Get the latest NUFC transfer and takeover news straight to your inbox for FREE by signing up to our newsletter Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Whenever Rafa Benitez’s name is mentioned, you can guarantee that his much-talked-about - and often controversial - rotation policy will closely follow.

So unpredictable are the Newcastle United manager’s starting XIs that, while he was at Liverpool, fans used to run a website urging supporters to predict the Spaniard’s next line-up.

Rarely, if ever, did anyone guess it 100 per cent correctly.

Sometimes the Spaniard will predetermine the vast majority of his starting XI for a game two or three weeks in advance because it will all be part of a season-long fitness plan.

At Valencia, Benitez famously left two of his star players out of a title-deciding match simply because he had decided weeks beforehand that, in order to preserve their conditioning, they would only be among the substitutes.

Even with the Spanish league title at stake, Benitez would not compromise his players’ welfare.

At Newcastle, just like throughout his career, the 56-year-old has continued to rotate his players.

But does he really rotate far more frequently than any of his Championship counterparts? Is he really the ‘modern-day Tinkerman’?

Here, NUFC Writer Chris Waugh delves through the statistics:

Rotating Rafa

(Image: Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)

There is no doubt that Benitez has rotated his Newcastle side this season; he has already used 25 players in the league so far this term - while Rob Elliot and Massadio Haidara are also likely to feature at some point this term once they are fully fit, inflating the number further.

And, though Newcastle used more than 30 players across the course of the Premier League season in 2015/16, the Magpies suffered from a series of injury crises and that was a large contributing factor behind that.

During the opening 16 matches of this campaign, United have suffered a relatively small number injuries - there have been odd niggles and a couple of medium-to-long-term problems, but very few - while only Vurnon Anita, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Matt Ritchie have served suspensions.

Despite that, Benitez is yet to start the same XI for two consecutive league matches so far this term.

What’s more, not a single Magpie has started every single Championship match. Interestingly, however, 21 different players have started at least one league match (admittedly the now-departed Daryl Janmaat being one of them), and that includes two separate goalkeepers.

So are Newcastle the Championship’s rotation kings?

(Image: Newcastle United)

Well, not necessarily no. The Magpies have used 25 players this term, which is actually the joint-sixth highest in the division.

Nottingham Forest (30 players) surprisingly lead the way, while four clubs have used 26 different players this term.

Brentford and Huddersfield Town have used just 21 apiece - the joint-least in the division - while Derby County, Rotherham United and Blackburn Rovers have also fielded 25 players in the league this term, the same number as Newcastle.

But, looking beyond just those raw numbers, it is interesting to see how many players have started regularly for each team.

Of the 25 players to have featured for United this term, only three have started 14 or more of their 16 matches.

Interestingly though, eight other second-tier sides have had three players or fewer start 14 or more league matches this season.

Injuries play a significant part in those statistics, but it helps to show that Benitez is not the only manager to make alterations to his line-up from game to game.

Delving a little deeper, there are 11 Magpies to have started 10 or more league games in 2016/17.

Only Norwich City (12) have had a higher number of players start 10 or more games this season.

Now this statistic is a significant one, but it can be interpreted in two ways. In one sense, it shows that Benitez is picking a core group of players for almost every match.

Yet, in another way, it highlights how he is rotating things around because he has used 25 players in all, yet only 11 of them have managed to start 10 or more matches.

Debunking the myth

(Image: PA Wire)

Benitez rotates, of that there is no denying. The Spaniard himself even unapologetically admits it; he believes that it is in the best interests of the players and the club for him to do so.

Yet his rotation is nowhere near as radical as some observers would have you think.

You only need to change one player for that to constitute ‘rotation’ in the sense that the starting line-up is then different from the previous outing.

During his time at Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson regularly changed his starting line-up - the Red Devils boss once went 164 games without naming the same league XI, leading one fanzine to label the Scot ‘Tinkerbell’ - yet it was Benitez who was described as the new ‘Tinkerman’ while the Spaniard was at Anfield.

And yes, Benitez did go 100 games at Liverpool without naming the same starting line-ups, but they were rarely radically different XIs from one week to the next.

Bringing this back to present day, and that same is true.

(Image: Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)

United have not fielded the same starting line-up in consecutive Championship matches, but in the vast majority of those games Benitez has only made one or two changes.

If you run through the side now, only two or three positions are now regularly rotated.

Karl Darlow is now first-choice goalkeeper - and Matz Sels was not ‘rotated’ when he was originally left out of the side, he was ‘dropped’ - while Paul Dummett, Ciaran Clark and Jamaal Lascelles have each started the last nine league games.

Jonjo Shelvey - potential imminent suspension aside - is now an ever-present in holding-midfield, while Yoan Gouffran and Matt Ritchie are Benitez’s wingers of choice.

Dwight Gayle too is very much the first-choice striker.

The main areas of rotation are right-back, the second holding-midfield position and the No 10 role in Benitez’s 4-2-3-1 formation.

DeAndre Yedlin and Vurnon Anita tend to rotate at right-back, while Jack Colback and Isaac Hayden compete to start alongside Shelvey, and then Mo Diame and Ayoze Perez switch around regularly at No 10.

For the most part, eight or nine players start just about every game, aside from at specific points across the course of the campaign when rest matches have been factored into that individual’s season-long conditioning programme. That’s why Ritchie was rested at Rotherham United.

Benitez does rotate at Newcastle, but rarely does he radically change the starting line-up from one league match to another.

Players used by Championship sides (2016/17):

(Image: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Nottingham Forest - 30 players used (9 with 10 or more appearances)

Wolverhampton Wanderers - 26 players used (8)

Cardiff City - 26 players used (9)

Barnsley - 26 players used (10)

Aston Villa - 26 players used (10)

Derby County - 25 players used (7)

Rotherham United - 25 players used (8)

Blackburn Rovers - 25 players used (9)

Newcastle United - 25 players used (11)

Preston North End - 24 players used (8)

Wigan Athletic - 24 players used (8)

Fulham - 24 players used (9)

Norwich City - 24 players used (12)

Bristol City - 23 players used (7)

Brighton and Hove Albion - 23 players used (9)

Ipswich Town - 23 players used (9)

Leeds United - 23 players used (10)

Reading - 23 players used (11)

Queens Park Rangers - 22 players used (9)

Burton Albion - 22 players used (10)

Birmingham City - 22 players used (10)

Sheffield Wednesday - 22 players used (10)

Huddersfield Town - 21 players used (10)

Brentford - 21 players used (10)

Newcastle United players by league appearance (2016/17):

Jamaal Lascelles - 15 starts (1 substitute appearance)

Jonjo Shelvey - 14 starts (2 substitute appearances)

Paul Dummett - 15 starts

Isaac Hayden - 11 starts (3 substitute appearances)

Matt Ritchie - 12 starts (2 substitute appearances)

Yoan Gouffran - 13 starts

Ayoze Perez - 8 starts (4 substitute appearances)

Dwight Gayle - 12 starts

Vurnon Anita - 11 starts (1 substitute appearance)

Ciaran Clark - 11 starts

Mo Diame - 10 starts (1 substitute appearance)

Jack Colback - 7 starts (3 substitute appearances)

Christian Atsu - 3 starts (6 substitute appearances)

DeAndre Yedlin - 5 starts (4 substitute appearances)

Matz Sels - 9 starts

Aleksandar Mitrovic - 3 starts (5 substitute appearances)

Karl Darlow - 7 starts

Chancel Mbemba - 6 starts

Grant Hanley - 1 start (4 substitute appearances)

Rolando Aarons - 1 start (3 substitute appearances)

Adam Armstrong - 0 starts (2 substitute appearances)

Daryl Janmaat - 2 starts

Achraf Lazaar - 0 starts (1 substitute appearance)

Cheick Tiote - 0 starts (1 substitute appearance)

Jesus Gamez - 0 starts (1 substitute appearance)