tonyeh wrote:bigmick wrote:As the rotation debate has meandered along and gone through various peaks and troughs, one thing has become clear and is pretty much universally accepted I think.
That is, it's not just the number of changes to the team which is important, it's the nature of them. Switching Aurelio and Dossena for instance, though a step backwards in my opinion is obviously not the same in terms of impact as switching Torres and N'Gog.
So what of today? Only one switch from the last game so not syling? Well, we decided to play a different formation from the one we have settled into. We decided to change the position the captain has been playing in, and been playing quite well in too. We decided to sit down a fella who had just scored his first goal, and to give both Alonso and Torres new partners.
Right decision or wrong decision, and did we just slightly get out of jail? What do you reckon, was it a worrying glimpse of an urge to tinker which simply cannot be surpressed, despite the light clearly being seen? Are we going to give ourselves a shot at the title or not?
Aside from what anyone thinks on that score, I think most would agree we are into the guts of the campaign now. Chelsea and Man Utd have settled down and are in the mode where a draw away at West Ham would see Zola dancing on the touchline. We absolutely must try and keep ourselves in the rattle right now, we are out of the blocks and there is a good early pace on. No time for fecking up, and I would venture fecking about either.
Rafa must have nicked all of the "Get out of jail cards" from his Monopoly box today. I couldn't believe he was playing one striker up front espcially after coming off of two decent games with the 4-4-2 he's been nurturing. A 4-4-2 that was starting to look good too.
Any team, IMO, who's playing with a single striker are on to a loser in the modern game and Rafa should damn well know that. it may have worked for a few games last year, but I reckon the other sides in the Prem have been studying Torres...hard...and they may have the measure of him this season. Opposing teams have been locking down on Fernando and doing it well, I may add. City, today, had 2 or 3 lads on him at all times. There was nowhere he could go to get a bit of space. But they could afford too. Liverpool have no-one else up there to get goals.
Also, you only have to look at Torres' goals this season, I think they all involve breaking down the opposition's defence using multiple strikers.
It's common sense, AFAIK, that using more than one man up front is bound to force the defence to divide their attention. Robbie may not get 20 goals this year, but what he will do is draw off defenders and allow Torres to get into the little bit of space that he needs. Torres only needs the smallest amount of time to do his magic. But without somebody else worrying the defenders, he won't get that time.
I hope Rafa understands this from today's game, which could have been a very different result. I agree with you big lad, it does seem that Rafa has an irresistible urge to mess around with things, when he should just leave things alone.
