diff --git a/pkg/cluster/resources.go b/pkg/cluster/resources.go
index 256a7acb9..1a1f3c69a 100644
--- a/pkg/cluster/resources.go
+++ b/pkg/cluster/resources.go
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	RollingUpdateStatefulsetAnnotationKey = "zalando-postgres-operator-rolling-update"
+	RollingUpdateStatefulsetAnnotationKey = "zalando-postgres-operator-rolling-update-required"
 )
 
 func (c *Cluster) listResources() error {
diff --git a/pkg/cluster/sync.go b/pkg/cluster/sync.go
index d3bb567ff..48ceed992 100644
--- a/pkg/cluster/sync.go
+++ b/pkg/cluster/sync.go
@@ -247,6 +247,7 @@ func (c *Cluster) syncStatefulSet() error {
 
 		podsRollingUpdateRequired = (len(pods) > 0)
 		if podsRollingUpdateRequired {
+			c.logger.Warningf("found pods from the previous statefulset: trigger rolling update")
 			c.applyRollingUpdateFlagforStatefulSet(podsRollingUpdateRequired)
 		}
 		c.logger.Infof("created missing statefulset %q", util.NameFromMeta(sset.ObjectMeta))
diff --git a/pkg/cluster/util.go b/pkg/cluster/util.go
index 5a5447918..516a59b9e 100644
--- a/pkg/cluster/util.go
+++ b/pkg/cluster/util.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/zalando-incubator/postgres-operator/pkg/util/constants"
 	"github.com/zalando-incubator/postgres-operator/pkg/util/k8sutil"
 	"github.com/zalando-incubator/postgres-operator/pkg/util/retryutil"
+	"reflect"
 )
 
 // OAuthTokenGetter provides the method for fetching OAuth tokens
@@ -172,7 +173,10 @@ func (c *Cluster) logStatefulSetChanges(old, new *v1beta1.StatefulSet, isUpdate
 			util.NameFromMeta(old.ObjectMeta),
 		)
 	}
-	c.logger.Debugf("diff\n%s\n", util.PrettyDiff(old.Spec, new.Spec))
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(old.Annotations, new.Annotations) {
+		c.logger.Debugf("metadata.annotation diff\n%s\n", util.PrettyDiff(old.Annotations, new.Annotations))
+	}
+	c.logger.Debugf("spec diff\n%s\n", util.PrettyDiff(old.Spec, new.Spec))
 
 	if len(reasons) > 0 {
 		for _, reason := range reasons {
diff --git a/pkg/util/k8sutil/k8sutil.go b/pkg/util/k8sutil/k8sutil.go
index e9c899b82..142d4f822 100644
--- a/pkg/util/k8sutil/k8sutil.go
+++ b/pkg/util/k8sutil/k8sutil.go
@@ -131,8 +131,13 @@ func SameService(cur, new *v1.Service) (match bool, reason string) {
 	oldELBAnnotation := cur.Annotations[constants.ElbTimeoutAnnotationName]
 	newELBAnnotation := new.Annotations[constants.ElbTimeoutAnnotationName]
 
-	if oldDNSAnnotation != newDNSAnnotation || oldELBAnnotation != newELBAnnotation {
-		return false, fmt.Sprintf("new service's %q annotation doesn't match the current one", constants.ZalandoDNSNameAnnotation)
+	if oldDNSAnnotation != newDNSAnnotation {
+		return false, fmt.Sprintf("new service's %q annotation value %q doesn't match the current one %q",
+			constants.ZalandoDNSNameAnnotation, newDNSAnnotation, oldDNSAnnotation)
+	}
+	if oldELBAnnotation != newELBAnnotation {
+		return false, fmt.Sprintf("new service's %q annotation value %q doesn't match the current one %q",
+			constants.ElbTimeoutAnnotationName, oldELBAnnotation, newELBAnnotation)
 	}
 
 	return true, ""