Rafa Watch

[topscorer]

One or two seasons at the most and I'm sure he knows it. But it's his home club, he's got to take it if he has the chance.

[danperkins]

Madrid managers job is a volatile position, should be interesting.

[red g]

Good Luck Rafa, You will need it

Real Madrid vice-president Eduardo Fernandez de Blas has accidentally let slip at the meeting of a fans' group that Rafa Benitez will be the new club coach.

Benitez will leave Napoli at the end of the season and has been hotly tipped to take over from Carlo Ancelotti at the Bernabeu.

Real have yet to name Ancelotti's successor but an offhand comment during a club event on Saturday evening appears to have confirmed the former Liverpool manager's arrival.

"Ancelotti is an absolute phenomenon and we give him all our appreciation," Fernandez de Blas told the Madrid members' group.

"Until three days ago he was the best trainer in the world as two years ago it was Jose Mourinho and from this week onwards it will be Rafa Benitez. "

Italian Ancelotti was dismissed a year after he ended 12 years of Champions League failure and led Real to a record-extending 10th European crown, as well as a Copa del Rey triumph.

Former Liverpool and Chelsea boss Benitez, who once had a stint as a Real youth team coach, is expected by local media to be named on Wednesday as the new man at the helm.

[Doc_Piptorious]

The 2nd stat is Ancelotti's record, got mixed up

Still, Real's relative lack of domestic success since around the turn of the century is quite amazing.

2 Copa Del Reys since 1993

And last year's CL win was their first since 2002.

Your first stat of them winning La Liga once in the past seven years is wrong as well

They have won La Liga twice in the past seven years and three times in the past eight years.

[Roboklopp]

I just never seen Rafa and Real Madrid as a good fit. Rafa is cautious, meticulous & likes a solid setup. Madrid fans will hate that and the boys upstairs want everything and more. They want to win trophies but they want to win big,flamboyant, score lots of goals, excitement blah blah blah.

It certainly will be interesting if Rafa can sort out their dreadful defence & keep that attacking flair going. If results don't go as planned early in the season.... you can imagine the reaction. Curious to know what the Madrid fans think of this appointment?

Haven't you just told us?

[dww]

It will be interesting. My vague feeling is that Rafa hasn't quite moved with the trends in top level football and struggled to get as good a backroom staff as he had when he came to us. At Real I imagine he will be able to more or less pick the latter and will certainly have the players to determine whether I'm right about the first point.

I think he'll get the best out of Bale. Be interesting to see what happens to Ronaldo and Benzema. With us I always felt we were one goalscorer short under him, at Real he should be fine on that front.

[Tee]

Reckon Real will win the CL next season if Rafa goes there.

[Vermilion]

TBF I think he captures the issue. A great manager tactically but behind closed doors he ****s off the players. That seems to match our experience rather well.

Yeah it's weird how a lot of the players that say this have other gripes, like not being good enough or trying hard enough, or having had a disagreement.

I remember a scene from his time here, Rafa interacting with players in training, one of the youngsters slapped him in the face joking around pretend fighting, didn't look to me like a manager that would be aloof or unapproachable at all.

[danperkins]

I just never seen Rafa and Real Madrid as a good fit. Rafa is cautious, meticulous & likes a solid setup. Madrid fans will hate that and the boys upstairs want everything and more. They want to win trophies but they want to win big,flamboyant, score lots of goals, excitement blah blah blah.

It certainly will be interesting if Rafa can sort out their dreadful defence & keep that attacking flair going. If results don't go as planned early in the season.... you can imagine the reaction. Curious to know what the Madrid fans think of this appointment?

[JudgeRed]

I think he'll succeed at Real. Hell just replicate something along the lines of the Gerrard/ Torres focal point with superior players in other positions. I would love to be a fly on the wall when he tells Ronaldo how he can improve his game in the first training session.

[Shaggy]

Point still stands.

[Roboklopp]

Piss poor shaggy, I expect better from you.

[Shaggy]

The 2nd stat is Ancelotti's record, got mixed up

Still, Real's relative lack of domestic success since around the turn of the century is quite amazing.

2 Copa Del Reys since 1993

And last year's CL win was their first since 2002.

[Doc_Piptorious]

I think Messi, Suarez and Neymar is the best forward line in the history of football, so Rafa will be up against it. Whoever goes in there is gonna fail IMO.

Also, Real Madrid despite being the richest club in the world are ****. Look at their recent record:

1 league title in 7 years
3 league titles in 18 years

In what's basically a two team league, that is amazing.

They have won La Liga 6 times during the past 18 years and Barca have won it 9 times in that period.

[Rich]

Rafa's only mistake with Babel was not doing his homework properly - clearly talented but doesn't have the right mindset for the top.

Benitez's managerial achievements matches up to all but the very, very best.