Reds boss Jurgen Klopp had chopped and changed for every game and had used nine different players.
This season, he has made one change in one Champions League and six league matches — and they have won them all.
That change was bringing in Joel Matip for Joe Gomez at the weekend as they beat Southampton — Matip even scored.
Continuity is key and brings understanding. That is more important than what they are doing going forward.
Familiarity breeds confidence.
BURNLEY BOUNCE BACK
YOU cannot underestimate the importance of a decent pre-season. It is where all the groundwork is done.
Burnley were robbed of theirs due to playing in Europa League qualifiers.
They have had 12 competitive fixtures this season whereas most teams have played six or seven.
They have also been hit by injuries. So it was a superb result on Saturday as they got off the bottom of the table with a win over Bournemouth.
They will not wish they had not been in Europe — it would have been a great experience — but it takes it out of you.
Look at how Arsenal and Manchester United over the past two seasons gave up their hopes of finishing in the top four and concentrated on winning the Europa League as a route back into the Champions League.
It is draining gunning for both — and those clubs have much deeper squads than Burnley.
WILY WOLVES
WE can get bogged down with possession statistics. They can be important but they can also prove to be misleading.
More vital is what a team does with or without the ball.
I saw Wolves a lot last season and they were brilliant at controlling a game out of possession.
If a team does not have the ball, we assume they are being dominated — Newcastle have had a lot of stick for that this season — but it’s not always about that.
Wolves had only 28 per cent of the ball against Manchester City and 35 per cent against Manchester United — yet they drew both matches.
They could have even nicked a win against United on Saturday.
They are canny because they allow the opposition to go into certain areas with the ball where they want to dispossess them.
In the City game, they let Fernandinho carry the ball out of his defensive midfield spot then try to rob him to take advantage of the space.
KEEPING THE FAITH
BURNLEY’S Joe Hart was outstanding against Bournemouth. And Petr Cech was superb for Arsenal against Everton.
They are two examples of top professionals getting on with their jobs and ignoring the noise.
Hart is moving back to his best and showing how mentally strong he is — while everyone has been focusing on Cech’s kicking and forgetting that he is first and foremost a great keeper.
WATFORD WORK IN TWOS
WATFORD have rightly been praised for being a tight unit this season but they are more than that. They are lots of tight little units.
When they warm up, they do it in groups, passing the ball around at pace in small circles.
But it is interesting they do it with centre-backs next to each other and the right-back next to the right-winger, the strikers next to each other to build understanding.
And that is certainly paying off.
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