Brendan Rodgers is the ideal successor to Rafael Benitez at Newcastle
According to the Mirror, Newcastle United are considering former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers as a replacement for Rafael Benitez, provided the Spaniard fails to get the team back to winning ways in the Premier League.
However, the fans sympathize with Benitez and believe that he has done a fairly good job, given that he has had to work under a lot of financial constraints. (h/t Mirror)
Benitez is currently in the final year of his contract at St. James’ Park and the 58-year-old is unwilling to sign an extension as he hasn’t received certain assurances. (h/t Mirror)
Benitez took charge of Newcastle in the latter half of the 2015/16 season when the Magpies were fighting to stay alive in the Premier League. Although Benitez did a good job at reassembling his unit, it wasn’t enough to avoid relegation. However, Newcastle did well under Benitez in the Championship and earned promotion back to the top flight after a year’s absence.
Things have gone horribly wrong for the Magpies this season, however, and Benitez’s men are currently in the relegation zone with only two points so far. Goalless draws against Crystal Palace and Cardiff City have been Newcastle’s best results so far. They could have had their first win of the season against Manchester United had they not collapsed in the last 20 minutes.
Benitez has every right to argue that five out of the six losses came against teams in the top six. However, the upcoming fixtures against Brighton, Southampton and Watford might go a long way in deciding his fate at the club.
Now, Benitez’s ultra-defensive tactics haven’t brought the best out the team. As a matter of fact, Newcastle had only 19% of the possession against Chelsea and 21% against Manchester City. They allowed the opposition to pass the ball around with ease and dictate the proceedings.
The Magpies have been guilty of sitting way too deep inside their own half and haven’t shown any intention of winning the ball back. Consequently, there has been no supply from the midfield, leaving the attackers to feed on scraps.
Quite surprisingly, Benitez hasn’t made any effort to change the shape of his team and switch formations. He has seemed pretty much married to either a 4-4-1-1 or a 5-4-1 which hasn’t done any good so far.
Brendan Rodgers, on the other hand, has tasted grand success in the Scottish Premiership with Celtic. Following his appointment in 2016, the 45-year-old has guided Celtic to back-to-back Scottish Premiership titles. He won the award for the Scottish Premiership Manager of the Season in 2016/17.
Rodgers had tasted considerable success in the Premier League as well with Swansea City and Liverpool. He was Swansea’s manager when they won the Championship play-offs in 2010/11, becoming the first-ever Wales-based team to secure promotion to the Premier League. He had some lean patches in his time at Liverpool but never hesitated to change things and always showed the intent to force the outcome.
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Rodgers usually adopts a free-flowing possession-based style football and defensively, his team thrives while pressurizing the opposition. This should work in favour of Newcastle as he could change the formation and the tactics to allow the team to hold on to the ball for longer periods.
Rafael Benitez seems to be living on borrowed time but the management will probably wait for another two or three games and then assess his position. If he fails to get the campaign back on track, they will be forced to pull the trigger sooner or later.
