Why oh why....

[Chris]

We might laugh at lesser players from the league but players like etherington, krancjar might have been just as effective and a whole lot cheaper.

Christ, lets not go overboard now, ****ing hell.

[Marky]

i think his stats of 4 / 5 goals and 2 assists in the whole of last season tells its own story.

he is just a very average winger and certainly not a starter. We need someone better on the left and if rafa only has another £20m to spend this season it should be on silva.

We might laugh at lesser players from the league but players like etherington, krancjar might have been just as effective and a whole lot cheaper.

Or Stewart Downing who i think is a very good player. Won't happen now though as he only signed for Villa in the summer.

[Craig_H]

There's a picture of Downing in the dictionary, next to the word 'average'.

[Marky]

He's better than Riera though.

[Craig_H]

He's better than Riera though.

Based on what?

His long and successful international career?

His treasure chest of medals?

The countless bids from Madrid and Barcelona for his services?

The record breaking transfer fee Villa paid for him?

[Maxiedge]

I thought this post was going to be about our lack of threat on set pieces and how blazeh they have become.

Benny had an impact when he came on but that was always part of the plan. Nothing wrong with the starting personnel.

[Nicey]

was our best player so far this season, on the bench for our toughest game?

Benny made an immediate impact when he came on today, he's the only player we have who has the quality and technique to take any team on comfortably. It doesn't matter whose in front of him, the little lad will glide passed anyone and Rafa once again leaves him on the bench.

You know what you are spot on, biggest complaint I had about that game was the fact Benny was not paying that and that only, thought we were hard done by last night

[tommyg]

Rafa could have thought he might get bullied off of the ball by players like Essien, but im not sure why as Benny isn't afraid to commit his body to the game.

[Nicey]

Yep .. but for each pound of muscle you lose a yard pace

[DannyMan2006]

LFCTV said Yossi had a knock.

Seemed ok when he come on, but then against a tiring defensive Chelsea with half hour left is a bit different to starting.

Don't let that get in the way of a good argument.

But whilst we're on the subject of yossi, he was woeful in midweek against Fiorintina and left Insua badly exposed. He needs to buck his ideas up if he is to start on a regular basis.

It is clear Rafas idea is to attack from the full back positions this year and we need players who will offer cover to our full backs. I hope midweekd was a one off for Yossi.

[FatTony]

Don't let that get in the way of a good argument.

But whilst we're on the subject of yossi, he was woeful in midweek against Fiorintina and left Insua badly exposed. He needs to buck his ideas up if he is to start on a regular basis.

It is clear Rafas idea is to attack from the full back positions this year and we need players who will offer cover to our full backs. I hope midweekd was a one off for Yossi.

Everyone was crap on Tuesday....Buck his ideas up???? He's been our best player this season so far.

[DannyMan2006]

Everyone was crap on Tuesday....Buck his ideas up???? He's been our best player this season so far.

Yossi was the worst tactically on Tuesday, by far. He was all over the place and left Insua trying to mark two players at times. He never once bothered running back and never once offered any kind of protection in front of Insua, instead preffering to roam in field.

Maybe you should remember that Kuyt was switched to the left at one point and then wonder why that was.

But no players perfect and you have to balance out what you gain with another player against what you would lose if Yossi is not in the team.

[FatTony]

Yossi was the worst tactically on Tuesday, by far. He was all over the place and left Insua trying to mark two players at times. He never once bothered running back and never once offered any kind of protection in front of Insua, instead preffering to roam in field.

Maybe you should remember that Kuyt was switched to the left at one point and then wonder why that was.

But no players perfect and you have to balance out what you gain with another player against what you would lose if Yossi is not in the team.

Personally, I'd have Torres, Gerrard, Benny, Mascher, Carra, Johnson and Reina start every game. I think Rafa over complicates things and still think football is a simple game made difficult. Play your best players first and Benny is our best player at the moment.

[DannyMan2006]

Personally, I'd have Torres, Gerrard, Benny, Mascher, Carra, Johnson and Reina start every game. I think Rafa over complicates things and still think football is a simple game made difficult. Play your best players first and Benny is our best player at the moment.

That's fair enough. Personally I'd start him at the expense of Lucas. I'm not anti Lucas but feel him and Mascher are too similar and fail to bring Gerrard into the game.

I'd have Yossi behind Torres.

[flyboy]

pretty obvious that rafa set the team up looking for a draw.did the same against fiorentina as well. i've actually never seen a manager of a top side being so negative on how games are approached.only when the chips are down he decides to do something about it.and even then he replaced a defender for another(aurelio/lucas).poor tactics to begin with and poor substitution.