Logic

True. Which makes it infuriating that he hasn't played more this season.

mhmm....

If Aqua isn't 100% in body and mind (that is not fit enough to play about 10min of football like we are talking about here) then WTF is he on the bench? But yes, let's trust Rafa. Because that has done wonders this season. Oh, I forgot. That's all the owners fault isn't it?

So you believe this "front 4": El Zhar - -Stevie - - Babel - - - - - - - - Kuyt - - - - - - - Is better than: Stevie - Aqualad - Babel - - - - - - - - Kuyt - - - - - - or Stevie - - - - - - - - - Babel - - - - - Pacheco - Kuyt - - or this front 6: - - Stevie - Masch - - - - Aqualad Kuyt - Pacheco - Babel (Pacheco as a false 9) I'm sorry but that's simply supporting Rafa blindly without the ability to criticize.

1. Why wasn't Stevie playing in the centre then? Why was he playing as a forward in the second half? 2. We had a "front 4" of Stevie, Babel, Kuyt + 1 when taking Yossi off. We had Degen, Ayala, Aquilani, El Zhar and Pacheco on the Bench. Let's ignore Degen and Ayala, then we have Aquilani, El Zhar or Pacheco as options. Do you seriously believe that El Zhar is the best option of the bench in this situation? This is also ignoring the possibility of a) taking off either Lucas/Masch moving Stevie back and b) changing the shape of the team and c) still having one substitution to make.

Gerrard, Kuyt, and Babel could all go right with Aqualad taking the typical Gerrard position. (that is if we so desperately needed to keep the same f***ing formation that we use in every game these days no matter if we need a goal or not.) N'Gog is OK as backup. El Zhar probably hasn't done enough to earn a new contract so move him on. But it's not about if they should be in the team/squad or not. It's the decision by Rafa to use El Zhar instead of all the other options available.

The thing going through my head all day is: Nabil el Zhar? NABIL FÚCKING EL ZHAR!? You got Aquilani which you considered worth around 20m... you got Pacheco which is one of the most exciting prospects coming through our ranks... you got several players in the team that could cover Yossi's position but you choose NABIL FÚCKING EL ZHAR!? WTF!?!?! disclaimer: I'm not critisizing El Zhar, he does his best when he plays.

Agreed. Except he's 21. IMO same applies for Lucas he should be the 3rd choice centre midfielder, and when he plays he must have a bit (or a lot) more freedom to go forward. I'm just unbelievably tired of our fans taking their frustrations out on two of our players who have not done much wrong to be honest.

N'Gog: 8 goals in 17 starts this season (and then 14 subs on top of that). He's 21 years old. Can I just say FÚCK OFF! to those of you criticizing him! He's a kid filling in for the best striker in the world. He's doing really well and deserves our support. Same applies for Lucas and it's f***ing disgusting seeing how some on here talk about them. Best fans in the world... what a joke!

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It's not rotation that's the problem. The problem is who is rotated/rested and when. The rotation does not seem based on performance but rather on how "tired" players are. Lucas shouldn't be in our starting XI but when he performs well he should stay in the team in the next game. Just like Kuyt shouldn't stay in the team just because he can run a lot, and he should be rotated when he performs badly.

I prefer Aqualad myself as well but I think it's shít management to take a lad, who performed well/great, off the XI in the next game. He was probably brimming with confidence and he gets yanked off the team. It's shít management IMO and also shít man management. If the players could rely on performing well to stay in the team we might see an improvement in our performances overall. At the moment it often seems as if we have decided who plays what games at the beginning of the season and then just react to possible injuries/bans. There's no incentive for players to put in those extra few percent's that would give us more points.

It looked like we never changed the shape of the team. Which is unbelievable considering the fact that we need 3 point from every game...

That might actually have got our players to t*** the ball into the box in the last few minutes instead of sending it back and forth in defence...

Am I the only one kind of pissed off about the fact that finally when players play well they are "rested" the next game? What does it do to the confidence of players like Lucas that when they finally perform they don't play the next game...