Lewis Doe looks at Rafa Benitez rotation policy and fears his constant tinkering is costing Liverpool dear in their quest for honours this season.

The most logical way to go and win any sporting event or match of any type is to use the strongest resources that you have at your disposal. Why then does Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez, persist with a rotation system that clearly does not get the best out of his side?

If the best 11 players at your club are fit and fighting then they should start every game, no other way are you going to tear into a league and get the best results. Fair enough squad rotation is now part and parcel of the game but it is used now as more of a chore and not logically. Liverpool quite clearly have one of the strongest squads in the Premiership, however their best striker, Fernando Torres, has not started every game as the manager has already stated he does not want the former Athletico Madrid starlet to get burnt out too quickly.

Forgive me if I’m wrong but aren’t these players on thousands of pounds a week? Do they not have the most advanced medical help when they need it? If Benitez is worried about players like Torres getting tired at this early age of the season, then either the Premiership is akin to fighting in a Roman gladiator arena or tactics really have gone up the wall in recent times. 

Mr. Benitez is infamous for the rotation of his squad; something Craig Bellamy stated just last week is one of the main reasons why he made the move down to East London to play regularly for West Ham United. Voices from within the club have also been speaking up in recent times, striker Peter Crouch publicly voiced his concerns in the media that he thought his own game was being affected as Benitez was not giving him a regular chance, hey presto, Crouch starts in Liverpool’s next game. 

Fair enough, it must be very difficult to keep all players at a club happy, Liverpool are very lucky to have the attacking talent already mentioned, not forgetting Ukrainian, Andriy Voronin. It seems as though however that the days of a single pairing upfront, who struck fear into the heart of every defence, have disintegrated. There will be no more Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole partnerships, who played week in and week out for a winning Manchester United side and virtually won them a title. 

There is no skirting around the fact that some players at the Anfield club are clearly better than others, for example; Yossi Benayoun or Steven Gerrard? Not a hard choice. If Liverpool is to succeed then they need the best 11 they can produce each week, out on the pitch, sweating and bleeding for the very foundations upon which the club was created. If Mr.Benitez persist with making six or seven changes with every game, then the result will be simple; no one will settle, an invincible side (think Arsene Wenger and Arsenal) will not be created and the Liverpool fans will never be given the very thing they want the most; the Premiership title.  

Despite the fact I am not personally a Liverpool fan, it breaks my heart to watch them struggle some weeks when they have everything a team needs to play the opposition of the park. The recent 6-0 victory over Derby can become common place if the manager stops mucking around with his players. Liverpool won the Champions League with their best 11 players knocking out the likes of then English champions, Chelsea, and Italian giants, AC Milan. It is not a hard equation.