- Jun 10, 2004
- 5,049
- 7,227
Ok, I've been reading a lot over the last few weeks regarding Harry, his inept squad rotation policy and the resultant tiredness of players. And after today, given Charlies assessment of out current plight, I was intrigued enough to do a little bit of detective work to try and gauge quite how much this has been an issue.
So, I decided to compare our teams demands with those nearest us in the table. Unfortunately this was only with Premiership playing time statistics (thanks to limited sites I can access from work) but I still believe it is of some value.
The top ten outfield squad members of "minutes played" in the Premiership thus far are as follows:
Tottenham:
2,986 - Benoit Assou-Ekotto
2,910 - Kyle Walker
2,857 - Gareth Bale
2,856 - Luka Modric
2,565 - Younes Kaboul
2,481 - Emmanuel Adebayor
2,477 - Scott Parker
2,021 - Rafael van der Vaart
1,794 - Ledley King
1,255 - Jermain Defoe
-----
24,202 - Total
Chelsea:
2,700 - Ashley Cole
2,430 - John Terry
2,417 - Juan Mata
2,190 - Ramires
2,148 - Frank Lampard
2,003 - José Bosingwa
1,993 - Branislav Ivanovic
1,976 - Daniel Sturridge
1,764 - Raul Meireles
1,664 - Fernando Torres
-----
21,285 - Total
Newcastle:
3,039 - Danny Simpson
2,959 - Jonás Gutiérrez
2,683 - Fabricio Coloccini
2,485 - Yohan Cabaye
2,385 - Demba Ba
2,035 - Ryan Taylor
1,729 - Cheick Tioté
1,558 - Gabriel Obertan
1,345 - Davide Santon
1,260 - Steven Taylor
-----
21,478 - Total
Arsenal:
3,064 - Robin Van Persie
2,705 - Theo Walcott
2,729 - Alexandre Song
2,604 - Laurent Koscielny
2,475 - Mikel Arteta
2,322 - Aaron Ramsey
2,208 - Thomas Vermaelen
1,830 - Per Mertesacker
1,578 - Bacary Sagna
1,533 - Tomáš Rosický
-----
23,048 - Total
Which leaves us with the averages below:
Spurs average : 2420.2
Arsenal average : 2304.8
Newcastle average : 2147.8
Chelsea average : 2128.5
Obviously there are so many factors that would skew these figures such as:
- Arse & Chelseas CL and (in the case of Chelsea) FA cup runs
- Our first team lack of involvement in the Europa
- Players signed in January having contributed playing time to other clubs beforehand
And as such you have to ask the question, has our season really been that demanding for our squad?
I would tend to say no. Tiredness (as a result of no rotation) doesn't seem plausible to me. If anything it would be down to poor fitness training methods or motivational technique.
I would also say that the players don't have that excuse to fall back on.
Intrigued to know what others think
So, I decided to compare our teams demands with those nearest us in the table. Unfortunately this was only with Premiership playing time statistics (thanks to limited sites I can access from work) but I still believe it is of some value.
The top ten outfield squad members of "minutes played" in the Premiership thus far are as follows:
Tottenham:
2,986 - Benoit Assou-Ekotto
2,910 - Kyle Walker
2,857 - Gareth Bale
2,856 - Luka Modric
2,565 - Younes Kaboul
2,481 - Emmanuel Adebayor
2,477 - Scott Parker
2,021 - Rafael van der Vaart
1,794 - Ledley King
1,255 - Jermain Defoe
-----
24,202 - Total
Chelsea:
2,700 - Ashley Cole
2,430 - John Terry
2,417 - Juan Mata
2,190 - Ramires
2,148 - Frank Lampard
2,003 - José Bosingwa
1,993 - Branislav Ivanovic
1,976 - Daniel Sturridge
1,764 - Raul Meireles
1,664 - Fernando Torres
-----
21,285 - Total
Newcastle:
3,039 - Danny Simpson
2,959 - Jonás Gutiérrez
2,683 - Fabricio Coloccini
2,485 - Yohan Cabaye
2,385 - Demba Ba
2,035 - Ryan Taylor
1,729 - Cheick Tioté
1,558 - Gabriel Obertan
1,345 - Davide Santon
1,260 - Steven Taylor
-----
21,478 - Total
Arsenal:
3,064 - Robin Van Persie
2,705 - Theo Walcott
2,729 - Alexandre Song
2,604 - Laurent Koscielny
2,475 - Mikel Arteta
2,322 - Aaron Ramsey
2,208 - Thomas Vermaelen
1,830 - Per Mertesacker
1,578 - Bacary Sagna
1,533 - Tomáš Rosický
-----
23,048 - Total
Which leaves us with the averages below:
Spurs average : 2420.2
Arsenal average : 2304.8
Newcastle average : 2147.8
Chelsea average : 2128.5
Obviously there are so many factors that would skew these figures such as:
- Arse & Chelseas CL and (in the case of Chelsea) FA cup runs
- Our first team lack of involvement in the Europa
- Players signed in January having contributed playing time to other clubs beforehand
And as such you have to ask the question, has our season really been that demanding for our squad?
I would tend to say no. Tiredness (as a result of no rotation) doesn't seem plausible to me. If anything it would be down to poor fitness training methods or motivational technique.
I would also say that the players don't have that excuse to fall back on.
Intrigued to know what others think