Loss means Rafael Benítez can no longer hide from special comparisons

Posted Tuesday, September 28, 2010 by theguardian.com

The honeymoon is over for José Mourinho's successor following Internazionale's 1-0 defeat to Roma

Loss means Rafael Benítez can no longer hide from special comparisons
Rafael Benítez suffered his first domestic defeat as Internazionale manager against Roma at the Stadio Olimpico.

Rafael Benítez has known from the day he arrived at Internazionale that to succeed he would need to be like José Mourinho, only better. Titles are expected, but even another treble could be construed as treading water. To avoid unflattering comparisons Benítez must provide victories without the defensiveness, wit without the arrogance, razor-sharp tactics without the amateur dramatics. Inter want chocolate without the calories, one-night stands without the morning after and a delightful puppy without the yellow stains on the carpet.

At every turn Benítez has sought to highlight the differences between him and his predecessor. Unlike Mourinho, he has professed to love Italy, its referees and even its journalists. Unlike Mourinho, he claimed playing attractive football was important to him. Unlike Mourinho, he could win six trophies instead of just three. Or at least that's what he thought. Then Atlético Madrid triumphed in the Uefa Super Cup and the target was lowered to five.

Benítez stopped short of promising a result against Roma at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday night, but he made damn sure that everyone knew that this was a fixture the Special One lost last season. If the Super Cup represented a missed opportunity to claim a trophy that Mourinho has not yet lifted then this was the chance for a direct comparison. The Spaniard was determined to show that he had found room for improvement.

Turns out he hadn't. The scoreline may have been different but the result was the same: Inter beaten by a single goal and the title race reopened. If that sounds a touch overdramatic so early in the season, it is certainly how the result felt for Roma and several other clubs besides. Victory would have given Inter an 11-point advantage over the Giallorossi after just five games. Roma overcame such a deficit last season but only by going 24 games unbeaten. Even then they could not maintain the pace after finally getting their noses in front.

It was Mirko Vucinic who stuck his own nose in front of Lucio's boot in the second minute of injury time to crash home the game's only goal and the Montenegrin's presence provided another unflattering managerial comparison for Benítez. Where he had replaced the striker Diego Milito with a midfielder, Sulley Muntari, in the second half, his opposite number Claudio Ranieri had been rather less cautious in sending on Vucinic for Francesco Totti.

This was not the first time Ranieri had withdrawn his captain at a crucial juncture of a critical game, but Totti's reaction highlighted how bold a move it had been from a manager whose job is supposedly at risk. "No Totti No Party" reads the infamous banner but on Saturday Er Pupone took no part in the festivities, storming straight down the tunnel with a face like thunder and leaving the stadium at full-time without waiting to celebrate with his team-mates.

Vucinic's strike allowed Ranieri to make light of Totti's behaviour afterwards, and the two kissed and made up yesterday at the Trigoria training ground, but it also highlighted the conundrum he continues to face. Totti is a symbol of this team and beloved of its supporters, but a man who turns 34 today does not run like he once did and the ponderousness of his movement can stifle Roma going forward.

Certainly he could not dream of making up the ground that his replacement did to meet Daniele De Rossi's centre, but what Totti lacks in pace he more than makes up for in influence. Awarded a 10-year contract last season that includes five as a player and five more as a director, Totti's voice will always carry weight in Rome. Ranieri has already argued with his captain once this season – over the tactics used in a 2-0 defeat at Bayern Munich – and knows the risks he is taking.

Nor was that the only controversial substitution made by Ranieri. Two minutes from time he had appeared set to introduce Adriano, but at the last second the striker was sent back to the bench with Julio Baptista coming on instead. It was claimed afterwards that the striker simply hadn't got ready quickly enough after being asked to come on, but the suspicion is that a month into the season his fitness remains the issue. The Emperor had gone for a simple warm-up but returned looking thoroughly cooked.

But after securing Roma's first win of the season, such problems will suddenly seem a lot more manageable to Ranieri, just as Benítez's will feel more significant after Inter's first domestic defeat. Milan's high-profile transfer dealings during the final days of August did the Spaniard some favours in his early spell as Inter manager, ensuring the media spotlight was almost always on the club's neighbours, as he opened with a draw against Bologna and an unconvincing win over Udinese. It didn't hurt that Roma, Juventus and Milan (one 4-0 win over Lecce aside) had also started slowly.

A month into the season, though, the first judgments are being made, and while they have started better than their rivals Inter are not making anyone forget Mourinho. That is not all Benítez's fault of course – with almost no significant summer additions, the manager is left in an unenviable position where he must either stick with his predecessor's tactics and risk not executing them as well, or tear them up and risk accusations of destroying a treble-winning side.

Nevertheless, it feels as though all the progress he has made so far has been a case of upgrading one area at the cost of others. Samuel Eto'o is enjoying the most productive period of his Inter career, having scored six goals in his last five games, but only because he has been allowed to relinquish defensive duties. That might have gone down well with the Cameroon striker but it certainly wasn't popular on Saturday with the left-back Cristian Chivu, who turned to his manager at one point during the first half and bellowed "If [the forwards] won't run, I'm leaving".

Milito, too, has felt marginalised, with his agent demanding to know earlier this month why it is that his client is always the one to be substituted. In fairness to Benítez, the Argentina forward has looked below his best since returning from the World Cup, but sooner or later the manager must take responsibility for the performances of a player who showed himself more than capable of scoring goals for this team last year.

But this is still a first defeat, nothing more, and Inter hardly need panic – especially as they remain joint-top of the table. Besides, Benítez had a simpler explanation for the setback. "We had 15 shots on target away from home and we didn't score a goal," he explained at full-time. "That was the only problem." Well, that and the fact that his first name isn't José.

Talking points

• Inter's defeat on Saturday night left the door open for either of Chievo or Brescia to overtake them, but neither could manage it. The Flying Donkeys coming crashing back down to earth with a home defeat against Lazio while the Rondinelle – the Little Swallows – were picked off by Bari . That is the sort of the season so far – nobody is unbeaten and every team except Udinese have at least one win. Even they picked up their first point of the season on Sunday, holding Sampdoria to a goalless draw in Genoa.

• Is this the Lazio team fans were expecting last summer, when the club sold more season tickets than Roma for only the second time in their history? They moved top, alongside Inter, after the win at Chievo and although their margin of victory was only one goal, their control of the fixture had been total. The Brazilian Hernanes, signed from Sao Paulo in August, has been one of the revelations of Serie A so far, though yesterday it was Mauro Zarate who did the damage, scoring his first goal since February after an all-action performance in which he had missed a thousand other chances.

• Less wasteful was Milos Krasic, who opened his Juventus account with a hat-trick in the 4-2 win over Cagliari. The Serbia winger had already won over the club's fans and Tuttosport got close to 600 suggestions when they asked readers to come up with a nickname for him earlier this week (Krasic Instinct, anyone)? Comparisons with Pavel Nedved are slightly unhelpful, based as they are more on physical similarities than technical ones, but Juventus have certainly been short of quality on the flanks ever since the latter retired last year and Krasic looks very much at home angling in from the right in Gigi Del Neri's 4-4-2 system.

• The Fiorentina manager, Sinisa Mihajlovic, declared earlier this month that Adem Ljajic needed to eat less chocolate and cut his hair, but perhaps all the Serbian playmaker really needed was a new formation. Playing in a central role behind Alberto Gilardino in a 4-2-3-1 against Parma, Ljajic thrived, creating space for himself and team-mates with constant movement and scoring from the penalty spot in a 2-0 win. As Luca Calamai reflected in Gazzetta dello Sport: "Even with a fringe on his forehead he sees the game like few others."

• Delio Rossi has lasted nearly a full 12 months as the manager of Palermo, good going by anyone's standards under Maurizio Zamparini, but he may not be there much longer after a 2-2 draw at home to Lecce that the owner described as "five steps backwards". Zamparini did insist the manager should "absolutely not" be worried about his position, but we've heard that before ...

• Zlatan Ibrahimovic is arrogant, petulant and often comes across as someone who would be a terrible team-mate. But not a lot of players can score goals like the one he did against Genoa.

Results: Bari 2-1 Brescia, Catania 1-1 Bologna, Cesena 1-4 Napoli, Chievo 0-1 Lazio, Fiorentina 2-0 Parma, Juventus 4-2 Cagliari, Milan 1-0 Genoa, Palermo 2-2 Lecce, Roma 1-0 Inter, Sampdoria 0-0 Udinese