Riera is a good player, who never had a chance this season after pissing off Rafa early on.
Now we have Maxi Rodriguez, who Rafa will afford game after game after game, only to cool on later. Yossi, Maxi, Riera, they are all much of a muchness in terms of quality.
Only one of them plays on the left though, and when on form Riera has the sort of first touch that helps a team like ours right now, which struggles to transition from defending. Riera I actually quite rate in terms of understanding how to contribute to attacking play, but he can't force the matter, and neither can any of the others consistently. Combine that with that gutting return, when he looked hungry and if anything overeager to play, and then in that same game picking up another injury, and I have quite a bit of sympathy for him. His major issue in terms of selection, before he got Rafa's cold shoulder, was that Rafa doesn't think him capable of doing a full 90, and a control freak like Rafa isn't going to want to have a sub he believes to be required.
Yea, he's got limitations. Every top level club has a bunch of less than ideal players playing for them, and then some fantastic players. The limited players aren't best described as "shit". It's just a matter of getting the right mix of them. Riera last year helped our team be greater than the sum of its parts.
Now we have Maxi Rodriguez, who Rafa will afford game after game after game, only to cool on later. Yossi, Maxi, Riera, they are all much of a muchness in terms of quality.
Only one of them plays on the left though, and when on form Riera has the sort of first touch that helps a team like ours right now, which struggles to transition from defending. Riera I actually quite rate in terms of understanding how to contribute to attacking play, but he can't force the matter, and neither can any of the others consistently. Combine that with that gutting return, when he looked hungry and if anything overeager to play, and then in that same game picking up another injury, and I have quite a bit of sympathy for him. His major issue in terms of selection, before he got Rafa's cold shoulder, was that Rafa doesn't think him capable of doing a full 90, and a control freak like Rafa isn't going to want to have a sub he believes to be required.
Yea, he's got limitations. Every top level club has a bunch of less than ideal players playing for them, and then some fantastic players. The limited players aren't best described as "shit". It's just a matter of getting the right mix of them. Riera last year helped our team be greater than the sum of its parts.
