Under-fire Benitez defends Ba decision
Chelsea interim manager Rafael Benitez defended his decision to wait until the 82nd minute to bring on Demba Ba in the 2-2 draw against League One side Brentford in the FA Cup.
Ba had only been on the pitch a minute when he played a part in setting up the vital equaliser for Fernando Torres.
But the Blues were woeful until the rested Juan Mata was brought on at half-time and Chelsea fans booed Benitez and questioned his substitutions and tactics throughout.
However, Benitez said he delayed Ba’s introduction because his team were “doing well” after the break.
“I changed Mata at half-time and he made an impact and a big difference,” Benitez added.
“After we were controlling the game and were on top of them, I wanted to give some width and some fresh legs. Still we were in control and so, okay, then we put on Demba Ba.
“You change things sometimes and it is good, but when you are doing well you cannot change too many things.
“But in the end Demba did a great job on the left side and gave us different things.”
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29/01/2013 @ 12:47 pm
Torres is a good player it’s only that chelsea’s kind of play does not favour any striker. goals will not happen even with ba in play. let the two play 2gether since they know what a striker needs. Roman u hve my support.
29/01/2013 @ 8:29 am
chelsea fans should not blame beni becos he lack choaching static.roman is d causes of blue down fall. Let him bring back RDM dat win uefa an Fa witing three month. UP RDM.
28/01/2013 @ 3:21 pm
Benites is just a coach without any hope. I mean dis man is not wat we need, he should go and never think of coaching any other club bcoz he is a failure. Chelsea 4 lyf.
28/01/2013 @ 12:34 pm
Let’s face it, Benitez may get contract extension after all. Only him will put Torres in his plan. Imagine Mourinho at the helm of affair. Do you think Torres will have any chance? No!. It’s okey with Roman whetever happen to chelsea as long as his toy, Torres play 80mins and above.
28/01/2013 @ 12:03 pm
Beni is d worst coach i have ever seen or come across in my life. He dosen’t mean well 4 d club, d earlier u sack in d better.
28/01/2013 @ 10:26 am
beni has nothing to offer to chelsea,chelsea will play free season if he continues
28/01/2013 @ 10:15 am
Useless manager abramovic
28/01/2013 @ 8:56 am
D owner of chelsea is d cuse of this problems he is one that fos beni to keep useing torres so lets us stop breming beni one day that chelsea owner wil be d blue boss his wife or galfrnd wil be his assistant
28/01/2013 @ 8:52 am
Pls give ba these opporturnity,u have already giving torress enough opporturnity,!!!
28/01/2013 @ 7:40 am
hmmm….benitez want permanent deal…will roman give him that? Lets face it now. Roman is unpredictable. Chelsea shall survive this time i pray.
28/01/2013 @ 7:03 am
Sammy, You dont watch football, You allow emotions control your reasoning.
28/01/2013 @ 7:01 am
Ba has played some games too, he played 90mins against Swansea without an attempt on goal. A striker only scores when he gets a chance, Your midfielders dont create chances and thats why they are not scoring.What Wishere alone does for Arsenal cant be compared to what Mata, Hazard and Oscar does for us, Chelsea midfielders dont create chances and instead wants to score themselves
28/01/2013 @ 6:56 am
We dn’t need benitez at chelseafc he should go and cocah small club. Benitez should go. Go benitez ur IQ is very low and u dn’t hv any tin to say abut ba decision dat is ur usual decision when u play ur stupid Torres u subtitude him at 80th minite but if u play ba u do d sub at 62nd why?is it u came 4rm dissame country. Go benitez Go Go Go poor cocah Go
28/01/2013 @ 6:46 am
Benitez is not a cocah is a famer he dn’t knw any tin abut football his only try to make money true it.look at a term jose use to collect UEFA leauge is dissame term benitez cocah and land at 10th position in their table. Look at liverpool. Infact chelsea owner made a great misstake by fire Di matito [d legend] i ωε advice chelsea owner to recall legend back to chelsea or some body like him. Benitez is not a cocah he should be a press or camera man. Let see what will end chelseafc.
28/01/2013 @ 5:50 am
Whats is wrong to bennitez,ihate the man like my old panty,how can he play demba for nly 12 minutes,especially when we need amust win game.
28/01/2013 @ 5:46 am
Refa Benites should leave Chelsea alone, because we are tiered of him he should go
28/01/2013 @ 5:45 am
If rafa wil continue to bench Demba Ba for dat useless n gud for nothin Torres chelsea is goin nowhere. Chelsea is no longer a team dat requires support from fans. Nonsense football club
28/01/2013 @ 1:39 am
Let him go beni go we dnt need u
27/01/2013 @ 5:09 pm
Let Benitez go away and leave chelsea. All Benitez work is what an assistant coach can do.
27/01/2013 @ 4:00 pm
benitez is offcourse the cause of all hazard saga,chelsea should hav beaten swansea earlier leave alone second leg that is if ba played.
27/01/2013 @ 3:46 pm
beni you must go better chelsea stay without a coach,how many min hav torres played doing nothing while ba on the bench.the other time you did the same against swansea,you are the cause of all this.