Rafa - Losing His Balance?
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...As we were drinking tea behind corner of the away terrace at Brentford about 15 minutes before kick off, a friend noticed Rafa being interviewed live by ESPN about 20 yards away, the other side of a fence and near to the Dressing Room area. Within seconds, a small band of Chelsea fans was chanting “You’re not wanted here” and “Resign”. He very briefly looked up at us with a resigned expression. Although not loud, the chanting must have been audible on air as a Chelsea media official climbed the stairs to politely remonstrate with the supporters, who wandered off. The whole thing probably lasted 30 seconds or so and was nothing compared with what happened during the game, in volume or ferocity, but is indicative of supporter frustration.
In some ways I’m glad supporters views were clearly put across but I later got to thinking whether our abuse was entirely fair (I felt a bit uncomfortable as he looked directly at us), and also whether sustained hostility aimed at the manager might in time impact on the team. He may look impervious, but it’s hard to believe it isn’t having some impact.
I’ve drawn up a ‘ Balance Sheet’ considering the pros and cons of his appointment and performance. Every supporter will have a different view, some far more critical than mine, others more emollient.
Not Rafa’s Fault
- Roberto Di Matteo’s popularity with the Chelsea support and the brutal manner of his sacking, making the job of any new manager (interim or not) that much trickier (unless their name is Jose Mourinho, I suspect)
- The lack of depth in the squad he inherited, the over-reliance on a few key players (Terry, Cole, Mata) and the medium-term need to replace ageing stars
- A loan policy that sees Courtios, Lukaku and De Bruin unavailable
- Mikel and Moses missing for several weeks at the African Nations Cup
- John Terry being out for a few weeks injured
- Elimination from the Champions League
- The ‘will he, won’t he’ circus around a new contract for Frank Lampard, which continues to aggravate a significant part of the fanbase
- The fact he is an ‘interim’ manager without the influence and credibility which goes with holding the position permanently. This also means his influence on transfer activity is likely to be insignificant
- The influence that Michael Emenalo seems to hold with the most senior levels of the club
- The fact that he’s not Jose Mourinho
- His physical appearance.
Rafa’s Fault
- Derogatory things said about Chelsea and their supporters in the past, guaranteeing that a large chunk of the support would be hostile to him from day one
- His lack of humbleness and contrition when taking the job. An apology for things said in the past wouldn’t have won over every fan, but would at least have made a few think
- He is at least partly responsible for a series of results that have meant elimination from the League Cup and an ‘aspiration’ of a top four PL place
- Baffling team selections and team set-up’s
- His tactical inflexibility at key moments in matches, which has led to him being out-thought by the likes of Sam Allardyce, let alone astute managers like Michael Laudrup, and has caused unnecessary dropped points and elimination from the League Cup
- His bewildering substitution policy – often too late and often just like-for-like
- His blasé media interviews where he claims the team has played well when it clearly hasn’t and that his tactics, selections and substitutions were spot on. He appears to be in denial on occasions.
How much credence you place on each of these factors may determine your view of Benitez. To me, team performances and results, and also aspirations, seem to have gone backwards since Di Matteo left and that is the critical and fundamental issue that cannot be avoided. Points have been thrown away, it is rare for the team to perform well for 90 minutes and there have been occasions where the team did not seem to know what was expected of them.
For many games Benitez seems to be on the back foot, frozen and unable to make quick, critical decisions. To a fanbase schooled on Mourinho’s lightening analysis and appropriate action this is unacceptable. Chelsea have no chance of winning the Premier League unless both Manchester teams implode spectacularly – in essence we are in a fight to finish no lower than fourth which is hardly aspirational given the last 10 years success. We are out of the eminently winnable League Cup. We nearly went out of the FA Cup at Brentford. Whatever your view, the stark reality is that Benitez is almost certainly in charge until May, although I cannot believe he will be at the club next season, given both supporter hostility and erratic results.
Given this, it is a pertinent question whether the supporters should get off his back for the rest of the season and just accept it. When appointed, I felt the best Benitez could expect was to be ignored over time – even this now probably seems wildly optimistic. Chelsea are lucky to have a group of experienced key players who are clearly mentally very strong (e.g. Terry, Cole, Lampard, Ivanovic, Cech) but I do wonder about the impact on some of the younger players. It can’t be much fun for some of the newer players coming out at Brentford with the manager getting dogs’ abuse from a significant section of the crowd. Hopefully they realise it is aimed at Benitez not them, and that almost all match-going fans are 100% behind the whole team, but it is hard to be sure.
Against that, though, it is not clear to me how fans are supposed to put their opinions across. Write a letter to the club? Debate with Ronnie Irani on Talksport? Ring Chelsea TV? Peaceful, vocal protest is one of the few ways supporters can get their opinions across both to the club and a wider audience. This is magnified in impact when the game is live on television – a double-edged sword, as I’m sure Eden Hazard would agree. Some of the tabloid press would do well to recognise the fact that we are paying customers and are entitled to hold, and express, an opinion.
As it is, Chelsea have an uneasy four months of the season to go. Open dissent, fans arguing with each other, thwarted aspirations, a pervading air of frustration. I don’t enjoy the atmosphere, I’m sure most fans don’t enjoy it and I’m 100% certain the club, and hapless manager, don’t either. Sadly, it seems to be what we’re stuck with, at least until the close season.
Tim Rolls
Related Posts
6 Responses to Rafa - Losing His Balance?
Leave a Reply
« Rafa’s Flying Circus Chelsea Supporters Trust - Launch Meeting Sat 9th Feb (after Wigan game) »
Loading tweets...
It’s all a bit like being stuck on a delayed train with no information on what the problem is, or when it will be fixed. 9 times out of 10, a well timed communication from those in charge will appease most people.
The biggest grievance that I have at the moment is the lack of direction and communication, from the board, about where the club is going. AVB was bought in to revolutionise the style with which the team played, but was dismissed for a poor run of results. RdM then came in and largely returned to type - bringing UCL and FAC success along the way. At the beginning of this season the style slider was again pushed more towards “swashbuckling” (in an apparent attempt at following the board’s wishes) but was then dismissed, as AVB was, for a poor run of results.
Now we hear that Abramovich and the board are apparently happy with the way that the team is playing and I have no clue about what it really is that they want (assuming you believe that they are happy). Moving from a pragmatic yet successful style to a more attractive (but still successful) style is clearly going to take time and I am growing increasingly frustrated at the club’s inability to give a manager what is needed - patience and time.
With Rafa in the interim post seemingly until May, the start of next season (along with a full pre-season) seems a great opportunity for the club to say what it wants to achieve over the next 5 years and how it wants to go about it.
As has been said by many before, the club seems to be so well set up from the U21s downwards, and a little more information on the overall strategy for the first team would be welcome.
If this were to happen then I wouldn’t be that bothered about who took the job (Rafa aside, for the above reasons). Be it Jose, David Moyes, Diego Simeone or an otherwise unproven manager, the main thing that I would like to see if a manager given time to transform the team (presumably an extension of what the youth and reserve teams are already doing). I accept that success is a major element of Chelsea FC now, and rightly so given our immediate history and the calibre of player that we have available, but I wouldn’t be disappointed if the club steadfastly stood behind a new manager and said that a Top 4 finish was the only requirement for a successful first season - at least then we would know what direction we are travelling in.
Nice thoughtful piece Tim. Agree with most of it. As you’re aware through twitter I’ve now concreted both my feet into the Rafa out campaign, although even our basket case owner and board (Buck aside who I genuinely like) are unlikely to sack a 2nd coach during the season. Although using the words ‘basket case’ might say more than enough. My Brentford match report also covers the Rafa situation as well. He’s been very astute coming to us. Undoubtedly hanging on for a ‘big’ club but unemployed for close to 2 years. Much like George Graham he was in danger of becoming one of a long list of forgotten coaches (arguabky Gullitt and Vialli suffered this as well). Coaching us, even interim keeps his name in the public domain through the massive media interest in Chelsea. We’ll qualify 3rd or 4th for the CL next year and he’ll move on in my view. Villa, Newcastle and Leeds may be tempting him (yes they are all big clubs despite what the CFC extremists might think). I also think there’s an outside chance Everton might call if we,as rumoured, go for Moyes (who deserves a big team shot in my view). Liverpool as a city doesn’t suffer the apartheid hate of Glasgow or Milan. I have friends at work and out who live in blue and red split households. His dignity over the 96 was clear to see. His compassion to the family of Rhys Jones (the young Everton shot in 2007) was also a sign of the decency the man has. For that alone I doubt he’d be despised by Everton fans as he is by Chelsea. As a coach I think he’s mediocre, risk averse, inept, bland and incompetent. I hate his ‘don’t lose the game before you’ve won it’ tactics and his like for likes outdo most in the game. Lest we forget Carlo Ancelotti was quite similar in this respect (maybe through lack of resource to be fair), and in fact Jose was the only really brave coach to gamble on huge tactical in game switches. But as you say we expect more these days.
My concerns also range around the impact on his family. It can’t be pleasant for his children and wife to read and hear the abuse thrown at him from fans who happily hurl vile abuse at opposing fans, players and coaches. These Chelsea fans use the misguided but trivial comments he made as Liverpool coach as being something heinous for which can never be forgiven. No doubt as they called Arsene Wenger a paedophile, or RVP a rapist, or Peter Crouch a circus freak. A lot of them doing this on twitter making their comments as public as any football coaches. The hypocrisy seems lost on them doesn’t it?
So I won’t abuse him or tell him to ‘f**k off’. I will criticse his tactics, team selection and treatment of players as I would and have done to any previous coach. He is a decent, rather dull, average coach. Nothing more, nothing less. Rafa Benitez will be gone in the summer and we will have some other sacrificial lamb destroying his career and mental stability in charge for a few months before the madness repeats itself. Unless of course TSO comes back and is allowed to impose his will over the entire playing side of the club. One can but hope! KTBBFH
No it can’t be pleasant for his familly, but what would you do if you were in a job where you were hated and had enough money in the bank already to live the rest of your life very very comfortably?
I think he should resign now and admit it was a mistake coming to Chelsea, I don’t think it will affect his career either way.At Brentford yesterday I was glad to here the ” Is this what you want chant” as I feel we let Roman off a bit to easy as let’s face it he has made some bad errors sacking managers, I wish we still had Carlo, we liked him, he liked us , he liked London and English football , oh and he won the clubs only league and cup double.
Ps wasn’t it great to be on a terrace
Rafa’s faults out way the nots but going out of league cup I can’t blame him silly mistakes by branna done that. RDM I love for 97 & all that but was no tactical genius & selection at times was is no better than rafa,CL win was won by old guard ,RDM & some lady luck all coming together at the sametime. Rafa will go but who takes over no mystic can tell,abuse at rafa is affecting the team you can see it,I prefer blanking him totally.one final note we look like going the gooner root top 4 is like winning sliverware, pls It’s not winning sliverware is much more fun take note buck gormless Roman. Nice piece Mr rolls
Hi Tim,
Great article and on balance, pretty much sums up my views on the subject.
I think the ‘historic’ comments thing is tenuous to say the least, if people are really clinging to that, then they do IMHO need to let it go…
My major concern, as you rightly pointed out, is the baffling subsitutions. This guy is supposed to be a tactical genius - but I’m just not seeing that. Yes the squad is thin - but let’s try a different formation…
I also agree with the ‘interim’ part - this title means he has no ‘gravitas’ - I’ve argued on forums with people that say, these are professional footballers blah. As far as I’m concerned, human nature wins every time.
For me to sum it up - I would say cast your mind back to when you had a ‘supply teacher’ - did anybody ever learn anything? That seems to be the principle in play here…
Anyway, good work - keep it up
KTBFFH
A well balanced piece Tim, and so far some constructive and interesting comments. From my perspective as a season ticket holder for 33 years, I can’t remember feeling as depressed at the events currently going on at our club.
I say ‘our’ club, but Roman, on appointing Rafa, made it brutally clear that Chelsea is his and his alone, the fans views have no impact upon his decisions.
Am I alone in not being able to watch any of his press conferences, or listen to his comments ? I had quite forgotten that it was this aspect of his management which made me despise him when he was at Liverpool. He does not inspire trust, or confidence, and he sidesteps the rare questions which are of interest from journalists.
If this is the way I (and others I believe) feel, surely the players are quickly going to lose respect for him also - certainly the recent performances appear to indicate that.
What makes the situation even more depressing is that we surely have the best group of young players that we have had for years, possibly ever. These players need someone to whom they can look up to, learn from and really want to play for……. Not only is Rafa not that man, these players may quickly grow disillusioned with the atmosphere around Chelsea, at matches, in the press, and with the poor performances, in the dressing room and training ground also.
I read Juan Mata’s blog this morning and the comments below it - they were all pretty similar…… We love you - please don’t leave. It’s indicative of the downward spiral that the power at the club has put us all in - Juan Mata should be having the time of his life at the club right now, and thoughts of him leaving should be nowhere near the surface for anyone.
While I boo’ed him at the City game, (which was more of an expression of disappointment for Roman’s ears) I think the fans (for our sake and that of the players) have a responsibility to try and stem the negativity toward the FSW. Ultimately it doesn’t benefit (and probably harms) the team, and we know it won’t make a blind bit of difference to Roman…… it fuels disagreement on the terraces, more bad press from the Journo’s and opposition fans are loving it.