Regular rotation vs Best XI

[Overthehills]

Just listening to the Hecky interview in regards to the key of keeping key players last night…Obviously we are all impressed by the clubs stature on players leaving, they held tight and kept asking prices at a premium.. you can’t ask for much more.

But back to football again and to further pick up on some of Hecky’s comments…In particular the ones about his desire to have back up for every squad position.

Loosely quote “I want two players for every position so that I can regularly rotate then and prevent any more injuries”.

How do we interpret this?

That Starting XI who demolished Reading the other night deserve to keep the shirt for the next match out….Players who are in form, need continuous game time in order to continue momentum, particularly goal scorers who are on a run.

Hecky did mention his midfield in particular and a desire to regularly rotate them where possible……for me personally, I think we have discovered our best middle of the park at the minute? I’m not in any sort of rush to break that up and change things round.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for utilising the 5 sub rule and dragging on plenty of fresh legs in the second half. But I hope we don’t develop a two squad sort of mentality in which we deliberately rotate XI’s in order to protect players….surely the mind has to be focussed solely on the best XI? Getting as much game time out of them as we can and protecting them.

Don’t get me wrong, I love having this luxury squad and I agree that our recruitment has been the best in a long, long time….having a couple of players in every position is nothing but a strength. But in those 22 players is our strongest XI and I want us to concentrate on that.

 

[Westran]

I guess what he's saying is that if we don't rotate, then the best 11 might not be at their best, having competition and fresh legs is what he seems to be aiming for.

We'll see I guess, but considering he just managed to keep his best players and we seem to be playing teams off the park, I'm not going to pretend I know better

 

[Swannyblade]

It's a long old slog in the Championship - there's gonna be suspensions and injuries aplenty (look how many are missing already!). Add into the mix the deathtrap that is Shirecliffe and I can only see a large squad full of quality in depth as a positive. I think the 5 sub rule will help to keep squad harmony because Hecky's bound to have his preferred options in each position, but if we can give more players more minutes on the pitch it's going to help the squad players to feel more involved.

 

[GrunkyPeep]

I think it does mean we will see more rotation. It sounds like he is suggesting that several of our injuries might be caused by being over-played or wear and tear.

I also don't think it means chopping and changing a winning side, just that if we get to a stage in a game where we are winning comfortably with 40ish mins to go, he swaps some of our key players out to save them from injury. If the job is more or less done, 5 subs allows us to rotate and protect the key players.

 

[Carlton Blade]

Some players can play every game (Baldock, Egan, Norwood) some benefit from a bit of rest every now and again (Berge, Ndiaye, McBurnie).

I generally think the further up the pitch you are, the more explosiveness you need to create chances. Sometimes a game off can help that

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

The best fit and inform 11 start. Our support teams will tell us who needs resting due to fatigue and form will come and go but we’ve plenty of options all over the pitch.
If we continue to make changes at 60-75 mins then everyone who needs minutes will be getting them to stay sharp.
But we’ve big challenges coming up with Burnley, Norwich, Watford and maybe West Brom to contend with. We need to stay in front and not drop sloppy points against weaker sides as overall consistency will see promotion earned not wins against rivals.

Just a shame we bombed out the cup at West Brom as with some decent draws a second, hopefully ultimately more successful, triple assault was on the cards. Ah well, I’d take an FA cup semi and the Championship Trophy.

 

[Stretch]

I see rotation as both inter and intra game.

The starting 11 may not change that much but you can be damn sure that our substitutions will prioritise our main strength....attacking midfield.

 

[bakeblade]

Just listening to the Hecky interview in regards to the key of keeping key players last night…Obviously we are all impressed by the clubs stature on players leaving, they held tight and kept asking prices at a premium.. you can’t ask for much more.

But back to football again and to further pick up on some of Hecky’s comments…In particular the ones about his desire to have back up for every squad position.

Loosely quote “I want two players for every position so that I can regularly rotate then and prevent any more injuries”.

How do we interpret this?

That Starting XI who demolished Reading the other night deserve to keep the shirt for the next match out….Players who are in form, need continuous game time in order to continue momentum, particularly goal scorers who are on a run.

Hecky did mention his midfield in particular and a desire to regularly rotate them where possible……for me personally, I think we have discovered our best middle of the park at the minute? I’m not in any sort of rush to break that up and change things round.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for utilising the 5 sub rule and dragging on plenty of fresh legs in the second half. But I hope we don’t develop a two squad sort of mentality in which we deliberately rotate XI’s in order to protect players….surely the mind has to be focussed solely on the best XI? Getting as much game time out of them as we can and protecting them.

Don’t get me wrong, I love having this luxury squad and I agree that our recruitment has been the best in a long, long time….having a couple of players in every position is nothing but a strength. But in those 22 players is our strongest XI and I want us to concentrate on that.

No need to rotate at the moment, we only play 4 games in September

 

[Sheffsteel]

You hear the "in the 70's players coped fine paying twice a week for a full season, so why can't current players do it".

My view is that football has changed.
Players used to pace themselves to last 90 minutes, now some players are asked to pace themselves to last 70 minutes.

Also of course modern players can easily play 2 or 3 times a week for most of the season
but they obviously won't be as quick or as fit and will be more prone to injury without more rest time.

The new increase subs to 5 from 7 rule seems to solidify this view that judging a team on their first 11 will become an old fashioned viewpoint.
In future the strength of a squad and having 20 top level players will become vital to success.

 

[Upton_Blade]

Quite simple for me and happy to be proved wrong but with 5 subs available this season it should be the strongest starting 11 in the vast majority of games with rotation only used when absolutely necessary to avoid burnout.