[quote author=Whaddapie link=topic=37352.msg996014#msg996014 date=1258942402]
[quote author=Ryan link=topic=37352.msg995955#msg995955 date=1258936908]
[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=37352.msg994977#msg994977 date=1258825487]
[quote author=Whaddapie link=topic=37352.msg994902#msg994902 date=1258818358]
Two weeks ago, we lost Riera and Yossi for a month.
Two weeks ago, Aquilani played 20 minutes quite well, and has been training ever since.
Today, Yossi came on as a sub, but was so short of match fitness, he had to come off again, too.
And Aquilani watched the entire game from the bench.
Erm....?
[/quote]
I hardly ever agree with anything you write.
But I agree with that. Baffling stuff by Rafa.
[/quote]
What do you agree with?
We were forced into making two substitutions inside the first 30 minutes.
After that Rafa (and just about every manager going) was never going to make a third sub with anything less than 10 minutes left given how vunerable we'd have been ahad someone else got injured. city were on top from the minute we scored, did you want him to make an attacking sub?
Benayoun was fucked so had to come off, the only thing you could argue was whether he was to be replaced by Riera or Aurelio. Rafa probably felt it wasn't worth risking Riera and the possibility of another injury, I dunno. Hardly a massive game-changing decision though was it? Riera or Aurelio? Who gives a fuck.
Aquilani was a victim of circumstances unfortunately. I'm sure Rafa had earmarked gametime for him, but that went out the window once Agger and Babel went down injured.
The only issue I had with the subs was why El Zhar was amongst them. I thought that was pretty pointless.
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I give a fuck.
If he's not worth risking, why is he on the bench?
If he's on the bench, and we need to grab a late winner, why not play him, an attacker, rather than a defender who can play in midfield.
Or, if you're not going to go with the more attack minded player, why not bring on our 20m midfield "saviour" to see if his creative passong could open things up a little?
[/quote]
Could you imagine the outcry if we'd brough Aquilani on to play on the left-wing? It's not his position, and there are two left-sided players sitting on the bench already.
When Benayoun couldn't continue, it was naturally one of Riera or Aurelio. As for choosing between them; well neither score or create that many goals so it's not that big a deal as far as I'm concerned. Aurelio's been used as a late sub before, and can put in a decent free-kick or set-piece from time to time (The corner which Lucas missed from being one example) so I can see the rationale behind it.
