Gerrard out for 3 weeks!

[Anny Road]

I doubt Madrid could hand anyone, anyone's arse. They've been piss poor all season.

Whereas we are free following and magnificent.

[Catch22]

You sound like Benitez (and Houllier)

 

So he's picking teams based on fans and media criticism now?

 

 

No.

 

But people do not bother to understand the sports science behind issues of rest & rotation.

 

Cheered on by Sky they then make easy but stupid criticisms of it.

 

Where is the intellectual honesty to admit they were mistaken?

[ScottyT]

I doubt Madrid could hand anyone, anyone's arse. They've been piss poor all season.

 

They've just won the last 6 or 7 games on the spin and have some world class players who are capable of tearing apart most teams on their day.

[havarantagain]

Time for the likes of Lucas and co to step up and take the fight on. One thing for sure is we''ll definitely know what sort of 'mentality' the squad make weights have.We'll win them all by the way!

[Red Mist]

Good lord, we are in trouble. Can't see us getting past Real without him, unless others in the team step it up big time.

[ScottyT]

No.

 

But people do not bother to understand the sports science behind issues of rest & rotation.

 

Benitez does, so maybe he should have made the decision to rest him and not pander to the so called 'Sky' generation. He's the manager after all.

[hamstrung]

I find this 'Real Madrid are a peace of piss attitude' a bit strange.

We are not in good shape (neither are chelsea before that is cast up).

Madrid could hand us our arse and then that could effectively be the end of our season.

 

You misunderstand. Its nothing to do with underestimating them.

 

Its to do with Rafa's tactical acumen in such games. For all his faults (perceived and real) he's the best in the business at setting up and drilling a team for a game like Real Madrid away in the CL.

 

I'd prefer to have Gerrard in the team, obviously, but he'll be missed less in a game where we'll be happy with a nil nil, than in one where we need to score.

[Catch22]

I look forward to an apology for being right about all the mistakes he makes and seeing them coming to fruition in that case then.

 

 

Of course he has made mistakes (buying Keane being the most obvious)

 

His overall record of over-achievement at Lfc is still fantastic (as it was at Valencia who pine for him every day)

 

It is very easy to scream "Why was Gerrard taken off? How stupid?" as Charlie Nicholas for instance did.

 

I look forward to hearing him scream equally as loudly "Oh sorry it was because he needed a rest which he didn't get so now we lose him for 3 wks"

[Ted]

Robben is on fire. Rea are winning games consistently but, like us, there always seems to be a fuck up waiting just around the corner.

 

If it was Barca I'd be really fucking worried.

[Ted]

Of course he has made mistakes (buying Keane being the most obvious)

 

His overall record of over-achievement at Lfc is still fantastic (as it was at Valencia who pine for him every day)

 

It is very easy to scream "Why was Gerrard taken off? How stupid?" as Charlie Nicholas for instance did.

 

I look forward to hearing him scream equally as loudly "Oh sorry it was because he needed a rest which he didn't get so now we lose him for 3 wks"

 

So, are you saying Benitez knew Gerrard was going to get injured?

[Anny Road]

You misunderstand. Its nothing to do with underestimating them.

 

Its to do with Rafa's tactical proficiency in such games. I'd prefer to have Gerrard in the team, obviously, but he'll be missed less in a game where we'll be happy with a nil nil, than in one where we need to score.

Not just you mate but everyones seems to think we will stroll out there get a 0-0 and turn them over at Anfield.

You do not need me to remind you that we have failed to turn over teams with a lot less ability than Madrid at home this year.

[Catch22]

Benitez does, so maybe he should have made the decision to rest him and not pander to the so called 'Sky' generation. He's the manager after all.

 

 

I agree. He made a mistake.

 

Most of his mistakes come when he moves closest to the "fan view": buying Robbie Keane being the most obvious example.

 

Yet they still demand him or a replacement moves even closer to their ill-thought-thru views.

[zigackly]

Good lord, we are in trouble. Can't see us getting past Real without him, unless others in the team step it up big time.

 

Nonsense. This was said about Juventus in 2005 and our team was a lot worse then.

[Barrington Womble]

Good lord, we are in trouble. Can't see us getting past Real without him, unless others in the team step it up big time.

 

We've done without Gerrard before (most notable in the run to number 5) and we'll manage it again. A lot of players seem to step up when he's not about - alonso in particular seems to have a greater influence when SG is not about. If nothing else, this side can 0-0 anyone to death, which would be a decent result over there.

[Anny Road]

We've done without Gerrard before (most notable in the run to number 5) and we'll manage it again. A lot of players seem to step up when he's not about - alonso in particular seems to have a greater influence when SG is not about. If nothing else, this side can 0-0 anyone to death, which would be a decent result over there.

 

Wigan?

[JMARKH]

To be honest although Rafa can't hack it domestically when it comes to Europe I think he is second to none as his track record proves, his chess like thinking will see us get the better of Madrid with or without Gerrard. I must add that it will be a poor show if we can't beat shite like portsmouth and boro without him though.

[Barrington Womble]

Wigan?

 

I don't understand what you mean.

[hamstrung]

Not just you mate but everyones seems to think we will stroll out there get a 0-0 and turn them over at Anfield.

You do not need me to remind you that we have failed to turn over teams with a lot less ability than Madrid at home this year.

 

That's true.

 

Although its not the good teams we've had a problem with. Can't see Real Madrid coming over and "parking the bus".

[Catch22]

So, are you saying Benitez knew Gerrard was going to get injured?

 

 

No but when you over-play a player you increase his chances of injury.

 

The very top clubs monitor this & use it to rest players.

The fans don't & scream idiotic blue murder but then ignore the consequences.

 

Wenger has spoken about Pires in their '01-02 PL winning season.

He was fantastic that year (think he got 1 of the player of the year awards)

They monitored how much he ran every game.

After being fairly constant at x km there was a noticeable steady decline over 4/5 games.

Wenger realsied he was tiring & spent a while agonising over whether to rest him or not.

He didn't because he had been playing so well

The very next game Pires suffered an injury which put him out for the season.

Wenger admitted his (understandable) mistake

 

All of this is ignored when we get idiotic commenst about taking Gerrard off with 7 mins to go.

 

Lo & behold he is now injured.

[Royal Family]

Perhaps we will see an apology from all those who demanded that he stayed on against Wigan?

(in fact he should have been taken off earlier)

 

I look forward to reading it alongside the same apology that Torres was "rested too much last season" when being over-played screwed him up.

 

No apologies needed, but of course you are spot on about him being overplayed. But then, you can hardly absolve Rafa from blame: either he's caved in to supporter and media pressure, in which case has lost it completely, OR he's dismantled the depth of the squad and has no option bu to play injured players. It would have been nice if he'd not let TWO strikers go in the summer and brought in Keane (whose ineptitude we have always agreed on) and the worse French striker since Stephane Gui'varch!

[Faustus]

This is the cherry on top of a turd sundae.

[Ted]

No but when you over-play a player you increase his chances of injury.

 

The very top clubs monitor this & use it to rest players.

The fans don't & scream idiotic blue murder but then ignore the consequences.

 

Wenger has spoken about Pires in their '01-02 PL winning season.

He was fantastic that year (think he got 1 of the player of the year awards)

They monitored how much he ran every game.

After being fairly constant at x km there was a noticeable steady decline over 4/5 games.

Wenger realsied he was tiring & spent a while agonising over whether to rest him or not.

He didn't because he had been playing so well

The very next game Pires suffered an injury which put him out for the season.

All of this is ignored when we get idiotic commenst about taking Gerrard off with 7 mins to go.

 

Lo & behold he is now injured.

 

That was a cruciate ligament injury and nothing to do with tiredness. He landed awkwardly, he never ran himself into the ground or anything.

[ScottyT]

I agree. He made a mistake.

 

Most of his mistakes come when he moves closest to the "fan view": buying Robbie Keane being the most obvious example.

 

Yet they still demand him or a replacement moves even closer to their ill-thought-thru views.

 

Is there any end to your patronising, sickly apologist routine?

 

So any successful signing was through his own flawless judgement, and any failure was the fault of "fan view", whatever that is.

 

You, like Benitez, and Houllier before him, blame everyone and everything but themselves.

[Anny Road]

I don't understand what you mean.

 

I mean that if we should be able to get a 0-0 in Madrid one would have thought we could protect a 1-0 at wigan.

Ok its not the same but you take the point that this is far far from an easy tie which has just been made considerable harder.

[Barrington Womble]

No but when you over-play a player you increase his chances of injury.

 

The very top clubs monitor this & use it to rest players.

The fans don't & scream idiotic blue murder but then ignore the consequences.

 

Wenger has spoken about Pires in their '01-02 PL winning season.

He was fantastic that year (think he got 1 of the player of the year awards)

They monitored how much he ran every game.

After being fairly constant at x km there was a noticeable steady decline over 4/5 games.

Wenger realsied he was tiring & spent a while agonising over whether to rest him or not.

He didn't because he had been playing so well

The very next game Pires suffered an injury which put him out for the season.

Wenger admitted his (understandable) mistake

 

All of this is ignored when we get idiotic commenst about taking Gerrard off with 7 mins to go.

 

Lo & behold he is now injured.

 

But this is what I don't understand with your argument, if he was going to get injured a week later anyway, he might as well have either finished the game or he should have been subbed off earlier - 7 minutes, what's the point and it didn't help. It's like when you say Torres' injury was down to over playing, there's no proof of that, in fact quite the opposite as Torres and Benitez both blamed Del Bosque for not allowing him to do his own warm up routine. Everytime someone gets injured, you're twisting the facts for your own ends.