Andy Gray on Rafa - (few weeks old?)

[carheex]

Fitness fanatic

I'm not sure if Rafa would even regard himself of having a best team. He would have to have a fair idea but whether he would want to play that team for any length of time is unlikely given his policy.

Benitez seems awfully intent on using information on fitness levels from the fitness coach whose influence on the side is a big one. His argument is that every player in his squad is the same and that's where his argument falls down in my opinion. I don't think every player is the same.

He would rather have 90 minutes from an inferior player than 80 minutes from a star. I don't go along with that - I would rather have 80 minutes from Gerrard than 90 minutes from most my other players. I would rather have 75 minutes of Torres than 90 minutes of Voronin.






portion taken from:

http://www.skysports.com/experts/expert_story/0,19793,12064_2810859,00.html

Some very interesting points and I have to agree with them. Rafa often uses in his defence figures based on fitness levels and backs his decisions up with how many metres they covered during the game....

Any thoughts?

[Morten_nogamst_Pedersen]

Fitness fanatic

I'm not sure if Rafa would even regard himself of having a best team. He would have to have a fair idea but whether he would want to play that team for any length of time is unlikely given his policy.

Benitez seems awfully intent on using information on fitness levels from the fitness coach whose influence on the side is a big one. His argument is that every player in his squad is the same and that's where his argument falls down in my opinion. I don't think every player is the same.

He would rather have 90 minutes from an inferior player than 80 minutes from a star. I don't go along with that - I would rather have 80 minutes from Gerrard than 90 minutes from most my other players. I would rather have 75 minutes of Torres than 90 minutes of Voronin.






portion taken from:

http://www.skysports.com/experts/expert_story/0,19793,12064_2810859,00.html

Some very interesting points and I have to agree with them. Rafa often uses in his defence figures based on fitness levels and backs his decisions up with how many metres they covered during the game....

Any thoughts?

As said he has some good points. But IMO Rafa's thoughts of having fit players come march or so doesn't do us any good if we're 10-15 points of the league leaders. Everything will be futile by then, unless he's going for the CL again.

[dww]

There is some truth to the idea that Rafa probably wouldn't have a set 'best team' for all instances and that he clearly uses fitness information a great deal.

The fact is though that I don't believe he feels all players are equal which is why a/ he tailors teams to the opposition and b/ towards the end of each season our team becomes increasingly settled.

Much of the fitness checking is about ensuring he has a full set of options for as many of the games in a season as possible on the assumption that over a number of games a fully fit Gerrard for 8 out of 10 games is better than a less fit Gerrard playing all 10. There is an underlying assumption that he is good enough tactically and the pool of players is strong enough to come through games without our best players.

[friedk]

Fitness fanatic

I'm not sure if Rafa would even regard himself of having a best team. He would have to have a fair idea but whether he would want to play that team for any length of time is unlikely given his policy.

Benitez seems awfully intent on using information on fitness levels from the fitness coach whose influence on the side is a big one. His argument is that every player in his squad is the same and that's where his argument falls down in my opinion. I don't think every player is the same.

He would rather have 90 minutes from an inferior player than 80 minutes from a star. I don't go along with that - I would rather have 80 minutes from Gerrard than 90 minutes from most my other players. I would rather have 75 minutes of Torres than 90 minutes of Voronin.






portion taken from:

http://www.skysports.com/experts/expert_story/0,19793,12064_2810859,00.html

Some very interesting points and I have to agree with them. Rafa often uses in his defence figures based on fitness levels and backs his decisions up with how many metres they covered during the game....

Any thoughts?

I think that point is bull**** for two reasons

1. During the course of the season our top players (Gerrard, Torres, Carra etc) will play more games then anyone else.
2. Fitness is one of countless factors Rafa takes into account when deciding on his line-up; to insinuate he is so simple that he says "right these are the 11 fittest players today so there's your team" is nothing more than the infantile ranting of an imbecile

[Tom]

Speculation from Grey, he hasn't got a clue how or why rafa makes his decisions.

[Biff]

Speculation from Grey, he hasn't got a clue how or why rafa makes his decisions.

...and ofcourse Gray was a great manager/assistant manager in his day......

[carheex]

I think that point is bull**** for two reasons

1. During the course of the season our top players (Gerrard, Torres, Carra etc) will play more games then anyone else.
2. Fitness is one of countless factors Rafa takes into account when deciding on his line-up; to insinuate he is so simple that he says "right these are the 11 fittest players today so there's your team" is nothing more than the infantile ranting of an imbecile

We could end up with 3 keepers and 6 defensive midfielders on the field!

[akjs123]

What a load of bull from Gray. Anyone remember how Rafa used to say even a 80% fit Kewell is a very good player when he had come back from injury a couple of years back. What about the time Alonso played Juventus in Turin.
Rafa's team selection is based on fitness but not around it as Gray is suggesting. When key players like Gerrard are rotated, it is because Rafa is confident the team is good enough to get a result without him (mostly against smaller teams).

[Joe King]

Andy Gray is a c*nt of the highest level.

[Dhav]

Andy Gray is a c*nt of the highest level.

Andy Gray is a bitter, clueless cūnt. Some of the stuff he was coming out with vis-a-vis Rafa was completely preposterous , especially on the Gerrard substitution.

Andy Gray obviously thinks he knows better than a Champions League winning manager

[Joe King]

Andy Gray is a bitter, clueless cūnt. Some of the stuff he was coming out with vis-a-vis Rafa was compeltely preposterous , especially the Gerrard substitution.

Andy Gray obviously thinks he knows better than a Champions League winning manager

After all, he did win a European medal...oh no he didn't

The guy is prick, if he was any good, he would have become a manager. Bitter ****

[dww]

The guy is prick, if he was any good, he would have become a manager.

I'm not sure that that is a valid idea. I think it is perfectly possible to be a good critic and a poor manager or coach. Or to be a limited coach and to be a manager takes an incredible amount of effort - so many people who could potentially have been good managers take the easier option of punditry.

Having said that Gray seems no better than the average man in the pub.

[Joe King]

I'm not sure that that is a valid idea. I think it is perfectly possible to be a good critic and a poor manager or coach. Or to be a limited coach and to be a manager takes an incredible amount of effort - so many people who could potentially have been good managers take the easier option of punditry.

Having said that Gray seems no better than the average man in the pub.

He's a tabloid journalist, is what he is

[pezzzer]

andy gray is a ****ing tosser who hates liverpool football club.

that boy needs a bullet in his ear asap. kuunt.

rant over!

[bazza76]

Fitness fanatic

I'm not sure if Rafa would even regard himself of having a best team. He would have to have a fair idea but whether he would want to play that team for any length of time is unlikely given his policy.

Benitez seems awfully intent on using information on fitness levels from the fitness coach whose influence on the side is a big one. His argument is that every player in his squad is the same and that's where his argument falls down in my opinion. I don't think every player is the same.

He would rather have 90 minutes from an inferior player than 80 minutes from a star. I don't go along with that - I would rather have 80 minutes from Gerrard than 90 minutes from most my other players. I would rather have 75 minutes of Torres than 90 minutes of Voronin.






portion taken from:

http://www.skysports.com/experts/expert_story/0,19793,12064_2810859,00.html

Some very interesting points and I have to agree with them. Rafa often uses in his defence figures based on fitness levels and backs his decisions up with how many metres they covered during the game....

Any thoughts?

As has been said, Gray is not an expert on Rafa, I bet he hasn't even read any of the books on Rafa. ray admitted he hadn't got a clue what Rafa's tactics were not so long ago. Now he is an expert.