Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has defended his decision to leave out Danny Ings, Takumi Minamino and Moussa Djenepo against Leeds United.
All three were on the bench, with Stuart Armstrong, Nathan Tella and Che Adams coming into the lineup.
The Saints lost the game 3-0, despite the former three coming off the bench later in the game.
Asked by reporters about those changes, Hasenhuttl said: "I mean, we could let them play from the beginning and then we have the same problem that we have in the past – that we play until they are injured, yeah? We can do this also.
"Then they are out for four, five or six weeks and then we have no alternatives anymore.
"So now I try to rotate a little bit more because after their injuries it's normal they cannot play three games in a week – this is the problem we have at the moment.
"By the way, I must say Nathan Tella did a good job in the first half. He was the biggest threat in our attacking and he did it quite well.
"He had a big chance where he could score – he had the penalty situation, so I was not unhappy with him."
