Former Chelsea manager Rafa Benitez welcomes his old club amidst turmoil in Newcastle. How will he set up to stop a man tied to his own career?
Rafa Benitez is probably the world’s happiest unhappy manager. He is at a club that loves him and that he loves in return. But he (and the fans, and the players) despise the owner. Mike Ashley never fully commits to selling the club which has left Benitez and his team in purgatory for the foreseeable future. There is a big club in there waiting to break out but they just cannot get past the wall of Ashley.
In addition, Benitez is a man that never feels comfortable with his former clubs and especially the managers that he replaces or who replaced him. His time at both Inter Milan and Chelsea was in the shadow of Jose Mourinho and it was clear that it was a sore spot for him. His reaction to Maurizio Sarri, who replaced him at Napoli (and did much better) and who manages Chelsea (a club that never accepted him despite fair results) is likely to be touchy.
Add in that Newcastle, especially at St. James’ Park, is a bogey team for Chelsea and this one becomes a match with tons of compelling story lines. Benitez will hate to lose to Chelsea and Sarri, but he has a club in turmoil and full of injuries. The Spaniard is a good tactician, but he will need something special to defeat this Chelsea side at the current moment.
Newcastle does not have a deep squad (because Ashley does not want to invest in something he is “trying” to sell) and that will be on show with several fullbacks injured and Kenedy unable to play against his parent club. They will set up in Benitez’s forever formation, the 4-2-3-1 and will have to find ways around their unavailable players.
Defensively, they will sit in a medium block and defend almost exclusively zonally. When a zone is entered, the player will immediately pounce and look to start a counter down the flanks. Benitez is also likely to put a player on Jorginho duty as they look to break up Chelsea’s buildup. Chelsea can exploit the zonal mark by moving the ball in between the zones. That will sow confusion as to who should go for it and give Chelsea an opening.
Offensively, the primary goal will be to move the ball to the fullbacks as the wingers cut in. That will overload the middle and force Chelsea to commit there. The fullbacks should then have a clear lane to place a cross into the box. Sometimes that works really well for Newcastle, but this season they have struggled to create anything of note. They have only scored once in their first two matches (against a very unfit and Tottenham side).
As always, Chelsea will need to watch the space left behind their fullbacks and watch the crosses from the wide areas. Arsenal caused Chelsea issues with both but the Blues were able to offset that by simply scoring more. Benitez will have his side set up to minimize damage and to play smart. They need to not lose more than they need to win. That is where Chelsea can find their opportunity to enforce their will on the match.
But this is Newcastle, St James’ Park, and Benitez. Any one of those makes the match tricky. All three makes it a banana skin to watch out for. Sarri’s side are flying high after beating their rivals, but now is not the time to rest on their laurels or believe they are the real deal yet. This match will be difficult despite Newcastle’s weakness and Sarri must keep his side motivated and hungry for the win. After all, it was only three months ago when Newcastle smashed Chelsea 3-0 in this very fixture to end Chelsea’s slim chances at Champions League football. Underestimate them at one’s own peril.