Inter Milan: Analysing Benitez's sacking

Rafael Benitez’s position as manager of European champions Inter Milan has come under intense scrutiny since the last week with reports of his sacking emerging immediately after Inter were crowned World Club Champions in Abu Dhabi. Strong indications that the Spaniard will leave were given when Benitez’s agent confirmed to Sky Italia that talks were going on to terminate the contract. The club’s owner Massimo Moratti also seemed unsure of the manager’s situation when he was quizzed briefly by the media. Today, the club has released an official statement saying that they have parted ways with Benitez through mutual consent. Benitez’s time at Inter Milan has been mixed so far. He has led the team to two trophies but the domestic and European campaigns have been turbulent to say the least. Let us analyse his time at the club to see why he was sacked.

Rafael Benitez has clearly had a frustrating time at Inter Milan

FAILURE TO MOTIVATE THE PLAYERS

To say that Jose Mourinho ‘put everything on the plate’ for Rafael Benitez when the Portuguese left Inter would not be an overstatement. Mourinho left the club on the highest note possible leaving behind a fantastic squad and brilliant back room staff. Benitez’s biggest hurdle was to motivate the players towards more success as they were already exhausted from a long campaign. He failed miserably in that task by trying to tweak a tactical system around which the team was built. Benitez tried to bring attractive attacking football to the team who conquered Europe through their defensive solidarity. In their road to the treble, it was clear that Inter Milan were not the best team in the world creatively. It was their ability to come up with solutions to challenges posed by their opponents through reactive football that made them great. In his bid to change things which were pivotal to the club’s success, Benitez also tampered with the players’ mindset. Last season’s superstars like Wesley Sneijder and Diego Milito have looked pale shadows of themselves this season.

BENITEZ’S TRAINING METHODS

In Rafael Benitez’s defence, many point to the injuries sustained by key members of the squad as the reason for the club’s wretched domestic performance. Walter Samuel, Julio Cesar, Douglas Maicon, Wesley Sneijder, Diego Milito and new signing Philippe Coutinho have had lengthy lay-offs with Samuel, a key star last season being a long term absentee. While it’s easy to pin a few injuries on bad luck, injuries to almost the entire backline and other important players is no coincidence. Inter’s former fitness chief Rui Faria made a valuable point when he criticized Benitez’s training methods. “Last season brought titles and self-belief. Perhaps there’s only one element that is bled dry at Inter…. That is who is responsible for the performance of the team. Inter have fantastic players and a first class medical department. I am not at Inter and I don’t know what’s happening, but from a scientific point of view the principle cause of these injuries could be their training methods. The players, medical staff and Italian football in general are the same as last year. Only one thing has changed..”. Faria may be right considering the stark difference between the training methods followed by Mourinho and Benitez. Mourinho believes in training extensively with the ball and recommends gym work only for players recovering from injuries. Benitez’s regimen extensively involves working with weights in the gym which may explain the injury crisis.

THE PUBLIC ULTIMATUM

By making a move where he dug his own grave, Benitez publicly issued an ultimatum to the club’s management asking them to back him in the transfer market or get rid of him. With woeful domestic performances due to which Inter currently now sit 7^th in the Serie A table and humiliating losses to Tottenham Hotspur and Twente in the Champions League thus leading them to finish second in their group and thus face a tough opponent in the round of 16 to his name so far, Benitez was in no position to issue such statements publicly criticizing the club. This is what many see as the final straw for Massimo Moratti, whose patience seems to have run out half way into the season.

With an injury crisis that is rocking the team that is already short of inspiration, Inter are clearly a club in crisis barely six months after they made history by winning the treble. There is strong speculation that Moratti has lined up former AC Milan manager Leonardo to take over. With so many woes troubling them there are now serious doubts about whether Inter can challenge for top honours.