How Benitez Can Solve Newcastle’s Defensive Woes Going Forward This Season
An astute mind, a student and teacher of the game, Rafael Benitez is one of the best tacticians and revered coaches in world football. He boasts no ordinary CV. Benitez has thirteen trophies including the coveted Champions League with Liverpool in 2005 which got etched in the folklore as the ‘Night in Istanbul’. Yet, Benitez is a character that divides many.
When he replaced Steve McLaren at Newcastle in 2016, the team was languishing at 19th place in the Premier League table. However, Benitez was not able to prevent the club from being relegated but promised to be back soon.
After a season in the Championship, Newcastle returned to the Premier League at the first attempt, winning the Championship title. In just a year, Benitez showed he is a man of words and brought the club back to where it should belong.
It looked ominous for the Geordies when the club got relegated, leaving them scratching their heads to a question- Would Benítez be open to managing Newcastle in the Championship? But the Spaniard confronted perhaps his biggest challenge and showed that he meant business at Tyneside.
Now with the big boys in the Premier League, Newcastle, after a disappointing start, have finally found their strides and are in top-half of the table.
Rafa’s philosophy in the game revolves around disciple, tenacity, hard work and sincerity. Based on these core values, he has built this Newcastle side. He is a manager who’s fanatical with details. A man with a wise understanding of the need for balance and control of games, Benitez looked in dismay when his Newcastle side failed to collect 3 points at Southampton.
Newcastle were on course for only a second win in 15 Premier League away games when defender Florian Lejeune gifted the hosts a penalty. Manolo Gabbiadini scored the spot-kick and Benitez’s men had to settle for just a point after an entertaining 2-2 draw.
Rafa has certainly brought a certain degree of organisation to what was a fairly disordered Newcastle side. In prioritising defensive play, he is frequently accused of being a ‘defensive coach’, which to an extent may be true.
The current Newcastle side are finding it difficult to score a lot of goals, which is understandable under Benitez, but leaking goals is thoroughly not attached with the Spaniard’s traditions. In 8 games, Newcastle have scored 9 and have conceded 8; which is an average of one goal per game.
Seeing this, the gaffer won’t be happy although he seemed content with a point on Sunday. Tactical awareness and discipline is the heartbeat of Benitez’s United. His title winning 2001/02 Valencia side dispatched a mere 51 League goals.
Influenced by Italian tactician Arrigo Sacchi, Benitez has used a compact 4-2-3-1 with zonal marking and an aggressive offside trap. Defensively, Rafa’s sides stay compact: both vertically and horizontally and work on the concept of zonal marking. Yet, his team has conceded 8 so far, out of which two have come from set-pieces.
Skipper Jamaal Lascelles is ideally the best defender with goal-scoring threat in the side and partners Ciaran Clark at the heart of defence. Clark missed the game against Southampton and Newcastle conceded two; which clearly shows Benitez should not opt to tinker with the defence line. If Clark is not back for the next game, Benitez should least hammer some more defensive discipline into the wayward Lejuene.
Post-Valencia, Rafa has rarely deviated from his trusted 4-2-3-1. At Valencia, Ruben Baraja and David Albelda featured in a double pivot, while Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso played the same role at Liverpool. At Newcastle, the fans are crying for Jonjo Shelvey-Mikel Merino combo.
Benitez has constructed sides containing a player with vision and a range of passing to connect the team from deep. So Shelvey-Merino duo makes sense as the use of two holding midfielders allows for an easy transition from defence to attack, while the two wingers (mostly Matt Ritchie and Christian Atsu) act as outlets for pushing opponents inside.
Benitez has been a demanding manager and instructs the team to make the pitch big, move the ball swiftly and sustain a good shape to take benefit of little spaces that creep in between the lines.
In order to effectively play the 4-2-3-1 which Rafa romanticizes, a mobile striker is required. Joselu, a summer acquisition from Stoke, is not the quickest of strikers but has two goals in 7 games. It is astonishing that last season’s 22-goal getter Dwight Gayle is yet to open his account this season. He has been limited to substitute appearances which have left some fans bewildered.
Above all, it is alarming to see 16 yellow cards and a red already dished out in just 8 games. This suggests something is not exactly going right for Rafa. A man obsessed with defensive discipline, Benitez should certainly demand more from his players, especially defenders. This is where Lascelles’s leadership qualities become important.
With Newcastle currently in a muddle after owner Mike Ashley put the club for sale, the last thing the Geordies would want is to see Benitez, the man with a mission, walk out of their club dejected.