But asks, why are the top sides resting their stars in crucial matches?
Saturday 20 September 2014 12:09, UK
Last weekend we saw Brendan Rodgers rest Raheem Sterling so that he could play in the Champions League. We saw it again this week when Diego Costa didn’t start against Schalke for Chelsea. And Man City didn’t start with Sergio Aguero in their Champions League clash with Bayern Munich.
You do start to wonder why players can’t play that many games?
If we were still in Phil Thompson’s era (yes, that's a while back), it would pretty much be the same starting XI week in week out. I know the game is meant to be faster these days, but equally players’ fitness regimes and diet is meant to be that much better.
I find it all a bit bewildering that players can’t feature in a midweek game and a weekend match.
These teams have paid the price as well. It certainly cost Liverpool last weekend; they missed not having Sterling against Aston Villa. It certainly cost Manchester City because they didn’t have their most potent strike force in Munich. And it clearly cost Chelsea because Diego Costa is an absolute beast; I felt a bit sorry for Didier Drogba, he’s not quite what he used to be.
All of them have suffered by leaving out players and I’m not sure it’s the right way to go.
Disappointing
Yes, British sides only accumulated a measly four points in Matchday 1 of the Champions League but let’s not get carried away. The two away games in Germany were always going to be tough, but still, it was the performances that were disappointing.
Manchester City have got to understand that, starting their fourth season in the Champions League, they should now be equal to the likes of Bayern but they seem to have this inferiority complex. They go there and lose to a last-minute goal and people think they’ve done well, but the truth is - and we’ve heard it from the owners, who want to be competing in Europe - these are the sort of games they’ve got to go into believing they can get something from and I’m not sure they do quite believe. Let’s see what happens when they get teams back to the Etihad.
Chelsea have let too many goals in this season for Jose’s liking and there’s no doubt he’ll be wanting to keep it very, very tight this weekend. It will be a game of cat and mouse.
Think back to last season when Chelsea went to the Etihad; their game plan worked absolutely brilliantly and I can see something similar happening this time round. Mourinho would have been bitterly disappointed about the way they performed midweek, he’ll be looking for a reaction and I’m sure he’ll get something. Don't expect floods of goals, though; it'll be more like one either way just like last time…
Well done to Leeds for winning at Bournemouth in midweek. Leeds fans have taken umbrage to the fact that I said I thought they might be relegated this season but I was only echoing what a lot of Leeds fans were thinking themselves.
Neil Redfearn has done magnificently for them, though. They could do a lot worse than offer him a job on a permanent basis. But of course, if he’s got any common sense he would then turn that down because we all know Massimo Cellino‘s record of sacking managers.
They seem to have some good young kids coming through. Yes they’ve brought a lot of foreign players in but they do have one or two decent youth players of their own. Leeds have a fantastic fan base and one things for sure, I don’t want them to be down struggling in the Championship. Hopefully the revival continues.
