Rafa Can’t Stop Rotating

Liverpool could have been top of the Premiership last night, if Liverpool had won at Portsmouth. But old habits die hard for Rafa Benitez as he stuck to his trusted (but not trusty) rotation policy. For the Portsmouth game Benitez left star striker Fernando Torres and captain Steven Gerrard on the bench until late in the game, as well as leaving Dirk Kuyt out altogether. The result was a 0-0 draw at Pompey that Rafa was lucky to get, with only a Pepe Reina penalty save preventing a long trip home to Liverpool with no points. Liverpool have been looking like being genuine title challengers this year, but is it possible that Benitez’ insistence on rotation could end up costing them?

I can sort of understand why he did it. Kuyt, Torres and Gerrard have all been away on international duty, and Liverpool have a big Champions League group game away to Porto on Tuesday. But Benitez can’t expect to win the Premiership when he starts games with Crouch and Voronin up front. Both are solid players, but they’re not Kuyt and Torres.

And isn’t it a little early for such drastic rotation? It’s only September. It’s not as if players are worn out after a long hard slog of a season. I’d love to see Liverpool win the Premiership. Both to break the Man Utd/Chelsea stranglehold and because I feel for supporters who’ve been close but not close enough to winning the league for the last 18 years or so.

In fairness 0-0 away to Portsmouth is a decent result. But it takes more than decent results to win the Premiership. Rafa’s post-match quote was quite revealing. “If there is one title for us to win this season it is the Premier League,” he said. “But we want to win the Champions League, too.” But what if you can’t? If you want to rest the big names then you inevitably have to prioritise. When do you rest them? If you rests them for Premiership matches then the Premiership clearly isn’t your priority. Liverpool are good enough to win the Premiership this year for the first time in a long time, but it will only happen if it’s made the priority.

Also seems to me that Rafa’s big mistake is resting too many big names at once. Sure, rest Kuyt or Torres or Gerrard, but play at least one of them. To face Liverpool and have all of those players missing is a huge morale boost to the opposition. Harry Redknapp’s post match quote summed it up: “It is up to Rafa what players and teams he picks. He has a lot to choose from. Obviously you are happy as an opposition manager when somebody like Gerrard is not playing against you.”

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Category: English Premier League, World Football