The Marseille goalkeeper totally got an early birthday present.
For once I would love to see Rafa not rotate. Not that I'm holding it against him, I'm fine with rotation in general. But it's player rotation and I think you really need to put some consideration into it and not just play it like you're playing fantasy football. The team he fielded seemed like something out of my championship game when I'm feeling like fielding a random team.
I know we don't have quite a few integral players, but what about playing those who are there? Riise? Arbeloa? Kuyt? Babel? Why choose Leto over Babel. (Although he did have his moments but no one was there to connect) I may be biased but I mean you've already drew Porto in the first round. Are you entirely sure that you want to get a not-acceptable result for the second champions league game. If the reason people want to give is that our focus should be the BPL this year, then find an explanation for the same things happening in the BPL. Maybe the rotation isn't that severe but the players fielded just can't play fluidly.
And haven't there been matches where starting Torres with Crouch proved useless. Why not go back to the old duo of Torres and Kuyt. Or put Voronin in. And fielding Gerrard as a defensive midfielder was probably out of necessity. And after watching Sissoko I'm half grateful that he wasn't the holding midfielder.
And Gerrard's off form recently. I'm hoping it's only because of the accident and things will get better. I mean without Xabi and now it's almost like we're playing without Steven. He's almost not there nowadays. And partnership with Sissoko didn't work out much. I think with Mascherano he's better. I'm sad for him, but partly because I'm totally a big fan. I don't think things can be good for the captain, now. All the newspapers have his sad face on them. And yellow carded, too.
Thank goodness for Carra and Pepe. At least defense is still alive despite not having Agger. Although Hyypia (who looks like Torres with the long sleeves) is a little not pacey. Aurelio is alright but sometimes I feel he still has problems with the teamwork issue, especially with free kicks. Where is Riise!
I miss Kuyt. We have 4 strikers this season, and yet we still face the problems we had last season about the striker partnerships. And randomly, Gerrard does not belong in the striker's position. Hasn't Athens '07 (ouch) taught anyone anything.
And weirdly, the slump begin when the assistant manager was Mourinho-ed.
Play your strongest team and keep it, please. Or at least let them bloody get used to themselves before they have to get use to a new partner or playing style or position. I miss the point of time where our best XI got to keep their places and go on a winning spree for a while. There's no point saying that it sucks after the whole match!
The commentator is totally giving us the stick. The fans are booing. Even van Persie is talking about the Rafa rotation. Although it was a really pretty article where he praised him and Fabregas working together. Come on you Reds! This season's supposed to be ours!
Tottenham on Sunday. I think I might die of anxiety or depression in the first 5 minutes of the match.
And Xabi? Come back soon.
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