A consistent 11

Rafa has been picked on constantly by the press and some supporters of always rotating his starting 11. However if you look at the facts for the first 6 games of the league campaign you will find that the roation has been in European ties and for the league cup.

In the 6 games so far the following have played all 6 games.. Reina, Arbeloa,Carra, Kuyt and Keane. 5 of the 6 games we have seen Skrtel Dossena Alonso and Torres. So 9 players have started at least 5 games. Plus Gerrard on 4 after being injured and Riera playing all 3 since he arrived you effectively have 11 players who seem to be now always picked. Masch when fit will obviously step in at someones expense but you can see that it definitely blows the rotation myth away this season.

One other thing worth noting is Babel has not started one game so does Rafa see him now as a super sub or his he just not delivering enough over 90 minutes? 

I have to agree with you on this one. Can I just point out aswell that due to Rafa not rotating the team alot in the league we have benifited from scraping wins where we should of and very much deserved to draw or lose. About the Babel thing, I think Rafa prefers Kuyt on the right hand side because he can hold the ball up well and he surely can't be dropped because he is one of our main consistent performers.

The rotation thing was just cooked up crap from some incompetent journalists or pundits. As soon as Rafa pretty much found his ideal formation last season he kept it ever since, making minor changes which is a natural thing. I'm glad that we haven't heard from the rotation bashers in the press of late.     

Same here about the rotation bashers. Rafa has done every Liverpool fan proud up to yet this season to date. He is starting to keep the similar starting 11 in as many games as possible. I think he now knows what his best starting 11 is. Nobody can write us off and out of the title challenge just yet .

I think Babel himself knows he cant last 90 minutes yet or maybe never will, could just be how his body is but he is getting game time most matches and thats important. He is a very powerful lad and is very effective off the bench which is what Rafa has used him for mostly this season which is nice to see.

Rotation was always a myth, when he did it it was called rotation. When others did it it was called changes to the side. Lousy journalism again peeps its head into what we read.

He has made done exactly what has been expected of him whether he has started or come on from off the bench so thats a plus point. Most memorably to score the winner against MANURE!!!:)

Rotation was always a myth, when he did it it was called rotation. When others did it it was called changes to the side.

No it isn't, Rafa has always talked about keeping players fresh and using the size of his squad to remain competitive in all competitions. The problem was the media always harp on it rather than doing some real analysis on the game because they were too lazy....same thing with Zonal Marking. The media made it much more of a issue than more Liverpool supporters ever did.

I think the big thing is he kept a shine of the team going with Pepe, Carra, Skrtel (I assume he is part of the team), Javi, Gerrard and Torres. The only time he had to change is due to injury and I hope he can keep this going.

looks good from rafa so far apart from BLOODY STOKE
but we scored in that so its unfair on rafa
keane looked good with torres on saturday with kuyt making space with his movement

as long as the spine is solid and unchanged e.g.
      reina
carra     skrtel
masch gerrard
keane torres

then the wingers/fullbacks can be rotated

i think thats a good plan
but what do i know?

Is Rafa staring to learn? Hope so then we can mount that serious challenge for the tiltle.

Rafa has nothing left to learn he is a tactical master mind who was heavily scrutinised by the media and picked on and bullied on for doing his job correctly. Scolari has made 'changes" this season whilst Rafa has rotated so far and the outcome has remained the same. As long as the 7 or 8 players that constitute the spine of the team are there then I am happy for him to tweak the side to suit the type of match we are going to play.

Babel IMO is a young lad with bucket loads of potential who came to the world scene with the world at his feet. Since joining us he has been good but i dont think he has given the pompous hype about him before his arrival justice YET!

looks good from rafa so far apart from BLOODY STOKE

We got cheated out of that game and Stoke are a very hard team to break down sometimes when they want to be. They chose to sit back all game. Should of scored but it didnt happen but we are still joint top with the City game coming up the day before my birthday .

I also agree with you about the spine of the team, them 7 should play all the time nmw.

It's only rotation when it's in the same sentence as Liverpool. The difference being now with the media, is that when our players are going off, decent ones are coming back on.

As soon as we lose a match we'll be back here discussing a non-entity of a criticism.