri and admittedly pushed them up a level for a while, then the flukiest CL win with the Victims in 05, followed by a meltdown in their title charge (after spunking god knows how much on absolute shite - Robbie Keane for £20 million , Aquilani £20m plus others), and then had the gall to complain about no money being given to him

Fucked up Inter after their treble winning season - they will never forget that there.

lol.

two titles in 4 seasons with Valencia - aquilani didn't play til he left though huh ?

and i'm pretty sure he bought Torres, alonso and babel didn't he - all worked well. I give you keane though - most overrated overpaid striker of the 2000's.

and as i said, he won three trophies with Inter , asked for more funds a week after the FIFA club game, and got sacked.

i'd wager a quid he'll win something major in his next job, before Wenger does.

i don't like mourinho btw, but i'd take him to refit the club top to bottom.

1) Why are his titles dating back a decade still relevant whereas Wenger's 3 PLs and 4 FA Cups are (rightly) discounted?
2) The TWO trophies he won at Inter were by playing 3 games (2 against shit foreign opposition), were facilitated 100% by Mourinho's successes the previous season and are roughly on a par with the Emirates Cup in terms of difficulty to win.
3) He got sacked for being miles off the top by December and losing a few times to AC - not because he demanded more money.

[augie]

In my opinion the fat waiter is a very shrewd tactician but it was that tactical mindset that cost the victims their first league title in 20 + years when he set them up not to lose instead of sending them out to win which is imperative in this league.
The chavs are a classless pikey,racist scumbag club and always were - I know that is nothing new but these days it is costing them any chance of success as the owner and fans take it in turns to force new managers out the door The thing I really don't get though is this love affair the fans have with peanut head - yes he "led" them to their first ever champs league success (and gave several Gooners a night of pure joy in the process ) but surely everybody can see that the effect he had on the team was minimal ? Their senior scumbags in the dressing room took over the team and decided everything after that and do matteo knew it was either go along with it or be forced out the door by the players just like avb, scolari and the arrogant portugese wan*er were

Hard to know if rafa could have down a good job there or not had he been given the job properly. It surprises me that with all the blame being apportioned at the bridge this season, nobody has taken the individual in charge of buying players to task over his performance - anybody who thought that the chavs should buy lightweights like Oscar and hazard to go along with the other lightweight (mata) and still be real challengers in a league as physical as this, should have their head examined

[donaldo]

We cant have it both ways.If Abramovich was our owner Wenger would have been fired a long time ago and thats what we all want dont we?.Do you really think if Usmanov was our owner he would behave any different from Abramovich? Just look at the facts since we last won a trophy Chelsea have won 10 trophies and dont kid yourself us Gooners would die for 10 trophies in 8 years including a CL.

[clockender1]

1) Why are his titles dating back a decade still relevant whereas Wenger's 3 PLs and 4 FA Cups are (rightly) discounted?
.

they weren't i went back to 2005, but it was mentioned that benitez was lucky at valencia - to which i pointed out that 2 league titles in 4 years and a UEFA cup is not lucky.

[MK Gould]

We cant have it both ways.If Abramovich was our owner Wenger would have been fired a long time ago and thats what we all want dont we?.Do you really think if Usmanov was our owner he would behave any different from Abramovich? Just look at the facts since we last won a trophy Chelsea have won 10 trophies and dont kid yourself us Gooners would die for 10 trophies in 8 years including a CL.

You can give credit to Abramovich or you can call him an arse for only buying them 2 Premier League titles (the only true measure of success) in the last 8 seasons. If he'd have kept Mourinho they would have won so much more. I'd love to see serious money pumped into the club, but would prefer someone with a more hands off approach.

[clockender1]

It surprises me that with all the blame being apportioned at the bridge this season, nobody has taken the individual in charge of buying players to task over his performance - anybody who thought that the chavs should buy lightweights like Oscar and hazard to go along with the other lightweight (mata) and still be real challengers in a league as physical as this, should have their head examined

agreed.

people may disagree but i think Essien was their greatest buy rather than drogba or zola.

he or someone like him is needed by us too and United. to link the midfield and protect the back four.

Paul Davis, Vieira, Petit, Edu, Gilberto, Keane (spit), Davids, Essien, Yaya Toure are all players of the same type, all the lynchpin holding the spine of the team.

all guts no glory.