Liverpool FC Forum

by **Bam** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 12:26 pm

bigmick wrote:
Bam wrote:
This is the best run of results we've put together though since late January till the end of the season last term, and probably if we can find a factor which is common to both periods, we might be closer to discovering the truth

Surely its coincedence (sarcastic smiley)

Must be Bam, pure coincidence and nothing more.

Get this though, when we are maddeningly inconsistent and plagued with frequent bliiiiiiiiips whilst mass rotating and some of us moan about the selection policy, it's nothing to do with rotation. Then when we don't rotate, and we suddenly stop having bliiiiiiiips (not once, this phenomenon has happened a couple of times under Rafa now) that's nothing to do with rotation either You couldn't make this stuff up you really couldn't

by **Sabre** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 1:41 pm

Edited after re-reading.

by **maguskwt** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 6:36 pm

bigmick wrote:
Bam wrote:
This is the best run of results we've put together though since late January till the end of the season last term, and probably if we can find a factor which is common to both periods, we might be closer to discovering the truth

Surely its coincedence (sarcastic smiley)

Must be Bam, pure coincidence and nothing more.

Get this though, when we are maddeningly inconsistent and plagued with frequent bliiiiiiiiips whilst mass rotating and some of us moan about the selection policy, it's nothing to do with rotation. Then when we don't rotate, and we suddenly stop having bliiiiiiiips (not once, this phenomenon has happened a couple of times under Rafa now) that's nothing to do with rotation either You couldn't make this stuff up you really couldn't

I'll explain it in my sig next time just like you explained what 'rafa styling' was in your sig...

... let me just say this to be fair...

sure it's all about rafa seeing the light and nothing to do with the team being more balanced now with riera on the left and alonso's resurgence... oh wait.. and nothing to do with kuyt scoring some winners in the league too...

by **Sabre** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 10:13 pm

Rafa has seen the light, that explains it all.

We should tell all the teams of the world what's the key to win in Stamford Bridge: Don't rotate. That will make you win in SB and win your local competition.

Sarcasm aside, I think I'll admit that just as some players are getting a lot of minutes and at some point of the game look tired, the lack of rotation has helped some players' confidence, and that's undeniably good for the team, and perhaps necessary to forge that winning mentality we seem to be having this season.

Marcelino the Spanish pundit and former premiership defence thinks the reason of our success is that Rafa has started being more adventurous... but I don't have troubles to admit it's all down to not rotating if that makes us debate about other things.

Such as, have we built a Winning squad or does it still lack a couple of details...

by **metalhead** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 10:18 pm

Sabre wrote:Rafa has seen the light, that explains it all.

We should tell all the teams of the world what's the key to win in Stamford Bridge: Don't rotate. That will make you win in SB and win your local competition.

Sarcasm aside, I think I'll admit that just as some players are getting a lot of minutes and at some point of the game look tired, the lack of rotation has helped some players' confidence, and that's undeniably good for the team, and perhaps necessary to forge that winning mentality we seem to be having this season.

Marcelino the Spanish pundit and former premiership defence thinks the reason of our success is that Rafa has started being more adventurous... but I don't have troubles to admit it's all down to not rotating if that makes us debate about other things.

Such as, have we built a Winning squad or does it still lack a couple of details...

Lacks a couple of details sabre, the full backs need a good look!! very shaky there.

Rafa isn't rotating as much as he was before, thats only good news

by **Sabre** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 10:22 pm

The good news is this

Liverpool 9 23
Chelsea 9 20
Hull City 9 20
Arsenal 9 19
Aston Villa 9 17
Man Utd 8 15
Portsmouth 9 14
Man City 9 13
Sunderland 9 12
West Ham Utd 9 12
Blackburn 9 12
Middlesbrough 9 10
WBA 9 10
Everton 9 9
Wigan Athletic 9 8
Fulham 8 8
Bolton 9 8
Stoke City 9 7
Newcastle 9 6
Tottenham 9 5

As much as I think that rotation wasn't the key to our lack of success to win the league in the past, what I do want is we continue on top of the table. If for that we have to keep rotating less, saying the same prayers, singing YNWA just before the game starts, let it be. I just want we continue this way!!

by **maguskwt** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 1:35 am

Sabre wrote:Such as, have we built a Winning squad or does it still lack a couple of details...

precisely...

by **bigmick** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 8:40 am

Another victory for sensible selection. Not just in the Chelsea game, but in the one before. It was always fairly obvious that we were going to play 4-5-1 against Chelsea (no really it was, I did say so about four days ago in the Athletico match thread) and so we picked the 4-5-1 aggainst the Spanish team, to "bed it in" a bit. What a refreshing change from making seven changes from one match to the next, playing like strangers and not giving ourselves a chance. Cohesive, effective and sensible.

I'll tell you this, if Rafa rotates a couple of people against Pompey there will not even be a ripple of worry amongst the players, or from me either. We now have momentum, whisper it quietly but we are beginning to resemble a football team. As players begin to look tired, you can rest them individually from time to time (like Kuyt against Athletico). Three points clear at the top of the league though, feck me that Riera must be some player because it's universally accepted that it's not down to keane, and of course it's absolutely nothing to do with the lack of rotation

.

by **Bam** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 8:48 am

Three points clear at the top of the league though, feck me that Riera must be some player because it's universally accepted that it's not down to keane, and of course it's absolutely nothing to do with the lack of rotation .

by **maguskwt** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 2:27 pm

bigmick wrote:Three points clear at the top of the league though, feck me that Riera must be some player because it's universally accepted that it's not down to keane, and of course it's absolutely nothing to do with the lack of rotation .

what about the resurgence of alonso? and the consistent work put in by kuyt wherever and whenever he plays... whether it's harrying opponents like ashley cole against chelsea or chipping in with the odd winner... whether you're anti or pro kuyt one has to admit his performance so far has helped the team more than hurt us especially during our shaky performances... or maybe all these things don't really matter and it's all just down to rafa's sensible selection because even though he's been switching between 4-4-2 and 4-5-1 and with only 9 games into the league, it has to go down as sensible rotation and sensible team selection... however, I really don't care cause we're top of the league now...

so tell me mick... what do you personally feel about riera's performances as compared to our recent left sided players before him like babel, kuyt, benayoun, kewell, zenden?

or do you feel like not praising him too much because he didn't add too much to the team and even before him our squad was good enough to challenge the title...

by **LFC2007** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 3:55 pm

I think if we had Riera last season, we'd have seen him start double the number of games of anyone on the left. I think his impact has been huge. Which is part of the reason why I don't think we've seen a radical change in Rafa's policy, he's just bought the right player(s) for a long-term problem area. He's decided that Kuyt is much more effective than Pennant on the right, or Benayoun, which is understandable given that at the start of last season Kuyt was coming off the back of 'legendary' status as a striker and only at the back end of last season did he find his position, but suffice to say Rafa has still fielded Pennant and Benayoun on the right at different times this season. Aurelio and Dossena have been mixing it up, but Dossena's started more (understandable), if he was as good as Evra, would he have started against Chelsea? Probably. Arbeloa is our only right back, but I don't think there's a great deal of difference in him and what Finnan could've provided. Keane will inevitably start games given that he's a specific player for a specific role, and the fact that Crouch and Voronin are gone.

I can agree that occasionally the systems Rafa employed, and the players within those systems, at times last season and in previous seasons, combined with some poor signings (or not the right solutions) have led to a lack of balance and unsettled us. A mixture of both, and no doubt other factors, have caused blips.

I don't think anyone should be branded ridiculous, blinkered etc..for having an opinion different to someone else. Everyone on this forum has said something which is arguably ridiculous to another. To say that Kuyt, for example, was Rafa's Sean Dundee, was arguably ridiculous. Similarly, to compare him as a striker, at this present moment, with Berbatov is also arguably ridiculous.

They're just opinions at the end of the day.

by **GYBS** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 4:09 pm

Quick Question - If are players start to fade like say the arsenal players did last year - what will people think of rotation then ?

by **maguskwt** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 4:17 pm

GYBS wrote:Quick Question - If are players start to fade like say the arsenal players did last year - what will people think of rotation then ?

that's why wenger is thinking about rotation this season:

Changes are expected for Tuesday evening's Champions League clash with former holder's FC Porto but Wenger insists they will be made for the sake of rotation, not for punishment's sake.

"Punishment? No, you know sometimes you make changes because you consider the other team, you consider the balance of your team, sometimes because one player is not at his best," Wenger told the club's official website.

"If a player or two do not play tomorrow it is not a punishment, it is just because of a rotation in the side. You cannot play every single game with the same 11 players," he said.

http://www.goal.com/EN/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=888717

by **account deleted by request** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 4:30 pm

I think if it walks like a duck an talks like a duck..... the likelyhood is its probably a duck. Similarly with the question of rotation, if the results are more or less as predicted by Mick, whats the problem in giving him credit?

Its not as if we have been playing teams off the park to get were we are, its been more about determination and teamwork than our new signings coming in and taking the prem by storm.

If the season had gone slightly awry up to now and we hadn't made those great comebacks, scored all those late goals etc etc I don't think Mick would be offering any excuses that his idea had been proven wrong.

The fact that things have gone well, we have seemed much more like a team, have shown character and determination and won games that we probably would have given up on last season, suggests to me that there was something in his ideas. The fact that Rafa up to now has seemingly restrained himself from making many changes even after admitting the players looked tired , would suggest he has similar thoughts. If it all works out and we win the league, I don't think anyone will be saying "if only we had rotated more we would have won it easier?"

We have got our momentum, confidence and are playing like a real team, keep up the good work Rafa, and well done Mick for calling it right..........so far

by **GYBS** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 4:34 pm

Ok i will rephrase mate - How many games do you think the players can play without being rested ?

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