Liverpool FC Forum

[taff]

Rotation deserves a debate but in all honesty some players didnt perform yesterday and we drew.  The team we had should have beaten them but didnt.

I hope we win the league or at least come second so we dont have these annoying qualifying games and I really hope we hammer them gobby fools and send them back to Israel which incidentally is not in Europe

[LFCFan4Life]

I think the reason why certain players didn't play against Sheffield, is because of our result against Haifa. After the match a fortnight ago, Benitez said that the tie was in the balance, 50-50. Had we won by three or four goals, we wouldn't have had to rotate players against Sheffield.

But since that wasn't the case, Rafa obviously thought that the best should had been saved for Tuesday's game which is worth millions. The XI that played on Saturday should had won even if it wasn't the strongest team we could had fielded.

[stmichael]

Good post Bigmick.

With regards to the rotation of the squad, I'd say that the omission of Crouch was the most significant. I thought it was very strange that the player Rafa said was bought to help us win those tricky away games didn't start. The first half especially, saw us failing to retain possession because it wouldn't stay up front. Therefore there was no way Gerrard could make one of his breaking runs because there was no-one to run off.

[Ace Ventura]

Well, Chelsea have won and Man Utd have won so no surprises there. My feeling is that we may quickly be made to pay for the extremely lacklustre home performance against Macabi Haifa and the baffling decision in that game to go with Bellamy and Garcia up front. Because we barely scraped home in that game we had had to hold players back for the second leg, and life being life one thing led to another at Bramhall Lane.

Rafa has no bigger fan on these boards than me, I think he is a brilliant manager but I think he has called it wrong here. You didn't need to be Einstein to work out that our start was not easy, and we should have been out of the blocks with an up and at 'em performance against the Israeli's. A 3-0 win there would have meant that we could have gone to Sheffield United with the intention of taking them apart, as opposed to the tentative way in which we felt our way in yesterday.

People may accuse me of over reacting but say for instance we beat West Ham at home which won't be a walkover, then draw at Everton we could be four points behind the leaders before the visit to Stamford Bridge. Defeat there would put us seven points behind and in the same position as last season, chasing shadows early doors.

Sooner later we will realise that the Premiership has changed. When teams get in excess of ninety points in a season you've got to hit the ground running, right from thr first whistle. If we had torn into Sheffield United from the first whistle with proper intent, I am absolutely certain we would have won the game comfortably.

Thats exactly right Mick and what i warned against a couple of days before the game. I seem to recall that you were one of the people that put down a weakened side to play there.
We have a few tricky fixtures after the West Ham game and the season is only just starting so getting 3 points there was vital.
Rafa's tinkering cost us, he was unlucky with injuries that obviously prevented him from changing things but at the end of the day his decision to play Zenden baffled me.

[bigmick]

Thats exactly right Mick and what i warned against a couple of days before the game. I seem to recall that you were one of the people that put down a weakened side to play there.

I did ace but as i pointed out to somebody else, the balance question is addressed in terms of the fact that I would have played crouch up front. I've covered this in more detail in the Sheff U v Liverpool thread but in essence my point was that the addition of crouch would have provided the "glue" to make the whole system work, such as it was.
If you've read many of my previous posts you'll know I'm not exactly a fan of Zenden, and if we are going to play him and sissoko together then we really must give them bigger targets to hit as neither is a fantastic passer of a football. Anyways, like I said I talked about it in another thread and you were spot on to highlight the dangers of not putting out a strong enough team.

[Kopite-Jud]

Its good to see Benitez rotate players but lets hope he doesent rotate too much or too often , i belive he should only rotate when a player needs a rest or is unfit

[Ace Ventura]

Thats exactly right Mick and what i warned against a couple of days before the game. I seem to recall that you were one of the people that put down a weakened side to play there.

I did ace but as i pointed out to somebody else, the balance question is addressed in terms of the fact that I would have played crouch up front. I've covered this in more detail in the Sheff U v Liverpool thread but in essence my point was that the addition of crouch would have provided the "glue" to make the whole system work, such as it was.
If you've read many of my previous posts you'll know I'm not exactly a fan of Zenden, and if we are going to play him and sissoko together then we really must give them bigger targets to hit as neither is a fantastic passer of a football. Anyways, like I said I talked about it in another thread and you were spot on to highlight the dangers of not putting out a strong enough team.

Crouch would of made a difference your right, the decision to play Robbie also baffled me, dont get me wrong i was mde up to see him in the starting line up, but he had been injured and obviously wasn't up to full fitness.
We should of started Pennant on the right had Stevie in the centre and played Crouch with Bellamy, that team would of won there without doubt.

[tubby]

There could be more players coming in soon: Just found this

Liverpool boss Benitez faces Xabi Prieto decision
tribalfooball.com - August 21, 2006

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez may be forced to make a decision over Real Sociedad midfielder Xabi Prieto.
The Reds have first refusal on Prieto, which was secured last January when Benitez agreed to loan winger Mark Gonzalez to Real.

Prieto has emerged as a target for Real Betis, which see him as a replacement for Valencia-bound Joaquin. Should Betis make a firm bid, Real will be obliged to inform Liverpool, which will have the option of matching the Seville club's offer and taking Prieto to England.

[alessandromagno]

At the end of the season this will definitely be looked on as 2 points dropped--and it will come back to haunt us if we lose by one point, or on goal difference! (still can't forget losing 2-0 at home to Arsenal and consequently losing the championship on GD--or was it average?-- in the eighties!)

[48-1119859832]

Its good to see Benitez rotate players but lets hope he doesent rotate too much or too often , i belive he should only rotate when a player needs a rest or is unfit

Zenden shouldn't of started, it was an away game against a side who is very strong with the old physical presence, you just knew he (Zenden) would get bullied in midfield.

Can someone clear something for me up? Is Alonso injured or did Rafa decide to rest him?

[onizukaeikichi]

i believe he's trying to rest ALonso since there are no reports that he's injuired or so.

[stmichael]

Saturday showed the "Drop Alonso we've got Momo and Gerrard" brigade up bigtime. He makes us tick and we missed his creativity from the middle of the park.

[48-1119859832]

Saturday showed the "Drop Alonso we've got Momo and Gerrard" brigade up bigtime. He makes us tick and we missed his creativity from the middle of the park.

That's Ivor's point down the drain. 

On a more serious note, he should of played even if he doesn't look sharp, he would of gotten better with the match time and no doubt Momo would of worked a lot better with Alonso starting next to him.

[stmichael]

Saturday showed the "Drop Alonso we've got Momo and Gerrard" brigade up bigtime. He makes us tick and we missed his creativity from the middle of the park.

That's Ivor's point down the drain. 

On a more serious note, he should of played even if he doesn't look sharp, he would of gotten better with the match time and no doubt Momo would of worked a lot better with Alonso starting next to him.

My point is we need and at least Alonso or Gerrard in the middle of midfield. I can't really remember us playing any balls from our central midfield area. Most of the balls came from Stevie on the right flank or Aurelio (who was good going forward) or Gonzalez. As soon as Stevie moved central he was involved in the penalty incident.

[Anfield rapper]

Saturday showed the "Drop Alonso we've got Momo and Gerrard" brigade up bigtime. He makes us tick and we missed his creativity from the middle of the park.

I disagree slightly. Yes we did miss Alonso's creativity but i think it was because Gerrard was out wide rather than central with Momo. I think had we have played with Pennant and Gonzalez from the start we wouldn't have missed him so much.