THE post match reaction thread....

[alunevans]

For me, its the Torres one that is the problem. I see no reason for it tactically or otherwise. Rotating the central midfield doesn't bother me so much because the drop in quality (unless its stevie taken out) isn't so dramatic.

But why leave out your most (only?) dangerous striker when he is fit and available?

Makes no sense to me whatsoever. Would we have won if he'd played. Dunno. Would we have been more likely to? Absolutely.

As someone said elsewhere it doesn't alter the fact that we were pretty poo and couldn't pass wind never mind a football.

But if you want to break sides down then you pick those players capable of attracting markers and using some ingenuity to get behind them. Torres is such a player and was far more equipped to unlock a mass defence than Dirk Kuyt or Voronin, who for me are far too similar to be used in a partnership anyhow.

It feels at times like Rafa goes into the opposition dressing room and says "here y'are, you can choose one player that we promise not to play for the first hour". I know he doesn't. But if he did, we'd probably have very similar selections at times.

It's not so much rotation that I have a problem with - although I admit some skepticism of it - its the fact that great players are left out for okay players, even if the great players are fit, and even if the only game coming up is a meaningless one in comparison.

Rotating Masher for Alonso for Momo isn't something likely to get me too agitated. But unless we have four players of Torres calibre up front then rotation there is going to be a problem for me and for the team. Getting four of his calibre is not likely, so lets do what other top teams have done, and play their best strikers.

If Rafa wants to rotate, then at least rest the star players only when they really need it, and otherwise only rotate positions where the change in personnel is not also a chasmic change in quality.

[CAD]

Maybe because we had all our momentum stopped by the ****ing international break! Its played at a rediculous time too....players are just getting into the stride....and off they go on international duty to pick up niggling injuries.

It ****s us (and others) up every year.

I think people are going OTT on Rafa's rotation policy. Who has he rotated??

Torres. Thats it.

The other "rotations" were all due to knocks picked up on international duty...or in Stevies case because he has only just coem back from a nasty injury that can easily flare up if not treated properly.

I think it's about more than just the international break.

Starting against Derby:
Reina, Finnan, Hyypia, Agger, Arbeloa, Pennant, Mascherano, Alonso, Babel, Torres, Kuyt.

Starting against Pompey:
Reina, Finnan, Carragher, Agger, Arbeloa, Pennant, Sissoko, Alonso, Benayoun, Voronin, Crouch

5 changes and a completely new mindset at CM where Alonso goes from creative CM to HM with headless Mono at 'creative' CM.

Rotation isn't just about three matches.(Pompey, Porto, Brum) It's more about playing a completely different midfield after a 6-0 win. Alonso and Mono against Pompey. It DOES NOT promote consistency. You never get the small things right when you change players around for fun. If the argument is that you need to be able to rotate like this, with that many players in that many diff positions, then I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt; Our squad isn't good enough.

IF he had fielded more or less the same side that thrashed Derby 6-0 (with one or two changes) maybe we could have build on the victory and gained some momentum.

There is rotation and then there is ROTATION.

[Morph]

There is rotation and then there is ROTATION.

The one thing that doesn't really sit with me when talking about this rotation business, Reina, Carra, Agger, Finnan, Arbeloa, Alonso, Gerrard, in general play nearly every game barring injury.

Now look at that back 5, how many goals have they let in in open play 0 and they've been immense. And for me the reason for this is they aren't rotated very often if at all. Reina, Carra, Finnan practically have their slots guaranteed, Agger was bedded in properly and now is practically ever present, and Arbeloa is the latest to come in, and in much the same way as Agger has looked confident and is doing a great job. For me this policy should apply all over the pitch not just in defence.

Don't get me wrong I agree with the need for rotation but it's silly to rotate so many players, so often. We maybe see one change in defence every few games, Hyypia might come in for Agger, and now we might see Arbeloa rested for Aurelio or Riise, but it won't happen too often. Now maybe this is only because of a lack of personnel in our defensive positions recently and if it is then this is worrying, because there's no way we'd have the same defensive record if we rotated our defence as often as our forwards.

The defence has a great understanding with each other, and as such they can handle the odd change because the player coming in will know the system and knows how to play.

Even in midfield more often than not we tend to Alonso, and if not for Gerrards broken toe we'd have probably seen him in almost every game, either in the middle or on the right. Now there's no problem in the odd rotation for Mascherano or Sissoko, but to chop and change between the 4 all the time is silly, and i think this costs us because each midfield pairing will play in a different and that means the type of balls our wingers and forwards get from them will change all the time, which can't be good for the players. We've seen more changes than usual I feel because of the injuries to Gerrard and Alonso, so this issue maybe isn't as serious as our forward issue.

The main problem this season apart from when we played whipping boys Derby and Toulouse has been scoring goals. And is it really any surprise, we've got 4 strikers, and if playing with 2 up front that's a possible 6 different combinations for our two forward players, and after a bit of research we've already started with 5 different striking combinations this season. Juts to get some stats that's 5 different pairings in 9 matches, now I can't see how that type of rotation can bring understanding between the strikers.

One explanation for it could be that Rafa is trying out all his different combinations, but that doesn't explain why he's left one out. Incidentally the one he's so far neglected to play is Crouch and Torres, which a lot of people have been calling for and personally I'd like to see, maybe we will in our next match.

I didn't intend this post to be so long, so I'll end it here, but the one conclusion that I can draw from this is that, in the short term with so many new players rotation is not good, just look at our forward line recently and the lack of goals vs the amount of changes. In the long term however when all the players become used to playing with each other and learn where each player likes the ball played, what their movement is like, then we could have a fantastic top 4 players, but for it to work I think Rafa needs to treat his rotation policy for his forwards in the same way he treats it for his defenders.

[CAD]

The one thing that doesn't really sit with me when talking about this rotation business, Reina, Carra, Agger, Finnan, Arbeloa, Alonso, Gerrard, in general play nearly every game barring injury.

Now look at that back 5, how many goals have they let in in open play 0 and they've been immense. And for me the reason for this is they aren't rotated very often if at all. Reina, Carra, Finnan practically have their slots guaranteed, Agger was bedded in properly and now is practically ever present, and Arbeloa is the latest to come in, and in much the same way as Agger has looked confident and is doing a great job. For me this policy should apply all over the pitch not just in defence.

Don't get me wrong I agree with the need for rotation but it's silly to rotate so many players, so often. We maybe see one change in defence every few games, Hyypia might come in for Agger, and now we might see Arbeloa rested for Aurelio or Riise, but it won't happen too often. Now maybe this is only because of a lack of personnel in our defensive positions recently and if it is then this is worrying, because there's no way we'd have the same defensive record if we rotated our defence as often as our forwards.

The defence has a great understanding with each other, and as such they can handle the odd change because the player coming in will know the system and knows how to play.

Even in midfield more often than not we tend to Alonso, and if not for Gerrards broken toe we'd have probably seen him in almost every game, either in the middle or on the right. Now there's no problem in the odd rotation for Mascherano or Sissoko, but to chop and change between the 4 all the time is silly, and i think this costs us because each midfield pairing will play in a different and that means the type of balls our wingers and forwards get from them will change all the time, which can't be good for the players. We've seen more changes than usual I feel because of the injuries to Gerrard and Alonso, so this issue maybe isn't as serious as our forward issue.

The main problem this season apart from when we played whipping boys Derby and Toulouse has been scoring goals. And is it really any surprise, we've got 4 strikers, and if playing with 2 up front that's a possible 6 different combinations for our two forward players, and after a bit of research we've already started with 5 different striking combinations this season. Juts to get some stats that's 5 different pairings in 9 matches, now I can't see how that type of rotation can bring understanding between the strikers.

One explanation for it could be that Rafa is trying out all his different combinations, but that doesn't explain why he's left one out. Incidentally the one he's so far neglected to play is Crouch and Torres, which a lot of people have been calling for and personally I'd like to see, maybe we will in our next match.

I didn't intend this post to be so long, so I'll end it here, but the one conclusion that I can draw from this is that, in the short term with so many new players rotation is not good, just look at our forward line recently and the lack of goals vs the amount of changes. In the long term however when all the players become used to playing with each other and learn where each player likes the ball played, what their movement is like, then we could have a fantastic top 4 players, but for it to work I think Rafa needs to treat his rotation policy for his forwards in the same way he treats it for his defenders.

I get what you're saying. There's rotation and then there's ROTATION

I agree completely of course.