Rafael Benitez is a man glowing with confidence despite the hostility of his home crowd at Stamford Bridge. Benitez who walked out on the pitch for the first time as Chelsea manager on Sunday was greeted with boos by his own fans. Despite this Benitez stood by the line barking out orders even when the fans were singing for Roberto De Matteo.

Rafael Benitez confident that Chelsea can still catch up

The former Liverpool manager decided to play the same formation as Matteo for Sunday’s match but he was able to achieve more defensive discipline as Chelsea kept their first clean sheet in 10 matches.

The Spaniard is now expected to bring out the best in Fernando Torres. The same player Benitez had made into a fan favorite at Anfield. Benitez stated that Torres is not the same as he was before, but he can return to his best. How Close? I can’t say.

Benitez then decided to change the team formation and start playing his way. He changed the formation to 4-4-1-1. He dropped Chelsea’s best player of the season Juan Mata to the bench and replaced him with Ryan Bertand for more defensive discipline down the left. He dropped Mikel and replaced him with Romeu who was starting his 3rd league match. Romeu partnered Ramires in the middle. Hazard was played on the right and Oscar was played as a second striker much like the Steven Gerrard role. Rafa couldn’t get his first win though as he was held to another goal less draw. He has certainly bought more discipline to the
defense though.

The Spaniard is confident that Chelsea can bridge the gap at the top as the season has still a lot of matches to come. After all this is the Premier League where we saw United give away a 8 point lead to lose the title dramatically.

Benitez might no enjoy the support of his fans a lot unless he can do something spectacular with the team. If he doesn’t deliver like the Russian tycoon Roman Abrahimovic expects him to then he might be another victim to him.

Benitez has a long season ahead of him to prove the Chelsea fans wrong and Roman right. If he can make Fernando Torres deliver that will be like icing on the cake.

Tags: Chelsea, Fernando Torres, Rafael Benitez, Roberto De Matteo, Stamford Bridge