Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is right to rotate his star players having learned from past mistakes

The six changes Jürgen Klopp made to his starting line-up for Sunday's Merseyside derby brought him up to a total of 59 for the Premier League season so far.

We have not yet reached the campaign's halfway point but already, Klopp has tinkered more than he did through the entirety of last season - when the Liverpool manager only had domestic commitments to worry about and made a mere 54 alterations on the way to a top-four finish.

The hope at the start of last season was that with essentially just one front to fight on, Klopp would have the same advantage that Brendan Rodgers enjoyed during the 2013-14 season, when the Northern Irishman came three points short of ending the club's long wait for a league title.

Liverpool played with the same verve and intensity as that Rodgers' team at times during the opening months but as the nights drew in, they hit a brick wall. A 0-0 draw at St Mary's in November was not a poor result but signs of fatigue were there. Philippe Coutinho broke his ankle at home to Sunderland a week later.

Injuries for Daniel Sturridge, Emre Can and Joel Matip followed, as did defeat at Bournemouth and two points dropped at home to West Ham United. By the time Sadio Mané joined Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations, Liverpool had already embarked on a wretched month of form that would split their season in two: first part promising, second part salvage operation.

READ MORE: Gossip - Chelsea swoop for Lemar, Sandro’s snub

READ MORE: John Terry shows off £5,425 Monopoly board

In total, Liverpool lost 1,840 days to injury during the 2016-17 campaign, more than any other club in the so-called 'top six'. This and a startling lack of squad depth ultimately did for any title challenge that Klopp could have mustered.

Liverpool have already played more games in this season than they had by January of the last campaign. This simple fact means that order to avoid another winter slump, Klopp has been forced to adopt a heavy rotation policy and make difficult decisions which produce imperfect results.

Much was made of Coutinho and Roberto Firmino’s absence from the starting line-up against Everton on Sunday but really, their omission was not particularly surprising. Both had started the previous weekend’s match at Brighton and Hove Albion, with Firmino substituted late on and Coutinho completing the 90 minutes.

Both then started again in the 7-0 rout of Spartak Moscow last week. It was a game that seemed more challenging at kick-off than it did at the final whistle but with qualification and top spot in the group on the line, it was correctly prioritised above the surrounding league fixtures. Even the derby is only worth three points.

Mohamed Salah, meanwhile, started at the Amex, against Spartak and then again at the weekend. Even if he had not tweaked his hamstring against Everton on Sunday, the meeting with West Bromwich Albion at Anfield on Wednesday night would probably have been one match too many.

Sadio Mané is not immune from rotation either, especially given his recent problems with injury. The Senegalese winger was left out against Chelsea and appeared unhappy with his role as a late substitute, but channelled his frustrations into scoring a goal and providing an assist in the following game at Stoke City.

The unavoidable fact of the matter is that this will be the Premier League's busiest festive period in recent memory and, discounting international breaks, Liverpool have played twice a week ever since the middle of October. The five days between Saturday’s journey to Bournemouth and Friday’s away day at Arsenal will be their longest time between fixtures for two months.

Arsenal themselves show why Liverpool need to rotate. Unlike Arsene Wénger, Klopp has been unable to safely demote European competition down his list of priorities and play a full-strength side domestically most weeks. A lack of Champions League football has, ironically, made a well-rested Arsenal more of a threat in the top-four race this year.

Liverpool on the other hand - like Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur - have had to be engaged in the Champions League while trying to qualify for the same competition next season too. Klopp, Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte and Mauricio Pochettino have to pick and choose their moments to play a full-strength line-up or else they risk their players collapsing under fatigue in the second half of the season.

So far, Klopp appears to be the one most willing of those four managers to take a long-term view and gamble that by rotating and potentially losing points in the short term, his Liverpool side will last longer down the stretch. Conte and Pochettino are employing much lighter rotation. Mourinho, meanwhile, has played Romelu Lukaku in every minute of every Premier League match this season and the Belgian is playing like a man in need of a rest.

There is no guarantee that Klopp’s methods will work and the criticism and questioning of his decisions is fair, but he should be credited for looking at the mistakes of seasons past and trying to correct them. By the time of the next Merseyside derby in April, if Liverpool’s ‘Fab Four’ are fit, on-form and firing the club towards a second consecutive Champions League finish, there will be few complaints.