Rafa: My Blueprint
Sorting out goal-shy striker Torres will be easy, says Benitez
LONDON: Rafa Benitez insists that sorting out goal-shy striker Fernando Torres will be easy.
It is just the rest of the Chelsea squad that needs working on.
Benitez spent three hours with Roman Abramovich on Thursday night discussing his plans and outlining his vision for the rest of the season. And it quickly emerged that his top priority is succeeding where Carlo Ancelotti, Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto Di Matteo all failed by getting Torres to start playing like a £50mil footballer.
Benitez tap danced all the way around the question when asked yesterday if he had complete freedom to pick his own team.
So we can safely take that as a ‘no’. But convincing the rest of his squad that Torres is not getting preferential treatment will require more diplomatic skills than the 52-year-old Spaniard has shown in previous jobs.
Benitez said: “I don’t need to spend too much time talking with Fernando. He is easy because I know him andhe knows me and what I am looking for.
“It’s the other players I have to spend more time with because I don’t know them so well.
“I like to talk and work with every player, from the youngsters to themost senior guys. I train to improve them all. And Fernando will be the same. From what I have seen of Fernando in my two days here, I have seen a player with commitment who is trying his best and has ideas to improve.
“If the striker is not scoring many then it is up to the rest of the team to create more chances for him. My idea isn’t just to improve Fernando, but the team. I can’t focus on one player.
“In 26 years as a coach I can guarantee I have had a lot of different owners, presidents and chairmen and they all like to talk about football and know what is going on.
“If you have confidence and the ability to explain yourself, everyone can understand.
“My impression of the owner is that he’s a nice person, someone you can talk with. He likes to see that you have clear ideas.
“At Liverpool the owners didn’t love each other so here it will be easier because now I know the person who I have to talk to.”
Benitez, who had been out of work since being sacked by Inter Milan in December 2010, then revealed that he has been monitoring and analysing Chelsea for the past two years as part of his exhaustive plans for a return to management.
He added: “For the last two years I have been writing books, working on websites and analysing as many games as I could.
“When I was at home I watched a lot of games every weekend andd not just in the Premier League. “I took analysed notes, the wrote players. down I thee have systems, save a folder with reports and a database on all the players.
“I have folders on almost every very team I can watch on TV, including Chelsea. My early impression n here is that we are a good team doing some things well with the majority of players wanting to improve.
“I spoke with John Terry today and it was quite positive. He’s a winner, I’m a winner. It’s simple.
“I met Frank Lampard briefly yesterday, I spoke with Ivanovic, Cech, Luiz. Some of them I speak to in Spanish because they can understand me better. “The team is scoring goals and in they attack. have some But they very have good made players play made some mistakes at the back so we have to find the right balance. “It’s between not easy scoring to get the goals correct and balance bald not conceding. We need to find the defence but not lose our creativity.
“I am not going to make huge changes. I have a lot of respect for the decisions of Roberto Di Matteo. He had many good ideas.
“Every manager picks a team which which he thinks is going to win the game. Roberto had seen them train every day and wanted to pick a strong team. m.
“Afterwards it can look wrong but he knew his mind and I can’t criticise any manager who was doing things the right way.”
Benitez has signed a contract to the end of the season, when Abramovich then hope store place him with former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola.
That means Benitez will not have control the January over who transfer comes window. or goes during
Andhe is more than happy to leave those decisions to Abramovichh and technical director Michael Emenalo.