Best use of the squad/players?

[RPAS]

For what its worth This is NOT a slag Rafa thread ...

I'm just wondering is Rafa getting the best out of our current pool of players/first team?

If people reckon he isn't - who would & why?

[bazza76]

For what its worth This is NOT a slag Rafa thread ...

I'm just wondering is Rafa getting the best out of our current pool of players/first team?

If people reckon he isn't - who would & why?

I think in the past there has been more opportunity to use some of our so called tallented young kids like Anderson and Hammil, especially when we have been struggling on the right.
Insua maybe could have been used more too this season.
Crouch has not been used enough, but I do understand Rafa's reasoning when not using him.

[AFII]

I think in the past there has been more opportunity to use some of our so called tallented young kids like Anderson and Hammil, especially when we have been struggling on the right.
Insua maybe could have been used more too this season.
Crouch has not been used enough, but I do understand Rafa's reasoning when not using him.

Sissoko have also played sometimes instead of Lucas, I can't understand the point to do that at all.

[dww]

For what its worth This is NOT a slag Rafa thread ...

I'm just wondering is Rafa getting the best out of our current pool of players/first team?

If people reckon he isn't - who would & why?

I think it can't be judged until the end of the season. A lot of the judgments re. rotation are aimed at getting good results over a season not in the short term. If we have a fully fit squad who trample people at the end of the season and we are genuinely close to the top of the table then I think his policies have been vindicated.

It is always a tough call with young players and sometimes playing at the wrong time can be damaging. We have no insight into how they train or how they are mentally and so judging the decisions to play them or not is especially hard. I tend to think that mostly Rafa has handled developing them pretty well. Whether he has done this to maximum first team advantage with the more advanced incomers like Lucas is to be debated but until they have played more we will not even be able to talk about their ability levels with authority.