The Spanish tactician DESERVES to be given his props. Again, Madrid are undefeated, again they don't concede, and again Benitez is making a statement to the world that you're going to have to dig deep and work really hard to beat his team.
And what they tend to say are successful teams build their empire from the back. It's quite rare that you have a situation that Barcelona have, where you can put the three best South American attackers in the world on the pitch. In those cases, you don't need that great of a defense because you have faith that you will outscore anyone that you come up against. For most other teams though, it's about NOT conceding, being difficult to break down, and taking your chances with the individual talents that you have that can win a game.
What Rafa has done, is instead of trying to entertain everyone with free-flowing football that always has the risk of losing a game, he's doing what he was employed for. He's winning. It may not always be pretty, but the bottom line and what Perez wants more than anything is for the team to WIN. If you don't win at least one trophy a season, then you're as good as gone. Benitez realizes this and I believe is taking the smart route of building the team from the back, because let's be realistic, Real Madrid don't have the same attacking talent that Barcelona have. The Catalan cats are clearly superior in that area. But Benitez has made Ramos, Pepe and Varane a formidable backline, and even though they may not have the wizardry of The Truth aka Neyrmar or Messi, they have goalscorers in their team as well as speed. So they can score either on the counter or through an individual effort.
It's a long season, and who knows what injuries will bring and if Ramos and Pepe are good enough to keepthis incredible defensive display. Benitez will obviously have to chop and change the system because this isn't old skool AC Milan or Mourinho's Inter who had amazing defenders. Fact is, Ramos and Pepe are not great defenders, they are good but aren't great. Trying to get the best out of guys like Isco and James will be important, especially if they go a goal down and have to chase the game and find a goal. Then of course there is the Bale issue, as he is the ultimate weapon that Madrid have. Cristiano may be the goalscorer but Bale is the gamechanger. Without him at his best, Madrid don't win any trophies this season. Benitez knows this, which is why he made such an effort of ensuring Bale was a major part of his plans. He, unlike many players in the world, can literally score a goal out of nothing and from almost anywhere. That's an incredible weapon that's rare to have.
At the moment, the roses are red and the violets are blue for Madrid. Still unbeaten and looking solid. Okay, they were rancid against PSG, but a win is a win. To be able to play badly and win is a huge asset to have if you want to win trophies. There will come a time though when Madrid will struggle, and that is where Benitez will have dip even deeper inside his tactical box of tricks, and if there's a manager who I trust can get a team through a rough patch, it's Rafa. The man is far too underappreciated, and hopefully, with this stint at Real Madrid which is the biggest job he's ever had; he'll be able to show people what a great manager he is. His work at Valencia and taking Liverpool to two Champions League finals, winning one of them and narrowly losing the other, is something that seems to go unnoticed by his critics.
The goal for him now at Madrid is always trophies and I think securing that La Liga may actually be more important than doing it again in the Champions League.
HH
