Insatiable Rafa was unbelievable

RITCHIE LAUDS METICULOUS ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND PERENNIAL DEMAND FOR EXCELLENCE OF FORMER TOON MANAGER BENITEZ

MATT Ritchie has opened up on the tactical nous of Rafa Benitez and how he drove him to improve himself at Newcastle United.

Ritchie was one of Benitez’s first signings as United manager as the Spaniard looked to rebuild in the Championship following relegation from the Magpies’ Premier League.

The Scotland international joined Newcastle for around £11million from Bournemouth and scored 16 goals in his first season on Tyneside as the club won the Championship title.

In the last couple of seasons, Ritchie has largely been used as a left-wing-back – a position he first played under Benitez.

And the 30-year-old has revealed the Spaniard helped him see the game in a much more tactical sense during their three seasons working together.

“This guy tactically. I always just played football and didn’t really think tactically,” Ritchie told the Open Goal podcast.

“Eddie Howe was so tactical and everything was about analysis and Rafa was the same in terms of analysis, preparation and detail but he kept everything so simple but it was so detailed. I don’t know how he did it but it was unbelievable. “You could take any situation in a game and you could say you felt exposed there and he would have an answer for you. He was unbelievable.”

Benitez’s cold demeanour has been commented on by the likes of former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard in the past and his reluctance to give any praise to his players carried on into his time at Newcastle.

Ritchie revealed he never said ‘well done’ to any of his players on an individual basis during his time on Tyneside and there was no finer example of when Newcastle recovered from 3-1 down to beat 4-3 in the Championship in 2016.

Nonetheless, Ritchie believes that was ‘unbelievable’ management from the former Valencia, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Napoli and Real Madrid boss as it drove him on every day to try and prove his worth.

“He makes you always want more,” Ritchie added.

“He has this hold on you where you always want to impress him. He never said well done to me, Benitez. Not once, ever. To anyone by the way.

“Dwight [Gayle] scored a hat-trick against Norwich in the last five minutes. We beat Norwich in a massive game, won 4-3. He came in and said: ‘Well done lads, see you tomorrow.’

“You are thinking hold on a minute. What has happened out there was unbelievable.

“But if you win he says: ‘Well done lads, see you tomorrow,’ if you get pumped 4-0 he would say: ‘Well done lads, see you tomorrow.’ That’s it. On to the next one.

“If we would go through a bad patch over two months he would say: ‘Right, lads. We keep doing this at this stage of the game or in this scenario.’ But he would let it happen two, three, or four times and then jump in and fix it.

“You might say he should jump in the first time but it was like he wanted to see if the players worked it out themselves and if we didn’t, he would jump in.

“He was just unbelievable.”