bigmick wrote:I think it's only fair that those of us who have slagged off the rotation front up when we get a result after some tinkering. FWIW I thought it was largely sensible (I guess it's easy to say that when we've won) and we were aided by a poor Sunderland team. The same back four played for 80% of the game (admittedly due to Hyppia's injury), and we had Sissoko as a straight swap for the injured Gerrard. Babbel came in for Riise (an unnecessary fiddle in my opinion) and Voronin came in for Kuyt (I would personally have gone with Crouch but no matter, Voronin did well).
All in all it didn't disrupt us massively if I'm honest. Once Gerrard doesn't play we look like a completely different team anyway in my opinion, so Voronin for Kuyt was hardly going to make much difference. As I said my only concern would have been the unnecessary rotation of Riise and Babbel but no matter, we got the win. I do hope though, that it doesn't encourage Rafa into his more outlandish and mind boggling mode. We have started well with sensible selections, what we don't need now is Babbel on his own up front with an upended Christmas tree midfield, three at the back with Gerrard wide-left and Lee Peltier playing as a sweeper. Perhaps rafa could get his silliness out of his system against Toulouse, before reverting to any ten from the eleven of Reina, Finnan, Agger, Hyppia (assuming Carraghers not fit), Arbeloa, Pennant, Alonso, Gerrard, Riise, Kuyt and Torres. It's a bit boring but it's currently near to our best team and perhaps we should give the blokes chance to get to know each other a bit.
Fair dos, mate, for acknowledging that Rafa largely got the rotation right this week. On the Babel selection, I would suggest that context matters, though. Midweek friendlies and the related travel will have no doubt had an affect on some players' fitness and preparation. Riise played the full 90 in Norway whereas Babel was only a 2nd-half sub in Switzerland so that might have influenced Rafa's decision. Granted, Riise's a workhorse and probably could have played without much trouble, so fitness may not be the whole story.
I think tactics were part of the equation as well. Without Gerrard, Rafa may have felt we needed more creativity in other areas of midfield to compensate. After all, when was the last time we've seen us line up with two out-and-out wingers? I think Rafa wanted two tricky wingers pushing up in support of the two pacey forwards, with Alonso pulling the strings and Momo careening about, filling gaps left by the wingers streaming forward.
The point is, Rafa can make such tactical switches this season without sacrificing the overall quality of the side. I've always felt that there was a method to his rotation 'madness' (i.e. I don't agree with your implied view that Rafa rotates capriciously) but that he did not have the personnel to really make it work seamlessly (so he's stubborn, I'll grant you!). Now, he has the squad to make it work. Crucially, though, I think he's got a firmer sense of his best 11 (which includes Torres up top and Gerrard in the middle, as the noticeable differences from last year) and so we'll actually see less radical chopping and changing this season.
