Rotation policy needs breather

Officially, Arsenal’s training ground is in Shenley, although as far as I’m concerned it’s located in London Colney, as Shenley has always been synonymous with the dark shadow of the psychiatric institute that once dominated this Hertforshire suburb.

Then again, I could be forgiven for thinking the men in white coats had come for Arsène Wenger on Saturday, when he announced a starting line-up against Pompey that included Aliadière as Van Persie’s strike partner. I’m all for being patient when it comes to bringing on our young prodigies, but it’s hard to believe that this product of the Clairfontaine Academy has been at the club for seven years and has become the second longest serving player in the squad (behind Freddie Ljungberg), without ever having established himself in the first XI.

In his programme notes on Saturday, Wenger stated he had “absolutely no choice” but to rotate the squad.

I pictured him sitting at his desk, poring over the players’ stats on Friday afternoon and concluding that he needed to rest Adebayor. I agree that some of our players are showing signs of suffering from the relentless physical demands of the game.

However, as was highlighted at the JJB last Wednesday, we just don’t have the depth of quality in our squad to allow Wenger the luxury of leaving out our most important players.

Watching Chelsea come from behind twice at Goodison, to eventually grab the winner, reminded me of the crucial difference between the two teams.

With the likes of Lampard, Drogba, Ballack, and Essien, unfortunately the Gobby One has at least half a dozen players at his disposal with the ability to pull something special out of the bag when required.

Whereas in the absence of an out-of-form Henry, I’d struggle to name more than a couple of Arsenal players (Rosicky, Kolo?) capable of conjuring up the sort of match-winning wonder-strikes witnessed.

At a time when we’re desperate to try and establish some breathing space between us and the other half a dozen clubs with Champions League aspirations, it’s essential that we start with our best XI.

Then if we’re capable of securing an advantage of more than a single goal, Wenger can substitute those players who’d benefit most from an early bath.

I’m also convinced that we need to establish some consistency before Wenger can consider rotating his players.

Naturally, a winning team tends to feel a whole lot less fatigued because they don’t need to expend nearly so much energy chasing down the opposition and winning back possession.

With his pragmatic approach, Wenger is probably fretting that if his young charges are suffering already, without the benefit of a breather now, how are they going to cope come the end of the season?

However, if we keep dropping points at our inconsistent rate, it won’t matter if they are all on crutches come May, as our season will have long since gone kaput — whereas I’m certain that all such concerns will evaporate, if only we can re-establish that winning habit.

I was fortunate to attend an open day training session at our new stadium on Monday, where it was good to see that Wenger will have a few more options available to him with the return to fitness of the likes of Lauren and Rosicky.

With the squad split into two groups, it was easy to suss out who’d be lining up against Liverpool.

Obviously we need to be patient as far as Baptista is concerned, but I’m afraid it might just be Beast by name rather than nature, as he’s yet to convince me that he has the necessary appetite for the frenetic brand of football played in the Premiership. Hopefully he’ll have proved me wrong this week.

Similarly I’m eagerly looking forward to discovering whether the likes of Denilson, Randall and Traore are truly capable of challenging for a shirt, thereby bolstering our squad with the sort of quality which could ensure that we Gooners don’t end up baying for Wenger to join the queues of under- pressure gaffers on New Year’s Day, with their deck chairs and flasks, readying themselves for the rush to battle it out for the best bargains in the January sales.