We often watch football games and marvel over the skill of various players, or deride those who are just not performing.
However, in the Premier League this week, interim Chelsea manager Rafa Benitez handed in the coaching equivalent of a stinker.
Benitez could not have got his team or tactics more wrong for the visit of bottom-placed Queens Park Rangers, electing to rest key players despite Chelsea not having a league game for 10 days after the QPR clash.
Juan Mata, Eden Hazard, Ramires and Ashley Cole were all rotated out by one of the game’s most notorious ‘tinkerers’ and it came back to bite him in the worst way.
QPR for their part have looked every bit the worst team in the EPL this season. It should have served as a warning rather than a comfort, especially given they are now guided by survival expert Harry Redknapp.
Instead, Benitez displayed a large slice of the arrogance Sir Alex Ferguson famously accused him of having when he was in charge of Liverpool, chronically underestimating QPR’s resolve and desperation.
Chelsea played with little width for the most part as Rangers looked to shore up their central defence which in recent games had developed not just holes but canyons.
Chelsea seemed determined to find a way through the massed red shirts rather than trying to go around them, all the while with Hazard and Mata, two players who have the ability to both switch and be the point of the attack, shivering on the bench.
Hazard’s eventual introduction for Marko Marin on the hour seemed formulaic rather than tactically astute.
Indeed, Marin should have only lasted three minutes, after a dreadful tackle on Stephane Mbia was deemed worthy of a generous yellow card from the referee rather than the red it would surely have been if the game had been going longer.
Mata’s role would only last 14 minutes and it was clear in that short time that he had the keys to unlock QPR’s stubborn resistance. Mata conjured up flighted, angled balls dipping beyond the defenders and switches of attack bringing wide-running players into the game.
But for Chelsea, it was too little, and after former Blues player Shaun Wright-Phillips scored in the 78th minute, it was also too late.
Not a great on-field performance from the only side likely to catch the two Manchesters, but certainly an inept off-field performance from Benitez.
This only a day after Manchester United travelled to Wigan with all available big guns in the eleven, and secured a 4-0 win. That shows how you deal with potentially stubborn and desperate opponents.
Rafa’s tinkering has all but ensured the Premier League trophy will stay in the city of Manchester.
It has also got Chelsea fans unfurling their Di Matteo support banners, which haven’t even had time to gather dust.
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