Rafa the Baffler

[pondus]

He will start tonight

You forgot to log off and then on again as cream

[BillobShaisley]

He's not a bench warmer, he's been bought for the 1st team. Can you imagine the headlines if he breaks down again!

He's had a few injuries over a long time and its not about cardiovascular fitness or match sharpness. It's about doing the job properly and not having a 3rd top player being nursed through at 80% for the rest of the year as we seem to be doing with Stevie/Torres. It's all very well saying that 80% of Nando is better than Ngog but but is 80% of nando for 3 months better than 3 games of ngog and 100% of torres for 10 weeks? Inactivity causes you to lose some elasticity in ligaments and tendons, as well as changing your muscle balance which can also then effect you bio-mechanics.

I'm sure with all the profesional medical talent at our club, he is being very closely monitored for all of these factors and stressed accordingly, meaning he's getting short run outs at the end of games, these will start getting longer soon i'm sure.

[BillobShaisley]

It's time to take the shackles off him Rafa!

Unleash the beast

And you judge this cusp on the basis of?

[BillobShaisley]

If he lacks match fitness, get him off the ****ing bench and play him in the reserves. In Shanklies/Paislies days a player returning from injury first had many games in the reserves, they didnt sit on the bank waiting to get match fitness during important matches.

Every reserve game should have him starting, first 30 mins, then 50 etc. Once he completes a couple of games,he does the same in the first team.

At the moment it seems to be tactics and how the game is going that decides if he comes on or not. The way we are playing at the moment means he will never start.

Since he has been fit he could have played in 3 or 4 competitve reserve games and be almost totally match fit.

In shanks day we had a fag and a pint for a warm up and had competitive reserve games.

[BillobShaisley]

......if we had spent that 20m on a good attacking player/striker/winger it might have made a difference to the position we are in now.

Clearly Kuyt/Babel/Riera aren't good enough or don't posess the ability to win games for us when we don't have Gerrard/Torres

Yeah we never won any games last year with those players did we?

Who do you suggest we should have bought for £20mil that was available and would have been better?

[BrianF80]

It's certainly difficult to understand.

Is it physiological given muscle injuries are common after a long time out?
Has he not adapted to our tactical scheme yet?
Does Rafa not want to introduce him to a team that is struggling?
Is Rafa so down on the defense he feels we need two holding midfielders?
Is he looking for the right time to drop Lucas to protect his fragile confidence?
Is he waiting for the right game situation to give him more sub appearances?

A bit of all of this?

[BillobShaisley]

.... He is just as likely to get injured as any other LFC player on the pitch, no more, no less. He is fit to play. He doesn't need to be protected anymore.

I think you're underestimating the effect of the injury, the physicality of playing top flight football and how strong the other guys are. Lots of injuries happen when you are a little bit tired or weaker than normal. That is exactly what Aquilani will be. He needs game time but its needs managing.

[Big-Red-Ed]

Having seen him doing his warm ups at close range from the kop, he looks to me as fit as the proverbial butcher's dog. The type of player who if mechanically fit, would cruise through a game.

[javier_monsterano]

He'll play tonight.

[ElRobbie]

Is he looking for the right time to drop Lucas to protect his fragile confidence?


A bit of all of this?

We can't afford to be sympathetic to players in the situation were in at the moment so I hope not, you've got to play your best 11, in any game.

[ElRobbie]

He'll play tonight.

Well he got 1 minute and 25 seconds, does that count for match fitness?

I can't see him playing against the blue****e given the importance and nature of that game if he hasn't played him in a game against a weak European side.

So it could be the 5th December for his first start? Lets be honest if we'd known that at the start of the season people would have been doubtful about signing him!?

[dww]

I think people were doubtful any way. I think the gamble would have looked a lot better if we hadn't had a huge injury crisis elsewhere - we could have used Mascherano - Lucas against the better teams and Gerrard - Lucas or Mascher against the rest. As it is we have barely been able to field a settled team and every line up has contained at least one fragile player.

I think in the long run we had to make gambles on quality players rather than aiming for the safety first options.

A disappointment for me has been the failure of Spearing and/or Plessis to feature more (this may be as much a criticism of Rafa as the players but they haven't looked as good as I had hoped in the few opportunities they have had).

[Kenneth]

I think people were doubtful any way. I think the gamble would have looked a lot better if we hadn't had a huge injury crisis elsewhere - we could have used Mascherano - Lucas against the better teams and Gerrard - Lucas or Mascher against the rest. As it is we have barely been able to field a settled team and every line up has contained at least one fragile player.

I think in the long run we had to make gambles on quality players rather than aiming for the safety first options.

A disappointment for me has been the failure of Spearing and/or Plessis to feature more (this may be as much a criticism of Rafa as the players but they haven't looked as good as I had hoped in the few opportunities they have had).

Which we could have done on numerous occasions anyway, but didn't.

[Icon]

Surely an Aquilain with 2 broken legs > a Lucas?

[PTP]

really annoyed he didn't get on earlier last night! - a 60 seconds appearence is a ****ing joke imo. - In a game that was flat and clearly needed something different to freshen it up, against a team of such a low standing, i was screaming for rafa to give aquilani at least 30 mins. If he is not fit then why have him on the bench, and why hasn't been featuring for the ressies more!