Rotation is a term that can strike fear into the heart of any fantasy football manager but it’s important to distinguish between ‘rotation tactics’ and ‘rotation risk’.

What are fantasy football squad rotation tactics ?

In traditional season-long fantasy football competitions such as the Official Fantasy Premier League game, rotation tactics are often deployed by many managers.

The idea is to look at the fixture schedule then to to try to rotate between squad players (usually goalkeepers and defenders) so that those with the easier fixtures will be selected in specific weeks. Many managers will also look to isolate a goalkeeper and a defender that play alternate home games giving them the option of including them in their starting XI when home games are scheduled.

What is fantasy football rotation risk ?

When discussing potential picks, many fantasy football managers will often refer to a player as a ‘rotation risk’. This implies that he is not a ‘nailed-on’ starter, week in, week out and is therefore something of a risky proposition since his playing minutes are not guaranteed.

Some managers will avoid these players like the plague, while others will see them as a good way of differentiating their line-ups from the crowd.

Selecting players that are perceived to be rotation risks in daily fantasy football can prove a dangerous strategy, especially if ‘late-swap‘ is not permitted or not having ‘automatic substitutions‘ to fall back on.

Try to work out which players are rotation risks and factor in upcoming fixtures to determine which games might take priority in the club managers’ thinking. Also, if games are coming thick and fast such as over the busy Christmas holiday period, the chances of rotation might escalate for certain players.