It was late Saturday night, and the two guys at the bar, who had enjoyed more than one or two scoops to celebrate Fernando Torres’s return to form, were creating their own version of a famous Two Ronnies sketch.
“Whatever happened to...” said one. “Baby Jane?” replied the other.
“No, no, whatever happened to...” the first bloke tried again, this time to be met by “the Likely Lads?”
“No, no”, he persisted,” whatever happened to”...”The Heroes?” came a last desperate reply.
“No, no” the first guy cried in exasperation, “Rotation! Rotation! Whatever happened to rotation?”
A fair question indeed. Just when exactly did Rafa Benitez metamorphose into Bill Shankly?
“Same as last season”, Shankly used to reply when asked to name his team for any particular game.
Before Tuesday night’s match, just 15 players had started for Rafa in the seven competitive games to date, and three of those had played just one game each, meaning that just 12 have borne the burden of these early season fixtures (I knew that Maths ‘O’ Level would show its worth one day).
This compares to 17 in the same period last season; and 19 and 17 in the first seven league games of the two previous seasons. So has Rafa had an epiphany, the ghost of Mark Lawrenson’s moustache appearing to him in chains, moaning “you should always play your best side”?
Or are there other dark forces at work, such as those that bend time at Old Trafford, so that otherwise fastidious referees become befuddled when looking at their own watches?
The answer, I suspect, is that he has been blown off course by, as Harold MacMillan put it, “events, dear boy, events”.
The loss of Alonso and the injuries to Aurelio, Aquilani and Agger (watch out Babel and Benayoun) have reduced the numbers at his disposal certainly, shrinking the pool of talent available.
This pool is of course shrunk even further by the evaporation known as Voronin, Degen and Dossena, whose status as fringe players must surely owe more to their haircuts than any aspiration to first team standing.
But the real reason why Rafa has chosen to ignore one of his most devout canons, the rotation of players to preserve their energy for later in the season, is the seismic ramifications of those two early defeats, immediately plunging us six points adrift of the Chelsea arrivistes.
For despite the obvious clichés of it being a long season, plenty of points to play for etc., any further deficit incurred before we travel to Stamford Bridge a week on Sunday would put us at risk of being 10-12 points behind should our dire record at the Home of No History prior to last season return to haunt us.
Putting on a brave face in this situation would require the combined acting skills of John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson, aided by the entire staff of the BBC Make-up Department.
So while there may appear to be plenty of time available for us to claw our way back to the top, the reality is that Rafa has been unable to take the risks inherent in rotation, and has sensibly opted to delay any radical changes until the situation improves.
Our aim now must surely be to stay in contention until Christmas at the earliest, and reappraise the position then.
Anything less and it might not be just Goodnight from him, but quite possibly Goodnight from him.
“Whatever happened to...” said one. “Baby Jane?” replied the other.
“No, no, whatever happened to...” the first bloke tried again, this time to be met by “the Likely Lads?”
“No, no”, he persisted,” whatever happened to”...”The Heroes?” came a last desperate reply.
“No, no” the first guy cried in exasperation, “Rotation! Rotation! Whatever happened to rotation?”
A fair question indeed. Just when exactly did Rafa Benitez metamorphose into Bill Shankly?
“Same as last season”, Shankly used to reply when asked to name his team for any particular game.
Before Tuesday night’s match, just 15 players had started for Rafa in the seven competitive games to date, and three of those had played just one game each, meaning that just 12 have borne the burden of these early season fixtures (I knew that Maths ‘O’ Level would show its worth one day).
This compares to 17 in the same period last season; and 19 and 17 in the first seven league games of the two previous seasons. So has Rafa had an epiphany, the ghost of Mark Lawrenson’s moustache appearing to him in chains, moaning “you should always play your best side”?
Or are there other dark forces at work, such as those that bend time at Old Trafford, so that otherwise fastidious referees become befuddled when looking at their own watches?
The answer, I suspect, is that he has been blown off course by, as Harold MacMillan put it, “events, dear boy, events”.
The loss of Alonso and the injuries to Aurelio, Aquilani and Agger (watch out Babel and Benayoun) have reduced the numbers at his disposal certainly, shrinking the pool of talent available.
This pool is of course shrunk even further by the evaporation known as Voronin, Degen and Dossena, whose status as fringe players must surely owe more to their haircuts than any aspiration to first team standing.
But the real reason why Rafa has chosen to ignore one of his most devout canons, the rotation of players to preserve their energy for later in the season, is the seismic ramifications of those two early defeats, immediately plunging us six points adrift of the Chelsea arrivistes.
For despite the obvious clichés of it being a long season, plenty of points to play for etc., any further deficit incurred before we travel to Stamford Bridge a week on Sunday would put us at risk of being 10-12 points behind should our dire record at the Home of No History prior to last season return to haunt us.
Putting on a brave face in this situation would require the combined acting skills of John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson, aided by the entire staff of the BBC Make-up Department.
So while there may appear to be plenty of time available for us to claw our way back to the top, the reality is that Rafa has been unable to take the risks inherent in rotation, and has sensibly opted to delay any radical changes until the situation improves.
Our aim now must surely be to stay in contention until Christmas at the earliest, and reappraise the position then.
Anything less and it might not be just Goodnight from him, but quite possibly Goodnight from him.
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