Steve McManaman has told talkSPORT that he hopes Everton owner Farhad Moshiri sticks by Rafa Benitez regardless of the result in the Merseyside derby at home to Liverpool.
The Toffees host Jurgen Klopp’s Reds at Goodison Park on Wednesday night amid a torrid run of form. They have failed to win any of their last seven Premier League games, losing five, with a 2-0 result over Norwich City on September 25 remaining their last triumph.
Everton had started the season brightly under Benitez, after Moshiri hired the Spaniard to replace Carlo Ancelotti in the summer. The Blues won four of their first six games under the ex-Reds coach to sit just a point off first-place.
But results since beating Norwich have seen Everton slip from fifth-place on goal difference to 14th ahead of hosting Liverpool. They are also now just five-points above the drop zone.
Moshiri has shown with Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman and Marco Silva that he is not afraid to sack a coach. He also fired Sam Allardyce just six-months after giving him the job.
Koeman left Everton in October 2017 after claiming two wins in his final nine league games in charge. His final act was to oversee a 5-2 defeat at home to Arsenal. The axe also fell on Silva in December 2019 after a 5-2 loss to Liverpool, which marked their ninth in 15 games.
McManaman urges Moshiri patience on Benitez future at Everton
McManaman, though, hopes Moshiri shows more patience and gives Benitez time to turn Everton’s fortunes around.
“I think it’s too early to call whether he will lose his job if the result doesn’t go his way tonight,” McManaman said. “I certainly hope they don’t do that.
“It shouldn’t be a shock reaction, but stranger things have been done this year. If they lose heavily, you never know. But let’s not think negatively.”
Koeman and Silva left Everton with the club 18th in the Premier League table at the time of their exits. Moshiri will be loath to let the Goodison side regress to that level under Benitez.
Everton will remain safe of the relegation zone under the £7m-a-year Spaniard regardless of their result at home to Liverpool. But Benitez will fear the writing appearing on the wall if the Toffees lose to their Merseyside rivals at Goodison.
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