Totally agree with you about playing our better players to beat young boys, said as much in the thread. While I do subscribe to the rotation system, prioritising at the expense of jeopardising yourself in a cup competition is foolish. Having said that we had got ourselves into a decent position by the time the "better" players came on. Unfortunately I blame Gerrard a lot for the things that went wrong after he came on so in some ways that is a good counter argument for playing him.
We were in the same position when they came on as when they walked off. Drawing at home to Bern in European competition. Indeed their arrivals steadied the ship. If they were on earlier, we'd probably have our name booked for the next round now.
This statement is just completely false, I'm not even sure how you could possibly come to this conclusion.
Professionalism is getting a job done, regardless of situation, or circumstance. There are 90 minutes to play against Bern, as there are 90 minutes to play against the mancs. There are 3 points on offer against Bern as there are 3 points on offer against the mancs. You're supposed to treat each game the same, and do the same job every time.
A train driver has the same route to drive every time. His job isn't to drive half the route tomorrow, a third of it yesterday, and the full route today, his job is to drive the train in the exact same way, in the exact same direction, taking the same amount of time today as tomorrow as every other day. He could be more tired tomorrow than today, he could have more problems along the route tomorrow than today, but he still has to get the job done both days. And he does, because he's professional in his job, and he does it to the best of his ability. Like football teams should.
Don't think any of the players are the same as they were though Billy.
In retrospect could you imagine Billy the anger if Brendan played Suarez in every minute of every game and he suffered a significant injury? I can honestly say (not meaning you) that many of those that subscribed to playing Suarez/Stevie every game without rest would be some of the first complaining about poor man-management and Brendan running our two best players into the ground.
The thing is though, they are going to get injured, somewhere, sometime. Such is the nature of injuries. It could be tomorrow, it could be against the mancs, or it could be 4 months down the line. The truth is we don't know when it's going to happen. Research in a lab is all very well, but injuries are completely random events on a pitch. The players have to play games however, and can't go through their career worrying when they're going to get injured.
I know most teams do, and that's their business. That doesn't mean I think it's right, I want us to follow suit, or I'll ever agree with it.
But you cant play your strongest team in every single game - we have 3 very important league games coming up - yes we want to win every single game so you utilize your full squad.
We are still in a good position to go through.
You can utilise your squad when everyone has the same ability, and can walk into the team without any impact on it's performance. Ours can't though. Without S&G, our team is fu**ed, and they showed why again on the night.
I don't know if we are in a good position to go through. The table may say different, but Bern have a home game against a side already qualified, while we need to win an away game in a hostile crowd, possibly a dodgy pitch in poor weather, and a weakened squad. We shouldn't be in that position at this stage of the group, but we are, and if we don't make it, we have to live with the consequences.
Both the CL and Europa league are two different tournaments than in recent years - it maybe the same trophies but its remarkably different tournaments
They both have a group phase, and 5 or 6 qualifying rounds either side of it. The finances are different, and the glamour is different, but European football is European football, and the end reward trophywise in both, is the same as it always was.
I think we should play our strongest team in every game and if a player is not up to the stress replace him with a sub,that is what the subs are for.I go back to Bill Shankly using 14 players in a full season now don't tell me the game was easier then or I will tell you different.
Fully agreed of course.
The game wasn't easier then, we had 60-odd games to play a year, all over 90 minutes against 11 opponents, in four competitions. In 2012, a full season is 60-odd games, over 90 minutes against 11 opponents, in four competitions.
Spot the difference.