Danny Murphy has claimed that Everton’s poor form this season isn’t solely the fault of Rafa Benitez.
The Spaniard was sacked on Sunday after a run of just one win in 13 games left them 16th in the Premier League, just six points clear of the relegation zone.
Benitez’s spell in charge of the Toffees was a tumultuous one, with unrest among the fanbase at his appointment given his history with rivals Liverpool.
The 61-year-old wasn’t significantly backed financially in the summer due to Financial Fair Play regulations and was forced mainly operate in the loan and free transfer market.
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The former Reds boss also fell out with Lucas Digne. The Frenchman didn’t play for the club again after the defeat to Liverpool at the start of December and was sold to Aston Villa last week.
However, Murphy, who played under Benitez during his spell at Anfield, believes the Spaniard is not the only one to blame for Everton’s current state - but feels ultimately it was time for him to go.
“It’s not all been Rafa, there’s been lots of problems before he got there," he said while discussing the decision to sack Benitez on Match of the Day.
“But certainly the level of performances in the past few months under Rafa have been awful.
“The body language that the players are giving over that isn’t right when you watch them play.
“He’s not a warm character, I don’t think he’s someone who’s particularly engaging with the players, it’s like ‘my way or the highway’.
“And maybe some of the players haven’t got on board with that, the obvious fall out with Lucas Digne who’s a quality player. ”
Murphy was also critical at the apparent lack of strategy at Everton, with club seemingly supporting Benitez by selling Digne as well as allowing him to sign Vitalii Mykolenko and Nathan Patterson this month, only to sack the Spaniard soon after.
He added: “It looked two weeks ago that they were backing the manager no matter what, two full-backs in, letting Lucas Digne go.
“It looks like they were giving him the autonomy to make his own decisions, all the recruitment team were gone and then bad defeat at Norwich and he’s gone.
“If they lose another couple of games and the confidence drains, it could be a hell of a bad end to the season for them.”
