by Bad Bob » Mon May 14, 2007 11:25 pm
Good thread, this. Personally, I wouldn't call any season where we get to the CL final a "hugely disappointing" season and bracketing off our CL success from our Premiership mediocrity misses an important point: they're related. I certainly would have expected 9 points from our last three games were Rafa and the lads not preoccupied by the Champions League. Those games and a few other damp squibs (Villa away for instance) might never have happened had we been out of Europe so I think we need to take our total points haul with a pinch of salt (just like we need to take last year's with the opposite pinch of salt, seeing as we had no European commitments after February).
Also, I have to say that I have a real problem with any notion that Rafa doesn't 'care about' or 'prioritize' the league. I don't for one second question his passion to win every competition we are in and I think it's churlish to suggest he can't be a.rsed about the league.
But, some will point to his rotation policy and his penchant for fielding weaker sides in the league prior to, or in the wake of, big European matches as evidence that he doesn't care about the Prem. Perhaps another way to look at it, though, is to say that he has more faith in the entire squad than we all do. When he puts the likes of Zenden or Gonzales or Palletta or Dudek out there, he's expecting them to be able to do the business against the Sheffield United's and Fulhams of the league. And, on paper, he's right--a few squad players sprinkled in amongst a few first teamers should still give us a side with enough about them to get the 3 points. The fact that the second-stringers have consistently let us down this season has been one of the defining features of the campaign. While our "Best 11" (or 13-14) can hold their own against anyone in world football, our back-up players have not demonstrated that they are fit to step in and do the job when called upon.
So, yes, in hindsight Rafa did over-rotate at the start of the season (I'll admit it now that all the evidence is in, including the fact that our second stringers are not deputizing any more effectively at the end of the season as they were at the beginning). Put another way, he had too much faith in his squad players to step in and keep the results ticking over. I hope he's learned from this error in two ways:
1) That resting key players en masse at the beginning of the season is not a recipe for winning the title. As many have said, what's the point of being fit at the end of the campaign if you're out of the hunt by October? I read today that Chelsea have only lost 3 games all season and still finished a rather distant second. We, on the other hand, had lost 3 games by the end of September. So, the conventional approach of waiting until players actually need a rest is probably the wisest course of action.
2) That our squad players are not good enough to compete for the title. Now, replacing them with more squad players is a fool's game, IMO. The better option is to bring in a clutch of top class players who will then transform a few of our first teamers into squad players (eg. the likes of Crouch, Kuyt, Pennant, Riise, Garcia, Finnan, Sissoko). That way, we can be assured that, when called upon, these players will know what is required and have the requisite skill to deputize effectively. With a top quality squad to call on, Rafa can persist with his rotating (within reason, of course...players still benefit from runs of games together) without sabotaging our chances of competing on several fronts, including the league.
and I agree, I just got it wrong slightly the word (excuse me).
houllier left behind they`d get to 2 champions league finals in 3 years and finish above arsenal twice?
