Rafa Benitez is confident his job is safe because Everton’s owner Farhad Moshiri has accepted he can’t keep changing managers and the club needs some long-term stability.
The former Liverpool boss goes into the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park under mounting pressure to turn around a dismal run of just one point and three goals from the last six games ahead of a tough December fixture list.
But Benitez says he is in regular dialogue with Moshiri and other members of the club’s hierarchy who realise the last thing they need now is another change of manager – he is the sixth permanent appointment since David Moyes ended his 11-year spell in 2013.
Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman, Sam Allardyce, Marco Silva, Carlo Ancelotti have all come and gone with no real improvement in the club’s fortunes but Benitez believes the board have seen the error of their ways and will stick with him.
“I am in constant communication with the board and Mr Moshiri so I have this feeling that that they realise that over the years changing managers – even changing the profile of the managers – didn’t work and was not productive.
“He [Moshiri] is clever enough. He realised that maybe it was not the way and he’s trying to find a better way to make sure we are stronger. They [the board] know that we need stability, they know that is really important for changing things in the future and hopefully we can keep this stability.”
Benitez’s hands have been tied in the transfer market by Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations because of the club’s spending in recent seasons with the Spaniard agreeing that much of the £500m outlay has been wasted.
“You can’t blame the owner for spending a lot of money,” he added. “It is just that we have to be sure we do things right in the future and the reason why we can’t spend now is because the Premier League rules don’t allow us to do that.
“Hopefully we can manage in a better way, we can sell some players at a profit and we can use this money to improve the squad and to ensure we are stronger.
“It is important to do the right thing at the right time. You can’t spend money every year so you have to manage. Some clubs have been selling players at the right time and with the money they received they improved the squad.
“That is something we have to learn. The owner is ready to spend money but we can’t spend all the time without bringing money back in. So I think we have to be clever in the future but, at the moment, we have to make sure we can bring the best out of our to the end of the season but at the same time thinking about the long-term future.”
Everton’s slump has coincided with injury absences of several key players but while Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Yerry Mina and Andres Gomez remain out, Abdoulaye Doucoure returned at Brentford on Sunday and Richarlison and Demarai Gray will be back in the starting line-up on Wednesday night.
Despite recent results, Benitez remains convinced that once he has a fully fit squad Everton can still challenge for the top eight and possible European qualification. An unlikely win against an in-form Liverpool team, he says, could prove the turning point in their so far underwhelming season.
“We need a couple of results now to grow in confidence,” he said.
“I will tell you in the middle of the second part of the season how high we can go. I am convinced we can do well and we can be high in the table – when I say high I mean around eighth position – but I will keep my ambition that we can do even better in the future. It is a massive project going forward and I’m sure we will do it but it will take time.”
Everton’s predicted XI vs Liverpool: Pickford; Coleman, Godfrey, Keane, Digne; Townsend, Allan, Delph, Doucoure, Gray; Richarlison.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3o8QJIb
Post a Comment