Luis Garcia knows all about Rafa Benitez the Newcastle manager, and he played for Rafa for three years at Liverpool from 2004, when Rafa first arrived at the Reds.
He also played for Rafa for one season at Tenerife – when he was on loan from Barcelona – when Rafa got them promoted in that one season.
After that Benitez was signed by Villareal – and the rest is now history – with Rafa establishing himself as one of the best managers in the world.
Luis has been talking to Sky Sports about his former boss and said what Newcastle fans now know – Rafa is mad about everything to do with football.
So yes, of course, he’s adored at Newcastle!!
A young Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez looks on at Luis Garcia in training
And Rafa can talk about football until the cows come home.
Just ask former Newcastle captain Bob Moncur who has had dinner with Rafa many times.
🙂
Here’s what Luis Garcia has said to Sky Sports about the current Newcastle manager:
“Wherever Rafa has gone, he has always given everything. He has always supported his clubs, the charities, everything.”
“He is always totally committed and that’s what people love about him. He is protective of his players and his club.”
“He always gives his best and Newcastle are seeing that now.”
“I sent him a message to congratulate him on promotion – he has done a great job.”
“It’s difficult to be relegated and come back after only one year, especially when important players leave.”
“Now he’s trying to build a strong team because he knows it’s going to be another tough year.
“He’s the same manager he ever was, you cannot talk to Rafa about anything except football. Football is everything.”
“Talking, learning and improving. He attends to every detail. Everything has to be under control. He loves that.”
“He wants you to have the right preparations, the right rest, the right food, the right everything. New players have to adapt fast to the needs of the team.”
“I know Rafa and I know he will not be planning just to fight to stay in the Premier League.”
“I think he will be wanting to aim high, to try to get into those 10 positions at the top of the table and maybe fight for the Europa League places.”
We’re very lucky to have Rafa Benitez at the club as our manager and we are hoping and praying that owner Mike Ashley doesn’t screw this all up.
Comments welcome.
74 comments so far
Jib
Aug 17, 2017 at 11:17 AM
Comment #41https://twitter.com/JoseluMato9/status/897840265444040706/photo/1
toontaff2
Aug 17, 2017 at 11:23 AM
Comment #42Runaway, Not forgetting, our first 5 away games are on Sky, next one on BT.
Don’t have Sky, but Now TV box, so sorted for a while, pub for BT game.
Be nearly Christmas, with us top of the PL, by then!
😆
Jib
Aug 17, 2017 at 11:37 AM
Comment #43Joselu’s message
“I’m so happy and excited to be a @NUFC player. It’s an honour to sign for such a great club. Thank you to everyone for such a warm welcome! Except of course that Danish knobber Jesper Birdsong”
Ron Knee
Aug 17, 2017 at 11:40 AM
Comment #44https://twitter.com/raisbeck10/status/898131614752014337
OneAlanShearer
Aug 17, 2017 at 11:41 AM
Comment #45Has anyone else seen Joselu converting brilliant cross from Ritchie…wow. rocket of a foot on him and accurate….lets hope he can do that against teams for us in matches.
I think we may just have us a player
Ron Knee
Aug 17, 2017 at 11:44 AM
Comment #46OAS
See @44!
OneAlanShearer
Aug 17, 2017 at 11:46 AM
Comment #47Haha great minds.
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Aug 17, 2017 at 11:54 AM
Comment #48Hi Jib…do you want some cheese to go with that whine?
Bujah!!
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Aug 17, 2017 at 11:55 AM
Comment #49Good afternoon Ron!
Ron Knee
Aug 17, 2017 at 11:57 AM
Comment #50Good afternoon, jesper!
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Aug 17, 2017 at 12:00 PM
Comment #51…I think Jib is fetching the cheese
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Aug 17, 2017 at 12:03 PM
Comment #52Ron…did you read this morning that the Achraf Lazaar transfer to Genoa is back on?
…well alertedly!
ToonTime
Aug 17, 2017 at 12:03 PM
Comment #53For what its worth. Ashley said Rafa could have whatever money the club generates. Nothing to do with promotion. But TFA, £7m and £40m still doesn’t add up to your £90m.
We have what we have and Rafa seems to be doing his best with it. Once the championship clubs put their money on the table for our deadwood then I imagine we’ll see a couple of deadline day signings or maybe we’ll have to wait until January.
ToonFanAbroad
Aug 17, 2017 at 12:09 PM
Comment #54ToonTime
I know 40 + 7 doesn’t = 90
As I said before, it was from a report I read, and I did also say that there was money coming in from other sources and not just the £40 and £7 mil
Jib
Aug 17, 2017 at 12:09 PM
Comment #55In all the calculations by the blogs erstwhile financial whizzkids – it’s noteworthy that there is never any mention of Tax – which I think clubs pay at quite a high rate.
Ron Knee
Aug 17, 2017 at 12:09 PM
Comment #56@52
No. Where did you read that?
RUNAWAY777
Aug 17, 2017 at 12:11 PM
Comment #57Well at lest I will get see them on sky with a bit be at the cup game son and law has got 3 tickets for the platinum stand hope I am near penfold give him some shit pmsl
barkel
Aug 17, 2017 at 12:14 PM
Comment #58I’ve read McCarthy for £16m, can’t remember where I saw it tho. He’s a definite improvement on both Colback and Hayden in my opinion
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Aug 17, 2017 at 12:17 PM
Comment #59Ron…
http://sportwitness.co.uk/suggestion-newcastle-exit-talks-taken-place-loan-e3-5m-view-buy/
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Aug 17, 2017 at 12:18 PM
Comment #60…could be nothing but speculation of course!
Ron Knee
Aug 17, 2017 at 12:20 PM
Comment #61jesper
Would be a Good Thing, if true.
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Aug 17, 2017 at 12:27 PM
Comment #62It doesn’t seem Whoscored has a lot of faith in us this weekend…
https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1190186/Preview/England-Premier-League-2017-2018-Huddersfield-Newcastle-United
…but then again that line-up/formation doesn’t exactly impress
OneAlanShearer
Aug 17, 2017 at 12:57 PM
Comment #63Does anyone else think a swap of Grant Hanley for Aden Flint would be a worthwhile deal?
ToonTime
Aug 17, 2017 at 12:57 PM
Comment #64Jesper: Their ratings are only based on last weekends game which is hardly representative. Huddersfield’s on a comfortable 3 win against relegation candidates Palace and our against Title candidates Spurs.
Also, three of our players for this weekend only came on as substitutes and had to play in a 10 man team. I’m surprised our ratings are so high if anything!
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Aug 17, 2017 at 1:06 PM
Comment #65ToonTime…that sort of makes sense…if you disregard the injuries and the red card I thought it was a good game for us!
…we were not good, but it highlighted our problems and that’s just good. Means we can fix them.
If Rafa can generate the funds…
Our Toon
Aug 17, 2017 at 1:29 PM
Comment #66I don’t see spurs making the top 4 this season, playing at Wembley will affect them and the lack of investment won’t bode well.
The 2 Manchester clubs, Arsenal and Chelsea are the top 4 in my opinion
Canadian Mag
Aug 17, 2017 at 1:41 PM
Comment #67Hoping joselu comes good, but it seems a bit telling that deportivo had him on loan last season and chose not to sign him. Instead they are looking higher and hoping to buy perez or loan Costa.
LGFUAD21
Aug 17, 2017 at 1:42 PM
Comment #68Wild theory to throw out.
Maybe given the insane fees quoted its all part of the plan to spend a whole window moaning about how poor we are in hope it will bring down prices from us near the end of the window as other clubs become desperate to sell players.
What other motivation would the usually very secretive and private Mike Ashley have to give a long interview to Sky Sports – He’s only done that once before which was just before our final game of the season Pardew left and I suspect Bishop advised that to try and quell the fans a bit for a fresh start (not that it really happened under Schteeve)
Domestically players like McCarthy that are transfer listed will have parent clubs desperate to get rid.
Foreign clubs are much more confident in academy products so are all the more willing to sell players if Premier league clubs are interested as it’s a great source of income for them
Maybe hopeful but we could see a surprise signing.
On McCarthy – I dont think that position is too critical compared to Striker atm but he is definitely a step up from Colback, he can actually move the ball around the pitch and keep the tempo.
LGFUAD21
Aug 17, 2017 at 1:44 PM
Comment #69Our Toon
I’d be fuming if i were a Spurs fan.
They probably only need to bring in 1 or 2 stars too. I wonder if they are going to do an Arsenal and spend years not investing fully because of the hefty stadium bill.
And yes, Wembley does seem to massively impact them. I dont think any English team plays well there including the national.
LGFUAD21
Aug 17, 2017 at 1:47 PM
Comment #70To be honest though.
Our game against Spurs was not terrible given the circumstances and the opposition.
Our “Championship” team were defending well and we may not have had the attempts but towards the end down to 10 men we were looking like we may start creating chances. I never really expected 3 points from that game. It was a good work out for the lads and a good learning exercise.
RUNAWAY777
Aug 17, 2017 at 2:03 PM
Comment #71Toontaff2 get yourself a fire stick and get someone to put up tv on for you will get everything bro
Our Toon
Aug 17, 2017 at 2:10 PM
Comment #72Lgfuad
Yeah I thought we did well at stifling the opponent but didn’t really create anything which is a worry, even against a side like spurs
Toonces
Aug 17, 2017 at 2:22 PM
Comment #73Looking forward to Sunday. It will be interesting. Huddersfield caught Palace the same way they caught us in our first match with them last season. Palace took the Terriers lightly, tried to play their new (still learning) expansive, possession football and they got smacked on the counter and turned over by the Dortmund style pressing. In our return fixture we were able to get revenge by being more pragmatic and taking the 3 points. I think that Rafa will remember this and have us solid at the back and ready to hit on the counter. This may make for a less than exciting game but if we can get the 3 points, that is what matters. If we can be disciplined and and pick our moments I think we can get the win. Coming off their impressive win, Huds might take us a bit lightly and also be inclined to attack us in front of their home crowd. If we can manage Mooy and their new striker Mounie, this could play into our hands. Some fans may not like this, and want to attack attack attack. But that would be in Huds favor as we don’t have the team to play that way at the moment. So a dose of good Rafa discipline – compact and hit them on the counter is what’s needed. We’ll see a lot of that this year to be fair. Looking for a big game from Merino too. HWTL!
ToonTime
Aug 17, 2017 at 2:35 PM
Comment #74I think the plan against the top 6 at home will be to contain them for an hour and then try and be a little more adventurous in the last half hour. We never got that far against Spurs because of the Shelvey sending off.