Liverpool FC Forum

by **NANNY RED** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 1:58 pm

Dont know if this article has been posted anywhere else apologies if it has but i found it a great read and its about time someone wrote something good about Raffa

Sunday March 16 2008

SKYS THE LIMIT WHEN IT COMES TO ROTATING THE KNIFE INTO BENITEZ

'It does make you wonder what he would have done if he had played more regularly." Richard Keys said of Fernando Torres last Tuesday, entering a world of magic realism without the magic or, indeed, the realism. It was remarkable in itself that Torres' stats of 26 goals in 35 matches had just been mentioned, because most broadcasters have only one thing in their heads when talking about Rafael Benitez.

It was also, perhaps, an indication of Benitez's stubbornness that when he was asked a similar question by Sky's Geoff Shreeves a few minutes later, he did not reply, "Well, Geoff, if you checked your facts you'd see that Torres has started every league and Champions League game since September." He may have had to qualify this by adding, "when fit" because there are many in the media who seem prepared to criticise Benitez for not playing Torres even when he's injured.

Instead Benitez played along, talking about rotation, unwilling, it appeared, to engage at any level with people whom he clearly feels serve no purpose when he is thinking about things like knocking the Italian champions out of the European Cup.

In fact, Sky's question would more accurately be asked about Wayne Rooney. Why don't we see more of him? Manchester United have lost more league matches than Liverpool this season and Rooney has missed every one of them, usually rested. Torres, who if Sky are to be believed is glimpsed as frequently as the Aurora Borealis, has played five games more than Rooney this season, but Benitez is the man who has to answer questions about rotation.

It is customary to see Tom Hicks get more credit for the purchase of Torres than Benitez. The American is usually praised for putting up £26m for the striker, although the fee was a lot less than that, and then the coverage usually proceeds along the lines that the signing was a no-brainer.

Last summer, Torres's signing was questioned by many of those who now wonder why he doesn't play more often. Arsene Wenger and Ferguson hesitated before Benitez signed the player for £16m, the same price Spurs paid Charlton for Darren Bent. The critics said he didn't score enough goals -- one every three games was his ratio at Atletico -- and now, as he's scored 26 (all of them from open play), they wonder why he doesn't play more often.

To report it along the lines that Benitez had made the best signing of the summer and had played some part in developing a player regarded by some in Spain as a laughing stock would involve praising the Liverpool manager.

Of course, it is the Italian league and its failings that are the reason for Liverpool's victory over Inter, according to the pundits who last week predicted that AC Milan -- nearly 20 points behind Inter -- would knock out Premier League leaders Arsenal.

The Italian league is decaying, but if it was wholly rotten, Real Madrid -- eight points clear at the top of La Liga -- wouldn't have lost to Roma -- six points behind Inter. There is always another reason for Benitez' success; something they missed when writing him off beforehand but a factor beyond his control, something for which he deserves no credit. It was summed up perfectly by the journalist who appeared on Sky to talk about Liverpool's first-leg victory against Inter. He wasn't the only one who

seemed reluctant to acknowledge that the game had lasted 90 minutes, preferring instead to emphasis that Liverpool had struggled to score for 85 minutes before winning by two goals.

He seemed reluctant to concede that Liverpool had, in fact, won the game. "Goals," he sighed, finally forced into some admission, "determine how we view matches."

For the time being they do anyway and while goals and results shape matches rather than journalists, Benitez has a chance of continuing to be a success.

http://www.independent.ie/sport....87.html

by **Judge** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:00 pm

it could be worse, he could rotate the team back to front, that would mean torres in goal and reina upfront - god forbid it

by **Yari7** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:08 pm

Alan Hansen last night on Match of the Day said "If Benitez had played Torres more often at the begining of the season, then Liverpool would have been challennging for the title".

Benetiz has only left out Torres twice in the league, when he was fit and available and if I rememeber, from those 2 games, we picked up 4 points. And the last time Benitez rested Torres for a league match was September.

The "If we played Torres more" arguement is really getting old now.

by **Bad Bob** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:25 pm

Yari7 wrote:Benetiz has only left out Torres twice in the league, when he was fit and available and if I rememeber, from those 2 games, we picked up 4 points.

If it's the Portsmouth and Birmingham matches that are being referred to, we actually picked up just the two points.

by **stmichael** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:29 pm

I've always been fully supportive of the concept of 'rotation'. Build a squad where personel can be interchanged effortlessly, and keep them all at maximum freshness by frequent rotation. It's a no-brainer on paper. And yet .... there is, I feel, mounting evidence that 'continuity', within reason, may be more effective.

Those that righty point out how in reality Gerarrd & Torres have barely been 'rotated' then fail to make the next leap - namely that the two players we've rested least are the ones who've performed at their best, the most. Go figure. Who would have thought playing more, resting less, would make you sharper than those that get dropped one in every 3 games ?

I know there's a counter argument to this correlation, but it's still worth opening minds to this, without thinking it has to become an anti-Rafa debate.

On the contrary, I feel Rafa is showing signs, in adversity, of waking up to the value of continuity. This recent run has been noticeable for the consistency of personel as much as formation. In virtually every game now we can count on Babel and Kuyt as our wingers. Torres and Gerrard are our best front 2, as are Alonso and Mascherano established as our central mid. This thorough consistency wasn't there during our stickier patches.

It's a sign of new times under Rafa. He's showing more quality by maybe having the wisdom and humility to change his philosophy, than he would be by slavishly adhering to a perhaps, increasingly doomed, policy of 'rotation'.

by **JC_81** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:37 pm

stmichael wrote:It's a sign of new times under Rafa. He's showing more quality by maybe having the wisdom and humility to change his philosophy, than he would be by slavishly adhering to a perhaps, increasingly doomed, policy of 'rotation'.

Is it though?

He has stated in interviews that he is rotating less because we are in only 2 competitions now. If he starts next season in charge, would you put your house on him not returning to wholesale rotation in the early season? Don't think I would.

by **The_Rock** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:49 pm

Lets come back to this rotation debate once our next 5 games are over....Lets see how fit and fresh our team looks during this critical and hard games.... :;):

by **stmichael** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:52 pm

john craig wrote:If he starts next season in charge, would you put your house on him not returning to wholesale rotation in the early season? Don't think I would.

I don't own a house

In all seriousness though, it's a difficult subject to discuss because in many ways, the 'rotation' concept is just logic and theory anyway. It isn't proven at all.

However this doesn't change the suspicion, that whether it be through fear or innovation, Rafa is favouring keeping his team more settled these days. It's near unprecedented for him to make so few signifcant changes in a spell of games coming so thick and fast, as he has in the past few weeks.

As for next season, it's hard to say if he'll revert back to his old ways. I suppose a lot depends on the size of the squad. For me, this season our squad is TOO big and there's no way he can keep everyone involved and happy without rotating. From now on, it has to be quality over quantity, preferably another striker, a top class left winger and a left back in the summer.

by **JC_81** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 5:10 pm

stmichael wrote:
john craig wrote:If he starts next season in charge, would you put your house on him not returning to wholesale rotation in the early season? Don't think I would.

I don't own a house

In all seriousness though, it's a difficult subject to discuss because in many ways, the 'rotation' concept is just logic and theory anyway. It isn't proven at all.

However this doesn't change the suspicion, that whether it be through fear or innovation, Rafa is favouring keeping his team more settled these days. It's near unprecedented for him to make so few signifcant changes in a spell of games coming so thick and fast, as he has in the past few weeks.

As for next season, it's hard to say if he'll revert back to his old ways. I suppose a lot depends on the size of the squad. For me, this season our squad is TOO big and there's no way he can keep everyone involved and happy without rotating. From now on, it has to be quality over quantity, preferably another striker, a top class left winger and a left back in the summer.

Totally agree about quantity over quality.

This whole '2 players for every position' is bollox as far as I'm concerned. You can never have 2 players of the same quality for every position - especially ones that are prepared to spend so much time on the bench. And I agree that our squad is too big.

For instance we don't need Voronin and Kewell. We probably could do without one of Aurelio or Riise (depending on who you prefer). We could probably do without one of Pennant and Benayoun (again depending on who you prefer). We do need another quality striker and a quality winger.

We have a strong reserve side with the likes of Nemeth and Insua especially who will be knocking on the 1st team door next season, so no need to buy more squad players.

by **112-1077774096** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:00 am

The_Rock wrote:Lets come back to this rotation debate once our next 5 games are over....Lets see how fit and fresh our team looks during this critical and hard games....

yeah these oh so critical games trying to get 4th spot

by **LFC2007** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:16 am

peewee wrote:
The_Rock wrote:Lets come back to this rotation debate once our next 5 games are over....Lets see how fit and fresh our team looks during this critical and hard games....

yeah these oh so critical games trying to get 4th spot

Not to mention a Champions League quarter final tie.

by **112-1077774096** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:44 am

yes and the battle for fourth spot or are you suggesting a QF spot in the CL is more important than the league?

how low have our expectations dropped

by **LFC2007** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:52 am

No, that's an incorrect assumption.

For me the league is the most important target, however, the Champions League Q/F tie is also critical to our season.

by **112-1077774096** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:30 am

yes it is critical, but I do not feel its a good trade off, 4th for a QF spot, Man U and Arsenal also have a QF spot, as do chelsea but none of them are scrambling for 4th in fact two for them are in a title battle showing its possible to still be involved in both

by **bigmick** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:44 am

peewee wrote:yes it is critical, but I do not feel its a good trade off, 4th for a QF spot, Man U and Arsenal also have a QF spot, as do chelsea but none of them are scrambling for 4th in fact two for them are in a title battle showing its possible to still be involved in both

All three of them are involved in the title race peewee to be fair. Despite the fac that we've shown ourselves to be more than their equal, despite lots of injuries and losing important players to the African Nations Cup, Chelsea are very much in it make no mistake about that.

There's no questioin that out of the top four, we're the stand out under achievers as far as the league is concerned. Still, now we've resorted to more sensible team selection methods, I'm confident it'll be an entirely different story next season.

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