Has pako's departure affected us more than we might think?

[Guest Rafa's Receding Hairline]

What struck me the most about this season was that we had so many players limping off during games, especially towards the end of the season when we're normally at our strongest.

 

If you take the two Chelsea legs, we lost Aurelio (which turned out to be a disastous blow), Skrtel and at the end Torres in just two legs.

 

Even if you look at the Arsenal game in the league, we had Alonso who had a recurring injury of his metatarsal after being out for months, and Torres injured again.

 

I just wonder if all these injuries could have been avoided had Pako been around to monitor the players' fitness. I still feel we missed him badly this season and to lose him at that point was a major blow as our mid-season form showed.

[Mike]

its a genuine eureka moment.

[Guest Rafa's Receding Hairline]

its a genuine eureka moment.

 

Hmmmm... care to elaborate?

 

I miss his shiny head

[goodrobotusses]

I think Pako's loss had a more psychological impact than anything, leading into our pre-Christmas slump. The injuries you mentioned can pretty much be explained thus...

 

- Aurelio is made of glass (or at least his muscles are)

- Skrtel's was an impact injury from his tackle with Drogba

- Torres' hamstring probably started to get tight more as a result of running for near 100mins in a game at the end of the longest season of his career thus far.

Edited May 2, 2008 by hisdumbwaiter

[charlie clown]

its a genuine eureka moment.

 

[JonShar]

its a genuine eureka moment.

 

[Guest Rafa's Receding Hairline]

 

 

I don't get it.

[mooks]

I don't get it.

It goes like this - none of the injuries you mentioned had anything to do with Pako leaving.

 

And whether such a connection exists or not is completely irrelevant to our mid-season slump in form.

 

You must be new on here - every couple of months someone blames Pako leaving for everything that goes wrong at our club.

[Guest Rafa's Receding Hairline]

It goes like this - none of the injuries you mentioned had anything to do with Pako leaving.

 

And whether such a connection exists or not is completely irrelevant to our mid-season slump in form.

 

You must be new on here - every couple of months someone blames Pako leaving for everything that goes wrong at our club.

 

Ahhhh ok mate lol.

 

Yeah I used to frequent RAWK a lot more before, but I find it better here because it's calmer and there seem to be a lot less bellends (except Kaizer of course, but he's good for a laugh at times.)

[Skillz]

I think it affect the players a little bit, maybe. would definitely of affected Rafa bigtime though. Rafa would of had to adjust the way he has operated for years. To his credit he did that and I actually think it is ablessing in disguise as Rafa's developed a closer relationship with his players this year IMO and this is a positive.

[Coyler]

Pako's leaving isn't as disastrous as it would have been if we had have gotten through and it turned out to cause us to lose the final.

[JonShar]

Yeah I used to frequent RAWK a lot more before, but I find it better here because it's calmer and there seem to be a lot less bellends

 

[Earl Hafler]

Pako's leaving isn't as disastrous as it would have been if we had have gotten through and it turned out to cause us to lose the final.

 

But now we haven't made it, people can start blaming the Americans again

[muleskinner]

I'll keep blaming the pair of c***s until they f*** off.

[Guest the Dude abides]

This old chestnut again. Our fitness has always left a lot to be desired, even when Pako was here.

 

Is worrying that Riise and Alonso look fat now however.

[muleskinner]

This old chestnut again. Our fitness has always left a lot to be desired, even when Pako was here.

 

Is worrying that Riise and Alonso look fat now however.

 

Nonsense. Alonso once, again, covered more ground than any other of our players on Wednesday night.

[Rimbeux]

Nonsense. Alonso once, again, covered more ground than any other of our players on Wednesday night.

 

 

Which can be interpreted in a few ways, but not really conclusive evidence of fitness.

[Foo]

I think Pako's loss had a more psychological impact than anything, leading into our pre-Christmas slump. The injuries you mentioned can pretty much be explained thus...

 

- Aurelio is made of glass (or at least his muscles are)

- Skrtel's was an impact injury from his tackle with Drogba

- Torres' hamstring probably started to get tight more as a result of running for near 100mins in a game at the end of the longest season of his career thus far.

 

Aurelio is Portuguese for injured. Fact.

[muleskinner]

Which can be interpreted in a few ways, but not really conclusive evidence of fitness.

 

What? He covered more ground than any other player on the pitch on either side. If he was unfit he wouldn't have been able to. It seems people are looking to have a go at the team and management over anything. One thing they cannot be accused of with any seriousness is a lack of fitness.

[Guest Ant]

Ahhhh ok mate lol.

 

Yeah I used to frequent RAWK a lot more before, but I find it better here because it's calmer and there seem to be a lot less bellends (except Kaizer of course, but he's good for a laugh at times.)

 

 

You are in the wrong place

[Rich Gobey]

In hindsight, it was Pako's imminent departure that cost us the CL final last May.

[Guest Rafa's Receding Hairline]

You are in the wrong place

 

I disagree

 

This is the place for constructive criticism anyway...