Everton’s woes are not all Benitez’s fault – but he needs a big result
When Rafael Benitez moved to Goodison Park, every fan on Merseyside had one date etched upon their mind; his first derby as Everton manager.
Benitez’s previous loyalties can be played down or even ignored for 36 games of the season. Not next week. On Wednesday night, Rafa’s name might be chanted in his home stadium for the first time since his appointment.
The nightmare for Everton fans is that Liverpool fans will be singing it. After six Premier League games without a win, the natives are restless.
Coupled with tomorrow’s trip to Brentford, there is a sense of make-or-break in the next five days. Not necessarily because owner Farhad Moshiri will make a rash decision on the manager’s position, but in terms of Benitez’s relationship with those fans who have been willing to cast aside his Anfield past and give him a chance. He needs a big result right now.
Everton’s predicament is a damning indictment of how the club have operated – especially the horrendous recruitment process – since Moshiri became majority shareholder in 2016. Around £500million has been spent, most of it wasted. The absence of three key players in recent weeks – Dominic Calvert-lewin, Abdoulaye
Doucoure and Yerry Mina – has exposed the limitations of a squad that does not have the depth to stay in the top 10 without them.
Given how much has been invested in it, the quality of the squad Benitez inherited is unacceptable.
Sadly, it is not surprising because the structure at Goodison is a mess, with the owner’s policies haphazard and his managerial shortlists always packed with coaches with vastly different personalities and playing styles.
Moshiri appointed
Marcel Brands, a sporting director whose track record in Holland was focused on developing young players, identifying future coaching talent and generally overseeing all the football operations.
It looked like
Everton would follow a European model to rebuild.
Instead, it is hard to believe Brands has had much to do with selecting any of the managers since he took the job. In fact, in the last few years, it is hard to know what the point is of employing Brands. Having him alongside a managerial titan such as Carlo Ancelotti, and now Benitez, is riddled with contradictions.
Such coaches go their own way. Ancelotti showed that when pushing to sign James Rodriguez on £250,000 a week. Like many of the club’s transfers in the past six years, it proved to be an economic disaster, with the Financial Fair Play repercussions meaning Benitez has his hands tied in the transfer market, spending just £1.5million to sign Demarai Gray, Andros Townsend and Salomon Rondon.
Benitez was clearly responsible for Everton’s shoestring-budget deals last summer and will be formulating the list for January. If realistic targets cannot be delivered, it will be no surprise if tensions emerge between Benitez and his director of football.
Benitez has already made his mark by replacing the club’s popular director of medical services, Danny Donachie. As he has shown throughout his career, complete control matters to him. Anyone who does not share his vision does not last long.
Until he can sign more quality and pick what resembles a first-choice team, Benitez will never be able to realise his plans consistently. At the moment, he is reverting to that which he most trusts, with players
who are incapable of delivering regularly. That is accentuating the problem.
There are certain traits Benitez demands from his players; organisation, compactness and control. His teams are not designed to dominate the ball. They are organised in such a way as to deny the opponent space and time to create chances. Whether pleasing on the eye or not, at their best, Benitez teams are a nightmare to play against.
Only two Premier League clubs have had less possession this season. During Benitez’s Newcastle spell, his side ranked 19th in those stats. That is why Everton rate first in the number of kilometres they run per game, and Newcastle were fourth under Benitez.
There is nothing wrong with playing that way when it is done properly. If players are standing off the opponent and failing to aggressively close down even in their own half – as was the case in
Given how much has been invested in it, the quality of the squad the manager inherited is unacceptable
Everton’s recent games against Manchester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and in the final stages of a 5-2 home loss to Watford – it looks awful; neither productive nor resistant.
Moshiri took plenty of flak when he moved for Benitez. For all the growing anxieties, he needs to keep his nerve if the discontent intensifies in the next few days and weeks. Benitez knew what he was walking into, and how much change was required before there could be meaningful improvement on the pitch.
“Eighth place means nothing to me and I really mean that,” Benitez said in a recent press conference. His ambition will always be higher, but he would bite off your hand if you offered it to him at the end of this season. He needed time when he took over and he needs time now. Most Everton fans can see that. But time is a rare gift in football. Otherwise, in managerial terms, Benitez might start to feel like he is 3-0 down to AC Milan and desperate for another miracle comeback.