KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Play the strongest team vs squad rotation

There are obviously pros and cons for both but what are your opinions?

I always have said to play your strongest team. If someone needs a rest then of course swap them. But I have never understood fielding weaker squads and losing games?

If we lose against Chelsea then that is two losses in a row.

I think that if we had been playing Udinese or Young Boys, we would have at least had options on the bench but the travel distance to Moscow forced BR to make a choice about who to bring.

I am in agreement with resting players because if we flog them in the early part they will fall apart by the end of the season. This has often happened to Arsenal in some of their more recent title pushes and was also why under Rafa we tended to finish the season strongly.

Our threadbare squad also necessitates that our 2nd string is made of largely of academy players. I personally am happy enough to see so much faith being shown in them because it has already produced 3 players this season into the 1st team squad.

Qualification is very much still in our hands and we should be aiming to beat Young Boys at home with a relatively strong team and see how results go elsewhere to decide on our approach to Udinese.

The FA cup is a different prospect when approaching it from a squad selection point of view because it is played on weekends and fixture depending, we could have a decent break between it and the next game so not as many players need resting

Had the game not been in Russia last night I think we would have seen a much stronger side out. Win or loose on sunday I think he was right with his team last night and as most on here didn't want to be in this competition last year, I can't see why you're all moaning!

It was better to keep most first team players fit and fresh for the weekend as we'll stand a much better chance that way even if we do end up loosing.

I think squad rotation only works if the results back it up

If we lose to Chelsea then the weakened squad last night would be for nothing in my eyes

Its a dangerous game he is playing i think

It isn't just the Chelsea game though that is the only game that will benefit. It will be all the games near the end of the season as well. It is all a cumulative effect

Maybe but if the results don't come on the back of resting players then the pressure will crank up another notch

+1

Squad rotation is key to a successful season but we have deep problems as we only have 15 seniors that we can put our faith in. Look at Arsenal, Tottenham, United, Chelsea, look at the squads they have compared to us, they can afford to mix it up and change even an entire 11 and still field a good team and win games in the fa and carling cup. Squad rotation is good but as I said you need a squad to work with not 14-15 players.

I still feel with rotation you have to have the results have to back the use of it

We don't have the squad to compete on all fronts though and the league has been prioritised. We have gotten results in several of the games where we have played the youngsters which is a good boost but we cannot expect the first team to play every week and results will suffer