War wounds and battle lines can’t faze Benitez

It was always going to come back to the flags. Around the time of the 2007 Champions League semi-final against Liverpool, as Chelsea attempted to whip up even more of an atmosphere by giving out little blue banners, Rafael Benitez had the following rather provocative comment to make.

“We don’t need to give away flags for our fans to wave — our supporters are always there with their hearts, and that is all we need. It’s the passion of the fans that helps to win matches — not flags.”

The new Chelsea manager, though, had obviously flagged that statement himself as a potential source of early controversy. In an introductory press conference that generally involved a lot of repetition of rehearsed answers and dodging of direct questions, this was the single subject for which Benitez seemed to have a very pointed response.

“You have to analyse the context. We were playing against Chelsea, a top side, in the semi-finals of the Champions League. If I’m a fan, I’d like to see my manager fighting for my team, my club and doing almost everything.

“So I don’t think it’s a lack of respect for the Chelsea fans. It’s more a manager defending his team. I’m sure the fans here would like to see me doing the same now that I am here, defending their club.”

More than defensive, you might even argue it was impressively defiant from Benitez. He handled an awkward question, and situation, about as well as he could have and even tried to spin it into something of a positive.

The exact problem with the ‘flags’ comment, though, was actually that very context. Was it really a bit of psychology, or simply more evidence of how immersed Benitez was in all the mythos of the Anfield club? As if to forever prove the latter, the words are now carved into a plaque at Liverpool’s Melwood training ground.

Because this, really, is the biggest problem with the new job. Benitez has not just moved to another big club. He has moved to another big club that developed a very specific and very bitter rivalry with his old one, and partly through his statements.

The animosity that grew between Chelsea and Liverpool during so many cup ties between 2004 and 2007 gave rise to one of those rare rivalries that went beyond geography and even direct competition and arguably into something deeper. It followed a line of such games that included Arsenal and Manchester United a decade ago.

Of course, you only have to go as far as Elland Road — home of Leeds United, to see what generally happens in English football when an individual that has been so associated with one club, and been so specifically responsible for driving resentment within another, makes the switch. As Brian Clough found, it doesn’t tend to end well or last long.

The first issue is the fans. Given that Benitez appeared to mainly criticise them, as opposed to the players as Clough did at Leeds, winning them over will be his first challenge. Over the past week, it’s been difficult to find any Stamford Bridge regulars that haven’t been vociferously against his appointment.

When that was put to him, Benitez was a little more evasive again. He certainly didn’t acknowledge any unrest.

“I like to do things in the right way for the fans. They will be good for me. We have something in common: I want to win every game. I’m sure they will be happy with a manager with this passion for the game, and a manager who will do everything he can to win games. That is my priority. I know it’s not easy in the beginning. So people can have doubts. But, in the end, I think they will be pleased.”

At the very least, we know Benitez hasn’t started by telling the Chelsea squad to throw all their medals into “the nearest f**king dustbin”.

He has, however, echoed Clough in another way — he’s questioned their discipline. This was another statement he was keen to deflect.

“I went to the training session today. Everything was fine, the players trained really well. The intensity is there, talking about ideas and tactics. I didn’t see any problems at all.”

But not, you expect, the same as the past — in terms of either the likes of Clough or even Benitez’s own career. As he takes over a notoriously abrasive group of personalities, some of the Spaniard’s biggest failings in an otherwise fine career have been his man-management, authoritarian nature and a tendency to pick the wrong battles.

Whether he’s also flagged those flaws remains to be seen.