Filed under: All "hail" the rotation, Rafa speaks, Torres, Utter bullshit
So, it’s Thursday, and having sufficiently recovered from the midweek 4-2 win over Reading, the goateed goat has opened his mouth and spewed forth words with that soft Spanish accent of his.
What did he have to say?
[from the BBC]
“When you are playing for winning trophies you must analyse everything and say ‘OK for the last 10-15 games I need Torres fit”
His comments in the news today, which you’ll find in more depth here, along with other insight here , are yet another line of defense for his hallowed rotational policy.
However, what Rafa fails to address is that when you are “playing for winning trophies” as he put it, you also need to play for winning games. In an ideal world, like some video-game parallel universe, he’d chuck out the same elite XI every week, regardless of minor knocks or fatigue. However, while he must address those issues and rotate to an extent, surely there is some middle ground, a rational area whereby he lets his top players see the bulk of the action while rotating the situational puzzle pieces around them.
There are 5 or so players in the Liverpool squad that should see the pitch every game, within reason: Reina, Carragher, Gerrard, Finnan, and Torres. Looking at it on the board, they form not only the physical backbone of the team but the spiritual one; the home-grown players of great calibre, the talisman in goal, and the wunder kind from Spain.
There are injuries and players to replace them, as we’ve seen with the metatarsal woes of Agger and Alonso, but even with 5 fixtures in the lineup, there is plenty of room for experimentation, fresh legs and rotation around the literal core of the team. It defies reason to leave such talent on the bench when we’ve paid big money for him to do a job, one that being a reserve does not allow him to do.
It smacks of arrogance on Benitez’s part to ignore Torres’ hat-trick performance on Tuesday and go on record saying it does not guarantee him a starting spot in the next match.
> How does that make Torres feel, as a young, gifted player who’s taken a great and selfless risk to further his career at such a prestigious club like Liverpool?
> How does that make the rest of the squad feel, knowing that no amount of good performance and success on the pitch means nothing when stacked against the manager’s arbitrary selection policy?
We shall see what happens come Saturday, and whether Rafa swings the guillotine once more.
If you’re here, you share the same mindset that I do when it comes to all matters LFC-related: Fernando Torres must play. He’s a proven striker at domestic and international levels, and right now, he’s being forced to succumb to the rotational mercy of Rafa Benitez.
It’s a crying shame, especially considering he’s joined a club where he’s not only their most expensive player, but he is perceived to be the solution for years of strikers who can’t score. Liverpool have suffered for years under the stress and strain of ineffective forwards, a period that began with the departure of Michael Owen [and, perhaps unfairly, the coke habits of folk-hero Robbie Fowler].
Since 2004, the following strikers have seen playing time at Anfield:
[listed in chronological order; players in italics are still with the club]
- Djibril Cisse [13 goals in 49 appearances]
- Fernando Morientes [8 goals in 41 appearances]
- Neil Mellor [2 goals in 12 appearances]
- Milan Baros [19 goals in 68 appearances]
- El-Hadji Diouf [3 goals in 58 appearances]
- Florent Sinama-Pongolle [4 goals in 38 appearances]
- Peter Crouch [17 goals in 67 appearances]
- Robbie Fowler [8 goals in 30 appearances in his 2nd stint with the club; 120 goals in 236 from 1992-2001]
- Craig Bellamy [7 goals in 27 appearances]
- Dirk Kuyt [12 goals in 39 appearances]
- Andrei Voronin [new arrival in 2007]
By comparison, Fernando Torres has risen swiftly through the Spanish ranks, establishing himself in the 2006 World Cup as a dangerous, instinctive striker with the ability to create chances and cause trouble in and around the box. 82 goals in 214 appearances for his previous club, Atletico Madrid, led him to the Spanish national side in 2003, and since then, he’s scoring at a ratio of a goal every 3 games [15 goals in 44 caps], a phenomenal ratio at the highest stage.
In World Cup ‘06, Torres scored 3 goals and narrowly missed out on “All-Star Team” honors.
With 6 goals in only 9 appearances for Liverpool to date, his quality is shining through, and yet, he is still not exempt for Rafa’s bizarre and bull-headed rotation policy. He came off the bench to play a combined 58 minutes in two important Premier League matches, both insipid 0-0 draws, ceding his spot to Crouch and Voronin.
At only 23, this transfer is undoubtedly crucial for his own personal progress towards becoming one of the world’s top players. His profile is higher by playing at such a worldwide club, and a lack of regular playing time not only hurts Liverpool’s chances of domestic success, but his own chances of making that jump to being among the elite.
So Rafa, what are you waiting for?
LET FERNANDO TORRES PLAY!
