There’s a reasonable chance that on Wednesday night, Rafa Benitez’s name will ring out on Goodison Park for the first time all season.
The point is, it won’t be the Everton fans singing it.
What a situation the Spaniard finds himself heading into the 239th Merseyside derby. His supporters have little time for him, while his opponents – many of them of them still worship him deep down – ready to swing a knife and make life even more uncomfortable.
THAN: Messi brought home the 7th Ballon d’Or
And make no mistake: a big win for Liverpool this week could spell the end for Benitez.
Everton is falling apart very quickly. Without a win in seven games, they have dropped to 14th in the Premier League table, just six points above the bottom three and face a series of games in December that not only includes Liverpool, but also Arsenal, Chelsea and Arsenal. Leicester City.
Even the easier games – Crystal Palace and Burnley away, Newcastle at home – don’t look particularly appealing.
Performance, in general, has been poor. A 5-2 defeat at home to Watford, in which they conceded four times in the last 12 minutes, but of more concern to supporters was the lack of direction and combat shown in the games. other matches, notably defeats to Aston Villa, West Ham, Wolves and most recently to Brentford.
November brought in just one point, a less-than-convincing draw at home with Tottenham, and just one goal, a consolation for Alex Iwobi at Molineux.
THAN: Who will Man Utd appoint as the next head coach?
Videos posted on social media following Sunday’s 0-1 loss to Brentford show fans – and by no means a minority – scolding their players from the away end as the whistle blows end resounded.
Worryingly, it’s become something of a popular (and sound) thing.
Benitez thinks there are mitigating factors – most notably an injury that has kept his main striker, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, out since the end of August – but he knows things need to change. change quickly, if he wants to avoid the fate of Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman, Sam Allardyce and Marco Silva, all of whom have been sacked by Farhad Moshiri, the club’s majority shareholder.
His efforts to protect his players after the loss to Brentford will not go well.
“We are very disappointed,” he said. “But we cannot complain about the effort the players put in and the intensity they put in the game.
“Obviously we didn’t want to lose, but you can see the unity of the players and how they fought until the last minute.”
A lot of people would disagree there, although there are, it must be said, plenty of Everton fans who sympathize with Benitez and who appreciate the difficulty of the job he inherited.
After all, this is a club that has bounced from manager to manager – there have been five permanent owners and two different caretakers since David Moyes ended his 11-year sabbatical in 2016. 2013 – and one club used perhaps the most dispersed and unsuccessful gun transfer policy in the league during that time.
THAN: Why did Man Utd hire Rangnick as an interim coach?
Failures have been many, and they have paid a heavy price. From Oumar Niasse to Cenk Tosun, via Theo Walcott, Davy Klaassen, Moise Kean, Yannick Bolasie, Andre Gomes, Jean-Philippe Gbamin and Morgan Schneiderlin.
Everton have spent big, but they have often spent poorly, be it under Steve Walsh, hired as the genius behind Leicester’s 2016 championship and then sacked alongside Allardyce two years later, or Marcel Brands , the current director of football was appointed to a public fire but has done little to justify his lofty reputation since then.
Everton’s chaotic spending means Benitez has little to do after replacing Carlo Ancelotti in June. The Toffees spent less than £2 million ($2.6 million) on five senior players in the summer transfer window, slashing their wage bill by dropping the likes of Bolasie and Walcott, as well as James Rodriguez, and loaned Juventus Kean not happy.
No wonder their squad looks weak and unbalanced.
There is no quality cover for Calvert-Lewin, with Salomon Rondon as an aging and incompetent replacement; a major problem at the heart of defence, where Michael Keane, Ben Godfrey and Mason Holgate have struggled, and Yerry Mina has been frequently absent; and an alarming lack of creativity in midfield.
Benitez’s strengths are in his ability to coach, organize and prepare a squad, but there is little evidence of that after a bright enough opening month.
Everton are 18th in average possession time and 17th in total passes. They made a lot of tackles and intercepted a lot, but neither side was dribbled more, and only Tottenham and Watford won the ball in the third quarter overall with fewer hits.
THAN: Latest transfer news
That is, the style of play, is wearing away supporters as much as anything.
Everton fans are, in general, realists. They don’t expect miracles, title challenges or 20-game wins, but they, like everyone else, want the chance to dream, have hope, and enjoy watching their team.
Instead, they were forced to endure a series of mistakes, bad football and too often, a team that did not represent the values and history of the club.
Benitez’s appointment represents another slap in the face for many. The 61-year-old will always be with Liverpool, Champions League winners at Anfield and someone who used to treat Everton like a small club, and it doesn’t take genius to know that it won’t be long before this marriage. of convenience was troubled.
“The relationship between the fans and the players last year was not good,” Benitez said on Sunday. “At the beginning of this season, it was fantastic. To bring about this connection, fans are expecting players to give everything, and then win games. “
Of course, Wednesday would be a good place to start. Everton beat Liverpool the last time the two sides met in February, and haven’t lost a Goodison derby in nearly five years, but form instructions say they will have to cut jobs this time, against a Devil’s side Red are scoring at a rate of 3 goals per game this season.
Of course, pessimism is to be expected into derby week, and there are plenty of Reds heading into this week’s game with trepidation, expecting a reaction and an often awkward game for their team.
The results don’t lie, although Liverpool humiliated Manchester United last month and there are genuine fears among Evertonians that if Jurgen Klopp’s side score early then, with chronic lack of confidence of The Blues and the current mood of the home audience, the same could happen at Goodison.
If that’s the case, we can expect Benitez’s name to echo throughout that famous old stadium.
And if that happens, we can expect Everton to look for a new manager sooner rather than later.
