Everton owner Farhad Moshiri insists Rafa Benitez will NOT be sacked and needs more time, despite fury from fans over their awful run of form and a humiliating Merseyside derby defeat
- Everton owner Farhad Moshiri insists under-fire Rafa Benitez will not be sacked
- The Toffees lost 4-1 to Liverpool in the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park
- The defeat means Everton have now gone eight matches without a victory
- It prompted furious scenes in the stands and calls for huge change at the club
- But Moshiri insists Benitez is going nowhere and needs more time at the helm
Farhad Moshiri has pledged to give Rafa Benitez time to transform Everton’s fortunes and steer them away from the crisis that threatens to engulf Goodison Park.
Everton’s long-suffering supporters voted with their feet on Wednesday, leaving the stadium early, as they slumped to their heaviest home defeat against Liverpool since November 1982 and the manner of their 4-1 capitulation has left many concerned about their prospects for the season.
There were angry scenes around the Directors Box at the final whistle, with Chairman Bill Kenwright, Chief Executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale and Marcel Brands, the club’s Sporting Director, all targeted by fans whose patience at prolonged underperformance is at breaking point.
Everton owner Farhad Moshiri insists Rafa Benitez will not be sacked despite their poor form
Moshiri, who will attend Monday’s now pivotal visit of Arsenal, says Benitez is going nowhere
Moshiri was absent for the Merseyside derby but he will be in town next Monday for a game against Arsenal that outsiders view as being potentially significant for Benitez, whose side have not won for eight games and have only scored five goals since September 26.
The Iranian is an unpredictable character and can make impulsive decisions but, in a message sent to TalkSPORT, Moshiri – who was the driving force behind the unpopular appointment of Benitez – insisted this was the moment to remain calm.
The Toffees were blown away in the Merseyside derby on Wednesday night, going down 4-1
Mohamed Salah scored a brace for Liverpool as Jurgen Klopp’s side put Everton to the sword
Asked by presenter Jim White whether he still backed Benitez, Moshiri replied: ‘Yes. Football is about crisis one day and glory the following day. Rafa is a good manager and underperformance is largely due to the injuries.
‘Next two weeks, we will get to a full squad and, in the meantime, results will improve. Rafa needs time to have his mark on the squad. He will be supported to add depth to the squad. Managers need time. I have no doubt that we will have a strong second-half to the season.’
Though Moshiri’s words were optimistic, they must be treated with caution. Everton have a devilish sequence of fixtures coming up – after Arsenal, they travel to Crystal Palace and Chelsea before facing Leicester at home – and the mood and morale within the squad is low.
Everton’s director of football Marcel Brands was involved in a heated argument with one fan
What’s more, Brands raised the idea that all is not well behind the scenes as he was videoed in the moments after the Liverpool defeat engaged in a heated exchange with a fan who had confronted him as he left his seat the Directors Box.
The supporter shouted at him: “You! You! What do you do? Get out of this club!” before pointing at the pitch and saying: “Did you recruit them?”
Brands, who looked startled, replied: “It’s only the players? It’s only the players?”
Having been recruited from PSV Eindhoven in 2018, Brands signed a new three-year contract in the summer. He had been charged with finding a successor to Carlo Ancelotti but Moshiri overlooked his recommendations and went with Benitez after moving away from Nuno Espirito Santo.
One fan invaded the pitch at full-time as he remonstrated with Anthony Gordon (left), Seamus Coleman (hidden) and Abdoulaye Doucoure (right)
Supporters protested with a banner complaining about the club’s lack of ambition
This has been one of the most volatile periods in Everton’s history in terms of managerial change – dispensing with Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman, Sam Allardyce and Marco Silva cost more than £30million in severance packages – and it would be costly to remove Benitez.
Whether Moshiri will stay true to his word remains to be seen but Benitez did at least receive a lift from one of his players last night when Demarai Gray – Everton’s top performer of the campaign – stressed he and his team-mates must shoulder the blame for this wretched run.
‘It takes one game to turn it around,’ said Gray, who scored Everton’s goal against Liverpool. ‘We have a lot of games over the next period. Hopefully, we can gain some momentum off the back of it. As players, you have to be accountable. We are the ones on the pitch and have to do things better.’