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Rotation

Such arrogance, our premier league history is littered with us dropping points in games that on paper fans thought would be relatively easy.

I would suggest the preferred option would be to sub Kane off once a games was in the bag instead of having him play 90 minutes

No, you don't understand, Norwich and Saudi Sportswashing Machine are cannon fodder when compared to the likes of Qarabag, we must play our full stength team in the Europa, even in dead rubber games like Thursday when we have already qualified.
 
We're not talking wholesale changes.

Just giving Njie and Wimmer (and in time Bentaleb) a few more minutes, just like we have with Davies and Trippier etc. Rotating 2 players out of 11.
 
We're not talking wholesale changes.

Just giving Njie and Wimmer (and in time Bentaleb) a few more minutes, just like we have with Davies and Trippier etc. Rotating 2 players out of 11.

That's how rotating should be done IMO and I believe it's how Fergie did it.

However this Monaco game is a chance to rest most of the team, the current undroppables, Kane, Verts, Alder, Dier, Eriksen should all be rested or on the bench, we can still put out a decent team capable of winning at home.
 
What I don't understand is why Poch doen't take of the likes of Kane, Toby, and other players who play in every game off earlier in matches that we're cruising. Instead he leaves them on until the 85th+ minute. And he never makes any subs earlier than the 65-70 min mark.
 
11 players with most minutes from each of the top sides (included Chelsea and Leicester for some comparisons), total minutes are on the far right.

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My take there isn't much difference between the teams with european games. But when we play the smaller teams they will have less minutes under their belt which might give them an advantage. No manager seems to be able to rotate and keep his players happy in the way Ferguson used to do. He used to take a player aside and tell them he needed them to do a job in a game coming up and would rest them for the next one. He'd have it all planned out weeks in advance.
 
The first 6 weeks of the new year have 1 mid week game(baring FA cup replays). That one midweek game is after the 3rd round of the FA cup so if we get a lower level team at home that's an obvious opportunity. But in general the one game a week for most of the new year should allow some recovery/rest time before Europa league kicks in again.
This is the main reason I dislike the league cup when your in Europe not having the two semi finals in the January is vital to allow your players a lighter workload.

A fine post. Further, you know there will be a postponement or two...
 
If not Saudi Sportswashing Machine and Norwich, then when?

We won't get easier matches than those

Son at CF is a decent option - as shown in his game there against Qarabag.

I think there's a decent argument to be made that Kane is our "Ronaldo or Messi" - not as good, but our attacking superstar. And quite a few teams simply don't rotate their attacking superstar.

Kane is also in a different situation to our midfielders as he's the one that's supposed to initiate our pressing. If he's getting tired he is the one that can decide that we sit back a bit deeper. A midfielder getting tired that's supposed to keep up with the rest will be more likely to leave gaps the opponents can expose.

Such arrogance, our premier league history is littered with us dropping points in games that on paper fans thought would be relatively easy.

I would suggest the preferred option would be to sub Kane off once a games was in the bag instead of having him play 90 minutes

It could just as easily be said that it's arrogance to ignore burn out as a factor and expect us to get results later in the season if you ignore burn out at this point.

I don't think it's just about game time. A player "rotated out" can do a lot more on the training ground in the days surrounding the match. Mentioned it in the WBA match thread, but a player being rested for the WBA and Monaco game would have almost two weeks without first team football. Enough time for a "mini pre-season" of sorts where fitness work could be done that could do that player a lot of good later in the season.

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Ultimately I will 100% trust Pochettino and his fitness coaches on this one. They have a lot more knowledge and information than us... I think it's possible to fall into the ditch either side of the road on this - either rotating too much or not rotating enough. So far I don't think we've seen any reason to second guess Pochettino on this issue. If anything our good injury record and performances have indicated that Pochettino is in great control of this.
 
What I don't understand is why Poch doen't take of the likes of Kane, Toby, and other players who play in every game off earlier in matches that we're cruising. Instead he leaves them on until the 85th+ minute. And he never makes any subs earlier than the 65-70 min mark.

If he did that though he would get criticism for not taking our goal difference seriously and not "putting teams to the sword". I think Pochettino is striking a decent balance, and as we saw earlier this season against Stoke a game where we look to be cruising could quickly change character with a goal against.
 
What I don't understand is why Poch doen't take of the likes of Kane, Toby, and other players who play in every game off earlier in matches that we're cruising. Instead he leaves them on until the 85th+ minute. And he never makes any subs earlier than the 65-70 min mark.

Because the common 3 subs to make in football in 1 CM and 2 AMs (usually the WFs).

They are the subs to keep control of the game/keep up the tempo.

You'd very rarely routinely sub one of your back 4 - that destabilises, rather than creates an impact.
 
Because the common 3 subs to make in football in 1 CM and 2 AMs (usually the WFs).

They are the subs to keep control of the game/keep up the tempo.

You'd very rarely routinely sub one of your back 4 - that destabilises, rather than creates an impact.

True, but that is in the real world, most football experts submit to the Football Manager 201? mode
 
If he did that though he would get criticism for not taking our goal difference seriously and not "putting teams to the sword". I think Pochettino is striking a decent balance, and as we saw earlier this season against Stoke a game where we look to be cruising could quickly change character with a goal against.
All good points that I considered too, but I would like to think that we have reached a point now where we can see a game to its conclusion. The Stoke and Leicester games were early on in the season where we were losing focus after going up, but this seems to have been rectified as of late (bar the EL matches). In any case, I generally agree with your comment, but I think we can do some earlier substitutions. All this being said, however, we won't know how the current squad rotation policy will affect us until we get to February or even March, where I'm assuming we'll see if there is burn out or not.
 
If not Saudi Sportswashing Machine and Norwich, then when?

We won't get easier matches than those

Son at CF is a decent option - as shown in his game there against Qarabag.

So you think we should rotate against Saudi Sportswashing Machine because you think it will be an easy match, the same Saudi Sportswashing Machine that just beat Liverpool 2:0?
 
So you think we should rotate against Saudi Sportswashing Machine because you think it will be an easy match, the same Saudi Sportswashing Machine that just beat Liverpool 2:0?

Exactly. The idea that we would rest players for the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game is absurd considering we have a dead rubber game 3 days before. They should all be rested for Monaco
 
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