The boss seemed to hint once more that they would use the counter-attack against Chelsea this weekend, which many might have expected even before he addressed the media in his latest press conference.
Rafa Benitez said: “The first thing that we did yesterday was starting to work on our ideas of how we want to play and how to approach the game. Be sure that we go there with the idea to win the game. When I say that, I don’t want people taking advantage of that and saying ‘on the front foot if you want to win’. Sometimes you have to win in the counter-attack. Nobody can expect that we will go there and have 70% possession, it will be impossible. These 15 games have proven that it’s like that. We have to have a plan to get the best from our players and take advantage of the weaknesses of Chelsea, which are not too many.”