Rafael Benitez is facing mounting pressure in his position as Everton boss after results took a tumble.
Everton legend Tony Cottee fears Rafa Benitez’s Goodison Park reign will end in tears and was always a “recipe for disaster”.
Benitez has failed to win the affections of Toffees supporters due to his links with arch-rivals Liverpool, who he guided to Champions League glory in 2005.
Benitez guided Everton’s bitter rivals, Liverpool, to victory in the UEFA Champions League in 2005.
The Spaniard is BetVictor’s 5/4 favourite to become the next Premier League manager to leave his post with many bookers.
Cottee, who spent six years at Everton between 1988 and 1994, said: “I’m not a fan of Rafa, I’ve got to be honest, and I thought it was such a crazy, high-risk appointment to give the job to someone who had managed Liverpool.
“It just didn’t make any sense to me and I’ve got friends who are Evertonians and they are pulling their hair out with it all.
“If you appoint someone with no ties to your great rivals, then the fans are a bit more understanding and give managers more time.
“But to appoint a former Liverpool manager at Everton was a recipe for disaster – and it’s his style of football too.
“Evertonians want to see their team attack at Goodison Park, not sitting back and playing on the counter-attack.
“Rafa’s teams are notoriously defensive. And there is no getting away from the fact that the last 10 performances in the Premier League, Everton have been poor and lost to QPR in the League Cup.
“I just don’t know what boxes Rafa ticked when the Everton board came to appointing him.
“Yes, in his defence, Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been injured.
“But Evertonians deserve better performances and I think it will end in tears for Rafa.”
Cottee believes Everton should have appointed Eddie Howe in the summer, when he was a free agent, or striking legend Duncan Ferguson.
Cottee added: “Eddie was a big fan of Everton when he was growing up and he was certainly available.
“Big Dunc was already at the club and surely he deserves a chance.
“There were people available who knew what Everton Football Club was all about – and yet the board went and appointed Rafa.”
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