Decided to take a short break from watching dots running around the screen to talk a bit about Squad Rotation. I always work with Squad Rotation. Not as mental as Rafael Benitez was but there are several reasons why Squad Rotation is good and hopefully I'll cover them in this guide. The first reason is quite obvious, it creates a good atmosphere in the squad and your harmony rating in the confidence screen increases. It's not difficult to get it high, it's consistency which is difficult, especially cause one wrong move in regards to squad management can see that harmony decrease. Hard and fast too.
Second reason is because I like to have youth in the squad. Without playing time their development halts. Game time for youngsters is crucial so if you like seeing little green arrows all over the place they need to play. In addition, by rotating, you can keep injuries to a minimum and keep players fit throughout the season. Less injuries/fatigue the more you can focus on training and development.
Another reason is that you might have an easier time of selling players at the end of the season if they have actually played. I always see managers saying they have a hard time selling players. Have they actually played? Have you put them in the shop window?
Last reason, but not least, it creates competition within the squad. Oh yes it does exist. Those clever buggers within the SI tower have implemented a sort of internal competition mechanism which sees players who are constantly on the bench and not starting having poor morale. Did you ever see a "Fairly Good" morale player going into a match then have "Very Poor" (in game) when you put him on the bench. He threw a strop. He felt he'd one enough in training/last game to start.
There is one downside though. Of course it means you don't play your strongest 11 all the time. The key here is, again,
Balance. You obviously can't put loads of youngsters in an away fixture in the Premier League. you have to think about the balance of youth and experience when selecting your 11.
The Rule of 22+(5)
Now I have to stress, this is how I manage my team because it works for me. It might not suit you but I hope to help those that struggle slightly at squad size and rotation. So what exactly is the 22+5 rule? the base of my squad should always be 22, 2 players for each position however they must be able to play multiple positions because the aim is to have 3 players available per position. 22 players should be able to cover that easy. Let's take a look at this screenshot of Liverpool (chosen for obvious reasons
):
There you have the starting line up + 11 rotation players + 5 (optional) youth. That's why I call it 22x(5) because the extra 5 aren't needed but I focus on youth so I always make sure I have 5 that I'm always developing. If before 19 they're ready to take the step into the first team 22 then I'll include them however I'd rather wait until 19 because they'll be better equipped. The optional 5 always play in the reserves, I only included them in the first team to show. Reason for this is because I can lower the match prep and focus more on their training. The optional 5 should always be U19's. Once they turn 19 you need to make a decision. Sell or keep as Rotation. It's that simple. Each year I evaluate the "optional" five, sell the O19's who are never going to make it and select a "new" 5 to develop. The rest of the U19's are loaned out because they'll more then likely never make it. So with the Liverpool squad in mind let's look at the flexibility:
GK: Mingolet + Jones + (Fulton) = 3
DR: Johnson + Manquillo = 2
DL: Moreno + Enrique + Can = 3
DC: Skrtel/Lovren + Toure/Sakho + Can = 3
DMC: Lucas + Gerrard + Can + (Rossiter) = 4
MC: Can/Henderson + Allen/Gerrard + Coutinho (Rossiter) = 4
AMR: Sterling + Markovic + Lallana + Borini + (Ibe) + (Wilson) + (Kent) = 7
AML: Coutinho + Lallana + Borini + Sterling + Moreno + (Ibe) + (Wilson) + (Kent) = 8
SC: Sturridge + Balotelli + Borini + Sterling + (Kent) = 5
So the further up the field we go the more flexibility we have. Obiovusly I have 3 youth that can play AMR/AML so that gives plenty of options. We are short at the back though. Only two options for DR, only 2 left footed options for DL. Can's flexibility means if we have heavy injuries in defence he'll have to go from his regular spot in the team. In MC I do feel a little short too because it feels like Rossiter would be covering way too much if there was injuries.
So how to solve this? Well I look at my Second String. Toure is a competent DR. Perfect! Start of the season I'll train him to be a DR and chuck him into some reserves games to help develop that. With Can being such a utility player we need more MC cover so I decide to tell Lallana to train as MC as he is competent at it. It's not ideal because Coutinho and Lallana would only be able to play the False Ten role but at least I have the cover I want. So now, without youth, it'll look like this:
GK: Mingolet + Jones = 2 (This doesn't have to be 3 but it's handy to have a youth backup)
DR: Johnson + Manquillo + Toure = 3
DL: Moreno + Enrique + Can = 3
DC: Skrtel/Lovren + Toure/Sakho + Can = 3
DMC: Lucas + Gerrard + Can = 3
MC: Can/Henderson + Allen/Gerrard + Coutinho + Lallana = 4
AMR: Sterling + Markovic + Lallana + Borini = 4
AML: Coutinho + Lallana + Borini + Sterling + Moreno = 5
SC: Sturridge + Balotelli + Borini + Sterling = 4
Ideally I'd be looking into buying another defender and DMC so I can sell off some of the players in the attacking unit seeing as that's where I'm very heavy (plus with Ibe, Kent and Wilson being AMR/AML's). Usually when I play with Liverpool I buy Mussachio and train to DR, sell Toure, buy William Carvalho and sell Borini. That way I have more cover for DMC, MC , DC and DR.
The Rule of 2x5
Right so this is where I might loose you a bit but I'm hoping to explain my 2x5 rule when it comes to squad rotation. So we've sorted out the squad, we have our 22 players and maybe or maybe not 5 youth#s we're developing. Now we need to make sure players get enough playing time. The way I do this is by rotating in a 2x5 manner. This is a system I've developed to make sure I develop as much rotation as possible without compromising the squad or performances. Now the aim is to make sure that the rotation player play half of what the first teamer would play. So in 15 the first teamer would play 10 and the rotation 5 (the thought of having Jones play in goal for 5 games is scary). Now I must stress, this is the aim, you might not achieve it but you need a goal to aim for and this is the one I've set myself.
So the 2x5 rotation plan. The 2 means the
total amount of
first team players you can sub out for
rotation players on a game to game basis. I don't include Goalkeepers in this. The 5 is the total of players you can
maximum rotate from game to game without causing damage to your flow. The reason for this is because it's less then 50% of your starting 11 from game to game. I think if you swap more then 50% of your team from the match before you most definitely get a disjointed match. Any first teamers you put back into the starting 11 is counted as one of the 5.
Let's look at a real life example:
20th January 2015: Liverpool v Chelsea - Chelsea's starting 11 = Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Luis; Mikel, Matic; Wilian, Fabregas, Hazard; Costa
24th January 2015: Chelsea v Bradford - Chelsea's starting 11 = Cech; Christensen, Zouma, Cahill, Azpilicueta; Ramires, Mikel; Remy, Oscar, Salah; Drogba
Mikel and Cahill were the only survivors between those two games. Now, firstly I'm not taking anything away from Bradford, and secondly I know Chelsea were 2-1 up at HT. But that was a squad rotation of almost 90%!! You'd never see me do that, regardless of it's Bradford or not. I'd rather get some continuity in the squad. The more you deviate from the 2x5 the higher the risk you'll get a bad performance. FACT!
So again I'm going to try using a month's of Liverpool's in game schedule (which is the same as IRL) Below is the fixtures from Southampton on the 17th of August and 4 weeks on:
My advice would always be make sure you have 4-5 key players in your squad. These players will play the most (away and tough home games) and then if you have "easier" games at home you can rotate them out. Right so looking at the schedule there this is how I would go:
v Southampton: Mingolet; Johnson, Skrtel, Lovren, Enrique; Can, Lucas, Gerrard; Sterling, Coutinho; Sturridge
That's Moreno and Henderson out, Enrique and Gerrard in. Reason is because Enrique and Gerrard could easily play against Man City if I needed them to stay in there. (2x2)
v Man City: Mingolet; Johnson, Skrtel, Sakho, Enrique; Henderson, Lucas, Gerrard; Sterling, Coutinho; Sturridge
Enrique and Gerrard stay in because they're experienced, Can and Lovren go out, Henderson returns and Sakho takes the defence spot. (2x2)
v Tottenham: Mingolet; Manquillo, Skrtel, Lovren, Enrique; Can, Gerrard, Henderson; Sterling, Coutinho; Sturridge
Johnson and Lucas out, Manquillo debut and Can + Sakho comes back. (2x3)
v Aston Villa Jones; Manquillo, Skrtel, Lovren, Moreno; Gerrard, Can, Henderson; Lallana, Coutinho; Balotelli
Mingolet, Enrique, Sturridge and Sterling out. Jones, Moreno, Balotelli and Lallana in (2x4)
So the more you progress the more you rotate. In the beginning you can't actually rotate much because you're limited to 2 first teamers out per game. With injuries/suspensions to your last starting 11 you can either count them as the 2 or the 5 because it's a forced change. Generally the further along the season you are you count them as the 5 and in the beginning they're part of the 2. Unless they were just a rotation player anyways.
I hope this all made sense!