Rotation, Rotation, Rotation

Whilst like almost everybody else I think rotation, used correctly, is vital, sometimes I think it  is getting out of hand and dare I say ridiculous again with our supporters appearing to jump on a bandwagon and start shouting their mouths off before engaging the brain and thinking about what they are saying or asking for.

Firstly let me say that i agree with most it is absolutely imperative that we rest players so that we don't ruin careers like we have done in the past with the likes of Owen through over playing but also so that out team doesn't suffer in the hear and now suffering with unnecessary injuries or loss of form through tiredness both of which could cost us points.

Having said that I have listened to one recent podcast that during the course of their show called for all ten of our outfield players to be rested or rotated for an important league fixture and this is silly, taking things to extremes again.  Obviously all ten can't be replaced while we still field a strong enough team and whilst I agree that tired players need to be given a week off occasionally we have to look at it from the perspective of the whole team and who we can afford to drop and who we need for that particular fixture as well as who is available to come in and replace those we are resting, if we don't have replacements fit and available then players can't be rested they are just going to have to tough it out.

Form is an important consideration, if a player is in top form banging in the goals every week, for me it is not the time to rest him, let him play, let the team get the benefits and rest him when there is the inevitable dip.  By the nature of it his form will drop off when he tires and that is surely the time to drop or rest somebody not when they are in the middle of a hot streak.  At Liverpool we always seem to want to protect players for the later, that never seems to come.  When is the big game that we are resting or wanting to rest all these players for?  We have calls to rest players in the League Cup semi finals, in the FA Cup, in the UEFA cup in the Champions League and in big six point League fixtures exactly what are we saving them for, there is nothing left, they will all be nice and fresh for their summer holidays.

The opposite is also true a player struggling with form should be the one who is dropped or rested and given a chance to recover, poor form will inevitably be a symptom of tiredness so this would be the ideal time to take somebody out of the team but hen our manager does this we seem to criticise claiming he has chucked players under the bus and we should be supporting them.  Rodgers does take players out of the team when they appear to be suffering and when he brings them back it appears to work Sterling last season was dropped, Mignolet this season was dropped or rested and now looks like a star, Lovren, Balotelli, Sakho, Can, Lucas, Markovic, Lallana, Moreno, Sterling all possiby first eleven have had time out of the team and when they have come back have looked stronger with possibly only Sterling not showing terrible form before he was rested, when you add to this list the players who have been injured Sturridge, Gerrard, Johnson, Allan and those such as Lambert, Enrique and Manquillo who were possibly always just cover we are changing or rotating our team a lot.

 For me Rodgers is taking people out of the team and when they come back their form has been good so we are resting players and now at the end of the season when the fixture list is becoming more of a problem and every game seems to be a six pointer we should be seeing the benefits, we should be able to play our strongest team more often then rest players over the summer it's what Rodgers does look at our record in his previous seasons we finish strong look at the evidence players have been taking out of the team and have come back stronger and better.  So please trust our manager in this at least he appears to know what he is doing.

 @lfclumo