Rafa To Kill Off Rotation Policy

In seasons gone by Rafa Benitez has been criticised for his rotation policy as his constant tinkering has long been believed to be responsible for Liverpool's erratic form.

Decisions to drop key personnel such as Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres proved costly as the Reds dropped points in games they should have won.

Liverpool are enjoying an unbeaten start this season and Benitez has conceded that if he wants that to continue then he will need to ax his policy of rotation in favour of keeping a team spine together.
 
"We have the experience of last season... I won’t make many changes. If some players are on fire, maybe it is a good moment to keep them playing," he is quoted by KopTV as saying.

"Normally we try to check how the players are physically, mentally and also how the team is tactically – and then we decide whether we will change more or less players," he continued.

"But now we are in a good position so I do not think that I will change too many. When some players are playing well, but are tired, you say ‘okay maybe we will have to keep them in.’ But then you play them, they are tired and you have to change them in a game!"

"You never know. If you win, you can say ‘okay fantastic decision,’ but I don’t think I will change too many players."

"When we were analysing things this week we knew we had four days between the Everton match and this one and four days between this match and the Manchester City game. Three days is not enough, four days is better."

Alan Dawson