Benitaur

Carra is 29, Hyypia is 34, Finnan is 31 (I think), and Riise/Aurelio is 27-28. Like I said, not urgent 3 seasons ago, but now it is. As much as we hear about Sheringham playing till what 39-40, the majority of players in the top league play at a good standard up to 30-35. During that period they either retire or move on to smaller and less competitive teams or leagues. Kewell is a Rafa favourite I agree, but I am fairly certain that if Rafa can get someone better, he would have. As for Benayoun, to me he is definitely better than Smicer as he is more effective. But I suspect he is more directly a replacement for Garcia, in which I do think the jury is still out. Yes Benayoun is more consistent, playing around 7/10 nearly every match. While Garcia ranges from 2/10 to 9/10. However, man what great times those 9/10 were. As for your striker question. Kuyt is definitely more intelligent than Cisse or Baros, and can follow instructions. Its not as if their record shows that they scored consistently more goals than Kuyt. If you want, they probably have similar scoring records, but Kuyt brings more to the team. Voronin is not scoring as many goals as when he started the season, but even if we regard him as the same standard as Baros and Cisse, the fact that he is free makes him a better buy IMO. He has good movement and you can tell by his runs and the stuff he attempts, that he is an intelligent player. I do regard Voronin as superior than Mellor. As other clubs who have taken Mellor on have found out, Mellor is not really mobile enough to be a striker. No doubt he has the scoring touch, but at his age, he should have been the finished product, but is yet in under development stage. While I do agree bar Torres our strikeforce probably isn't much better than in 2004, thats not entirely by Rafa's choice is it due to the budget? Probably the only thing if you want to fault him for is buying Morientes instead of Anelka for 6-8 mil 2 seasons ago. But hindsight is always 20/20

The Mancs limped to the end last season. They were comfortably ahead that only Chelsea had a realistic chance of catching them. We lost out in the race in February during the Barca games. No proof? Rafa's teams always finish strong every season, even before us at Valencia, when everyone else is limping to the finish line. Rotation is not something new. Fans in Valencia were complaining about Rafa's rotation policy even when they won the league twice. Capello rotates, as does Ramos at Tottenham. Mourinho rotates, as does Fergie, as does Wenger. And they rotate as much and their major players too. The only ones who don't rotate are the clueless English managers with their 20 years outdated wisdom and limited squads. Yes, rotation can truly work when we have like for like. Do you think Rafa does not want every player to be of similar standard to Gerrard or Torres? Every year he tries to buy players of the caliber of Eto'o, Villa, Sergio Ramos etc before they became stars. But he was never given the budget to get them until this season. If the Champions League didn't exist, and there is no FA Cup and League cup, whereby we only have the league to play for, and there is only one game a week, I have no doubt in my mind that Rafa would play his best 11 without any rotation. Ultimately why we struggle against the Mancs, Chelsea and Arsenal, and why we only can beat them in one of games, but not the league is lack of overall quality. We are closer than ever this year, but still not of the same overall standard of the Mancs and Chelsea. Its like racing in the F1 with a standard road worthy Ferrari. You may very well be the best driver in the world, and due to your skill can overtake the leaders in the corners, but ultimately the ones with the proper F1 cars will win the race.

Also, those players got injured during the period of internationals didn't they?

Well, the squad Rafa inherited had Gerrard who was worth keeping. Thats it. The rest were to be replaced. Faster or slower the rate of replacing players, its up to the budget. Firstly he strengthened our central midfield (Alonso, then Momo, then Mascherano and Lucas). Then he got better and better strikers (Morientes, then Crouch, the Kuyt & Bellamy, now Torres & Babel). He needed a better keeper too. Each year he improves what he has, or replaced with better. Those were the more urgent needs. Now he has to work on our aging and slow defence. He got Agger two seasons ago. Wingers too are still in need of replacement too. Our defence and wingers are stopgaps at most. Not really the quality we need to realisticly win the Premiership and defend it successfully. Yes, our defenders have been brilliant. They were good before under Houllier too, thats why it was not so urgent to change them when other areas are in more serious need of a revamp. But Rafa made them better with his tactics, zonal system etc. Thats no surprise. Rafa's teams have always been among the best defensive units around. But do you really think Rafa would have kept Hyypia, Finnan, Riise etc if he was given 100 mil for the last 3 years? Most of his buys until this season has been his second or third tier choices. His first choice buys were not even a realistic hope.

How do they do what? IMO they have failed in bringing in the one THEY really want, the Champions League Trophy. Why do you think the Mancs and Chelsea looked so worn out towards the end of last season?

Like I said, Agger has decent pace, but he is no sprinter the way Gallas, Toure, or even Distin is. They can match pacey strikers or even catch up if left for dead. Agger can't

Its very simple. Rafa rests his best players when they have to play 2 games or more in a week. Against Pompey & Birmingham, we had to play Porto and Reading in midweek. If we play our best players week in and week out, every game, we will have Torres etc crocked by the time they hit their so called prime around 26-30, like Owen or Kewell. No matter how much training, or how much professional the players are, there is no way a player can run the equivalent of a marathon sometimes 3 times a week, all year round and expect them to be at their best. Expect Torres and Gerrard etc to be dropped for Reading

We play that way simply because our defenders are SLOW. The Mancs have Rio and Evra who are fast, while Vidic and Brown are no slouches in pace either. Arsenal has a whole backline of speedsters in Toure, Gallas, Sagna and Hoyte. They only struggle when they play Sanderos, who isn't fast. Chelsea has Cavalho and Cole, who covers for Terry. Ferreira is not really that slow either We have Hyypia who turns like an ocean liner, while Carra, Agger, Finnan, Riise or Aurelio while not slow, will never catch any of the many pacey strikers in the Premiership. Only Arbeloa has decent pace Hence, against the really top sides, we have to cover our frailties. This would not be a problem of course, if the Americans open their wallets and buy say... Kompany and Sergio Ramos for example. Then we can attack to our hearts content, knowing that our back is solid.

Simple, defenders defend. Carra is world class the same way the big named Argentine defenders like Ayala, Samuel etc are. Rafa himself compared Carra to Ayala. Hard men who defend as if their lives are on the line.

And the owners think Mourinho will keep quiet and not ask for transfers? I am sure Mourinho will keep quiet and just do his job :angry: Personally, I think Rafa got Mourinho's number since we beat them in the league last season. Chelsea haven't got anything on us since.

Watching the slow motion reply wondering why Cisse was screaming on the ground after an innocuous challenge.

I personally think he is overrated. Sure he won the world cup and all that but how well would England have done without Johnny W? No doubt teamwork, fitness etc is something he could imput, but I bet even Keegan would win the world cup in 86 with Argentina with Maradona as it's engine. Same thing here.