jflores
Diegoooooooool!
Please post your opinions on this Soccer Column Blog topic. The writer is a good friend of mine.
http://soccer-column.blogspot.com/
http://soccer-column.blogspot.com/
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The Squad Rotation Myth
- Thread starter jflores
- Start date
Well I agreed until he started talking about Everton and Liverpool.
Firstly, the disrespect for Everton was shocking, and no we aren't miles behind the big three.
Liverpool is still very much a work in progress and things will continue to progress with or without Rafa Benitez. DIC will take over at the club and will provide the financial power to compete due to our stadium capacity finally being able to equal match day revenue of teams like Arsenal and even Newcastle. And on top of that our Youth side is perhaps thes best in the country behind Arsenal. Our reserves are also full of talent from the academy and there are numerous players WHO WILL make the step up to the first team next year and I think they will suprise alot of folk, particularly considerng Rafa's record. However Everton should be given massive credit for what they have done with even smaller resources. They have a brilliant manager, a work ethic and have bought well in the transfer market, but until they consistenly finish in the top 4 or 5 and are consistenly present in the latter stages of the champions league then they shouldn't be conisdered in the same category as Liverpool FC.
Rotation I fear is stupid because of all the reasons mentioned. Liverpools play is never ever coherent on a consistent basis. Footballers are far fitter now than they were in the olden days, plus clubs have more subs to pick from. The counter argument is however, particularly in England that we dont get any sort of break like in Italy, and there are alot of competitions to fight for. One of which, the league cup, should be scrapped IMO. The TV stations now have control over how football is played and when it is played and it is detrimental to the game. Early kickoffs for example result in poorer atmopsheres and stadiums that aren't full.
Personally my biggest beef with rotation is that it is based upon worrying about your opponents, be they Derby or Arsenal and adapting to nullify their threats. This works in Europe very well because often the teams are very evenely matched. But when you are at Home to Birmingham, you should play to your strengths and keep the opposition on the backfoot and constantly thinking about how to minimise potential damage. Not only this, but where is the motivation for a player to perform consistently if he will be swapped out in the next game purely because he is perceived as being too weak to deal with the physicallity of players like Muntari or Bouba Diop. Or Torres for example being left out of the Birmingham home game because it was a game where he wouldn't have much space due to a big bus blocking the goal line.
I fear for players like Lucas and Babel sometimes. Both of their careers so far have been stop start and it hinders progression and wears down ambition.
Firstly, the disrespect for Everton was shocking, and no we aren't miles behind the big three.
Liverpool is still very much a work in progress and things will continue to progress with or without Rafa Benitez. DIC will take over at the club and will provide the financial power to compete due to our stadium capacity finally being able to equal match day revenue of teams like Arsenal and even Newcastle. And on top of that our Youth side is perhaps thes best in the country behind Arsenal. Our reserves are also full of talent from the academy and there are numerous players WHO WILL make the step up to the first team next year and I think they will suprise alot of folk, particularly considerng Rafa's record. However Everton should be given massive credit for what they have done with even smaller resources. They have a brilliant manager, a work ethic and have bought well in the transfer market, but until they consistenly finish in the top 4 or 5 and are consistenly present in the latter stages of the champions league then they shouldn't be conisdered in the same category as Liverpool FC.
Rotation I fear is stupid because of all the reasons mentioned. Liverpools play is never ever coherent on a consistent basis. Footballers are far fitter now than they were in the olden days, plus clubs have more subs to pick from. The counter argument is however, particularly in England that we dont get any sort of break like in Italy, and there are alot of competitions to fight for. One of which, the league cup, should be scrapped IMO. The TV stations now have control over how football is played and when it is played and it is detrimental to the game. Early kickoffs for example result in poorer atmopsheres and stadiums that aren't full.
Personally my biggest beef with rotation is that it is based upon worrying about your opponents, be they Derby or Arsenal and adapting to nullify their threats. This works in Europe very well because often the teams are very evenely matched. But when you are at Home to Birmingham, you should play to your strengths and keep the opposition on the backfoot and constantly thinking about how to minimise potential damage. Not only this, but where is the motivation for a player to perform consistently if he will be swapped out in the next game purely because he is perceived as being too weak to deal with the physicallity of players like Muntari or Bouba Diop. Or Torres for example being left out of the Birmingham home game because it was a game where he wouldn't have much space due to a big bus blocking the goal line.
I fear for players like Lucas and Babel sometimes. Both of their careers so far have been stop start and it hinders progression and wears down ambition.
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- Thread starter
- #3
jflores
Diegoooooooool!
Thanks for your comments Peter, you make some good points. Feel free to add your opinions/comments to that blog as well. Didi, as he's called, is a very open minded person. And a good player I might add. We played together for 4 years.
I am all against the squad rotation as well and agree with his argument.
I am all against the squad rotation as well and agree with his argument.
He clearly seems pissed off, doesn't he?
I agree, rotation should not be practiced to such a degree that we Liverpool do, simple because we don't have a squad good enough to accommodate rotation. Rotation is very much present in clubs like Real Madrid and Inter, who have ridiculous squad depth. Liverpool don't, simple as that. Injuries, knocks, players getting tired after a run of games, it's fine to rotate then. But to rotate for tactical reasons doesn't work in the Premier League.
Rotation is over-exaggerated though. Torres has missed one game in the whole season, when he's not been injured. All other games were due to injury. Same with Gerrard. Same with Mash, Carra and Pepe. And would have been same with Agger. So, Rafa has a spine that he doesn't rotate.
But the players around is what he rotates, and I think this is where we lose the game. If Benni has got a hat trick, give him a run of games. Babel's done well in games give him a run. If Pennant did well against Inter, I would like to see him against Boro. Rotating them if they are not playing well, is fine, but players need to be given a run. Maybe it's because Rafa thinks that they are all of comparable quality, so he decides to rotate them. I don't know. But I do feel that once/if Rafa get's more world class player, he won't rotate them. That's what I feel.
Anyways, Rafa did say he will not rotate so much till the rest of the season. I would like to see that. Just to see how it works.
I agree, rotation should not be practiced to such a degree that we Liverpool do, simple because we don't have a squad good enough to accommodate rotation. Rotation is very much present in clubs like Real Madrid and Inter, who have ridiculous squad depth. Liverpool don't, simple as that. Injuries, knocks, players getting tired after a run of games, it's fine to rotate then. But to rotate for tactical reasons doesn't work in the Premier League.
Rotation is over-exaggerated though. Torres has missed one game in the whole season, when he's not been injured. All other games were due to injury. Same with Gerrard. Same with Mash, Carra and Pepe. And would have been same with Agger. So, Rafa has a spine that he doesn't rotate.
But the players around is what he rotates, and I think this is where we lose the game. If Benni has got a hat trick, give him a run of games. Babel's done well in games give him a run. If Pennant did well against Inter, I would like to see him against Boro. Rotating them if they are not playing well, is fine, but players need to be given a run. Maybe it's because Rafa thinks that they are all of comparable quality, so he decides to rotate them. I don't know. But I do feel that once/if Rafa get's more world class player, he won't rotate them. That's what I feel.
Anyways, Rafa did say he will not rotate so much till the rest of the season. I would like to see that. Just to see how it works.
- Thread starter
- #5
jflores
Diegoooooooool!
Excellent points there. I always thought that Penant deserves to start more games. He brings a lot to the table. Same goes for Babel. Not sure what Rafa's logic behind this really is. Liverpool played great against Inter however, and is always tough in CL tourneys.
It's gonna be interesing. We'll see who takes it.
It's gonna be interesing. We'll see who takes it.
schranken
Just a Malay Footballer
- 11 October 2004
Perhaps your friend needs to read this article. It is a good article. Paul Tomkins is a weekly columnist at lfc website.
Read it here
Read it here