Is there any excuse for Rafael Benitez?
Jorge
Valdano of Real Madrid once described the football that Rafa Benitez
as, ‘s*** on a stick.’ He produced much the same type of football
wherever he went after Liverpool. He did it at Inter, destroying a
Champions League winning side left by Jose Mourinho. He did it at
Napoli, and he did it at Chelsea. It doesn’t stop him doing well in cup
competitions, and he’s not a manager without merit if you want to secure
some absolutely 7/10 management.
Benitez
has taken control of Real Madrid, a side with Isco, James Rodriguez,
Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema, and he has them
playing the kind of football that makes people check the prices at
Dignitas. Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp is installed at Liverpool, ready to
try to recreate the excitement he conjured up at Dortmund, all at the
club Benitez won the Champions League. Benitez. Klopp. Benitez. Klopp.
Benitez. Why?
Has Louis van Gaal taken United as far as he can?
Manchester
United began in control against CSKA, as they do against most clubs.
They played a great deal of the opening period with the ball in their
opponent’s half, and dominated possession.
They
then showed on a few occasions that they were vulnerable on the
counterattack down the left-wing, where Marcos Rojo struggled until he
was replaced by the slower but more solid Daley Blind. The space
afforded to them forced Anthony Martial into a foolish error - one that
he deserves some blame for but he found himself in that position because
the team were unacceptably stretched. There was no alteration in the
tactics for the first half, and in between panic down the wings, United
had most of the ball. It was the same as ever for Louis van Gaal.
At
half time, Van Gaal took off United’s best midfielder and replaced him
with their worst, Marouane Fellaini. Fellaini is a useful option off the
bench in attack, but far too awkward to be an effective foil in the
middle of the pitch. So it proved, as he lunged and fouled his way
around the pitch.
As CSKA
tired, and United dominated, the away side increasingly found room to
play in, and Wayne Rooney aimed a relatively straightforward header at
the ‘keeper. A few minutes later, the far superior Martial demonstrated
his ability with a glancing header against the post, that squeezed in to
level the scores. It makes a mockery of Rooney’s continued inclusion at
the expense of someone competent. Juan Mata was on the bench, saved for
City on Saturday. If Rooney keeps his place, then it must be time for
us all to examine the small print in his contract.
But
in truth, it’s not Rooney’s fault that he keeps destroying his side
from within. It is the man who picks him. Van Gaal has had his fabled
three months to adjust his players to his philosophy, and it’s still as
poor as ever. There are growing and legitimate concerns over his future.
If a better manager became available, there is now no compelling reason
to keep him at Old Trafford.
City can’t decide who they want to be
Manchester
City appeared to suffer a similar case of sloth in the opening stages
of their game against Sevilla, and duly fell behind. They were stirred
into action eventually, but the defence was creaking throughout.
When
the players finally got their act together, they were good enough to
bring the scores level, but the game hardly ended promisingly. For all
the money spent on the squad, Manuel Pellegrini ended up with Yaya Toure
playing as the striker. With the game against Manchester United coming
up at the weekend, there is little that will have left Van Gaal
exceptionally worried. So far this season, City have looked both
thrilling and bereft. In this match it was both, as the slow and turgid
play gave way to Kevin De Bruyne’s winner. City remain favourites for
the match on Sunday, but it’s hard to tell what the players will decide
to do from game to game.Chelsea aren’t fixed, but they appear much less broken
Chelsea should be pleased with their draw over Dinamo Kiev, and if it wasn’t for their terrible form so far this season then the feelings of an opportunity missed would be greater. Chelsea have still won only one match in the Champions League this season, but they should now be confident of victory. Things have not been fixed, exactly, but they certainly appear to be less obviously broken.
Branislav Ivanovic remains rightly dropped from first-team action. Against Aston Villa, Baba Rahman took his place and looked skittish. That’s to be expected to some degree, given his relative lack of experience, and that he is getting used to his new side. And so Cesar Azpilicueta started on the left, with Kurt Zouma on the right wing. It provided a pretty effective shield, and Andriy Yarmolenko didn’t seem the plaudits that he started the match with. It seems like the defence for Chelsea has found its best permutation for now.
Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas looked, if not anywhere close to their best, far from the wretched standards of earlier in the season. Ahead of him Diego Costa and Eden Hazard both appeared sharper and more determined than they have so far this season. It wasn’t especially threatening - they didn’t score a goal and the closest they came was from Willian’s set pieces, but it was an improvement on much of what Jose Mourinho has overseen in 2015/16.
There’s
room for much more to come, but it was instructive that Mourinho
reacted without the defensiveness of the previous few weeks. Out he came
with an enjoyably sarcastic riposte, paraphrasing Arsene Wenger’s ‘weak
and naive’ comment from earlier. Nothing to do with the Champions
League refereeing really, but a sign that Mourinho has identified Wenger
as one of two things - still the same old feckless waster of the last
decade, or perhaps worse than that, the manager of a serious rival for
the Premier League title. Mourinho has form for driving even Pep
Guardiola to distraction with his pettiness and criticism. This should
run for another few months at least.
Wenger should be the happiest of any manager in the Champions League
Arsene
Wenger will possibly be feeling the very smuggest he has felt since he
last one a Premier League, which was over a decade ago, and since he was
in a Champions League final, which was well over a decade ago. In the
last few weeks he has beaten his bogey side, Manchester United, with a
team that was clearly superior across the pitch, and with the kind of
tactics he has been peddling for well over a decade. Against Bayern
Munich he one with an organised defence that didn’t ride their luck.
They simply waited to see what Bayern were planning to do with all their
position, and it turned out to be not very much.
In
response, Arsenal kept their shape and discipline, and made the most of
the chances that were afforded to them. They were lucky in the sense
that Olivier Giroud got away with a shot that came off his arm, but in
even a mildly grand scheme of things, that does not matter at all in the
slightest. What matters is that playing an entirely different way,
against one of the best two sides in the world, Wenger and his side had a
victory that gave them a fairly optimistic chance of qualifying for the
knockout stages of the Champions League. Before the match, they look
stranded. Wenger will have looked at Mourinho’s comments and felt barely
a flicker of emotion. You’d hope.
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