Again, nothing much changes after a 0-0. So not bothering to screen grab them all.
The only things I notice are the fact that when Gerrard and Carragher are playing, we don't seem to score as much as we have been scoring in other games. I also noticed that Benayoun has more assists per 90 minutes that anyone else, so maybe he would have been ideal against Birmingham. We just needed somebody like him to play a clever pass that can unlock a defence. A bit like Luis Garcia used to do. Still, that opinion is loaded with hindsight and I think we should have won that game anyway. We don't need Benayoun or Torres to beat Birmingham at home. Torres could have played the whole game and we still may not have won. On Saturday we missed the vital ingredient - called luck. No need to go over the top in criticism for Rafa. I think we all agree that he can't play every player in every game. So if you are going to leave out your best striker, and play your third/fourth choice striker instead, in which game should you do it? Simple. In a home game against a newly promoted side. We were odds on to batter them, so why not?
However, for what it's worth, I am pissed off with Rafa. I don't like to say that really, because it's like criticising one of your family or your girlfriend. It's nice to believe that certain people have no faults, but everybody has faults. Rafa included.
I am pissed off with him because he left Torres and Gerrard out against Portsmouth. Not bothered about him leaving Torres out against Birmingham. But leaving him out in an away game that we would normally have enough trouble winning anyway. To me, that smacks of arrogance. Probably why Big Fat Sam spoke up last week. I don't particularly like that fat bastard but I think he's right. It is arrogant. Resting them in a Premiership game so they can be fresh for a Champions League game is something we thought would not happen this season - because we all thought the league was Rafa's priority. Clearly it isn't. The league is either a joint priority or a second priority.
Take this for an example. Man U come to Anfield in a league game. They have ambitions to win the league as usual. But Ferguson leaves Rooney and Ronaldo on the bench. Because he thinks that Man U can beat us without their two best players. How would that make us feel?
It would give us a massive lift before the game, because we would think we have a greater chance of winning the game. It would mean we don't have to defend as much and can look to attack more than we thought we might.
Not only that though, we would think "What the fuck is Fergie playing at? The cheeky c*nt thinks his team will beat us without his two best players. The fucking arrogant twat." And that would give our team an added incentive to beat them.
Which is exactly what Portsmouth and Redknapp must have thought when they saw Rafa's team sheet a week last Saturday. Redknapp doesn't even need much more motivation for his players. He just tells them that Rafa has left his two best players out because he expects them to beat us anyway. That's enough motivation for Portsmouth.
I now think that Rafa's honeymoon period is over. He's had his learning curve, he's had time to build the team. How can the team be consistent if Rafa isn't consistent? He will now be under more pressure than ever, just like Houllier was. Sad but true. But the really sad thing is that Rafa's arrogance is currently his biggest downfall. He could buy himself more time if he played his best team more often, but his refusal to do so is something only Tomkins will understand.
