Sky Sports pundits Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville had their say on Rafa Benitez’s defensive tactics against Chelsea at the weekend.
Although the pair understood what the manager was trying to do by keeping the defensive line compact, they don’t believe the perceived negative tactics that were employed are the way modern football is going.
Fans on Twitter were divided over whether the criticism of Rafa was fair:
Carra hit the nail on the head regarding Wolves having more chances but in doing so City did. Rafa wants us to be hard to beat before making us into some attacking unit.
— Diego the Alter Ego (@janniky) 27 August 2018
Small margins define how things are perceived in the main stream media
— Potts (@Potts_131) 27 August 2018
The reality, which everyone appears to be missing, is Wolves scored from a handball, and City had missed numerous chances beforehand, whereas Chelsea scored from an incorrectly given penalty and had created very limited chances beforehand ????????♂️
— Potts (@Potts_131) 27 August 2018
exactly. In hindsight they got setup right and we got setup wrong.
However before the game you can’t rely on being lucky, you have to set your team up which gives the best chance of getting 1/3points. If we had been lucky and them unlucky would everyone be saying the same?????
— Matthew (@JB4t00n) 27 August 2018
Agree with Potts’ comment, all about fine margins. If we play like that against the top six in the 12 games we play, we will pick up more points than wolves will in theirs.
— RL (@RaminL1990) 27 August 2018
The media were all intimating this is #NUFC & this is how we always play, it’s not & it wasn’t last season, we set up like this in 2/3 games last season to protect goal difference in case it came down to that, any other team would be applauded for it but not us…
— Jase ⚫️⚪️ (@jasonhebron) 27 August 2018
One fan did think the tactics were way too negative:
I agree with what jamie redknapp said our tactics were embarrassing
— Jim Wilkinson (@jimw1892) 28 August 2018
It’s a hard and complex debate. Benitez would have been put under huge pressure if had tried to play open and attacking football, and lost heavily. However, having 19% possession in a home game does show a lack of ambition and intent.
The fact is we nearly got a point against the Blues, and like some say it can be fine margins. Few would have been complaining about the tactics employed if DeAndre Yedlin hadn’t directed Marcos Alonso’s shot into Martin Dubravka’s goal.
Knowing Rafa, he will ignore the criticism and will employ the exact same system when we face Man City in the league next.