Exploring the Rotation Myth and Liverpool’s Real Problem
This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here.
The great rotation debate has reared its head again in recent days as Liverpool fans come down on their manager, blaming his rotation policy on recent poor results. Fans don’t have an issue with rotation per se, but with the extent of the rotation policy, injuries and suspensions not withstanding.
Managers on the other hand have been telling us for years that it’s a necessary evil, given the number of competitions and games their teams are forced to play each season. If we take the so called big 4, there is every likelihood they will compete to the later stages of the various competitions they enter and hence end up with 60+ games a season. So let’s explode this myth!
When Liverpool were collecting trophies in the late 70′s and 80′s how many games a season were they playing? Try 60+! In those days there were 42 league games, frequently 2nd or even 3rd replays in the FA Cup and nobody put out their reserves in the League Cup. Granted there were fewer games in the European Cup but overall it’s a myth to suggest that players play more games
now. Yes there are more internationals now but the top managers regularly pull players out of internationals for negligible reasons.
While the big 4 contain massive squads with 20+ internationals, financed by the wealth of the modern game, back in the 70′s and 80′s most managers played their best team out of necessity (the choice was limited) and you’ll find that in some cases the successful sides only used 15 or 16 players in a season. 15 or 16 players doesn’t see a Premiership team through a fortnight these
days.
The next argument we get is that the game is much faster now and the physical demands greater. Yes and no! The game is faster but the physical demands aren’t greater. Get some videos of the days of Chopper Harris, Norman ‘Bite Yer Legs’ Hunter or Tommy Smith. These were the days when you had to remove a limb to get booked. The sliding tackle from behind with a double twist and full knee follow through was considered an art form and if you didn’t like it you could take up ballet. Anyone diving would be smacked around the dressing room after the game….by their own team mates. The propensity for injury was way higher than today.
So the next time Fergie, Arsene or Rafa start bleating about rotation tell them to come clean and call a spade a spade. They rotate because there is no other way to keep squads of 20 to 30 top players happy unless you give them all some playing time. Valid reason but please drop the myths.
Now back to the fans perspective. Basically it goes like this. If you have to rotate then just rotate 1 or 2 players each game. Rotating 4 or 5 destroys continuity and results suffer. But let me counter with: What about the multi million pound squad? Aren’t
they all internationals and wouldn’t they walk into any other (non top 4) Prem. side? Don’t you fans argue endlessly about the quality of your 2nd team, lauding it over your rivals? Why then can you not rely on players coming in and getting the job done?
I believe that for the top teams they can do this using rotation but there is another problem that is being misdiagnosed.
It’s not about rotation it’s about formation!
Let’s look at Man Utd firstly. It has been a hallmark of Fergie’s teams in the Premiership era that they operate a 4-4-2 formation with 2 orthodox wingers. Fergie has built successive squads without breaking from this formation. The key then to the squad is having players who fit exactly to positions. So, for example, Fergie will rotate Nani with Giggs, Hargreaves with Carrick, Anderson with Scholes, Saha with Rooney/Tevez. The point is the player coming in plays in exactly the same position within the system as the player he rotates with. Hence each player knows his and every other players role in the team and becomes familiar with the pattern of play. It should only become a problem if injuries and suspensions force a formation change.
Now let’s look at Liverpool and Chelsea. What is their formation? Good question. At the core of the criticism directed at Mourinho before he quit Chelsea was that they played dull football. I believe this is because Mourinho had no set formation and it is questionable whether he ever knew what his best team was. Here’s how it works (or in this case doesn’t work). If one match you play Robben and Cole wide with (say) Essien and Lampard in the middle and the next week its Lampard, Ballack, Obi and Essien, there’s a problem.
Playing with two wingers is very different to playing with 4 orthodox midfielders. With Chelsea and Liverpool some weeks it’s 2 wingers, some weeks 1 and some weeks none. The formation also varies within matches depending on the use of substitutes.
With the pace of the modern game players need to be able to do things instinctively. Having to readjust for the width or lack of width in midfield and, from a strikers perspective, adapt constantly to receiving the ball from totally different angles, for me, is the key factor and not the quality of the players being rotated.
Granted it is preferable not to rotate a large number of players at once and no matter how good the squad some players will always be better than others but I believe having a formation, sticking with it, and building a squad to fit to the positions in that formation can breathe a level of familiarity into the equation which eases the risk of player rotation.
This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here.
Topics: English Premier League, Liverpool, Rafael Benitez
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Interesting read, though rather flawed IMO.
Firstly, should you pole Liverpool Fans, you will find that very few of them are ‘coming down on their manager’ as you out it. Rather, it’s the media, over paid and under-knowledged sensationalising pundits and fans of other teams looking for an easy bandwagon to get on. The few that have come down on the manger and called for his head can hardly be called fans. What you have to understand is that a cub with a worldwide brand will have all manor of so called fans, and its they who normally come up with demands of the manager that the rest of the fan’s body would find outlandish at best. Go on the official website and get some real views.
As for the number of games played and the speed at which they are played, then again I feel you got it totally wrong. For a start the pace with consistent quality of the game today is on another planet to yesteryears. The game is more demanding and more exhausting both physically and mentally. To ask a player to have the same level of performance over a season now is asking far more than before when players could carry on into their fifties sometimes.
As for playing a set system as the reason why Rafa and Moureen struggled (because they don’t) please explain their grate success at less well financed clubs while competing against a very high level of opposition and still coming up trumphs. I watched Valencia under Rafa take Liverpool apart while he deployed exactly the same rotation & zonal systems. Also remember what he managed with a lesser squad in his first season at LFC while utalsiing rotation and zonal. In fact, all his success has been built on rotation..
This rotation debate is as empty and false as the zonal marking one which is still mentioned by some really brainy commentators who still like to harp on about things they don’t understand. I believe that the British game is littered with conservative opinionated individuals who attack all things they don’t understand. ALAS it’s the xenophobia debate all over again, just dressed up as an attack on a tactic when in fact it’s been an attack on someone’s ideas. Ideas that have proved very successful throughout Rafa’s career.
October 15th, 2007 @ 16:44I still firmly believe that “rotation” is simply a convenient dagger to bring out when someone wants to have a dig at Liverpool, particularly their manager, either by fans to relieve some frustration at a bad result or the press to try and stir up something interesting. I don’t think by any means that it is responsible for consistent bad form and I will say the same for a change in rotation. Rafa’s downfall is more likely that he is a perfectionist. After all, what’s better:
1. A squad of 15 or 16 who know each other really well, play together all the time, know their roles perfectly and do the same thing week in, week out OR
2. A squad of 20-25 who know each other really well, play together less frequently but still know their roles perfectly while also being able to play a variety of roles and tactics as the situation changes for each match
What’s clear is that Rafa just has grander ideas than others. Sure, simplicity might often prove quite effective but if Rafa was to actually pull off a season where he managed to rotate, keep all his players fit AND maintain good form in every competition … wouldn’t that be the best outcome?
I just find this obsession with criticising a manager’s tactics a bit silly and think its about nothing more than giving the average Joe an outlet for his anger and frustration. The harsh reality is that the players that Rafa puts out on the field SHOULD be good enough to win the matches that they have not. We SHOULD have beaten Portsmouth, we SHOULD have beaten Marsielle, our teams were strong enough and had enough great players on the pitch to do it. If we didn’t perform, the first point of attack should be at the players and if you look at that squad list and tell me that these world class players can’t handle some changes in tactics and the occasional spell on the bench … well that’s just not good enough. I expect more from them and I hope that Rafa continues to think so too.
October 15th, 2007 @ 19:46Man Utd rotated more than Liverpool last season yet they won the title. What needs to be taken into account is that Fergie had been at Utd for 20 years while Benitez was only in his third year of premier. More pertinently however was the quality at the disposal of Sir Alex. Combine this with his philosphy of attacking, direct, movement, pacy counter-attack and clinical football in comparison to Benitez’ lack of quality players and a belief on pragmatism/negative/stifling football and effectively it is this which meant Utd and not Lpool would win the title. Rotation works when you have all the necessary ingridients i.e. attacking philosophy, balance and crucially…quality players.
October 15th, 2007 @ 21:20“So let’s explode this myth”
i hope you mean explore blowing stuff up aint my thing
Its not rafas fault at the start of the season we were on unbelievable form even though rafa was rotating.
Im sure we can get back on winning form and start siging league glory songs once again!!
October 15th, 2007 @ 22:28i agree with you completely. Whoever said Fergie rotated more than Rafa is an idiot. I read an article the other day that said that rafa has not kept the same squad for 100 successive games and that the changes from game to game varied but an average of 4 was about right. Look, thats just daft no matter what you say. Rotation is necessary, we all know that. It keeps players fresher longer and keeps everyone in the the squad happy. But making 5-6 changes a game like rafa doesnt benefit anyone. And isnt in sad, that if the reason for rotation is to keep ego’s in check, then crouch, who has one of the best goals per games returns can barely play more than 90 minutes in a month? And frank, while you scousers keep on about how you are happy and bla bla bla but that is shit. I know more than enough ‘pool fans who have no idea what rafa is doing and while they might not want him out, they are pissed. And if they arnt then why arnt they? When United sucked at the start of the season i was dam pissed. There is having faith in your manager, and then there is calling him on his shit. We all pray to Fergie but when he started doing his 4-5-1 bullshit 2 yrs ago we got pissed and let him know. He changed it soon enough and we were back to winning ways. If liverpool were not so dam defensive about everything, maybe they would let rafa know how they feel. When he played gerrard on the right, all fans got defensive and quoted statistics saying why he was better when we ALL know he wasnt. When he plays a stupid team and fucks up, they all rush to his side and tell us about how successful he has been. Fuck i know, you one two cups. WOW. Now if would you get off the high on finally being contenders for stuff after so many years, you would call him on you being 21 points behind United last year.
October 16th, 2007 @ 08:55OMFG!! my friends, since the 70′s and the 80′s there hasn’t been much difference in the number of games a team plays each season, but each game has been more and more phisically demanding, so with obvious more knowledge on phisical treatment, if managers say they have to rotate their teams more than ever, MAYBE THEY ARE RIGHT! the proof is out there, players that played full seasons domestically and internationally, and afterwards, in National competitions, or even in the next seasons, thei performance is reduced by half or more, very few players can maintain high performance levels with the modern game rate, and training conditions. (there are too few exceptions to this reality to make them facts, like Steven Gerard, Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand, Lampard, Pirlo, Seedorf, Puyol, João Moutinho;) )…
October 16th, 2007 @ 21:54simply_cool, a man talking sense at last. While all around us there those idiotic enough to call others idiots for stating facts.
October 17th, 2007 @ 12:45I think one point is missed. Top teams rotate players to keep them fresh all season because other teams do the same! Man Utd were winning the prem in the 90s with an obvious best 11 backed up by squad players (remember the likes of Luke Chadwick, Jordi Cruyff, Jonathan Greening, Quinton Fortune, Nicky Butt). When squad players came in, the team was weaker and sometimes you dropped points. Back then you could afford to lose 5 or 6 games a season and still win the league. Players got tired near the end of the season but that was the same at all clubs.
This rotation stuff is a result of Chelsea’s mega squad. Bringing on subs like Robben and Duff in recent years, resting SWP most of the season and rotating Essien, Mikel and Makalele gave then the edge to go all season only losing a couple of games. So, to compete, everyone else has to do the same and buy a big squad. Fergie buys Carrick and Hargreaves knowing they will hardly ever play together but should always have one of them available. Rafa is doing the same. He can now rotate Kuyt, Crouch, Veronin and Torres.
The key in the modern game is to rotate well and Rafa has made mistakes. Personally, with so many new players, I think he should have stuck to a pretty fixed team until Christmas and then start rotating.
October 17th, 2007 @ 14:05Ian, i do think rafa’s problem is due to the cultural differences between new players, when Torres, Veronyn, Gerard and Babel are on the field, what language do they speak? Football is not an international language, and rotation mus be planned according to many diferent variables. Mourinho, when he went to chelsea, you really belive he wanted more english players to respect the championship he is playin’ in and the supporters?hell no! he knows he needs consitent squad, preferibly with players that can come together and create union without too much effort…
October 17th, 2007 @ 18:36Frank, My article is not an attack on Liverpool as you seem to think. Let me take some of your points.
Ref. Parg 1: The BBC and SkySports websites were my sources for input from Liverpool fans and many WERE incensed after recent games. I wouldn’t claim this represents all Pool fans but I read many very unhappy comments. Also, it’s not the first time this has come up with the fans. To say its just a view of the media and other fans in just not true.
“As for the number of games played and the speed at which they are played, then again I feel you got it totally wrong.”
You can validate the number of games played. I suggest you choose a couple of the years where Liverpool won the European Cup and check how many games they played.
As regards the speed, if you read my article carefully you’ll see that I acknowledge that the game is faster. However, players are far more protected these days by referees.
Ref Parg 3: My article deals with an idea that changing formation while rotating may be a contributing factor to some poor performances. This in no way suggests that either Mourinho or Rafa are incapable managers. Mourinho won plenty at Chelsea while rotating and Benitez has also had success. We’re talking about one relatively limited factor in a complex equation of what makes teams tick. Its a giant leap from my argument to suggest I’m saying that either manager is incapable. I also agree in the article that rotation IS necessary. The debate is about whether some ways of doing it are smarter than others.
ref Parg 4: You let your emotion lead you to very strange places in the context of what is being debated here. I suggest you chat to some fellow Pool fans about this. If you believe that there are none out there who want to debate this then you ain’t getting out enough. Don’t polarise the issue so much. Its not all about “Rafa is rubbish as is everything to do with rotation”, but about the fact that rotation is inevitable in the modern game but are there different ways to do it that can be less risky.
October 19th, 2007 @ 13:45BD Condell, thank you for the concern for my emotional state. Please understand that I do know many who are frustrated, including at times myself, though they are not the boo boys nor have these ever called for the managers head. At LFC we have gathered an amazing array of fans, including a certain type of tourist (since the recent success on the continent and the arrival of two continental mangers and a certain type of fair weather fans (including many that I know personally living in the south as I do). The most vocal tend to have strenuous link to the club as they seem to hover on the periphery of the true Kopite culture while the more traditional tend to be involved with sites that are not commonly visited by most distant fans. This culture is rather important to LFC as it defines the support and the uniqueness of the same, that’s the reason why RTK has been formed in order to educate these waves of new fans.
Fans of any club would be frustrated during periods of bad results, though the excuses or targets for blame often tend to be a reflection of the fans and their knowledge of the game. The modern media is allowing more and more fans to air their views, though often its more a certain type of fan rather than the board spectrum who use the media most. The modern media has also propagated easy, or even lazy ideas as some sort of truths. It’s easier for a pundit or so called journalist to latch on to a controversy and see all the worlds’ evils within it. That dose not make them right no mater how numerous or vocal, but it dose allow the less knowledgeable fans to latch on to something.
The Rotation debate as much as the zonal marking debate before it, have been thoroughly analysed and debated by the more traditional LFC sites and forums. Should you get an opportunity to read some of the articles written by Kopites on these topics you will find some rather interesting and intelligent analyses of this issues. Unfortunately, they tend to prove the pundits & hack as either idiots or propagandists cum sensationalist. For this reason, it seems that some of the hacks use these as a methods to prove themselves even more right while ignoring fundamental points while the rest never look to read anything beyond their own column in any case.
I personally believe that the quality of the writing that emanates form these forums is infinitely more considered and educational when compared to views and opinions that are generated to make money by attracting an audience or even and interactive audience where the media make money such as call in etc…. should you feel like reading some of these and then commenting on the many valid points they make, you may find that my emotional frustration is due to hearing the same tiered argument being brought out over and over again, while valid and interesting points are ignored less they make the controversy seem stupid.
This reminds me so much about the zonal marking debate, where plenty of so called LFC fans would come on air or go on general forums to complain, when in fact it was the best system being used by the best defence even when they were still in the process of adapting to it and when other defences had better recourses. Please don’t take my comments personally it’s just that you sounded like another of those getting on an easy band wagon, which is of course only my opinion.
October 19th, 2007 @ 16:12Fair comments Frank. By the way, I should have clarified…. I submitted this article with the title: “Exploring the Rotation Myth”.
October 22nd, 2007 @ 11:19The editor took it upon himself to add “and Liverpool’s Real Problem” without consultation.
I disagree with his doing this at it is provocative and the article is not just about Liverpool but the question of rotation and team formation in general.
Thanks for the reply BD Condell, I’ll be looking forward to your next offering.
October 22nd, 2007 @ 13:00guilty as charged.
although i’m hoping that BDC wanted to explode the myth instead of exlporing it, more interesting that way…
October 22nd, 2007 @ 16:25Bilal, you are a devious stirrer, are you trying for Mike Parry’s job?
October 22nd, 2007 @ 17:41to be fair, the article does posit a serious answer to liverpool’s “apparent” problem, although imo it misses the point regarding their real problem, but that’s another story.
October 22nd, 2007 @ 18:53IMO it’s the lack of form of our main players while trying to integrate so many new ones. Too many are just not playing the way they did last season and its rather disappointing. On top of that we have missed Alonso (probably the most underrated midfielder in the country) and Agga who is easily our best defender. Still, we’re still undefeated, so there is hope after all.
I really don’t think rotation is an issue unless the players aren’t good enough to cope with it and I feel our bunch are good enough. Sometimes it’s easy to pick on something for an excuse, though credit to the lads, non have used rotation as the reason for their indifferent form. On top of that, manu who are not playing their best and rotating are still winning and that’s where my concerns lie.
October 22nd, 2007 @ 20:13Dirk kuyt must go
February 6th, 2008 @ 11:06