Hodgson: No Rotation

[Thants]

Sorry if it's been discussed before.

 

I heard on the radio last night that Hodgson has used the least amount of players over the past 2 seasons. If this means we'll we a solid Liverpool side week after week it will answer a few questions as to whether this policy works.

Its also a big factor in the pull to the NW for Cole. If he gets in, he'll stay in.

 

Or will he change it at a big club?

 

Does anyone care?

 

Why does it always rain on me?

 

Hey I dun a football fred.

[GRADY]

Obviously there will be changes due to the number of games but what you dont want to see is players being rested/dropped after having great games/scoring goals as I think this has a negative impact on the confidence of a lot of players.

[Hermes]

Players are naturally rotated due to injury and suspension.

[rebel23]

He rotated the whole Fulham team before the final this year

 

League games at Liverpool are like a final every week so I'd expect him to rotate. No one cares about Fulham in the league

[The Dude Abides]

Did Roy not rotate his squad last season then for league games to keep his players fresh for their Europe League run?

[rebel23]

Did Roy not rotate his squad last season then for league games to keep his players fresh for their Europe League run?

 

For the final they did, not sure about the other games but really no one cares about Fulham in the league, they only have to beat the drop comfortably and that's a good season for them.

 

At LFC he's expected to get us in the top 4 and/or challenge for the title

[Antynwa]

Rotation works, Benitez just couldn't get it working properly, and his selection processes where often confusing and had a negative affect on a player Crouch and Yossi spring to mind.

 

I'm a firm believer in playing your strongest team week in week out wherever possible, and if a player plays well one week, you don't drop him the next.

 

Honestly, I'm really looking forward to how Hodgson manages.

[Guest TK-421]

We only need 11 players.

[stringvest]

If players are selected or retained in the team on merit, most people will be happy.

[kop]

It's his first big club since Inter so he will have to adapt his strategy both on tactics and rotation policy to fit the new climate he is working in. Less rotation in Fulham does not necessarily mean he didn't want to rotate, it could just as easily be lack of quality players to rotate.

[Guest TK-421]

Just do the opposite to what Roffa did and it'll be sweet.

[Captain]

Kop is on the money. Rotation is a luxury afforded in big clubs. I hope Roy manages to do it better than Rafa at times.

 

Some players need more protection than others, and if he doesn't acknowledge that he'll struggle.

[Strontium]

If Roy is going to rotate as little as possible, then that's very welcome and long overdue.

 

I hope he also stops the ludicrous intensive pre-season fitness training that has seen us stuttering out of the blocks looking absolutely shattered in August and September for the past few seasons.

[Jim MM]

I wonder if the phrase "zonal marking" makes him lose the rag.

[RedinSweden]

This is an area I hope to see an improvement. i think that was the most irritating thing about Rafa, his cold detached view on players being picked. Of course there should be people being rested sometimes after particularly tough periods, but you have to weigh in the psychological side to things, and I think that is Rafa's weak point. It will be interesting to see. I am in favour of a trimmed squad with backup being offered by young players.

[Durango]

Despite Rafa getting castigated over his rotation policy,the man who implemented it more than anyone else has won 11 Premiership.FACT!!

 

 

But lets not get facts in the way of a good old myth!!!

[Kevin D]

This is an area I hope to see an improvement. i think that was the most irritating thing about Rafa, his cold detached view on players being picked. Of course there should be people being rested sometimes after particularly tough periods, but you have to weigh in the psychological side to things, and I think that is Rafa's weak point. It will be interesting to see. I am in favour of a trimmed squad with backup being offered by young players.

 

I think when you factor in both a sixty game season - not including internationals - the intense pressure at a club like Liverpool where our expectations are so high, there is an air of fantasy about having a small squad suplemented by youth players. To achieve what we'd all like this season, we'll need a minimum of 70 points; that absolutely necessatates Torres, Gerrard, Reina, Carragher, Kuyt, Johnson and Cole playing 30 league games. You then move to cup competitions, for we saw the furore created by the dark overlord's neglect of these, and it's very difficult balancing progressing, blooding young players and keeping good squad players fit. A manager may decide that the emphasis should be on the first and the latter to the point of neglecting youth players and I don't think one could blame him either.

 

Last season we did use young players as back-up - Ngog, Lucas and Insua - and we ended up badly exposed, in my view, bringing on El Zhar against Madrid when we badly needed a goal stands out. To my mind, there isn't a single big club who have managed to use this model - unless we count the once in a generation players at Barcelona - and be succesful

[gkmacca]

Roy is a pragmatist. He'll rotate if he needs to, and he won't if he doesn't. Whether he stays that way is the more debatable question - Rafa was far more flexible about selections and substituions during his first couple of years, then he turned more and more dogmatic. Judging from Roy's career so far he looks likely to remain fairly open-minded, but who knows what the pressure will do.

[Newport]

To be honest Rafa didn't rotate that much in his last couple of seasons. Most of the changes he made was due to suspensions and injuries.

[TwelveMonkeys]

Despite Rafa getting castigated over his rotation policy,the man who implemented it more than anyone else has won 11 Premiership.FACT!!

 

 

But lets not get facts in the way of a good old myth!!!

 

The principle of rotation isn't the problem - it's what you are rotating that's important. Rafa was rotating round an average squad - the other top clubs rotate seasoned internationals and players that would generally start week in / week out for most other clubs.

[gkmacca]

Rafa seemed a refreshing change after several years of Ged just sitting there in games doing nothing when the team struggled. But then he ended up just like Ged in that respect. I sometimes wonder if, deep down, it was mainly down to egomania. In the early days, Rafa changed things quite quickly if they weren't working - maybe because he decided the players either weren't up to his tactics or didn't understand them. Later on, he seemed to stick stubbornly to his initial plans - maybe because he felt that by this stage the players knew exactly what he wanted and he was damned well going to see them do it properly. That still doesn't make much sense to me when one factors in the need to win and succeed, but maybe madness creeps in...

[Code]

Did Roy not rotate his squad last season then for league games to keep his players fresh for their Europe League run?

 

He did but only after Fulham had secured their position in the league, I guess he felt that 7-15 did not really matter much if he could win or reach the final.

 

Hodgson will not rotate much though and he will go for experienced players ahead of up and coming youngsters, thats just how it is.

 

Lars Bohinen said something on TV2 the other day, he ahd him at Blackburn and he had just recently talked to Hangeland.

 

His point was that Hodgson is so focussed on minor details in the two fours that the training sessions will lack flow because he always interrupts to point things out, but the organisation at the back and in midfield will be superb.

 

Bohinen said that this obsession with details in the defensive part of the game did have influence on the attacking set up because Hodgson did not really spend as much time on the attacking third.

 

Ståle Solbakken who is a Liverpool fan and now are the manager of FC København and who played under hodgson for FC Københav said the exact same things in an earlier interview, he had no doubts about his ability to steady the defense but expressed doubts about if he would be willing to take the chances needed for a club who wnats to challenge for the league title.

[Guest simon]

He's gonna go old school Italien there will be a sweeper and everything. And also man marking. and defending set pieces.

[kop]

He did but only after Fulham had secured their position in the league, I guess he felt that 7-15 did not really matter much if he could win or reach the final.

 

Hodgson will not rotate much though and he will go for experienced players ahead of up and coming youngsters, thats just how it is.

 

Lars Bohinen said something on TV2 the other day, he ahd him at Blackburn and he had just recently talked to Hangeland.

 

His point was that Hodgson is so focussed on minor details in the two fours that the training sessions will lack flow because he always interrupts to point things out, but the organisation at the back and in midfield will be superb.

 

Bohinen said that this obsession with details in the defensive part of the game did have influence on the attacking set up because Hodgson did not really spend as much time on the attacking third.

 

Ståle Solbakken who is a Liverpool fan and now are the manager of FC København and who played under hodgson for FC Københav said the exact same things in an earlier interview, he had no doubts about his ability to steady the defense but expressed doubts about if he would be willing to take the chances needed for a club who wnats to challenge for the league title.

 

A Rafa-clone then :whistle:

[Original202]

For the final they did, not sure about the other games but really no one cares about Fulham in the league, they only have to beat the drop comfortably and that's a good season for them.

 

He did it for a few games before Europa League ties. Think there was one game against Hull where other clubs were moaning about him having made 8 changes or something.

 

(They probably would have lost even with a full strength team though as it was an away game).

 

I think he'll rotate just as much as any other manager. I'd be interested to see the stats, I bet there isn't that many more changes per game between the team that rotates the most and the team that rotates the least.