Great rafa interview

[Red_Polo]

I agree with you. Thing is, I think when people go totally overboard with their criticism or put everything down to rotation it just distracts from the real issues.

[spider-neil]

It should be mate, and generally it is. But it doesnt work out that way sometimes and players like Torres make the difference when things arent happening as they should. You surely need to take advantage of this weapon mate.

dj I understand what you are saying and in a lot of ways I agree but we REALLY should be able to beat brum without torres also torres started the porto game and was ****e so having him in the line up doesn't guarantee the win.

the way I see it he should have started v brum (not p'mouth though that was too much concidering he looked knackered playing three days later) but the team rafa put out should have comfortably brushed aside brum torres or no torres.

[Kronenburg1892]

TBH, I think this is all ****ing spin.

I think it's a simple fact of playing Torres when he'll be effective. And, edging him in against teams that won't kick him off the park, Reading don't have the same reputation as Portsmouth. Odds on he doesn't play against Blackburn.

No one knows what his contract is dictating either.

[Trippendicular]

I think everyone should reserve judgement on the whole rotation policy and Rafa's tactics until the business end of the season. If, at which time, we're well out of the league race then I think criticism of his system is warranted, but not before then. I also think, as some people have pointed out, that we didn't have Torres last season, yet we still all thought the team was a realistic chance at the league title and that should carry over to this season, as if we're going to win the league, players like Kuyt, Crouch and Voronin are all going to have to be scoring goals, just like they needed to last season.

I would be interested to see how people reacted if Torres ever has a bad run of form, and perhaps goes 10 games without scoring. What would people make of Rafa's selection policies then?

[El Jefecito]

I think everyone should reserve judgement on the whole rotation policy and Rafa's tactics until the business end of the season. If, at which time, we're well out of the league race then I think criticism of his system is warranted, but not before then. I also think, as some people have pointed out, that we didn't have Torres last season, yet we still all thought the team was a realistic chance at the league title and that should carry over to this season, as if we're going to win the league, players like Kuyt, Crouch and Voronin are all going to have to be scoring goals, just like they needed to last season.

I would be interested to see how people reacted if Torres ever has a bad run of form, and perhaps goes 10 games without scoring. What would people make of Rafa's selection policies then?

Don't forget that Rafa is still learning which partnerships work. I'm sure we won't see much more of Voronin/Kuyt. Rafa will have seen that they aren't complimentary.

[wiw]

It should be mate, and generally it is. But it doesnt work out that way sometimes and players like Torres make the difference when things arent happening as they should. You surely need to take advantage of this weapon mate.

Hence why he was on the bench against Brum?

[Tom]

Has everyone who has posted on this thread actually listened to the interview?

[AFII]

We are not creating nearly as many chances without Torres on the pitch.

The reason, Torres is our only striker that can create a chance out of nothing.

We are playing for trophies the whole season, not only the last 10-15 games.

We have almost one and a half weeks off before a CL final so Torres will be fresh.

Every league game is worth three points, not only the last 10-15 games.

Let's say that we have a 95% chance to win at home against Birmingham with Torres on the pitch and 75% without him. The question is then if it's worth resting Torres for the CC and have 20% less chance to win against Birmingham?

There isn't only how Torres plays. We also have a bigger mental advantage from the start of the games with Torres on the pitch. Teams think that they can get something out of the game with Torres on the bench.

It's a bigger risk that Torres will be injured in a cup game because it's a lot more at stake there. If you lose then you are out, no second chance so teams like Reading will play a tougher game and that means a bigger chance that a player will get injured.

My point is. Torres should have played against Birmingham and not Reading. It's a bigger chance that he will get injured in a one off cup game than a league game.

Rest him in the cups(FA and CC) then he will be fresh even if he plays more or less every league game.

I think every Liverpool supporter would rather win the league than both the CC and FA Cup.

I know that we must play many games to be able to keep players match fit because we have a very big squad but is it worth keeping fringe players match fit, that means staying in the cups as long as possible, and bench Torres in important league games?

[Pacman]

We are not creating nearly as many chances without Torres on the pitch.

The reason, Torres is our only striker that can create a chance out of nothing.

We are playing for trophies the whole season, not only the last 10-15 games.

We have almost one and a half weeks off before a CL final so Torres will be fresh.

Every league game is worth three points, not only the last 10-15 games.

Let's say that we have a 95% chance to win at home against Birmingham with Torres on the pitch and 75% without him. The question is then if it's worth resting Torres for the CC and have 20% less chance to win against Birmingham?

There isn't only how Torres plays. We also have a bigger mental advantage from the start of the games with Torres on the pitch. Teams think that they can get something out of the game with Torres on the bench.

It's a bigger risk that Torres will be injured in a cup game because it's a lot more at stake there. If you lose then you are out, no second chance so teams like Reading will play a tougher game and that means a bigger chance that a player will get injured.

My point is. Torres should have played against Birmingham and not Reading. It's a bigger chance that he will get injured in a one off cup game than a league game.

Rest him in the cups(FA and CC) then he will be fresh even if he plays more or less every league game.

I think every Liverpool supporter would rather win the league than both the CC and FA Cup.

I know that we must play many games to be able to keep players match fit because we have a very big squad but is it worth keeping fringe players match fit, that means staying in the cups as long as possible, and bench Torres in important league games?

Difference between you and Rafa mate is that Rafa believes in his other players. Rafa would have been 100% convinced that the teams that he put out against Brum and Portsmouth had more than enough to win the game.

In hindsight IMO he should of played Torres but Rafa believes in Crouch, Kuyt and The Crow he rates them as players otherwise they wouldn't be at the club. Lets face it we won lots of games last year with Crouch and kuyt up front especially at home so against Brum I can understand why Rafa thought we had more than enough to win the game on the pitch from the start.

[Lynchyred]

Still unbeaten in all competitions. If we hit a really bad spot of form and lose a few then we can have a sensible discussion about rotation. The knee-jerk rubbish we've had recently is completely over-the-top. In fact it's getting tedious in the extreme.

I think a few people on here require us to win every game and Rafa to make no mistakes whatsoever. Anything other than this and he's not up to the task!c

[AFII]

I think a few people on here require us to win every game and Rafa to make no mistakes whatsoever. Anything other than this and he's not up to the task!c

As you know I have said that Rafa is the best manager in the world but he will make mistakes.

If you want to win the league then you will probably need to win around 27, 28 games and then add a few draws.

That means that the two dropped points against Birmingham are very important.

We have now drawn three games and won three. That means that we must probably win 24,25 games and draw two, three games of the remaining 32.

Can we do that if Rafa rests Torres in a few league games?

[keniget]

Rafa has said that he wants to keep Torres fit for the end of the season and in order to do that, he has to rest him. Right?

So why play him in the Carling Cup?

I've got no problems with rotation in general but I don't really understand how Rafa applies it sometimes. We don't need Torres against Birmingham but we do against Readings reserves? There was no space for him? What?

Those justifications simply don't make any sense.

[red g]

As you know I have said that Rafa is the best manager in the world but he will make mistakes.

If you want to win the league then you will probably need to win around 27, 28 games and then add a few draws.

That means that the two dropped points against Birmingham are very important.

We have now drawn three games and won three. That means that we must probably win 24,25 games and draw two, three games of the remaining 32.

Can we do that if Rafa rests Torres in a few league games?

as per the interview Rafa has stated that he wants him fit for the last 15 games.

We are averaging 2pts a game at the moment and I really think this years winner is going to have the lowest points total for a good few years. If we are still in at from around christmas and i am sure we will be I am sure rafas rotations will pay off

[sid]

that's a big if

It's not a big 'IF' , we are generally quite a few points behind the front runners come Easter.

[red g]

It's not a big 'IF' , we are generally quite a few points behind the front runners come Easter.

but generally have never had a squad like this or torres in our team