Squad rotation?

It's not a dig on Rodgers. I fully back him as the manager of this club.

We are not seeing squad rotation from BR now. Players look well tired both mentally and physically. He complains about having a small squad, gets a bigger one, and then plays the same 13 players every week.

Suso, Shelvey, Sterling, Wisdom. They all played their part earlier in the season. Now they're not getting a look in.

I'm not saying the reason we draw that game is because we haven't been rotating, but it's a factor, because we looked fu**ed.

BR should rotate the squad more often just to give some players a rest.

You shouldn't need to rotate when you only play 1 game a week, should you

Always play what you believe to be your strongest team, I assume Brendan is doing that ATM.
Sterling, Suso, and Wisdom are still a little raw, but they'll get more chances next season.

We are not seeing squad rotation from BR now. Players look well tired both mentally and physically. He complains about having a small squad, gets a bigger one, and then plays the same 13 players every week.

When did we get a bigger squad?

Always play what you believe to be your strongest team

I think the point is that jaded/tired players don't constitute your "strongest team". Which is fair enough. 

When did we get a bigger squad?

Well Glen says it's "better" than last season. Is "bigger" "better"? I don't know but (for years) I've been telling my good Lady it's not.

I don't honestly think we can use tiredness as an excuse.

Well, the only positive i see left in our season is to help Luis get his golden boot. With nothing in between our league games and almost nothing left to fight for in the league, the golden boot must be our new target. Brendan has to field his strongest team and supply Luis with all angles of assist to help Luis score. I don't think a squad rotation can help that cause.

I think the point is that jaded/tired players don't constitute your "strongest team". Which is fair enough. 
 

Well Glen says it's "better" than last season. Is "bigger" "better"? I don't know but (for years) I've been telling my good Lady it's not.

I don't think it's bigger or better.
I don't think our first team is better either.

I don't think it's bigger or better.
I don't think our first team is better either.

Our starting XI though is much better than last season though, with the exception of the CB play.

Our starting XI though is much better than last season though, with the exception of the CB play.

No it's not. Throw up a comparison for me.

Our starting XI though is much better than last season though, with the exception of the CB play.

I'm not convinced it is.

You need a decent squad to be able to rotate...

No it's not. Throw up a comparison for me.

I'm not convinced it is.

Reina
Johnson     Skrtel    Agger     Enrique
Henderson      Lucas*    Adam*         Downing
Suarez
Carroll

vs

Sturridge
Coutinho                     Downing
Suarez
Gerrard          Lucas
   Enrique                                Johnson
       Agger        Carragher
Reina

*Replace Lucas/Adam with Spearing/Gerrard due to injuries.



Keep in mind that:

1.) Pepe's been better than in previous seasons (better than last year).

2.) Enrique and Johnson have had a great seasons each (better than last year).

3.) Downing is no longer playing aimless crosses into the box because this year he's playing on the right, not the left like under Kenny (barring a few exceptions).

4.) Henderson, besides a few matches, has played almost exclusively in a central position which he's said before he's more comfortable at. He was largely ineffective on the right as we all remember.

5.) Suarez is in the form of his life, though this was bound to happen IMO.

6.) Sturridge is a better all-around player than Carroll in addition to being a better striker.

7.) Coutinho >>>>>> Downing last year on the left (really, no comparison there).

8.) There are more creative players in the side now (e.g., Coutinho and Sturridge can create for others as well as themselves).

Interesting you left Gerrard out of last season's team to make a point. Hardly balanced.

                          Sturridge
          Coutinho                     Downing
                           Suarez
                Gerrard          Lucas
     Enrique                                Johnson
                  Agger        Carragher
                           Reina

Only two players in that team that weren't in the squad last season and they've only been here since January.
Carroll, Maxi, Bellamy, Kuyt.
Sturridge, Coutinho, Borini, Sterling/Suso.




                            Reina

      Johnson     Skrtel    Agger     Enrique

Henderson      Lucas*    Adam*         Downing

                    Suarez
                                 Carroll

Take Adam and Carroll out.
Use Gerrard (When fit) and take your pick from Bellamy, Kuyt, Maxi.

Our first team is not stronger.
Our squad is not stronger.

In recent games we have seen Brendan use only two players that were not in the squad last season.
Before that we were using Sterling, Suso, Shelvey, Wisdom to fill gaps in the squad.

We got fu**ed over in the Summer transfer window.
Only since January does our squad compare to last seasons.

Interesting you left Gerrard out of last season's team to make a point. Hardly balanced.

That's why Lucas* and Adam* were asterisked. Keep in mind though that the league form actually dropped in the second half of the season when Gerrard came back. Always a weird anomaly that, but in my opinion that has more due to Lucas being injured than anything else.

Only two players in that team that weren't in the squad last season and they've only been here since January.

It shouldn't matter when they arrive. Who cares if they came summer or winter? We didn't bring anyone in in January last year for reasons still not properly explained (money issue is my guess). We made moves in January and as a result, the starting XI i stronger because of it.

Use Gerrard (When fit) and take your pick from Bellamy, Kuyt, Maxi.

Bellamy/Maxi/Kuyt weren't often selected to start though even when they were fit/available. So can you really just take out Carroll and throw one of them in when that didn't happen much?

Our first team is not stronger.
Our squad is not stronger.

Didn't say either, I said the starting XI is stronger, which it is. I'd even argue that it would have still be stronger in the summer had we landed Dempsey as well, but that's all guesswork and hypotheticals.

So can you really just take out Carroll and throw one of them in when that didn't happen much?

I don't know if this is of any help but... Carroll played in 35 (league) games last season - started in 21, by my reckoning; Kuyt played in 34 (league) games last season... bang on his average throughout his L.F.C. career - also started in 21, by my reckoning.

Maxi, on the other hand, played in only 12 (league) games last season.

So, I guess, you actually could "take out Carroll and throw" in Dirk... if you wanted but not Maxi. 

It shouldn't matter when they arrive. Who cares if they came summer or winter? We didn't bring anyone in in January last year for reasons still not properly explained (money issue is my guess). We made moves in January and as a result, the starting XI i stronger because of it.

Bellamy/Maxi/Kuyt weren't often selected to start though even when they were fit/available. So can you really just take out Carroll and throw one of them in when that didn't happen much?

Didn't say either, I said the starting XI is stronger, which it is. I'd even argue that it would have still be stronger in the summer had we landed Dempsey as well, but that's all guesswork and hypotheticals.

Er. Ok.
You could easily put Gerrard and Kuyt in.
Sturridge has at times been dropped for Downing/Henderson.
At which point the only real difference is Coutinho and our formation.

Then we could argue Kennys system, with Meireles, Kuyt and Maxi was better than this season.

The thing is, Rodgers had a very difficult task last summer.  He had 3 valuable players (in terms of quality and experience) who all wanted to leave for their own personal reasons - Kuyt, Maxi, and Bellers.  You could argue that he had a 4th quality player who wanted out in Aquilani, but I'll leave that one alone  

On top of that, he had to try to sell off the players who didn't fit into our team (Adam, Carrol, Spearo, Cole).  He was not helped by the fact that no one wanted to buy Carrol or Cole leaving us with less money to spend on replacements. 

We obviously have a very thin squad, but I do thing we have a lot of quality in the players who are here!!

I don't know if this is of any help but... Carroll played in 35 (league) games last season - started in 21, by my reckoning; Kuyt played in 34 (league) games last season... bang on his average throughout his L.F.C. career - also started in 21, by my reckoning.

Maxi, on the other hand, played in only 12 (league) games last season.

So, I guess, you actually could "take out Carroll and throw" in Dirk... if you wanted but not Maxi. 

That's a fair point regarding Dirk.

Er. Ok.
You could easily put Gerrard and Kuyt in.
Sturridge has at times been dropped for Downing/Henderson.
At which point the only real difference is Coutinho and our formation.

And if you do that, Coutinho still makes the starting XI better for me.

When Sturridge is dropped though, Downing is played on the right and Henderson central, where they're both better as opposed to respectively playing on the left and right. Obviously, that's a tactical change, but it gets more out of each of them.

Then we could argue Kennys system, with Meireles, Kuyt and Maxi was better than this season.

And it was miles better than last season too. Why we ever deviated from that is beyond me!

Either way they are still knackered with nothing left to fight for except pride.

Either way they are still knackered with nothing left to fight for except pride.

Knackered, where do you get this from ? Not good enough yes, but knackered, I'm sorry I don't see any evidence.

Not sure I can agree with the O.P to be honest. There isn't mass squad rotation because we're out of all the cups and therefor there is little call for it. Wehne we were still in the Europa League there was rotation on a weekely basis.

Even now we are still seeing a few changes here and there. Henderson was out for a bit, now he's back in. Sturridge and Downing were switched this past weekend.