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Squad Rotation

Frozen_Waffles

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2005
3,760
9,505
Its midweek you have Brentford in the cup, you have just played the Saturday before and you have a match on the following Saturday, do you play your best team available or squad players?

Rafael Benitez would say he made the right choice to play a second string against Arsenal in the 6-3 drubbing, while secretly ruing the opportunity of a Semi Final with Spurs. Wenger on the other hand has picked his second string and watched them destroy a weak Liverpool, if they lost, Wenger would simply pat them on the backs and say well played lads you can try again next year.
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But for Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United the Carling Cup has become of little importance as they would declare that they are the three best teams in the Premiership, in fact Liverpool would have a claim to be up there as well but as they are no longer in the title race or in the FA cup it seems a little arrogant to play a weakened team.
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If the Carling Cup is a ‘mickey mouse cup’ as they say, then why when <st1:place>Liverpool</st1:place> played <st1:city><st1:place>Chelsea</st1:place></st1:city> in the final a couple of years ago, did <st1:place>Liverpool</st1:place> play their strongest team? If your second string got you to the final surely they deserve to be in the final and if you don’t care about the competition then don’t play your best players at any stage. Rafael Benitez comes out looking like a fool whichever angle you look at it from.
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The FA Cup is the same, you play a lower division team in the early rounds the temptation would be to drop a few players, but why – you want to win it so why would you even risk not putting a full strength side out? If you get knocked out with your best team then fine these things happen I am sure you can accept it.
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Spurs made the mistake twice last year, when they played Grimsby and Leicester they did not play their strongest team, this year I am glad to see they have learned their lesson.
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So when do you rest players? Well you're 4–0 up against Brentford at home, take some of your best players off. If one of your players is tired and needs a rest, then rest him. If a player is injured then don’t play him. If a player is out of form, see if a squad player can do a better job. A squad is there when injuries come along and the reserve matches and substitutions are there to keep the squad sharp.
 

Paceyjg

Well-Known Member
Jul 9, 2003
675
859
Play every game like you want to win it! Play your best players and make the squad players become hungry and desperate to break into that 1st 11!!!
 

Boony

Active Member
Feb 24, 2004
1,475
0
On the other hand if u play your first string team and lose to another clubs, how will that affect your team morale / boards confidence / fans attitude / league form for the rest of the season ? Also Arsenal always play their best team in the final
 

striebs

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2004
4,504
667
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Spurs made the mistake twice last year, when they played Grimsby and Leicester they did not play their strongest team, this year I am glad to see they have learned their lesson....

Not true .

I cannot remember exactly who played but I do remember journalists bandying that statement around at the time .

If that was not annoying enough a number of fans jumped on the bandwagon because their personal favourites had not been played .
 

Garth Falco

Member
Nov 28, 2006
37
0
The real issue is that of priority. Ultimately, only the league position will get you into the Champions league. If you have a chance of qualifying for that then it has to be first on the list.

If you offered any of the big four a choice of champions league qualification or an FA cup win, I know what they'd choose.
 

mawspurs

Staff
Jun 29, 2003
35,069
17,740
I think you are missing something here. The domestic cups are ideal for blooding younger players, especially in the earlier rounds.

Young players have to start somewhere along the line against a truly competitive side. Its the only way they will learn.

The trick is to not try to blood too many youngsters at once, because if you do then the team is weakened too much and you pay the price by going out of the competition.
 

JuanRebelde

Member
Apr 10, 2006
978
2
Hansen wrote on the Beeb website about rotation and I have to agree with him. When you're winning you don't get tired and the last thing a player wants when he is in a winning team and things are going well is to be told he needs a rest.

These players are far fitter than in the past and so a 50-60 game season should be within all of them barring injuries. The other issue is that with rotation it lets players back in that haven't justified it in training and in matches at the expense of those that have.

Rotation seems trendy for forwards and midfielders but not for defenders as this would upset the unit or whatever. I think this is the reason we have faired so badly on our travels and started badly in general because we were unsetting the forwards and midfield by too many changes that weren't forced on us.

I accept why the Goons and manure have for years used the league cup for blooding youngsters but this isn't really what Rotation is about. Here the motive is experience without consequences in the main competition i.e. the League. On the otherhand Rotation is about a swap for 'strategic' reasons i.e. seeing not this game but the one after etc in the main competition.

It's all a bit too clever in my opinion and I would hate it if I was playing at a club with this system. I hope someone can correct me but I don't know of an English club that has successfully worked Rotation yet. Liverpool, Chelsea (Ranieri) and us have tried it to my knowledge but none achieved the consistency to win the league.
 

grazzanachi

New Member
Sep 28, 2005
33
0
As a Spurs fan originally from Grimsby, i can tell you that the Spurs line up that faced them in 2005 was:

Robinson, Stalteri, Naybet, King, Lee, Jenas, Carrick (Davis 67), Brown, Reid (Lennon 61), Defoe, Keane.

At that time, that was the best 11 Jol could put out as Mido was injured.

Now i would argue that we lost that game because we played our best 11.....

When you've got tarts like Carrick in your side, he isnt going to be up for a cold night at a fishy Blundell Park. By handing a yougster a debut in one or 2 positions,you may lose a little quality, but you will certainly get passion and a willingness to impress.

I realise we are desperate to win things, but i actually feel we do not use the rotation system well in cup competitions. Its about time we actually started to see a little more of our youth players (2-4 in a game), rather than the first team and fringe players who we already know a lot about. I would say that we should only do this in the Legue cup and maybe banker home games in the FA cup.

I'm not a massive supporter of the rotation system in the league. I think resting a player for one game due to fixture congestion is acceptable, but dont bloody change the strike force every week!!
 
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