{"id":47249,"date":"2021-12-29T13:49:12","date_gmt":"2021-12-29T12:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/?p=47249"},"modified":"2021-12-29T13:49:12","modified_gmt":"2021-12-29T12:49:12","slug":"rafa-benitez-everton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/rafa-benitez-everton\/","title":{"rendered":"Conditions not right for Benitez to thrive at Everton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rafael Benitez is an interesting character. There are few managers so swayed by emotion and his best work is done where he is loved, in communities who appreciate and share his obsession with football.<\/p>\n

At Valencia, Liverpool, Napoli and Newcastle he connected with the communities and enjoyed success relative to the constraints of his working conditions and that connection has impacted his decisions going forward.<\/p>\n

Equally, though, there is an ability to be cold, focussed and impersonal. That has caused issues with clubs like Inter, Chelsea and Real Madrid. Perhaps it is over simplistic,but his track record suggests that the sense of a common goal is vitally important to things working out between Benitez and a club. It is for that reason that his appointment at Everton jarred.<\/p>\n

In many ways, it was a great fit. Further to the suggestion that Benitez forges and keeps deep attachments to certain places, he still lives on Merseyside with his family despite taking jobs in Italy, Spain and China since settling there in 2004 after taking over at Anfield. Geographically, going to Goodison Park made sense but in other ways it didn\u2019t. In football, proximity usually means rivalry.<\/p>\n

Although Benitez spoke about a growing link to the blue half of Liverpool over his years around the city, banners and protests against him from Toffees supporters suggested achieving that all important emotional understanding with the fanbase was always going to be a tall order. A good start to the season proved there would be tolerance but that is just evidence of a calm spell during a choppy marriage.<\/p>\n

Players are unlikely to see the warm, affable Benitez with regularity because the training ground is where his focus is sharpest. It is never personal but even those who have thrived under him speak about the difficulties working with him can pose. Steven Gerrard has often admitted he enjoyed the greatest moment of his playing career under Benitez<\/a>, the 2005 Champions League final victory, but acknowledges he struggled for visual approval from the Spaniard, whom he believed would have sold him given the choice.<\/p>\n

Isaac Hayden, the Newcastle midfielder, once compared playing for him to being a robot. But Gerrard added that he chased verification and became a better player as a result. Hayden suggested that you realise what Benitez brings once he\u2019s gone. Both lauded his tactical nous; it is always about taking the rough with the smooth but, generally, players improve under him.<\/p>\n

Naturally, though, his approach does leave a lot of fall outs in its wake. For a manager with one of the greatest CVs in the modern game, he has never adhered the idea of massaging egos. Real Madrid was the job he dreamt of; it was his home and where he played and learnt his coaching trade. He couldn\u2019t turn it down in 2015 but, again, was was set up to struggle from the off.<\/p>\n

To succeed there you need to work in a structure, play a specific brand of attacking football, thrive in huge political situations and work with some of the biggest and most temperamental names around. Benitez is a superb politician, he can get his point across and control a narrative with ease, but he wasn\u2019t afforded anything like what he usually needs to settle.<\/p>\n

Everton has turned into a similarly difficult battle. Results are the most important thing, but once they nosedived, everything became doubly difficult. There isn\u2019t that inherent faith from the supporters he enjoyed at Liverpool and Newcastle and, as such, each issue is magnified.<\/p>\n

The situation with Lucas Digne is indicative of this. All is not well between them and, as far as Benitez is concerned, the Frenchman\u2019s claim as one of the Premier League\u2019s best fullbacks won\u2019t fly if he isn\u2019t falling into line. The fans, meanwhile, are always likely to back one of their most talented players over an unpopular manager.<\/p>\n

But for all the controversy and distastefulness which met Benitez at Everton, and the subsequent collapse in form, supporters have not targeted him like they might. As part of the protest at the Arsenal<\/a> game earlier this month \u2014 ironically their only victory since September \u2014 fans staged a walk out aimed at Farhad Moshiri\u2019s ownership.<\/p>\n

For his part, Moshiri hasn\u2019t wavered in support of Benitez; he was restricted to spending less than \u00a32m in the summer but Ukrainian defender Vitaliy Mykolenko is all set to join, meaning Digne\u2019s days may be numbered. Marcel Brands, the club\u2019s director of football, has already departed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So this is where Benitez finds himself, in a job where backing is low from the people he would usually feed off but high in those in positions he\u2019s fought before. His style is particular and he can bring success to any club where he is given the tools. Everton seem to be going all in for him and how this ends is anyone\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n

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You could earn up to \u00a310 (or currency equivalent) in bonus funds by joining Colossus with our New Player Bonus. Click here to join the action.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rafael Benitez is an interesting character. There are few managers so swayed by emotion and his best work is done where he is loved, in communities who appreciate and share his obsession with football.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[643],"tags":[272,76],"class_list":["post-47249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport","tag-featurehome","tag-premier-league"],"yoast_head":"\nConditions not right for Benitez to thrive at Everton - Colossus Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rafa Benitez has always been fighting an uphill battle at Everton but have the club placed him in an impossible situation to succeed?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/rafa-benitez-everton\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conditions not right for Benitez to thrive at Everton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rafa Benitez has always been fighting an uphill battle at Everton but have the club placed him in an impossible situation to succeed?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/rafa-benitez-everton\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colossus Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-29T12:49:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/M8J2HF1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1608\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Harry De Cosemo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/harrydecosemo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ColossusBets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Harry De Cosemo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/rafa-benitez-everton\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/rafa-benitez-everton\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Harry De Cosemo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/94dd728157baaf683f9e5ca63e63fecb\"},\"headline\":\"Conditions not right for Benitez to thrive at Everton\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-29T12:49:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/rafa-benitez-everton\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":864,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"FeatureHome\",\"Premier League\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/rafa-benitez-everton\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/rafa-benitez-everton\\\/\",\"name\":\"Conditions not right for Benitez to thrive at Everton - 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