This would be my plan.
1. Play Babel. We shelled out a lot of cash for him, he's raw but has ability. I've a hunch that he may be a player, lets find out. Lets play him from now on, at least then by the end of the season if he makes it, he'll be all bedded in for next season. Play him up top with Torres, as of now.
2. we need some cash from somewhere, and the obvious way to generate it is to sell Sissoko, Kuyt, Carson and possibly Crouch and Riise. Lets ship some out in december and the rest at the end of the season. We need the cash and it's time to get radical.
3. Play Lucas much more, and move Gerrard out to the right. I've always liked the captain out there, and he's about twenty five times as good as either Benayoun or Pennant.
4. Needless to say, lets cut down on the rotation. Now I know we kept the same team today and lost (and believe me it's only a matter of time before somebody comes on and say "so much for not rotating, where was the rhytm and fluency then eh?

That's what I'd do. Play the kids a bit more, keep a more settled team and flog saome people who aren't good enough. Buy less players numerically, we don't need 22 first team "squad" players, we need 16 first team "proper" players. For instance sell Crouch and Kuyt and buy one player to replace them, not two. Sell Sissoko, Carson and Riise and buy a top class, young and quick centre hlaf, or a good young left winger.
We gave up the game at Reading and decided to think of the future. My point is it might be time to start thinking about next seasons challenge in the league as of now, and preparing ourselves for it.