We simulated next season with Rafa Benitez as new Everton manager and this is what happened
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Royal Blue: What Are Everton Looking For In A New Manager?
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Former Liverpool and Chelsea boss Rafa Benitez is closing in on being named the new Everton manager.
Benitez is a free agent having left Chinese Super League side Dalian Professional in January, with the Spaniard having previously managed Newcastle United, Real Madrid, Napoli, Chelsea, Inter, Liverpool and Valencia in his near 20-year managerial career.
Former Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo was the clear favourite to become Toffees manager, but talks with Benitez have seemingly advanced significantly.
So how could a Benitez Everton side perform at Goodison Park?
And, how could the 2021/22 season play out with the Champions League winner in charge?
We simulated next season with Benitez as Everton manager to try and find out, and this is what happened.
We appointed Rafa Benitez as the new Everton manager
To set up this simulation, we used the Football Manager 2021 editor to arrange for Rafa Benitez to become Everton manager on July 2, 2021 and then used Football Manager 2021 to run our simulation.
Football Manager (FM) is the world’s leading football management simulation title. The latest edition of the game, FM21, is out now on PC, Mac, Mobile, Touch and Xbox.
The Football Manager database currently contains data on more than 800,000 individuals and 45,000 active clubs.
Data is sourced from their international on the ground scouting network which numbers roughly 1,000 people, among their ranks are some who are involved in football in professional capacities, including scouts and coaches.
Before we go into the simulated season, Benitez used his contacts to bring in a number of major signings in the summer transfer window.
The Spaniard sanctioned the signings of £76m worth of new players, with Max Aarons, Leandro Trossard, Abdou Diallo, Oscar, Andrea Petagna, Thomas Strakosha, Gregorz Krychowiak, Daniel Wass, Jordan Amavi and Lucas Vazquez all joining the Toffees.
Andre Gomes, Jonjo Kenny, Mo Besic, Seamus Coleman, Josh King and others were all sold.
So with the transfers done, this is what happened with Benitez in charge at Everton in the 2021/22 campaign.
Unfortunately, Benitez got off to a horrendous start as the new Toffees manager.
Everton failed to win a league game from the end of August to the start of November, with the Toffees suffering defeats against Chelsea, Wolves, Leicester, Aston Villa and Burnley.
And although Everton did manage draws against Spurs and Manchester United, their only win in this period came in the Carabao Cup Third Round.
There was a decent spell in the middle of the campaign, and it looked like Benitez’s arrival was starting to have an impact, but the tail end of the season saw Everton’s form drop off substantially yet again.
From the middle of March to the middle of May, Everton won two league games, lost five and drew two.
Incredibly, Everton did manage an away win against Man City in April, but the rest of their form was shocking.
Let’s take a look at how some of Everton’s best players performed under Benitez.
Dominic Calvert Lewin and Richarlison were the only two players to score more than ten goals in all competitions, with Moise Kean, Alex Iwobi, Andrea Petagna and James Rodriguez having poor seasons in front of goal.
However, the Colombian midfielder was a decent creative force, registering ten assists in all competitions.
Now let’s turn our attentions to the team’s performances overall, looking at how many goals Everton scored and conceded under Benitez.
Everton were pretty solid on the face of it, only conceding 44 goals in 38 games.
But it was their goalscoring that really lacked, with the Toffees only scoring 43 goals in 38 games, less than Leeds, Villa and Southampton.
To put these figures into context, Everton scored 47 goals under Carlo Ancelotti last season, in what was considered a realitively poor campaign.
At the end of every season, FM21 work out the best 11 of every team, based on a number of key metrics.
This is how Everton’s best performing XI, as decided by Football Manager 2021, looked at the end of the 2021/22 season.
Full Everton best XI: Pickford; Aarons, Godfrey, Holgate, Digne; Allan, Doucoure; Rodriguez, Oscar, Richarlison; Calvert-Lewin.
New signings Max Aarons and Oscar were key players under Benitez, but none of the other new signings really convinced.
So, how did Everton perform in the Premier League under Benitez?
This is how the final 2021/22 Premier League table looked at the end of our simulation.
Predictably, Everton had a poor season, finishing eleventh in the Premier League under Benitez.
The Toffees won 48 points in 38 games, 17 points behind the top six clubs.
And it was the same story in the cup competitions because although Everton reached the FA Cup Quarter Final, they were never going to challenge for a trophy in this campaign.
Overall this simulation suggests a pragmatic option in Rafa Benitez may not be a suitable solution for Everton next season, with the Spaniard likely to employ a risk-averse style of play that may lead to a further downturn in league position.
Although they may be more solid in defence, their attack may suffer enormously as a result.
As always, this is just a bit of fun, but it’s interesting to see what kind of impact FM21 suggests Benitez could have at Goodison Park next season.