Everton Super Fans react to the reception Rafa Benitez got at Goodison Park
This is part of a regular series from our panel of Everton Super Fans. Each week, Super Fans from our Goodison News Facebook page will deliver their verdicts on the biggest talking points and news stories around Goodison Park.
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Everton manager Rafa Benitez got his Goodison Park tenure off to a winning start on Saturday, with his side coming from a goal down to win 3-1 over Southampton.
With fans returning to the ground in their numbers after many months away, no one could have guessed how the Toffees supporters would welcome the former Liverpool boss to his new home.
According to The Athletic journalist Greg O’Keeffe, Benitez got a warm reception as there was applause and no boos when his name was announced ahead of kick-off.
He posted on his personal Twitter account: “Considerable applause for Rafa Benitez as the stadium announcer gives him a warm welcome. No boos.”
We asked our esteemed panel of Everton Super Fans over on Facebook what they thought of the reception the Spaniard got, and everyone appears to have be on on his side.
Here is how they reacted.
Impressive
Benitez would not have figured out whether he would fully be accepted by his new club supporters or not, and we cannot blame him for doubting after the “we know where you live” threats and huge backlash on social media.
A lot of us were against having a former Reds boss in the Goodison Park dugout, but nothing can be done about that now and we have to give him all of our support now and going forward.
For the first time since 2015, Everton won a Premier League game after finding themselves behind at half-time, and we cannot deny that Rafa made it happen with the smart tactical decisions he made after the break.
Prior to the weekend, we had drawn six and lost 46 of the 52 matches we were behind heading into the break.
Maybe the Toffees boss is not the Messiah and will not guide us to Europe, but he has done what a lot of predecessors were not able to do.
Love him or loathe him, there is no denying that Benitez is a tactical genius, and we can expect more of his brilliance on the touchline in the games to come.
In other Everton news, club in ‘Very advanced’ talks for Toffees man in loan-to-buy deal.
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