Rafael Benitez is a very meticulous coach, known globally for his attention to detail and getting teams to play as one unit. He is a big believer of repetition, repeating drills over and over again, so that good habits become ingrained. He leaves no stone unturned when scouting oppositions and setting up his teams in the way he feels best suited to get a positive result. It is as a result of this kind of preparation that Benitez has multiple major honours against his name throughout his career, across several different countries.
In the current climate of football, there is a big shift towards playing a certain style of football, the so-called ‘Tiki-Taka’, playing out from the back. Unai Emery is showing at Arsenal how difficult this style of play is to master. It takes time and it also takes a certain level of technical ability in the players. To put it simply, Rafa Benitez does simply not have the players available to attempt this style of play and even if he did, he simply isn’t the manager to master this system.
His style has led him to several accolades throughout his career so why would he change? Newcastle knew precisely what kind of manager they were getting when Benitez was appointed, but he just isn’t being backed regarding bringing in the kind of players he wants at the club. So I find it very difficult and unfair to judge the way he has Newcastle playing currently. He’s getting the best out of limited resources.
Despite his reputation for his teams playing defensive football, given time and the resources, Benitez has a proven record of getting results and also getting his team scoring goals:
* Valencia 2003/2004 – Won the league with the team scoring 71 league goals, the second most, 1 goal behind Real Madrid.
* Liverpool 2008/2009 – Finished 2nd with the team scoring 77 league goals in the process, 9 more than any other team.
* Napoli 2012/2013 – Finished 2nd with the team scoring 73 league goals, 2 more than any other team.
* Napoli 2013/2014 – Finished 3rd with the team scoring 77 league goals, the second most, 3 behind Juventus.
This puts to bed the myth that Benitez only knows how to set up teams to defend. Given the freedom to bring in the players he wants and implement them into a system, he can make teams stable while also scoring goals. Unfortunately, at Newcastle, this isn’t the case.
In April of this year, Newcastle played Arsenal at St. James Park in a game which could have secured Newcastle’s Premier League safety. The Magpies won 2-1 thanks to goals from Ayoze Perez and Matt Ritchie. Rafael Benitez was lauded as a ‘tactical genius’ for the way Newcastle went about beating Arsenal and for how he managed to keep a ‘Championship squad’ in the Premier League with games to spare.
Fast forward to the beginning of this season, 26th August, Newcastle were beaten 2 – 1 by Chelsea at St. James Park and Rafael Benitez is branded a ‘disgrace’ for his ‘anti-football’. If we dig deeper and examine the statistics of both games, it makes for fascinating reading. Against Arsenal, Newcastle had 28% possession, eight shots, 274 passes and two corners, whereas Arsenal had 72% possession, 15 shots, 695 passes and five corners. Against Chelsea, Newcastle had 18% possession, 6 shots, 200 passes and 4 corners, whereas Chelsea had 82% possession, 15 shots, 914 passes and 5 corners, very similar games however I didn’t hear pundits or even fellow Newcastle fans complaining after beating Arsenal; you can’t accept this style of football when we win and condemn it when we lose.
This isn’t a new way of playing that Newcastle have taken on. The Tyneside outfit has been playing the same way under Benitez since he took over and his record against last season’s top six was better than every other club barring Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea and Liverpool. His record against clubs below us was also exceptional, culminating in a top 10 finish.
The reaction, or should I say over-reaction, to how Benitez set his team up against Chelsea was laughable, Newcastle were 3-5 minutes away from taking points off a team worth hundreds of millions of pounds (Jorginho alone worth more than Newcastle’s whole starting XI) whilst having three of their best players out and a complete new CB pairing, which had never played together previously. Had Newcastle taken a point, the same individuals who called it a ‘disgrace’ would have been saying it was a ‘tactical masterclass’ and job done.
I believe it speaks volumes when the people criticising him are either individuals who have never managed or individuals who have been managers and failed. The people who defend him and praise his managerial abilities are individuals who have been successful in management and knows what success takes. Only this week Benitez was in Switzerland attending the UEFA Elite Coaches Forum alongside the worlds best managers. There is a reason that Benitez is continuously invited to the annual UEFA Elite Coaches Forum because he was and still is a world class coach/manager.
Newcastle fans have been lambasted in previous years for not giving managers enough time or not getting entirely behind their appointed managers even when there was just cause for unrest, i.e. Alan Pardew’s record-breaking run for consecutive losses, Pardew headbutting an opponent’s player during a match, Joe Kinnear’s astonishing interview rant.
Newcastle fans are entirely behind Rafael Benitez. He is the best manager Newcastle have had since the late, great, Sir Bobby Robson. The Spaniard just gets the club, he gets the fans, he gets the city, and I do not see that support wavering one bit. Staggeringly, Newcastle fans are now being criticised for backing a manager, with certain parts of the media stating that Benitez gets away with too much in regards to results and/or style of play. All I can say to that is, we don’t care one iota, this is our club, and no matter what happens, Newcastle fans will not turn against Benitez, no matter how certain individuals or companies try to portray him in a negative light.
No Newcastle fan enjoys watching the current type of football, and Benitez indeed isn’t immune to criticism, especially from the fans who pay good money and invest a lot of their time into the club. Benitez is only human after all, and he makes mistakes. However, the vast majority of the fans understand the predicament Benitez is in. With the lack of funds provided, I believe he is fully justified in setting up the team in any way he deems fit to get the best result for the club.
