It is an unlikely source, given his placid demanour, but Stephen Warnock has just joined the anti-rotation brigade pointing his finger to the inability to get games on a regualar and consistent basis for his failure to establish himself at Liverpool

In an interview with the Times, Warnock said that “even if you’d played really well one week, you never thought you would play the next. People were being rested in September and October and I just think that’s crazy. You don’t want to be rested at that stage of the season. I thought I needed to play week in, week out to improve myself as a player.”

Words that reflect what most fans think but which don’t tell the whole story.

The truth is that he suffered injuries at key stages – practically every time he looked like getting some games – but, more significantly, he just wasn’t good enough. Even in his current form, John Arne Riise looks a better player as is Fabio Aurelio despite his inability to stay fit. At Liverpool, Warnock had some good games and even got into the England squad on the back of them but he never proved that he is anything other than a decent player.

Warnock's lack of positional awareness and his inability to create anything when going forward yesterday was proof enough of this.