He has delivered far more success in his career, far more impressively, but his teams, both at Valencia and Liverpool, have tended to be admired for their organisation and control rather than beauty or flair.
There are three basic requirements for a Chelsea manager. He has to be supremely successful. He must adhere to a vision of wonderful, expansive football. And he has to be subservient —a yes-man not only to Roman Abramovich but also to the yesmen who will convey the owner’s thoughts on an almost daily basis. Tick all those boxes and you might get a year.
切尔西的主教练必须满足三项基本要求。首先他必须曾经取得过极大的成功；其次，他必须对美丽梦幻一般的足球蓝图依附屈从；第三，他还必须要有阿谀奉承的本事，不仅对阿布拉莫维奇唯命是从，而且对那些传达这位老板日常思路和指示的弄臣点头称是。在所有的三个选项要求上划勾，你也许才能干上一年。
As he held court in the Bobby Tambling Suite at Stamford Bridge last night, Rafael Benitez did not appear to tick all three of those boxes. He has delivered far more success in his career, far more impressively, but his teams, both at Valencia and Liverpool, have tended to be admired for their organisation and control rather than beauty or flair.
在昨晚斯坦福桥的博比坦布林包厢，贝尼特斯似乎并没能满足上诉三项要求。他的职业生涯极其成功，让人印象深刻，但是他的球队，不管是巴伦西亚还是利物浦，都是以组织和纪律见长，并不是美丽和天资。
As for being a yes-man, oh to be a fly on the wall when Benitez gets his first post-match debrief from Michael Emenalo, the former Nigeria defender who has mysteriously risen to the post of Chelsea technical director. Emenalo is the man who would convey Abramovich’s dissatisfaction to Roberto Di Matteo even while Chelsea were top of the Barclays Premier League with seven wins and a draw from their first eight games. Performances would be pulled apart, the recurring theme being that he was not giving the team sufficient freedom to entertain and to attack and that, as a consequence, Fernando Torres was suffering.
作为一名唯命是从的仆人，当贝尼特斯在进行第一次赛后总结时，埃梅纳罗像密探一样注视着这一切。这位前尼日利亚后卫当初有些神秘地升任到了切尔西技术总监的职位上。埃梅纳罗正是将阿布的指示传达给迪马特奥的人，即使切尔西一度在英超联赛排名榜首，前八场比赛七胜一平。然而球队的表现却被抛在一边，反复循环的主题是他未能给球队带来足够自由的进攻和娱乐观赏性，而这也导致托雷斯备受折磨。
Emenalo is the underestimated part of the dynamic here. It was Emenalo, rather than Abramovich, who laid out the club’s hopes and expectations. Benitez is the ninth different manager during Abramovich’s nine years at Chelsea and, with the arguable exception of Guus Hiddink, the Russian could hardly be said to have trusted any of them. Abramovich trusts Emenalo.
埃梅纳罗在这一戏剧性事件中的作用被忽视了。其实正是埃梅纳罗，而不是阿布拉莫维奇，规划和制定了球队的预期和目标。贝尼特斯成为了阿布入主切尔西九年来的第九位主教练，很难说俄罗斯人信任这些主帅中的任何一个人，只有希丁克可能是个例外。阿布拉莫维奇信任的是埃梅纳罗。
Unless Abramovich has had an epiphany in the days since the 3-0 defeat by Juventus that brought an abrupt end to Di Matteo’s tenure, Benitez will find his judgment questioned like never before. He will be required to explain and justify every decision, from his line-up to his substitutions to his choice of free kicktakers and far more. And he will love that at first, because he loves explaining his methods to people less qualified than him. But he will not love it once it becomes clear, perhaps after the first defeat, perhaps before, that he is being interrogated by Emenalo on behalf of an unhappy owner.
在0比3输给尤文图斯导致迪马特奥突然下课之后，除非阿布突然显现圣贤灵性，贝尼特斯会发现自己的一切判断和选择都将面临着前所未有的质疑。他需要对自己的每一个决定都作出解释，从他的首发阵容到他的换人决定，再到他选定的任意球人选等等。他一开始可能会喜欢这样，因为他乐于将自己的工作方法解释给不如自己的人听。但是也许一旦遭遇第一场失利，等一切都变得明了之后，当他接受埃梅纳罗的质询时，后者代表的是并不开心的老板，他将不再喜欢这样的方法。
If Benitez’s winning way involves organising the team in a system that requires one of Oscar, Juan Mata or Eden Hazard to drop out — or even merely to rein in some of their creative instincts, as Di Matteo sought to on the odd occasion — it will be questioned unless it results in resounding scorelines on a weekly basis.
如果贝尼特斯的赢球方式要求球队的组织系统中需要拿掉奥斯卡，马塔或是阿扎尔中的一个人，抑或仅仅是需要他们收敛一下自己的创造性天才，就像迪马特奥在某些场合所做的那样，除非他们的比赛周周顺遂，不然的话他将立刻遭受质疑。
He will also try to revive Torres, who looked a sad case before his ￡50 million move from Liverpool but looks far sadder now. He will know the perils, Abramovich’s unswerving support for Torres has lessened, but that was not how it seemed to Di Matteo. It seems to require either Abramovich or Benitez — or both — to compromise and to be something that they are not.
他还将尝试激活托雷斯，后者在5000万英镑从利物浦转会之后一直萎靡不振，而现在情况更是进一步恶化。托雷斯会意识到自己处于险境之中，阿布对他的力挺正在趋弱，不过对于迪马特奥而言，这似乎并不是事实。现在看来，阿布拉莫维奇或是贝尼特斯中的一人，或者两人都需要在一些他们不愿意妥协的领域作出让步。
