Rafa Benitez is under pressure at Newcastle United after just two points this season.
Cardiff City’s win over Fulham at the weekend means Newcastle United sit at the bottom of the Premier League as the only team without a win this season.
Two points from nine games is all that Rafa Benitez has managed so far and that record is enough to see him under some pressure – that’s despite most people understanding what a difficult job he has.
The lack of investment at Newcastle is infamous – the club’s transfer record remains Michael Owen’s arrival from Real Madrid in 2005, by far the oldest of any in the Premier League.
It may be easy to argue that it’s simply time for a change, that Benitez has finally done all he could and someone new is the answer – but it’s worth remembering that Liverpool thought the same in 2010.
Benitez certainly left an incredible impression at Anfield – he’s still revered at the club – but it was decided that he had simply burnt out on the lack of investment and infighting from owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
Liverpool had finished second in 2009 but the following summer saw Xabi Alonso sold to Real Madrid and replaced with Alberto Aquilani. Further infighting followed as Liverpool finished 7th, their lowest in over a decade.
And so Benitez was deemed unable to work under the current investment and Roy Hodgson, fresh off a Europa League final with Fulham, was brought in.
His appointment was an absolute disaster as Liverpool flirted with the relegation zone, the saving grace being new ownership that arrived in time for Kenny Dalglish to rebuild in the January window.
It turned out that Benitez had actually done remarkably well under no investment and that even a ‘safe pair of hands’ struggled to get things working even half as well as he had.
It’s a lesson that Newcastle may do very well to heed.
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