#360debate: Is pressure fair on Real Madrid boss Rafa Benitez?

Sport360 staff 06:43 23/11/2015
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  • Pressure mounting: Rafael Benitez.

    Losing to your biggest rivals is always difficult for any football manager, but the manner of Real Madrid’s shocking home Clasico defeat to Barcelona this weekend has seen many question the future of Rafael Benitez as the side’s head coach.

    Benitez was already coming under fire pre-game for the perceived negativity of his playing style. That pressure has only increased following a defeat in which Los Blancos never came close to matching their rivals.

    The Santiago Bernabeu was an unhappy place on Saturday evening, even warmly applauding Barcelona’s Andres Iniesta as he departed from the fray.

    This week’s #360debate is: Is it fair that Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez is under so much pressure?

    Andy West, La Liga correspondent, says YES

    It is completely right that Rafa Benitez is already finding himself under serious pressure at Real Madrid. Let’s be honest, any manager whose team under-performs as drastically as Los Blancos in Saturday’s capitulation to Barcelona deserves to be placed under the microscope.

    There are few words to describe just how terribly Benitez’s team played, but the whistles and jeers at the final whistle did a good job of telling the story.

    It is vital to understand, though, that the disquiet at Benitez’s methods is not just about that awful display, because El Clasico was by no means the first time Madrid have performed badly this term.

    Out of all their high-profile games, in fact, they have only played well once: in the Champions League trip to Paris Saint-Germain, where a goalless draw was scant reward for a convincing display.

    Other than that, Los Blancos have desperately struggled in all their games against high-quality opposition: the 1-0 home win against PSG was the robbery of the century, the derby draw at Atletico Madrid was a clear case of a victory being turned into a draw, and the 3-2 loss at Sevilla earlier this month was a bizarrely haphazard affair.

    Then came Saturday, and the worst team performance in a Clasico for many, many years. The greatest problem is that nobody knows what Benitez is trying to achieve.

    He seems to be caught between staying true to his reputation as a defensive coach and proving that he doesn’t deserve that reputation at all, with his strategy oscillating from tediously cautious to recklessly attacking.

    Benitez is working in a very difficult environment, of course, and club president Florentino Perez should also be heavily criticised for forcing his coaches (all of them, not just Benitez) to work with hands tied behind their backs.

    But as head coach, Benitez has to show some character, decide upon a strategy and stick with it. Any team needs a coherent style of play and right now Madrid don’t have one – only Benitez can be held responsible for that.

    James Piercy, Deputy Editor, says NO

    Such is the nature of a club like Real Madrid, any manager is always 90 minutes from a crisis. And that’s what has evolved at the Bernabeu after, wait for it, two defeats from 16 games under Rafael Benitez.

    True, Saturday’s performance was shambolic and embarrassing but instead of using it as a device to shame Benitez, Madridistas should see it as a blueprint for success for the rest of the season.

    It is ridiculous to expect any manager to know exactly how their new team should play and what their best XI is after less than 20 matches in charge.

    The Clasico must be viewed as nothing more than a failed experiment by Benitez, who perhaps listened too intensely to the criticism that he was being overly negative in his approach. Instead Madrid were stuck between styles and the picture circulated on social media in the wake of the defeat said it all: Danilo in possession on the right with four defenders to his left and five attackers to his right.

    The gap between the two banks the distance from the halfway line to the 18-yard box. Madrid simply cannot and surely won’t play like that again this season. Lesson learned, move on.

    Yes, it was the Clasico but as Luis Enrique admitted prior to kick-off, in the grand scheme of things it was just another three points.

    Real’s board ultimately don’t see it that way but, then again, by throwing Benitez to the lions they are only masking their own deficiencies.

    Florentino Perez’s transfer policy continues to look hackneyed and has damaged not enhanced Madrid. The fact Karim Benzema is the only man capable of playing No. 9 at a club with €360m (Dh1.4bn) of transfer funds spent over the last three seasons is unforgivable.

    Ditto the fact only one genuine defensive midfielder in Casemiro exists, with Xabi Alonso, Sami Khedira and Asier Illaramendi all allowed to leave with no replacements signed.

    Benitez has some very expensive but misshaped tools to work with and it will take him a degree of time to get it right.

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