Background and History
Born in 1960 in Madrid during the Francoist regime, Rafael Benítez has become a household name in English (and world) football. After a less than stellar playing career, which saw him join the youth ranks of Real Madrid (1973-1978), followed by professional spells at Parla and Linares, Benítez decided to become a coach at only 26 years old. He joined the coaching staff at Real Madrid (1986-1995) as an U19 and reserve-team coach, and then became assistant manager to the first team under Vicente del Bosque.
In 1995, Benítez got his first managerial position at Real Valladolid, where he was sacked after just 23 games with only 2 wins to his name. Benítez took charge of Osasuna (Segunda Division) for the 1996-1997 season, but he was dismissed after 9 games (1 win). This poor start to his managerial career would likely have affected less capable coaches, however this was not the case for Benítez. He took over Extremadura (Segunda Division, 1997), guiding them to promotion. After one year in the Primera Division, Extremadura were relegated in 1999 and Benítez swiftly left the team. Interestingly, Benítez took a sabbatical year to study coaching methods in England and Italy. During this year he also worked as a commentator and analyst for the likes of Eurosport and Marca. In 2000, Benítez took over Tenerife (Segunda Division), guiding them to promotion in his first year.
In 2001, Benítez was offered a managerial position at Valencia, after talks with three other managers had failed. His tenure at Valencia was fantastic – he won the La Liga title in the 2002-2003 season, after a 31 year wait. While the 2003-2004 season was disappointing, the subsequent season was even more impressive than 2002-2003: he won La Liga and the UEFA Cup. At the end of the 2003-2004 season, Benítez had a falling out with Valencia’s Director of Football (DoF), leading to his resignation.
After resigning from Valencia, Benítez joined Liverpool in 2004. His appointment at Liverpool is widely regarded as one of the pivotal moments in the early 2000s playstyle shift in the Premier League (the other being Mourinho’s appointment at Chelsea). While unable to win a title with Liverpool in his 6-year tenure, Benítez led them to an FA Cup (2005-2006), Community Shield (2006), Uefa Champions League (2004-2005), and a UEFA Super Cup (2005). In 2010, Benítez left Liverpool by mutual consent, and joined Inter Milan. His time at Inter would last only 6 months, winning an Italian Super Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup before being dismissed for poor results in the Serie A.
Benítez spent the next two years unemployed and joined Chelsea in 2012 in an interim manager position. Despite his interim status, Benítez guided Chelsea to a 3rd place league finish and a win in the UEFA Europa League, becoming only the second manager after Giovanni Trapattoni to win the UEFA Cup (Europa League) with two different teams.
Following his Chelsea stint, Benítez signed with Napoli in the summer of 2013. His two-year spell at Napoli was somewhat successful: he finished 3rd in the Serie A in 2013-2014, and he won the Italian Cup (2013-2014) and Super Cup (2014). He resigned in 2015, taking charge of Real Madrid. At Real Madrid, Benítez would last for only 6 months, sacked after proving unpopular with the fans due to a string of poor results. His unemployment would not last long, being appointed as manager of Newcastle United in March 2016, who were in danger of being relegated to the Championship.
At Newcastle, Benítez ended his first season with a six-match unbeaten run, which was not enough to save them from relegation. In 2016-2017, Benítez guided Newcastle to the EFL Championship title, making an immediate comeback to the PL. His time at Newcastle was not without trouble, mostly due to Mike Ashley, the Newcastle owner. However, Benítez made the most of his time, keeping Newcastle up in the PL until his departure in June 2019. In July 2019, Benítez would sign with Dalian Professional in China, where he spent 1 and a half years, leaving in January 2021.
Since then, Benítez has moved to Everton where he is currently manager. Benítez has seemed to have divided opinions since he arrived at Everton. For many, Benítez will always be associated with the red part of the city, but others have been more welcoming. In the 2021-2022 season, he has faced a significant injury crisis with key players such as Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin facing a large amount of time in the treatment room. This has naturally led to a downturn in form. This dip in results along with Benítez’s very public falling out with Lucas Digne has led some fans to cut frustrated figures. It remains to be seen as to whether Benítez will win over the Toffees completely, but there are many fans who are general pleased with his appointment. After all, whoever followed Carlo Ancelotti had his work cut out for him.
During his coaching career, Benítez has won numerous awards, such as La Liga Best Manager (2002), UEFA Manager of the Year (2003-2004, 2004-2005), European Coach of the Year-Alf Ramsey Award (2005), as well as 7 PL Manager of the Month awards.
In the table below you can find stats for his entire managerial career. He has managed an incredible 1,169 games, with almost a 50%-win rate (572 wins at time of writing).
Formations, Tactics, Style of Play
According to Transfermarkt, Rafa Benítez employs a 4-2-3-1 style of play (Figure 1a). This formation is quite fluid, and Benítez has changed it at times to resemble more of a 5-4-1 or 3-4-3, depending on the opposition (Figure 1b, c). More recently at Everton, and most likely because of the terrible injury crisis he has faced, Benítez has employed a 4-1-4-1 as well as a 4-4-1-1 formation.
Overall
What is important to note about Benítez is that he is, above all, an incredibly detailed, methodical manager. For him, a football team is a well-oiled machine in which players must fit as seamlessly as possible. The importance of the tactical system outweighs the individual. His players are always given detailed instructions about opposition, and preparation for a game is thorough. One of the main improvements he brought to the PL was to tailor his approach depending on his adversary, which was uncommon at the time. He also likes to have a core set of players.
While he believes in squad rotation (especially when handed a small squad to begin with), his teams do not usually change drastically from week to week, bar any injuries. For example, during his Newcastle tenure, he had 14 players with at least 50 appearances. At Liverpool, 17 of his players made over 100 appearances for him, seven of which made over 200 (!). At Napoli, he had 12 players with at least 50 appearances. You get the point. We also see a tendency for Benítez to bring in the same players at different clubs.
For instance, Salomón Rondón has been a favourite of recent years, playing under Benítez at Newcastle, DL Pro and now Everton. We have also seen the return of Andros Townsend as one of Benítez’s key players at Everton, after Benítez brought up to the club from Crystal Palace on a free transfer. Overall, it seems that Benítez has a core group of players that he trusts and often likes to return to the well, bringing players he has previously worked with to his new clubs.
Defending
The 4-2-3-1 formation transforms into a low-block 4-5-1 formation (Figure 2). Benítez asks his players to drop into a zonal marking low-block 4-5-1 formation where they can press the man in possession close to their own goal. This was particularly prevalent at Newcastle, since the attacking quality in his team was quite lacking, thus making defence his priority.
It is important to mention here that, in addition to pressing, Benítez instructs his players (depending on the opposition) whether to cut passing lanes, attempt interceptions, or move to a medium block as opposed to a low block. A medium block entails setting up the lines a bit further up the pitch, with more space in between the lines. Again, his defensive tactics are tailored to the opposition.
If he uses a 5-4-1 formation, Benítez will almost always use one of the centre-backs as a sweeper (libero) (Figure 1b). This 5-4-1 formation is highly interchangeable with the 3-4-3, and it all depends on how far up the pitch the wing-backs are. Irrespective of the formation, the medium/low block still occurs, and the same aggressiveness is displayed when closing down spaces and pressing the man in possession. Everton’s recent purchase of Vitaliy Mykolenko, a very capable left wing-back, suggests that Benítez may well be thinking of using this formation more often. Against Hull in the third round of the FA Cup, Benítez employed wing-backs with Mykolenko on the left and Jonjoe Kenny on the right. When Benítez has preferred this formation earlier in the season he used Lucas Digne on the left (before they had a falling out) and Seamus Coleman on the right.
Attacking
As any manager schooled in the beautiful directness of Latin football, Benítez expects his team to transition the ball with speed and verticality. His DMs are expected to regain possession in the middle of the pitch, and to release the wide forwards/wingers or the no.10 in the centre (Figure 3).
Benítez prefers playing with width, which sometimes leads to issues if his DMs are not capable of covering a large amount of space. Nonetheless, he has employed either conventional (left foot/left side, right foot/right side) or inverted wingers (left foot/right side, right foot/left side) who like to cut inside and shoot.
Sometimes he mixes it up, like with Newcastle where Christian Atsu played as a left-footed left winger who liked to drop deep to collect the ball. On the right, Benítez played Matt Ritchie, another left footed player, this time playing as an inverted winger. To create space to shoot, Ayoze Perez (who played as no. 10), would usually drift out wide to drag a centre-back with him, allowing Matt Ritchie the space to cut inside.
At Everton, we have seen Andros Townsend and Demairai Gray fulfilling similar roles to Atsu and Ritchie, and both Townsend and Gray have at times played as a no. 10 behind Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin or Rondón. His front players play with a lot of fluidity, and there is a lot of movement up top to ensure speed and directness.
Transfers
I think that in the case of Benítez it’s a bit hard to discuss about the money he has spent on transfers, given how he has been coaching for ~ 35 years at a range of different clubs that all had different transfer budgets and expectations. What we do know is that:
- He can work with a very tight budget – see Newcastle and Mike Ashley
- His most expensive Liverpool transfer was Fernando Torres: £26.5 mil.;
- His most expensive Napoli transfer was Gonzalo Higuain: £34.5 mil.;
- His most expensive Real Madrid transfer was Mateo Kovacic: £26.5 mil.;
- His most expensive Newcastle transfer was Miguel Almiron: £21 mil.;
- His most expensive Everton signing so far is Vitaliy Mykolenko: £21.15mil.
Overall, Benítez has spent £650,616,188 mil. on 109 players, for an average of £5,968,955 mil. / player. His fee / player is not high, however there is an issue when it comes to transfers. In his first year at Napoli, Rafa Benítez demanded of Aurelio de Laurentiis (Napoli president) both a large war chest AND full control over the transfers. De Laurentiis agreed, and Benítez brought in the likes of Higuain, Albiol, Callejon, Mertens, Jorginho and Reina. He asked the same of Mike Ashley, who flat out refused him. A big signing season when he joins is key for Benítez, who requires players that fit his style in order to lay the foundations of his team for the years to come.
Relationship with the Media
Benítez is well liked by the media in general, although his tenure at Liverpool was something of an outlier on this front. He refused to play games with the Liverpool media and was immediately dubbed as someone who would not be suited for Liverpool. Although not necessarily related to media, he has been called a ‘Fat Spanish waiter’ by opposition fans and even his own Everton fans, perhaps in relation to his father’s job (he was a hotelier), though mostly it was because he looks like a Spanish waiter.
His anti-Ferguson rant (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsg0KiLkzHU) is quite famous; his relationship with Jose Mourinho was glacial at times, although it seems to have thawed quite a bit since they both left their Liverpool and Chelsea jobs. He also has some bad blood with Sam Allardyce after a Liverpool-Blackburn game.
Most recently, Benítez has had a very public falling out with Lucas Digne. Digne was widely held to be one of the better players in the Everton squad and so Benítez’s falling out with him created contention among fans. Despite this, Benítez is adamant that the team is more important than the individual, and Digne’s lack of discipline posed a serious problem for him. This public falling out has not done Benítez’s reputation any favours, and many recent media interactions have focused on Digne’s future. Benítez is a stern and resolute figure who maintains a high standard of discipline that applies to all individuals. He has his own set of standards, and he will not bend to anyone’s will.
You can read some more stuff about Rafa and the media here.
Interviews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFFTYHa8CLs – Rafa Benítez answers YOUR questions on Gerrard, Liverpool and his tactics at Newcastle! | MNF
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4HJa6i3iLU – EXCLUSIVE: Rafa Benítez on loving Newcastle, time at Liverpool and more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgrEGE674G4 – Ian Wright interviews Rafa Benítez on Rock ‘N’ Roll Football
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