Seriously though, I think giving Babel a shot as a genuine front-man before we actually need him might be sensible and prudent. Sceptical as I am that Torres is a bit jaded after four games and a four hour plane journey, it is reasonable to assume he will get tired at some point and we will need somebody who can offer more than Voronin and Crouch did yesterday that's for sure
bigmick wrote:If we are going to tinker, change the team constantly, rotate, whichever way you look at it I have an urgent suggestion. Infact this would probably apply even if you are in favour of keeping a largely settled fourteen or fifteen players.
Ryan Babel must play up front very soon in a couple of games, either with or preferably without Torres alongside him. Why? because quite simply if, God forbid Torres was to become injured we would be left with a selection of Kuyt, Crouch and Voronin as our front players. None of them are exactly Speedy Gonzales (mind you neither was Gonzales either come to that but I digress) and we'd desperately need somebody who could beat me over fifty yards to play up front.
This is not just rotation it's an insurance policy and makes perfect sense to me. You never know, if in future Torres has had a "long haul" flight from somewhere like Albania and needs to have a rest for bit, then Babel could kind of stand-in up front and we wouldn't have to completely change the way we play We might even consider trying it sooner rather than later, in a game at Home maybe, agaisnt one of the lesser lights. I know, lets try it against Birmingham.
Micky advocates rotation shock. Ryan Babel, lets play him up front against Birmingham. The foolishnes of youth, that's where he reckons he plays anyhow but what would he know.
A little disappointed that Torres and Gerrard arn't playing but I think we still have enough to win this. I would have liked to see Babel given a chance as striker while Torres isn't playing but this is not the type of game to experiment in. I am a little worried that with Crouch playing we will change our game to accommodate him and play too many long hopeful balls, and without Gerrard we will have no one there to smash in the knockbacks.
Fingers crossed for a win
What it really písses me off as of late is two things. Some people seem to expect to win the 3 points every week. As if that was the normal thing to do to the top clubs around the world. No it isn't. And a draw away can be good. The other thing that písses me off is that when we don't win we tend to say quickly "rotation, that's why" and we don't analyse other factors. Such as the opposition.
Pompey did a better defensive job without the ball than Villa and Derby did. They never pressed alone, but pressed the man in possession with coordinated pressing of two men always. Plus they did it constantly with those black strong players I cannot remember the names. It's simply more difficult to play Pompey than other teams not as well balanced defensively. If they press like that not many teams in England or in Spain would be able to take the 3 points in that stadium. The problem for them is that they had on front an structured team also and couldn't do much harm neither. As a result we had what some people call a cráp 0-0 game", but for me it was an interesting clash of a top league. They created chances only when we made mistakes, and we did little mistakes. I can remember a lost ball of Pennant in min 22 that provoked a counter and not much more.
Sabre wrote:Babel could be a good pacy alternative upfront. That's a good point Bigmick. I want to add some points not as an answer to the posters of this thread but as some ideas that wander my mind as of late.
I think that either you like or you dislike rotation. Bigmick has clear ideas about this for instance. What you don't do is to call it sensible rotation if we score one more than the opposition, and call it over-rotation if you don't win. So people just should have an opinion about if it's over rotation in the min 4 of the game, not at the end.
I can't understand how a poster I respect says elsewhere that yesterday rotation was "for the sake of rotation". Well, Torres won't score always with the regularity he has scored so far, so I don't think the score would have been necessarily different yesterday if he played from moment one.
Torres has played on weekend, then 90 min game in wednesday, and received a fair amount of kicks in those games. He couldn't train nothing along the week, and you have two players Crouch, and Voronin, that have responded well scoring in other matches. Coming another game in wednesday, surely it's the moment to give Torres a rest? I think so!.
What it really písses me off as of late is two things. Some people seem to expect to win the 3 points every week. As if that was the normal thing to do to the top clubs around the world. No it isn't. And a draw away can be good. The other thing that písses me off is that when we don't win we tend to say quickly "rotation, that's why" and we don't analyse other factors. Such as the opposition.
Pompey did a better defensive job without the ball than Villa and Derby did. They never pressed alone, but pressed the man in possession with coordinated pressing of two men always. Plus they did it constantly with those black strong players I cannot remember the names. It's simply more difficult to play Pompey than other teams not as well balanced defensively. If they press like that not many teams in England or in Spain would be able to take the 3 points in that stadium. The problem for them is that they had on front an structured team also and couldn't do much harm neither. As a result we had what some people call a cráp 0-0 game", but for me it was an interesting clash of a top league. They created chances only when we made mistakes, and we did little mistakes. I can remember a lost ball of Pennant in min 22 that provoked a counter and not much more.
One last thought about midfielder roles. Those who disagree we haven't a holding midfielder role in the team, just watch from min 30 to 45 in the first half who was the man that covered Arbeloa's attacks occupying his place in the back 4. That role is only done by two men in the team, Mascherano and Alonso. BTW Alonso shouldn't receive cards while protesting. It's a fundamental position and he got one for protesting. Even if he's right, he should know better. A card in his position in the first half is a problem.
Sorry to bring all this mess to this post, but I started the rant and I couldn't stop!
s@int wrote:Sabre wrote:Babel could be a good pacy alternative upfront. That's a good point Bigmick. I want to add some points not as an answer to the posters of this thread but as some ideas that wander my mind as of late.
I think that either you like or you dislike rotation. Bigmick has clear ideas about this for instance. What you don't do is to call it sensible rotation if we score one more than the opposition, and call it over-rotation if you don't win. So people just should have an opinion about if it's over rotation in the min 4 of the game, not at the end.
I can't understand how a poster I respect says elsewhere that yesterday rotation was "for the sake of rotation". Well, Torres won't score always with the regularity he has scored so far, so I don't think the score would have been necessarily different yesterday if he played from moment one.
Torres has played on weekend, then 90 min game in wednesday, and received a fair amount of kicks in those games. He couldn't train nothing along the week, and you have two players Crouch, and Voronin, that have responded well scoring in other matches. Coming another game in wednesday, surely it's the moment to give Torres a rest? I think so!.
What it really písses me off as of late is two things. Some people seem to expect to win the 3 points every week. As if that was the normal thing to do to the top clubs around the world. No it isn't. And a draw away can be good. The other thing that písses me off is that when we don't win we tend to say quickly "rotation, that's why" and we don't analyse other factors. Such as the opposition.
Pompey did a better defensive job without the ball than Villa and Derby did. They never pressed alone, but pressed the man in possession with coordinated pressing of two men always. Plus they did it constantly with those black strong players I cannot remember the names. It's simply more difficult to play Pompey than other teams not as well balanced defensively. If they press like that not many teams in England or in Spain would be able to take the 3 points in that stadium. The problem for them is that they had on front an structured team also and couldn't do much harm neither. As a result we had what some people call a cráp 0-0 game", but for me it was an interesting clash of a top league. They created chances only when we made mistakes, and we did little mistakes. I can remember a lost ball of Pennant in min 22 that provoked a counter and not much more.
One last thought about midfielder roles. Those who disagree we haven't a holding midfielder role in the team, just watch from min 30 to 45 in the first half who was the man that covered Arbeloa's attacks occupying his place in the back 4. That role is only done by two men in the team, Mascherano and Alonso. BTW Alonso shouldn't receive cards while protesting. It's a fundamental position and he got one for protesting. Even if he's right, he should know better. A card in his position in the first half is a problem.
Sorry to bring all this mess to this post, but I started the rant and I couldn't stop!
I have always been a supporter of rotation, as I see it as a neccessity in todays game. I don't think its the best policy however to leave out your key striker whilst you are also without your two best midfielders, your best defender is just coming back from injury, you are giving a new player his league debut and you compound this by replacing your key striker with a player who has looked out of sorts all season and tends to influence changes in our style of play (long balls)
Rotation I agree with but sometimes you have to say Gerrard, Mascherano and Riise will be fit for our next match, maybe it would be better to rest our best striker then. Surely thats just common sense?
As you said Sabre Portsmouth are a difficult team to play against, certainly more difficult than Birmingham at home should be, so get your best players on the pitch, take one game at a time and rest players when its sensible to do so not when you are forced through injury etc to rest other key players. ie if Carra and Agger were injured you wouldnt expect Rafa to rest Hyppia as well because he played in midweek.(Bit extreme but you hopefully get my drift)
I believe in common sense rotation.
Owzat wrote:It's knowing when to rotate, fergie has got it wrong in the past and only sometimes got away with it. We can afford to lose two games in the Champions League, how many league games can we afford to lose two in? Fifteen? Twenty? If we win all our home games in the Champions League we should pick up at least one point away and qualify, therefore we could have played one up front (Crouch) and a holding midfield against Porto. That 0-0 yesterday would have been ok on Tuesday, I'd swap any win we might get against Porto for three points yesterday...................
And it's not being wise after the event, most people know what is needed to get through the group stages of the Champions League and while Porto may be our toughest away game, the bottom line is that we can afford to lose it. Or put another way we need as many points as possible to win the Premiership, we only need 10 from 18 to go through in the Champions League
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