I know you hate them I am not that happy either. But maybe rotation isn't the right word? Maybe he knows that defense alone is enough to secure advancement in Europa now, so save the better player for midweek? I am just being optimistic in terms of possible explanations.
Castro has been exceptionally bad lately. In terms of alternatives however, Dahoud has been arguably just as bad, while Kagawa and Guerreiro are injured. Or maybe you can throw on another winger and play Götze and Pulisic in midfield...etc...
I don't understand how Dahoud can be chalked off as bad when he's given 10min every other match to prove himself. If that was Castro I wouldn't be as harsh.
Can't say that I enjoyed the game, but we need points, even if they are achieved with ugly displays like this one. Don't like Schurrle either, but at least he's been contributing something lately, which is more than what I can say for Castro. The guy is shit week in, week out and plays full 90 minutes. How? Even if Dahoud looks just as bad sometimes (which is somewhat pushing it to begin with) he barely gets a third of Castro's minutes. How does that work?
It does not justify Castro, he is not good enough for a team with Champions League ambitions. My point is that Dahoud is putting in substandard displays. I get the criticism of Castro but he does not pick himself. Unless anyone of us watches the players train everyday, we have to assume that Dahoud is not convincing his coaches on a daily basis too. Dahoud's form is a downer because we were counting on him to perform like a less elite Gündogan. We might have to look elsewhere, with the midfield we have right now we will get overrun.