Will Bristol City's rotation, rotation, rotation pay off?

Gary Johnson's policy of resting players has become one of the hottest topics for debate among City fans this season.

While the depth of the current squad affords the manager more extensive options than at any previous time during his tenure, his team selections are never going to please all of the people all of the time.

Football is all about opinions and supporters have their own views on who should play and who should not. Ultimately, the manager is the one person in a position to put his thoughts into action and he stands or falls by the decisions he makes.

Supporters may disagree with the manager on occasions, but Johnson thinks deeply about the game and there is usually a good reason behind his decision making. Certainly, he does not make change for the sake of it.

In order to understand his newly-acquired rotational tendencies, it is necessary to delve into the past. To be more precise, those seeking the reasons for recent team changes should look no further than City's record in the Championship at this stage of the season in 2007 and 2008.

The Robins quickly established themselves among the front-runners in the second tier following their promotion from League One and proved impressively consistent – until hitting the buffers in November.

That particular month commenced with a notable 1-1 draw at Wolves but then quickly went downhill as the team lost three games in quick succession – 1-0 at home to Charlton, 6-0 at Ipswich and 2-0 to Leicester at Ashton Gate. A goalless draw at Hull at the month's end signalled the end of the slump, but a meagre return of two points from a possible 15 in November left the Robins with ground to make up on the leaders.

A similarly sorry tale unfolded 12 months ago. City won 2-0 at Charlton to move into the play-off positions towards the end of October and then tasted victory just once in the next 12 outings.

November began with a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Reading and continued with defeats at Crystal Palace and Preston and disappointing home draws against Nottingham Forest and Watford. The gloom was lifted only by victory in a Sky-televised encounter against Southampton at St Mary's.

City's poor form continued into December and Johnson's team dropped to within five points of the relegation zone before a 4-2 triumph at Watford on Boxing Day set them on the road to recover.

But the damage had already been done and City spent the rest of the season playing catch-up.

If the past teaches us lessons, it seems the penny has dropped for Johnson, who is determined to avoid a similar slump this November.

Hence his policy of resting key players. Marvin Elliott and Lee Johnson recently made way for Paul Hartley and Danny Haynes against Plymouth and City won 3-1 at Ashton Gate.

When Hartley and the in-form Cole Skuse were omitted from the starting line-up at Barnsley four days later, some City fans were no doubt prepared to question the manager's judgement. In hindsight, his selection proved to be the correct one as the Robins carved out a 3-2 success.

City's summer spending means Johnson now has a strong squad at his disposal, a pre-requisite for any club wishing to challenge at the top.

The manager has sought to justify his team selections in terms of keeping senior players fresh and "not flogging them to death." Certainly, fatigue was an issue during each of the last two seasons.

Johnson said: "We made decent starts both times, but then hit the wall at this stage of the season. We were okay until we had to play games on Saturday, Tuesday and Saturday with tired legs.

"Because our squad was a bit thin, some lads had to play week in and week out and it took it's toll in the end. Lee Johnson, Michael McIndoe, Marvin Elliott and Ivan Sproule all had to play too many games last season and it caught up with them in November. It was the same the season before that.

"If you plotted the last two seasons on a graph, you would see a major dip in November. That's something we noticed and decided to do something about. We knew we needed a bigger squad and, by that, I mean more senior players who are ready to play in the Championship without weakening the team. We have that this season and it's up to me to make use of it.

"So far, we are there or thereabouts. But if we want to stay there, we have to rest players and keep them fresh. It may mean we lose the odd game but, so long as our overall record in November is better than in the last two years, it will have worked."