62 rotations in 12 games

[Johnny]

The rotation has been too heavy. The squad isn't good enough to handle it. It's obvious for everybody now. Or, it damn well should be. You can dress the ROTATION fact up and play with it. Call it Barbie. Have a teaparty. It won't change the fact that 62 is too much...but don't let that stop you.

Change the fecking record will ye.It`s getting monotinous now!!!!!

[Red_hot]

Quiet you. Just decide what youre having from the Chippy later.

In case anyone's interested, I had chicken satay.

[royzared]

...and chips.

[Red_hot]

...and chips.

No chips. I was really strong and resisted the temptation. Chris had half the portion and i threw the rest away!! That's willpower for you. Oh and I had boiled rice, not fried.

[royzared]

Well done, of for your morning jog now.

[Red_hot]

Well done, of for your morning jog now.

Jokin aren't ya? I'm off for some retail therapy in a mo!

[Guest]

Why no chips ? French fries are sooo nice ... Had some last night ... It's also true I don't have to bother about my waistline.

[Catrin]

Players with average teams play 40-45 games per season, depending on how well they do in the cups. In a normal year we would have 38 league games, 10-12 CL games, maybe another 10 games in the domestic cups. Over those 60 games some players will get injured, some will have suspensions, some will lose form. For the likes of Everton and Aston Villa football is a team game, at our level it is a squad game.

Because he has to have a large squad Rafa has to try to manage that squad somehow.....keeping everyone fresh and sharp but also keeping everyone happy because everyone wants to play. He therefore rotates. That rotation has not been the cause of our problems of late. The problem is how we have been playing, not who has been playing. Passing the ball to another red shirt then moving into space to give options to the man in possession....sounds simple but we just haven't been doing it, and we should be doing it regardless of who is playing.

[Red_Polo]

No chips. I was really strong and resisted the temptation. Chris had half the portion and i threw the rest away!! That's willpower for you. Oh and I had boiled rice, not fried.

That's not willpower, that's heresy. I'm dying for some proper chips here, bit of gravy or curry sauce as well, but there's not a chippy within a mile of me

[Red Chilli]

The rotation does bug me and I dare say the players are pretty fed up of it but let's look at the situation:

We've played **** in 4 or 5 games
We're off the pace in the Champions league but only 3 points off the top
We're challenging in the Premiership which is more than can be said for a few years.

I'm disappointed with the teams performances and also certain individual performances but looking at the big picture it could be a lot worse.
We can turn it around very quickly, one big win will boost confidence and see us flying again.

Rafa = rotation, we can discuss it but nothing is going to change so we might as well accept it and look at the other reasons why our players are not performing.

[Guest]

The rotation does bug me and I dare say the players are pretty fed up of it but let's look at the situation:

We've played **** in 4 or 5 games
We're off the pace in the Champions league but only 3 points off the top
We're challenging in the Premiership which is more than can be said for a few years.

I'm disappointed with the teams performances and also certain individual performances but looking at the big picture it could be a lot worse.
We can turn it around very quickly, one big win will boost confidence and see us flying again.

Rafa = rotation, we can discuss it but nothing is going to change so we might as well accept it and look at the other reasons why our players are not performing.

Rotation is certainly very difficult for any player. Not knowing if they'll play the next game even if they play well is difficult. But Rafa's done it in the past, with Valencia and to a certain extent with us.

I think we'll just have to have faith in his methods and wait till the end of the season to judge him. He's splashed some serious money too this season on a fair few decent players.

[AFII]

Rafa rotates players and he will continue to do that. He did that in Valencia but not in the same way.

Albelda, Baraja, Aimar, Mista, Vicente, Ayala and Marchena played week in week out when fit. He didn't rotate key players in the league.

Agger, Carra, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard and Torres should play if they are fit. They are our key players. If you rotate anyone of them then you will get in a player that is not even close to be as good as the player he replace in the starting XI.

If you have good enough backups then you can rotate them. We don't have any good enough backup to Carra and Agger in defense. We don't have a good enough backup to Mascherano and Alonso in central midfield if Gerrard plays on the right and he should play there. He is miles better than Pennant or Benayoun in that position. Torres is our only class striker.

I also think that a problem is or at least has been that our reserves and youth teams don't play in the same way as our league squad. All of them should play the same system, then we could use our reserves in a better way to keep the players match fit so they don't need a game or two if we need them.

[Fierce]

That's not willpower, that's heresy. I'm dying for some proper chips here, bit of gravy or curry sauce as well, but there's not a chippy within a mile of me

Neither is there one that does decent gravy within, oh I dunno, a 150 mile radius?! I like London, but it has its downsides