At 23:00 Beijing time on January 15, the 22nd round of the 21-22 Premier League season, Benitez led Everton to the east of England to challenge the "Canary" Norwich City. In the end, Everton suffered a 1-2 defeat and suffered a four-round winless league defeat, losing to the bottom team in the league for the first time in 18 years, and the former Dalian foreign aid Long Dong started.
Benitez was out of 442 formations for the match. Pickford was the starting goalkeeper, with McColenko, Keane, Godfrey and Coleman teaming up at 4 defenders, Gray, Andre Gomez, Dukure and Anthony Gordon forming 4 midfielders, with LeWin and Rondon joining forces. Risalisson and Mina sit on the bench.
In the 16th minute of the first half, Keane accidentally blocked the ball into his own goal when he broke the siege, and Everton fell behind 1-0. A minute later, Benitez's side suffered another blow when Norwich youngster Ida picked up his teammate and stabbed the goalkeeper to extend the score to 2-0. Everton's attack was still not improving, and in the 53rd minute, Benitez made an adjustment, and Richarlison and Mina replaced Rondon in Coleman. In the 59th minute, a barbed shot from inside the penalty area of Risalisson, who had just played, pulled back a city. In the following game, Everton created some chances but failed to score. After losing, Everton have slipped to 15th in the league, just six points away from the relegation zone.
After the match, Benitez summed up the match, the first half of the game the opponent quickly established a two-goal lead in a short period of time, although substitute Richalisson with a barb to narrow the score to one goal, but the team was never able to score a second goal to equalize. Speaking about whether the team owner still trusts him, Benitez said that I am a professional and experienced coach who came here to solve the problems facing the team. And what you need to know is that it takes time to solve these problems, and it can take years instead of just five months to see results.
According to the well-known Italian journalist Romano and the British media "Sky Sports" and other sources, after yesterday's game, Everton team owner Moshiri met with the team's senior management overnight on a series of problems that have recently emerged in the team, including discussing whether the team's head coach Benitez should be fired immediately.
Last summer, Mohiri hand-picked Benitez as Everton's head coach, and because of his tenure, Benitez spent a "honeymoon period" with the team, leading the team to create the best start in recent seasons. In their last 13 league games, Everton have lost nine, including a 4-1 loss to city rivals Liverpool and a 2-5 defeat to relegation side Watford. In this defeat to Norwich, the team on the away expedition played a banner that asked Benitez to leave the team management to express the fans' dissatisfaction with the current situation of the team.
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