Liverpool FC Forum

[DrPepe]

We stopped doing such things as playing Peter Crouch as a left winger and wondering why it didn't work etc. Sure we still have our Martin Skrtel at right back in order to combat Stewart Downing moments, but by and large Steven Gerrard on the left wing in order to ensure Bolo Zenden gets a turn at central midfield Away at Arsenal type decisions are a rarity these days.

to be fair, 3 examples in 5 years isn't exactly damning evidence 

[Sabre]

We stopped doing such things as playing Peter Crouch as a left winger and wondering why it didn't work etc. Sure we still have our Martin Skrtel at right back in order to combat Stewart Downing moments, but by and large Steven Gerrard on the left wing in order to ensure Bolo Zenden gets a turn at central midfield Away at Arsenal type decisions are a rarity these days.

to be fair, 3 examples in 5 years isn't exactly damning evidence 

No, it isn't. I don't remember even the circunstances in which Crouch was played in the left. I know it happened once, just like Skrtel played in RB once, Mascherano played RB once, and Aurelio played CM once.

But for some reason Mick decides to wind himself up making a pattern of behaviour out of 3 odd and isolated decissions, that probably had circunstances like injuries surrounding the decissions.

[taff]

That was a balanced and good post Taff. I read that you heard rumours about Rafa being dictatorial, could you tell me more about that? Meaning, dictatorial as in...

A family member is very friendly with one of the guys who was sacked in the summer from the academy in the overhaul. 

He said that Benitez is dictatorial but its not meant in a bad way just how it is kind of way.  He also said that if he gets it right he is a hero but to get control of everything means that now he has to deliver = trophies and players coming through

It wasnt exactly earth shattering to speak with him as Rafa gives that impression anyway, IMO I was pleased that the buck now truly stops with him in all club matters.  If you look at it from a impartial point of view IMO Benitez succeeds then the club succeeds, Benitez fails then we simply get somebody better

[devaney]

Leeds had a perfectly good goal disallowed and in reality Liverpool could have been a couple down at half time.

It might be worth noting that that 'perfectly good goal' came about as a result of Ngog lingering too long on the post from a corner and playing one if not both Leeds strikers onside.  Still curious why we tend not to leave players on the post for corners (something you seemed quite certain we should be doing in an earlier post)?

And just perhaps Bob if Ngog had stayed on the line he would have cleared the ball off the line which is something most other Prem teams seem to do but we like to be different and risk giving away a goal - I guess more than 50% of linesman would have kept the flag down!

[devaney]

Red Watch: Mystery of the ditched rotation policy at Liverpool FC


Sep 24 2009 by Andy Proudfoot, Liverpool Daily Post
Comment (1)Recommend IT WAS late Saturday night, and the two guys at the bar, who had enjoyed more than one or two scoops to celebrate Fernando Torres’s return to form, were creating their own version of a famous Two Ronnies sketch.

“Whatever happened to...” said one. “Baby Jane?” replied the other.

“No, no, whatever happened to...” the first bloke tried again, this time to be met by “the Likely Lads?”

“No, no”, he persisted,” whatever happened to”...”The Heroes?” came a last desperate reply.

“No, no” the first guy cried in exasperation, “Rotation! Rotation! Whatever happened to rotation?”

A fair question indeed. Just when exactly did Rafa Benitez metamorphose into Bill Shankly?

“Same as last season”, Shankly used to reply when asked to name his team for any particular game.

Before Tuesday night’s match, just 15 players had started for Rafa in the seven competitive games to date, and three of those had played just one game each, meaning that just 12 have borne the burden of these early season fixtures (I knew that Maths ‘O’ Level would show its worth one day).

This compares to 17 in the same period last season; and 19 and 17 in the first seven league games of the two previous seasons. So has Rafa had an epiphany, the ghost of Mark Lawrenson’s moustache appearing to him in chains, moaning “you should always play your best side”?

Or are there other dark forces at work, such as those that bend time at Old Trafford, so that otherwise fastidious referees become befuddled when looking at their own watches?

The answer, I suspect, is that he has been blown off course by, as Harold MacMillan put it, “events, dear boy, events”.

The loss of Alonso and the injuries to Aurelio, Aquilani and Agger (watch out Babel and Benayoun) have reduced the numbers at his disposal certainly, shrinking the pool of talent available.

This pool is of course shrunk even further by the evaporation known as Voronin, Degen and Dossena, whose status as fringe players must surely owe more to their haircuts than any aspiration to first team standing.

But the real reason why Rafa has chosen to ignore one of his most devout canons, the rotation of players to preserve their energy for later in the season, is the seismic ramifications of those two early defeats, immediately plunging us six points adrift of the Chelsea arrivistes.

For despite the obvious clichés of it being a long season, plenty of points to play for etc., any further deficit incurred before we travel to Stamford Bridge a week on Sunday would put us at risk of being 10-12 points behind should our dire record at the Home of No History prior to last season return to haunt us.

Putting on a brave face in this situation would require the combined acting skills of John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson, aided by the entire staff of the BBC Make-up Department.

So while there may appear to be plenty of time available for us to claw our way back to the top, the reality is that Rafa has been unable to take the risks inherent in rotation, and has sensibly opted to delay any radical changes until the situation improves.

Our aim now must surely be to stay in contention until Christmas at the earliest, and reappraise the position then.

Anything less and it might not be just Goodnight from him, but quite possibly Goodnight from him.
LINK

Saint - good post!

Surely the same thing happened last season. We managed through some amazing endeavour and just a bit of luck to find ourselves 10 points ahead of United. Ok I know they had some games in hand that they kept on winning! A combination of tactics and poor team selection resulted in several draws which left us chasing rather than being chased! Remember the Wigan match for example. It was only after this debacle that Benitez had no choice other than to use his best team.

I now think though through injury and loss of players that it is very easy to guess the team that Beneitez will play and get it 90% correct. I couldn't have done that in the past. I WON'T MENTION THAT WE OUR LACKING STRENGTH IN DEPTH!

[Reg]

I am completely staisfied by Rafael to date. He´s had a rough ride, he´s made mistakes but he´s learned from them and moved forward. He´s working in a very difficult environment where fans expectations are sky high, player power has never been greater and the owners (old and new) have made the last 5 year difficult for all. I admire the man for keeping his head and moving us forward. Within the next 2-3 seasons we´ll topple ManUre and consign them to the cesspit of history and it will be the latest era of teh New LFC.

[devaney]

I am completely staisfied by Rafael to date. He´s had a rough ride, he´s made mistakes but he´s learned from them and moved forward. He´s working in a very difficult environment where fans expectations are sky high, player power has never been greater and the owners (old and new) have made the last 5 year difficult for all. I admire the man for keeping his head and moving us forward. Within the next 2-3 seasons we´ll topple ManUre and consign them to the cesspit of history and it will be the latest era of teh New LFC.

Reg - I honestly thought you were serious until I read the last sentence!

I don't agree that we have gone forward in the last 12 months. Strength in depth is awful. Funds are terrible. Owners are detested. Rafa is paid too fkg much for what he has achieved. 2nd place is only 1st of the losers - a few people need to remember that - SHANKLY DID !!!!!!!

[GYBS]

Mick - how many times did Rafa play Crouch left wing and how long for and can you remember how it came about ?

[Owzat]

I think every time we seem to be making progress, it all goes pear shaped. We started well last season, coped with the draw problem reasonably well until the New Year then fell apart - P7 W2 D4 L1 = 11 points dropped. We were inspired at the end of the season, 10 wins in 11 league games but then started this season with a poor pre-season and two defeats in three league games. Even back in 05/06 we were up and down, more up than down with runs of nine and 10 wins in a row, but still not in serious title contention.

Is Rafa the man to win the league? We have good periods, we can top the league, we can score lots of goals, we can be good defensively, we can beat the best, we can beat the worst, but can we do all of those in one season CONSISTENTLY enough to win the league? Most clubs would be chuffed with what Rafa has achieved, but for a club like us surely being the best is all that is good enough?

[devaney]

Mick - how many times did Rafa play Crouch left wing and how long for and can you remember how it came about ?

I think it was once when he was a sub!

Even I'm not that cruel to Benitez!

[GYBS]

Yes it was once after he scored the hat trick against arsenal in the league when replacing the rested torres Rafa tried to find a way to play crouch and torres in the next game (cl i think against chelsea first leg)so played those two up front together and gerrard out left but crouch was fecking awful so at first he moved torres out left and moved gerrard behind crouch but once again crouch was awful so he moved crouch out left and brought torres back inside and then after 5 mins(yes 5 whole mins) babel came on to replace crouch and we went onto win the game . So basically crouch played as a left winger for about 5 mins while babel was warming up to replace him .

[account deleted by request]

how to make up stories

It was against Reading ...... our first league defeat of the season by 3-1, we then lost again in our next league game.

It came on the back of an 8-0 win Besiktas,  2-0 Against Fulham, 3-0 against Newcastle, 4-1 against Porto, and 4-0 against Bolton. So we were in quite a run of form at the time. So what better time to "experiment" and lose a game He also pulled both Torres and Gerrard off when we were losing. BTW Crouch  played the whole game.

[GYBS]

make up stories?!?! - the game im referring to was the cl game against arsenal when babel came on for crouch - there was a league game in between also against arsenal in the prem when torres was rested and crouch scored his hat trick .

[taff]

Ok apart from Ngog on the bench and one game with Crouch on the left oh and the time he sat on the floor for the penalty shoot out, what is your overall analysis of Rafa since he joined the club.

Nitpicking things will just increase the arguments

[account deleted by request]

When Crouch scored his hatrick against Arsenal we didn't play Arsenal in the CL Our next game was PSV and we played Barca and Villa the two games before his hatrick.

But little red riding hood did meet the big bad wolf