Bad Bob wrote:s@int wrote:andy_g wrote:s@int wrote:I am still waiting for a logical explanation.
you might only get that from the man himself - who knows he might even say to you "i was just trying to be clever, i thought it was kwality".
as you said before, we had just won 4-0 playing 4-4-2, we won our next game 4-0 playing 4-4-2 and we had already beaten Reading 4-2 in the league cup playing 4-4-2.
maybe he had over thought, over analysed and actually miscalculated. maybe he thought that the opposing teams would set up to counter our 4-4-2 and so he'd go with a form of 4-3-3. not trying to be clever to prove a point but trying to be clever to outwit the opposition.
the shame was that it wasn't too effective.
I also put this Andy :-I have no doubt he had good tactical reasons but I do think at times he overthinks and complicates things to much. Maybe if he just picked his best team more often.
But don't let this get in the way of a good argument.
Saint, I'm honestly confused about what the argument is here. No one--not me, not Leon, not anyone from what I've read in this thread--disagrees with you that Rafa got it wrong against Reading. By that I mean that he picked the wrong formation and the wrong personnel to play it. In fact, we can take it to it's logical conclusion and say he got the subs wrong too--as that was a huge talking point as well. So, we're not arguing with you that Rafa got it wrong nor are we saying that Rafa never gets it wrong. He makes his fair share of mistakes--there can be no debate about that, IMO.
What we ARE arguing with you about is the possible reasons why he got it wrong. You suggested earlier that he got it wrong at Reading because he wanted to look clever. I'm sorry but I just can't accept that as an explanation because, IMHO, it suggests that the man lacks integrity. There are a few characters in the game who lack integrity but, for me, Rafa Benitez isn't one of them. But, in the post I've quoted above, you've said that you have no doubt he had good tactical reasons for his decisions that day but that he over-complicated things and we dropped points as a result. I can completely agree with that but can't help but note that it's a significant climbdown from saying that Rafa does things in order to look clever.
That's why I'm confused. If you're saying that Rafa makes mistakes and that the Reading match is a great example then there is no argument...surely we can all agree? If you're saying, though, that Rafa's mistakes were not good-faith errors in judgment but instead were done out of vanity then we'll have to agree to disagree and move on because I've made my position on that argument more than clear enough already.
I originally said SEEMED that doesn't mean he did, that means he appeared to..... because I honestly havent the slightest idea why he would play that formation. No doubt he had good tactical reasons for doing so. I for the life of me can't think what.
However I am not going to argue semantics, I stand by what I said. I think that he was trying to be clever when there was no need, and it cost us the game.
I think he perhaps thought he could "get away with it" against Reading and he was wrong. Just as when he plays weakened sides in the FA cup he thinks we will still win.... sometimes we don't. (Burnley, Luton) Maybe it was an experiment that didn't work.
My point is there was no need to change the formation, play a strange team lineup, even before he took Torres, Gerrard and Carra off.
As I have said before IF anyone can explain why he changed a winning formation for that one game before reverting back to 4-4-2 in the following very important game I would be interested to hear it.
Maybe he wanted to make a point to the owners...... I just don't know, just as I don't think ANYONE knows why he chose that game to try Crouch on the left ?
To me it SEEMED like he was trying to be clever rather than just trying to win the game.
I love your comment in your sig LFC2K7... hull city 's really turning out to be the story of the season...
