One other thing before I get down to it, Bob if you feel the need to close this thread and merge it "because you feel I want my name up in lights" then do it.
Leon give me a card ya big fairy if you feel I'm going against the grain of "lemmings"
Isnt it Rafa's philosophy in football taking 'one game at a time', or did my ears decieve me on numerous occassions ?
We didnt win that game because IMHO Rafa showed NO respect to Reading. Fair enough, he started with Hobbs that is understandable as Hyypia will need resting more than other players. And although most if not all managers in Rafa's position would of had one eye on the Marseille game, its seemed obvious to me that Rafa had both eyes on the Champions league game.
We also lost that game due to some poor refereing, make no bones about that. Apparently though in the penalty incident that lead to Readings goal, the rules state that even though the foul is made outside the box, and it carries on through into the area then it is deemed a penalty. No qualms there really if they are the rules, Carragher was clumsbey and was lucky enough not to get carded for it. We though on the other hand should of of had at least two penalties, yet another inconsistent performance by the man in black.
For me, and who many lemmings will disagree with. Rafa not in the first time in his career gave little or n respect to a resolute Reading side. I hear you all say 'Where's Bamagas rants been, since rotation has brought us a great run while playing some lovely football?'
'He's just waiting for us to slip up, to post something like this'
That isnt the case guys, I could see us in the form we've been in beating Reading with some sensible tinkering. I'm not convinced rotation will work but I am willing to see it prove me wrong throughout the season, even though seasons gone by it quite simply hasnt worked.
I've kept my mouth shut, happy were winning and playing through methods I'm not a fan of. So what 'pro's' is it a "blip in form?" 'And off day at the office' what is it ?
Like I said I'd be happy if Rafa tinkers and we'd win and find some real consistency
But sometimes he comes up with some absurd team selections, leaving me red rashed on my head figuring out why.Midfield is obviously where it went wrong today, the man who lives and breathes football and studies every molecule of a team. Surely recognise's Steve Coppells teams love playing with width.
Yet, and no disrespect to Momo who I thought had a decent game and one that was due in a while. Gets picked probably because of the fact he hasnt played 90 minutes for a while, more than the fact we have Marseille on Tuesday, because he probably wont be in the starting eleven come Tuesday. That decision imo was simply down to rotation, and yes rotating for the sake of it, because Gerrard still started, so he wasnt being rested while Momo filled in he wasnt putting his feet up for the game against Marseille.
gerrard still played, and what fecking position he played I do not know. He did have a decent game tbf. But on the subject of rotation, and with selections like this 'the what is Gerrards best position comes into it'. 'Oh he's much better in the "free-role" ,feck off guys. Maybe for him you might think thats best , as he scores MORE goals from that position. But he was doing well with 8 goals previous in his last nine games. The likes of Lando and Big Mick may feel that this "free-role" is actually better for the player himself. While for me its not for the good of the team, the midfield was SHAPLESS and NARROW yesterday, we had no width, we couldnt stretch Reading like they were doing to us. Gerrard goes central, drifting into his natural postion who we already have Mascha and Momo. No width its gone instantly, same with Vorornin. Why the f.uck was he picked ahead of Kewell and Babel?
I'm expecting both (Babel & Kewell) of them to start in France on Tuesday, thats the only conclusion I can come up with. I think we all can see that Vorronin is even more ineffective in midfield than he is in attack. Again a player who was reluctant to go past a full back and take the ball out wide, he cut inside again offering us no width. No real ammuntion for Crouch or Torres to feed off.
While I feel some of the usual suspects were off the top of their game, Carra and even Reina, Rafa's selection undone us again. Even when REading went 2-1 up he hauled our best striker off WTF. Was he settling for 2-1, he was only thinking about marseille, and also when subbing Gerrard off he was only thinking about the French team.
Seeing those two come off would of boosted Reading's confidence of seeing out the game.
Their were a host of reasons why we lost yesterday, I've already mentuioned but in there somewhere the question marks over Rafa's selections and players p[ostions are even more highlighted during a loss like this. IMO he didnt give Coppell and his men the respect they deserved, and again has been the string puller to our downfall.
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