Date: 10th November 2008 at 7:41pm
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The sight we all wanted to see, Fernando Torres back on the pitch. It was great to see him get a run out in the closing minutes against West Brom. We have missed Torres over the last couple of games, we could have down with his killer instinct infront of goal against Atletico and Spurs but whilst Torres was out we did not do too badly. But now that El Nino is back, what is this going to mean for us? “Good times ahead” a lot of us will be saying, but spare a thought for Rafa and the players.

Now that Torres is back and fit again, it is obvious he is the first choice striker. Before the season, many of us would have thought that it would be Keane and Torres upfront, Gerrard and Mascherano is the middle of the field and two wide men to be picked. Now the tricky part to this equation is Xabi Alonso. Alonso has had a great season and could easily be called our player of the season thus far. Dropping him to the bench could not be great for us if we are to stick with Gerrard and Mascherano in the middle.

The options available would be: to drop Alonso and go with Torres, Keane, Gerrard and Mascherano or to drop Keane and have Gerrard play in the role behind Torres whilst Alonso and Mascherano hold the middle. A third variation which I personally would like to see but not too sure if Gerrad would like is: Torres and Keane upfront, Alonso and Mascherano in the middle and Gerrard playing wide on the right with Riera holding the left.

I understand that we need to rotate players during the season and give some players a rest but Rafa would like to know who his best XI are. Formations also have to change according to the opposition you are facing. For example if we are at home against a lesser team then maybe there is no need to play Mascherano as he will not offer us an attacking option.

It is a headache Rafa has but is it a good or bad headache? I personally would like to see Gerrard on the right. What do you think?

 

One response to “When Torres comes back”

  1. Tonka says:

    Put Gerrard out the right where he cannot influence the match as much as in the middle and watch us drop points!!. Since Gerrard has been back in the mix in the middle of the park with either Alonso or Masher the team has been more balanced and more of a threat going forward. When Gerrard is on the right and things are not going well he drifts back into the middle as the game goes on leaving nobody on the right hand side at all which then reduces the width which we are trying to introduce more this season. So NO NO NO for me.