Rafa Watch

[Shaggy]

Fergie doesn't rotate RVP.

He was on the bench for the home game v West Brom 3 or 4 days ago.

[RedReet]

He was on the bench for the home game v West Brom 3 or 4 days ago.

And earlier in the season before a CL match. Only reason he wasn't rested more before CL was because of the joke group United were in.

Wasn't Mata at the Olympics in the summer, which is probably why Rafa thinks he needs a rest?

[Neil Young]

My guess is Rafa thinks he needs a rest because some clever metrics (heart rate or something, I dunno) indicate he's below his best physically.

I think that's Benitez's system and he sticks to it. I suspect also he's not alone.

But I could be wrong, it's just a guess. Maybe he really does pick the team on a whim or for a laugh or something.

[Shaggy]

And earlier in the season before a CL match. Only reason he wasn't rested more before CL was because of the joke group United were in.

Wasn't Mata at the Olympics in the summer, which is probably why Rafa thinks he needs a rest?

My guess is Rafa thinks he needs a rest because some clever metrics (heart rate or something, I dunno) indicate he's below his best physically.

I think that's Benitez's system and he sticks to it. I suspect also he's not alone.

But I could be wrong, it's just a guess. Maybe he really does pick the team on a whim or for a laugh or something.

[BigChief]

My guess is Rafa thinks he needs a rest because some clever metrics (heart rate or something, I dunno) indicate he's below his best physically.

I think that's Benitez's system and he sticks to it. I suspect also he's not alone.

Imagine him managing Messi or Ronaldo. They would be benched much more than they are now. Even though they clearly defy the 'statistics' that Benitez puts 100% of his career reputation on.

That's why he'll never be a consistent league winning manager. No sense of adventure.

[G]

Imagine him managing Messi or Ronaldo. They would be benched much more than they are now. Even though they clearly defy the 'statistics' that Benitez puts 100% of his career reputation on.

That's why he'll never be a consistent league winning manager. No sense of adventure.

Reading Ballagues book about Pep and he says in it that after he rested Messi once he was extremely angry about it and refused to speak to Pep for days.

He was never rested again.

[Bender]

Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez says criticism of his rotation policy in the wake of the loss to QPR is unjustified.

Benitez left players such as Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Ashley Cole on the bench for the visit of the bottom side and finished on the wrong end of a shock 1-0 loss.

The Spaniard was criticised for his team selection but has pointed out that he was praised during his first month in charge for the way he managed his resources during a hectic phase of the season.

"You cannot be criticised and praised for the same thing," said Benitez. "Rotating players because we were playing so many games was really good.

"We had more players, we could use the squad and, after one game, they are saying, 'Oh, you were changing players'.

"We know how the players are, we know the level of our players, and we trust our players.

"We can manage the squad and we have to manage the squad, because we have one game every three days."

And Benitez says Wednesday's setback will not deter him from rotating his squad in the future.

Asked if he would continue to rest players, he said: "Yeah, if it's necessary.

"They couldn't keep playing games and games because the risk of injuries and tiredness is there.

"The other day, I think that two or three of the players, they were a little bit more tired than the others and maybe that is the reason why we didn't play with the tempo that we want to play with."

Chelsea face Southampton in the FA Cup on Saturday and Benitez was asked if he would select his strongest team for the match.

"My strongest team?" he said. "Maybe it depends for you on the names. For me, it depends on the moment of the players, how they feel every game.

"We will try to win every competition until the end of the season."
SKY

[Mostar]

Fergie doesn't rotate RVP. Rafa should never rotate Mata, especially before an FA cup weekend and a potential 10 day break. Of course its not that simple all the time, and that side was still well capable of winning, but while I can totally see the argument for rotating a few other players, when you have one guy who is so far and away your best player and he's fit then he has to be on the pitch.

The whole "Rafa - rotation" thing is silly, as is to blame him for an inadequacies of a squad he inherited (as much as it is to laud him for their pre-existing talents), but resting Mata unnecessarily is always a plain and simple mistake in my book.

[Neil Young]

Imagine him managing Messi or Ronaldo. They would be benched much more than they are now. Even though they clearly defy the 'statistics' that Benitez puts 100% of his career reputation on.

That's why he'll never be a consistent league winning manager. No sense of adventure.

Messi plays every minute of every game and hasn't been injured for about a decade (or so it seems). I don't think you can assume Benitez would rotate him. My point is that Benitez doesn't do it out of habit or for fun but because the metrics tell him a player is below par. That 'par' varies from one player to the next. Maybe it's about how far they run during a game, or whether they run less in the last ten minutes than in the first, or whether they manage fewer flat out sprints than in the last game or whatever. But it's not just a subjective thing on Benitez's part and it's not a routine - it's grounded in measurement. At least that's my theory.

This sentence has probably never even been thought by anyone anywhere before but I'm going to say it. Maybe Messi is just like Dirk Kuyt. Dirky played a lot and never got injured. Some players - a very few - don't need resting.

And at the other extreme some players have to be managed carefully because otherwise they break down.

Suarez, Messi, Kuyt - all of them seem to be more like Steve McManaman than like Jamie Redknapp.

[G]

You seem to believe I have a problem with Rafas rotation, I don't. I said earlier in the thread its necessary.

Just picking who to rest and when is the hard part, like Shaggy says if you win nobody cares but when you don't questions will be asked.

It's very familiar in that when he did it for us it was usually at home against teams we should be beating but we often got caught out and same happened this time.

In line with my decision to not be arsed about most things football related in the new year, I don't really give a **** who he rests, he's not our manager

[Neil Young]

Sorry, I meant to quote BigChief's post to which you replied. I'll edit my post.

It's interesting though. The narrative is that Rafa got "caught out" but it's equally reasonable to say that who came in didn't perform. You can look at it either way.

It's like the tedious zonal marking debate. Just like zonal is blamed when a goal gets scored against it whereas individual errors are held to blame for when man-to-man concede a goal, Benitez is blamed for his rotation system while other managers who rotate and don't get the desired result avoid the blame because the players get it instead.

And then there's the assumption that keeping the same team would have had the desired result without any negative consequences. But if the ones who were left out had played when they were physically not up to it then not only is there no guarantee they'd have done better but there's also the possibility it would have had knock-on effects for subsequent games. Benitez isn't the only manager who I've heard say that players are more likely to pick up soft tissue injuries when they're tired.

I do think the point about playing Mata in less important games is a valid criticism.

[Shaggy]

All round

[Exiled_red]

The idea that they should retire the number 8 shirt

[tufty]

The idea that they should retire the number 8 shirt

thought that myself, desperate plastics ****s

[danperkins]

Rotation in football in completely necessary, especially with the busy christmas period, but Rafa rotated the wrong players against QPR.

In Mata & Hazard they 11 goals and 19 assists between them in the league alone!! That should have been 3 points for Chelsea IMO he should have started them. The game should have been put to bed and then taken them off and rested them, instead of bringing them on with 20 odds mins to go in a 0-0 dog fight. Rafa did similar whilst at LFC and IMO costs us valuable points.

No doubts the faithful will argue this out but i really don't think i'm alone in that opinion. Anyways each to their own as they say