I'm so tired of all the muppets blaming Rafa's line-up tinkering for any and everything that goes wrong with our side. Do I always agree with who he plays? No. Do I always agree with what formation he uses? Definitely not. Do I always agree with who he subs? No, just see the previous post for proof, but as with the line-ups, I don't have access to the players, I don't know how fit they are, and I don't get to talk with them or observe them before the match to see how they might be mentally.
Rafa does what he does for several reasons. Sometimes, especially in Champions League play, he plays certain players in certain places for tactical reasons. The first example that comes to mind was Arbeloa at Camp Nou last year. He started Arbeloa on the left, which most found quite strange, but he did so, so the Spaniard could contain Messi, which he did quite well I might add.
For the most part, entering matches we are the superior side at nearly every position. Birmingham on Saturday is a good example of that. Would it have mattered had Torres started in one of the spots up front instead of Kuyt and Voronin? Maybe, but he could have also had his leg broken and been lost for the season, so speculating on just the positive is futile.
I still think Torres should have been brought in for Kuyt instead of Babel, but I don't know what the situation was, so that's all I can really say about that. The fact that Rafa didn't recognize Kuyt's poor form is kind of disheartening though. Maybe he was hoping he would improve, but I'm getting off the subject here.
The most important reason he rotates is to keep players fresh. If you need any proof that it works, just take a gander over his career. Managers like Jose Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson need more than just a few great players to win trophies, Benitez has not. He didn't need ridiculously overpriced players to win the two Spanish Championships and a UEFA Cup that he did with Valencia nor did he needed a star-studded side when he won the Champions League and the FA Cup as he has with Liverpool.
In the 2005 Champions League run he got huge performances from players who he rotated quite liberally including Anthony Le Tallec, Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Dietmar Hamann, and Vladimir Smicer. Those players played well because they were fresh and those of us who have played the game know that in most cases, especially in youth, the least you play the better you seem to perform when the opportunity arises.
With Rafa's rotating, past November we have had the best record and garnered the most points in the league the previous two seasons. Having rested, fresh players against tired sides is what has allowed us to be successful in those latter months. Unlike the last two years though, we have had a much better start to the season. So let Arsenal, Man U, and any other club that are perceived to be challenging for the title this year run their horses into the ground. When the wee hours of the season are upon us, I bet you that it's Rafa's ways that help us to the Premiership title.
No comments:
Post a Comment