THE ROCKLIFFE FILES by Toby Higgins

By Toby Higgins
October 25 2005

YOU'VE GOT TO BE GREAT TO ROTATE 25-10-05 One of the newest phrases to hit football is “squad rotation”. This idea, developed to it’s extremes by ex-Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri, is quite a simple one to grasp.

Simply, no matter how well or badly the team plays the week before, you “rest” most of the players for the following game, replacing them with, ideally, a player just as good, if not better. Therefore understandably, the golden rule of this system is, “you’ve got to be great to rotate”.

And we ain’t great. As the above paragraph indicates, Claudio “Tinker-man” Ranieri is now the ex-Chelsea manager because his rotation policy failed. Rafa “The Gaffa” Benitez is finding it hard to get the balance right at European Champions Liverpool, who lost this weekend, and even Manchester United, who only drew, are struggling after European games. So what chance have we got?

Well, none. Critics of squad rotation argue that you should play your best available squad for every single game, which is unrealistic considering the number of games top clubs like us play.

We certainly suffer from playing in Europe on a Thursday night and then having a game on Sunday. The stats tell the full story. We have only won one game on a Sunday after playing in Europe.

Thursday’s result typifies how to do well in Europe. To go away from home and not concede is how to go far in this competition, and to win shows we have just a little more class than a lot of teams who play in this stage of the UEFA Cup. Qualification from this point must now be almost certain.

As I said last week, I never really fancied us getting anything away at West Ham. My memory of games against the Hammers is that we tend not to get a result at Upton Park and they tend not to get a result at the Riverside. It’s football’s “un-written rule”.

But were it not for an “un-scored goal”, maybe the rule would have been broken. Unlikely, it must be said. Clichés such as “you get what you deserve” and “fortune favours the brave” sum up our approach and performance not only on Sunday, but for the season so far.

I will touch on West Ham’s second goal. It wasn’t over the line, and shouldn’t have counted. Technology might be the answer, but common sense most certainly is.

The linesman who gave the goal could not have possibly actually seen the ball go over the line, because it didn’t. Even if he was unsure if it had crossed the line, the fact that not one player reacted as though it had should have got him out of jail. How he could give it is just beyond me.

And this brings me nicely onto another topic. I was reading a letter in FourFourTwo magazine from a Boro fan complaining about the national media’s coverage of the Boro, which as we all know is poor. I can guarantee that if West Ham had scored a “goal” like against Man Utd, Arsenal or Chelsea, there would have been uproar, like at Mendi's “goal” at Old Trafford last season.

But irrespective of that, we weren’t good enough on the day once again. Going back to what I said earlier about rotation, maybe it would help if McClaren knew his first team.

But I don’t think he does. At times when I see the line-up I wonder if he has ever seen half of them play before.

I didn’t see the game in Switzerland but from what I’ve heard, Doriva, who has only ever scored once for Boro, had a good game. The Brazilian, who was brought on earlier this season at Spurs with us 1-0 down and needing a goal, also started against Portsmouth the week before and against West Ham the week after. Does this mean he is in McClaren’s first choice XI?

I’m not sure there is one person in the ground other than McClaren who would name Doriva in their starting team. The same can probably be said of Manu Pogatetz.

Apart from the fact he is keeping Franck Queudrue out of the team I’ve got nothing against him, and that’s despite him being a maniac who doesn’t care much for the town. Franck must have really done something wrong for McClaren to drop him.

Szilard Nemeth started against Villa and Grasshoppers, but hasn’t even been on the bench in any other recent games. So where is he every other week? It’s that kind of mixing the team up which is no good for anyone.

Maybe when there is some consistency in the team selection their will be some consistency in the performances.

I heard the interview with Lord Gibson on Century on Thursday night, where amongst many things he talked about the younger players in the squad, like James Morrison and Adam Johnson.

I hear many fans calling for both of these players to be in the team, as they provide natural pace and width. They might, but there is no guarantee they have the answers we are looking for. Just because they are young doesn’t mean they are good enough to make it at this level.

Morrison has started his career well enough, but it’s far too early to be calling for Johnson to be in the team. He is 17, and let’s be honest, how many times have any of us seen him play?

Having too much too soon can be damaging for a player, as Stewart Downing was finding out before he got injured. As Gibson said on Thursday, it’s not just about getting them in the team, it’s about getting them playing well in the team.

Anyhow, who knows what the team will be against Everton away on Wednesday in the Carling Cup. It maybe an ideal chance to play Johnson and Morrison. Looking further ahead, I’m glad we’ve got Man Utd at home on Saturday. We need the points.

Same time next week… UP THE BORO!