January 9 2009 was the day Rafa Benitez’ Liverpool reign began to unravel. Riding high in the table at the halfway point of the season, the manager aimed a verbal volley at his Manchester United counterpart Alex Ferguson at a packed press conference.

Benitez sensationally accused Ferguson of being nervous that Liverpool were top of the table and also claimed that he consistently broke FA rules with impunity.

By the end of that season the Merseysiders had faltered and United overtook them to claim the Premier League title by four points.

And the following season, Liverpool finished a lowly seventh which saw Benitez sacked.

 In his only job since then at Inter Milan in 2010/11 he was removed after six months as he failed to get the most out of a squad of ageing Champions League winners.

But it seems that Benitez is best remembered for everything that came after that infamous “Rafa Rant” at Ferguson, which is a great disservice to a highly successful manager.

Born winner

Roman Abramovich has entrusted Benitez with the reins at Chelsea until the end of the season so the Chelsea supremo obviously sees something in the Spaniard.

Lest it be forgotten, Benitez has won the Champions League, a UEFA Cup as well as La Liga with Valencia in 2004.

He clearly knows what it takes to win but Abramovich believes that he also has the key to unlocking the Torres enigma.

Benitez has claimed that Chelsea frontman’s recent struggles are down to a lack of confidence. When he brought the 28-year-old to Liverpool for a club record fee, he transformed into arguably the most lethal striker in Europe.

Torres, for his part, has always credited Beitez for the role he played in his development.

And if Benitez can resurrect the Torres of his Liverpool reign then Chelsea will surely reap the benefits.

Defense and Zonal Marking

Benitez will also be expected to shore up a leaky defence. Injuries and the new attacking style have exposed weaknesses at the back in recent months.

Benitez’ teams have often favoured solidity but with one caveat: zonal marking at set pieces.

Zonal marking at corners and free-kicks is a high risk venture that often comes with disastrous results.

In his final season at Anfield, Liverpool were undone time and again at set-pieces because of the manager’s propensity to rely on zonal marking.

It will also be interesting to see if Chelsea skipper John Terry – who tends to take the lead in marshalling the back four - takes kindly to being told to organize zonally at set-pieces.

Benitez’ temperament and man management skills will also come under scrutiny at a club where player power is often at the fore.

He has often been portrayed as a prickly character and did not have a particularly warm relationship with some of his Liverpool players which will make the Blues dressing room a potentially volcanic place.

Fan Base

And whether he will be popular with the Stamford Bridge faithful is another story in itself. During his tenure he often clashed with then-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho and even claimed that the Blues had bought their success.

Now he finds himself in charge of that very club and some Chelsea supporters groups have claimed that they will not give their support to Benitez.

In light of that, it is important that he makes a successful start to win over the doubters because any signs that all is not going to plan will just galvanise the naysayers.