A point about today's team selection...

[Craig_H]

Exactly. Otherwise we'd have the lads coming off the pitch on a Saturday after performing well and going "**** it I'll be playing on Wednesday so I wont bother working my arse off in training"

Why doesnt that happen at most other clubs then?

[Dan]

Why doesnt that happen at most other clubs then?

I dont know and I dont care either. I only care about Liverpool

[Craig_H]

I dont know and I dont care either. I only care about Liverpool

Maybe that's because it DOESNT generally happen at other clubs, nor would it at LFC.

[Red Chilli]

Maybe Rafa has realised that 2 defensive midfielders doesn't work in the premiership.
Maybe he hasn't but the signs look good. I think he'll still play 2 defensive midfielders away from home.

[Craig_H]

Maybe Rafa has realised that 2 defensive midfielders doesn't work in the premiership.
Maybe he hasn't but the signs look good. I think he'll still play 2 defensive midfielders away from home.

I dont think he'll change his philosophy either way, whether it's 2 defensive mids, dropping key players or whatever.

Let's not forget, we only did what we SHOULD be doing fairly routinely, today.

[bazza76]

Maybe that's because it DOESNT generally happen at other clubs, nor would it at LFC.

Rafa thinks that this is the case, if he thinks it, it is good enough for me. He likes to keep players on their toes, and by leaving it until the last minute to reveal the starting line up, I believe he is doing so, thinking otherwise is either being naive or just stubborn.

[bazza76]

I dont think he'll change his philosophy either way, whether it's 2 defensive mids, dropping key players or whatever.

Let's not forget, we only did what we SHOULD be doing fairly routinely, today.

Rafa is open to suggestions, he always has been, it may not seem so obvious to us, but he does value the opinions of his staff about tactics and any opinion is welcome to him. I can actually see Rafa of late loosening his grip on the two defensive midfield players, maybe the omission of Alonso has provoked this, but Mascher especially has been getting forward of late which has surprised me, I doubt very much, Mascher was probing forward like he was against Rafa's will.

[Kronenburg1892]

You mean like near the start of the season where they lost Rooney and won game after game?

Err,are you talking about this season? When they lost Ronaldo and had their worste start for years?

What are Rooneys stats for goals on games, something like 8 goals in 7 starts. He's now out for for 4 weeks.

Now ply that on our squad.

We are no where near that dependant.

[Guest]

We'll be fresher than the other top teams for the run in. That's Rafa's thinking and why he's rotating. The season before last, we were the best team for the last 28 games, but we had too much ground to make that it was over since the beginning.

At the current state of affairs, we're 3 points off the top whilst some people have been calling for Rafa's head to roll, so I'm giggling a little about so called experts in here.

He put the same side today because there's a break of 2 weeks before the other match and he didn't have another match to take into consideration. That's a pretty good argument. He even kept Torres in cotton wool until the last 20 minutes. It's a fact that some players were a little tired for this game, so the fresh legs did the trick.

Rafa will win us the league this season.

[Craig_H]

Err,are you talking about this season? When they lost Ronaldo and had their worste start for years?

What are Rooneys stats for goals on games, something like 8 goals in 7 starts. He's now out for for 4 weeks.

Now ply that on our squad.

We are no where near that dependant.

What are you on about?

Rooney broke the bone in his foot and was out for ages. They won games regardless.

Their 'worst start for years' consisted of 2 draws, a loss and then ELEVEN wins IN A ROW in the league/CL.

We're hugely dependent on Gerrard and Torres.

You've been watching the season from behind a blindfold, clearly...

[Craig_H]

We'll be fresher than the other top teams for the run in. That's Rafa's thinking and why he's rotating. The season before last, we were the best team for the last 28 games, but we had too much ground to make that it was over since the beginning.

At the current state of affairs, we're 3 points off the top whilst some people have been calling for Rafa's head to roll, so I'm giggling a little about so called experts in here.

He put the same side today because there's a break of 2 weeks before the other match and he didn't have another match to take into consideration. That's a pretty good argument. He even kept Torres in cotton wool until the last 20 minutes. It's a fact that some players were a little tired for this game, so the fresh legs did the trick.

Rafa will win us the league this season.

We had too much ground to make up because our hardest 5 away games came in the 1st 6 away games. This year, we havent faced ANY of those away games.

That's why we've started better. Simple.

[Guest]

We had too much ground to make up because our hardest 5 away games came in the 1st 6 away games. This year, we havent faced ANY of those away games.

That's why we've started better. Simple.

I like over analysis such as that.

[Tom]

In an utterly absurd moment of 'out of character-ness', Rafa actually named an unchanged side.

Do you think it's a coincidence that this happened on a day which saw our last game for 2 weeks?

No he picked that team for the simple reason that he thought it was the best team to do the job given current injuries.

[einar]

TRue, we have a lot of new players in the side this year, once they become comfortable with each other rotation will be seen as the key to success!

[Fiddy]

We had too much ground to make up because our hardest 5 away games came in the 1st 6 away games. This year, we havent faced ANY of those away games.

That's why we've started better. Simple.

Nothing to do with the fact we've got a much better team, with a striker who actually scores on a regular basis then?