Rafa Benitez - the science of winning

[rage]

Not the best of times for one of those is it? Best wait till we lose a game before you get going. Then again a draw might be enough.

read my posts, my anti rafa sentiment has been based upon rafa repeating his mistakes in the last 4 years. on the whole so far this season he has learned.

i also think the failure of a new contract being offered yet is an added incentive to learn. i just hope that doesn't come back to bite us.

[dww]

It's about more than that. But Rafa used to regularly rotate 6-7 players a game. His reasons for doing this are unknown to me. But you could hardly expect to keep the same high standards when he was leaving out Alonso for Biscan, or Carragher for Traore.

This season are quality is much better. A better first XI and better subs. Even a better reserve team and better under 18 team, even if the results are not showing this. The quality through out the whole club is just so much better.

So to say it is just about playing a regular first XI is wrong.

I think that there was a comment in one of the Guardian blogs following the Chelsea game to the effect that previous wins in the CL had been achieved by 'bespoke teams' suited to individual matches. I think there is a lot in that. Previously I don't think we have had a good enough core of players who offered enough different ways of playing within the same system to keep a settled eleven & formation week in week out and win. As such even in the league Rafa looked to find a team that could deal with each opponent individually. As soon as he has collected a core of players he has faith in doing what he wants in different situations and whose strengths complement each other he has kept it the same.

There are obvious advantages in keeping players together in units as relationships build and the team coheres more but at the same time if you won't necessarily be able to exploit weaknesses of the opponents as well. In the past you could thin of Rafas experiments being part of educating and testing players for when he had the other ingredients to make a team he had complete faith in. I suspect that overall that results may have been similar if we had kept rotation to a lower level in previous years but the assessment of the players we had would be less complete and we would have seen less growth in the players in our squad.

[lfc1394]

If Rafa does win the title this year or next that we will be at the top for a very long time. We are very close to having a team that can do what he wants it to do, I still think we could improve a few bench positions or give the kids a chance in a few of them, e.g El Zhar has been excellent, and contributed to a goals in every sub appearence.

I know it's not appreciated by everyone, but the subtle difference in tactics that Rafa employs week in week out, and the tweeks he makes at half time have been immense. We are over simplifying the simplifying!!

BTW the article is word for word out of the 2005 book by GB.

[Skillz]

read my posts, my anti rafa sentiment has been based upon rafa repeating his mistakes in the last 4 years. on the whole so far this season he has learned.

i also think the failure of a new contract being offered yet is an added incentive to learn. i just hope that doesn't come back to bite us.

Your a charachter off loony tunes aren't ya!

So Rafa is obviously lucky to still be in the job. Who you getting in to sort us out?

[rage]

Your a charachter off loony tunes aren't ya!

So Rafa is obviously lucky to still be in the job. Who you getting in to sort us out?

no what i said was that the pressure of not having a new contract yet is an added incentive to perform.

if i'm a character off loony tunes at least i have a basic grasp of something they used to teach us in school called 'comprehension'. what r u one of them new breed of gcse A* students?

[BG1973]

all of my points in this thread are actually a response to what i think is a crap article and i really don't want to get into a pro rafa - anti rafa conversation.

If that's the case you probably shouldn't imply things such as Rafa deploying certain tactics not because he has to but because he wants to show everyone how clever he is.

That's a pretty blatant attack on him.

anyway as you say..

[Craig_H]

A lot of ex-players (Gray, Merson, Claridge, etc.) all seem to think our improvements are because Rafa has learned...not to rotate, play his best team, "what's required to win this league", etc.

It's futile to argue with minds as perceptive as theirs.

Nobody is suggesting that those zombies know better than rafa, but there IS a case for saying that more stability and less rotation has helped. We have rotated far less this season and done exceptionally well so far. I dont put it all down to coincidence.

[rage]

Nobody is suggesting that those zombies know better than rafa, but there IS a case for saying that more stability and less rotation has helped. We have rotated far less this season and done exceptionally well so far. I dont put it all down to coincidence.

neither do i

[Reece]

wwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhh mmmmnnnnnnttttttttnnnnnndddddddd zzzzzzzzzmmmmmmmbbbbbbbssssssss????????

[Craig_H]

neither do i

Likewise though, rafa deserves credit for making a change to his usual methodology and learning from previous years where over-rotating has cost us.

[bobbyfallon]

i agree with both of you - rafa has tried to keep players in the team when possible.

has he learned from previous mistakes - probably yes. is it because he now has two technically better players in reira and keane ??

i for one dont agree with players getting tired at 23 odd years of age. they are proper athletes getting paid **** loads of money.

i recon if you ask any player rafa has rested they will tell you they are fit to play and especially if they are after having a good game and ecen scored

[rage]

Likewise though, rafa deserves credit for making a change to his usual methodology and learning from previous years where over-rotating has cost us.

i absolutely agree. i applaud anyone who learns from their mistakes. rafa clearly is doing and i hope it continues. my criticisms of rafa have always been consistent:

1. over rotation of players
2. over rotation of formation
3. buying too many mediocre squad fillers
4. prioritising Europe at the expense of the league.

3 of these are being addressed this season and i look forward to both January and the summer where i hope we buy a maximum of 3 players, a right sided forward, a fullback and an experienced player maker

[BG1973]

i absolutely agree. i applaud anyone who learns from their mistakes. rafa clearly is doing and i hope it continues. my criticisms of rafa have always been consistent:

1. over rotation of players
2. over rotation of formation
3. buying too many mediocre squad fillers
4. prioritising Europe at the expense of the league.

3 of these are being addressed this season and i look forward to both January and the summer where i hope we buy a maximum of 3 players, a right sided forward, a fullback and an experienced player maker

What will be interesting is how strongly we finish the season.

Recently we have finished very well, maybe because of the rotation... as I say, it will be interesting.

[kris90210]

read my posts, my anti rafa sentiment has been based upon rafa repeating his mistakes in the last 4 years. on the whole so far this season he has learned.

i also think the failure of a new contract being offered yet is an added incentive to learn. i just hope that doesn't come back to bite us.

What an irritating cunt you are. Rafa makes a mistake, youre right and he's wrong. Rafa gets something right, he's learned and you were right all along. **** off with that **** mate.

Listen, we have one of the best managers in the world in Rafa. He knows more about football than the lot of us on here put together, and most importantly he works with the players day in day out. How the **** are you in any way qualified to say who should be playing and who shouldnt?

Just have the grace to give Rafa his dues for what he's been doing this season and quit the whole 'I was right all along' bollocks. It makes you look like an absolute tit.

[lfc1394]

What will be interesting is how strongly we finish the season.

Recently we have finished very well, maybe because of the rotation... as I say, it will be interesting.

I doubt we will finish as strongly as we have been doing, that's just impossible.