by bigmick » Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:52 pm
Sabre wrote:And well, some people has quickly said that the Gerrard/Mascherano partnership doesn't work.
If in the "some people" Sabes you are referring to myself, then this would be inacurate paraphrasing of what I feel on the subject to be perfectly honest. There is a World of difference between saying it clearly isn't working (which it isn't) and saying it doesn't and won't work.
I've alluded on a couple of occasions to the fact that when discussing compatibility it's not an easy comparison to make as Gerrard clearly is some way off his imperious best at the moment. That however, as I said in the post I think you refer to, doesn't excuse a reluctance on either of the current central midfielders part to show for the ball off the centre-halves. The attempt by the use of the phrase "has quickly said" to give some sort of indication of a knee-jerk over-reaction is not really in keeping with where I'm coming from to be perfectly honest.
Where I am coming from is when discussing all matters football there is it seems to me to be little point in dogma. I thought the Masherano/Gerrard partnership could be more suited to the effect the captain would have on the team and at the moment it isn't working. To me it would be pointless and silly to pretend that Alonso wouldn't walk back into the team based on the form of the current central midfield pairing.
As for rotation, when I used the phrase about the debate being "won", perhaps I should have used the words "it's over" as it sems to me that most everyone was accepting the basics of the argument and had agreed to let it go. Unfortunately, numerous posts (not from yourself I hasten to add) attempting to take some sort of footballing/loyalty moral high ground just keep the thing rumbling along.
The points which I thought/think have/had been accepted by pretty much everybody.
1. Rotating the team to the extent that we have has some effect, however miniscule some maintain but some anyhow, on the fluency and cohesion of the unit.
2. Rafa has largely stayed with a fairly settled team in the Premier League, but has changed the team quite a lot in the Cups.
3. We have changed the team in all competitions more than Manchester United, Arsenal or Chelsea.
4. However much rotation has had an effect on the effectiveness of the team (and even if the effect is nil), injuries certainly haven't helped either.
5. Rafa is a good manager who has transformed the club. He has built and is the process of building a very good squad of players. Nearly everyone doesn't think he should be kicked out/rotated, and most people think he should be given at least another year after this one provided we do OK this season.
5. Most people by now have an idea of where we would need to be come the end of the season for the campaign to be judged a success. Allowing for extenuating circumstances of course, but coming somewhere near to challenging for the Premiership is high on most peoples list (although obviously how close would vary from person to person), and some have alluded to good cup performances being sufficient if we don't go too well in the League. Whatever though, most people have made their stance fairly clear by now.
6. Most people (and I genuinely do think it would be most by now) think that on balance, on reflection, knowing what we know now etc etc etc not starting Torres at Portsmouth was probably a mistake. Most of those who think it was a mistake would accept that playing Torres wouldn't have made the win anything of a certainty, but most would accept (I think) that we would have had a little bit more chance of winning the game had he played.
7. We are not playing very well at the moment. However, most if not everyone would accept that we have made our best start under Rafa when results are compared to previous seasons. We are still unbeaten in the League.
Now this is what I meant about most people agreeing on most things, and only the fullness of time will show who called it on the money. Spare us though the various little jibes about "Oh I suppose that's Rafa's fault as well is it? or rotation Tee-Hee (oh how we laughed)". Forum fans are entitled to voice an opinion and no amount of trying (unsuccessfully) to take some sort of moral high ground will ever alter that.
As an add-on. I referred to the myth of players keeping soemthing in the tank for the end of the season being exploded which got some peoples backs up. Sorry for the wind-up but I do think the notion that you can rest somebody for half a game (because as we keep getting told, Torres DID play in that game) in September and it will have a positive effect on his peformance six months later is a complete and utter nonsense. Rest him for two months maybe, but put him through training, on the bus, stay in the Hotel, on the bench and play the last forty minutes instead of ninety and the body will be fresher in six months? Nonsense.
As he is showing right now, one injury however slight will alter the whole equation out of all recognition. Resting him at Pompey might have an effect on the following weekend, but not six months later. Not in my opinion anyway. Put it this way, it didn't make him fresher six weeks later because he got a muscle injury in training, so why it would carry forward six months is a complete mystery to me.
That aside though, I think most would agree with the other points 
Last edited by
bigmick on Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"se e in una bottigla ed e bianco, e latte".
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