Rotation vs always playing best team

[CrookesBlade]

Yeah, fair point, Hamer was out suspended, Davies was injured, Peck and O’Hare played and Souza was on the bench. Nevertheless playing Burrows as the holding midfielder doesn’t work and also makes us vulnerable down the left.

He did alter the team shape, but as you point out his hand was forced due to injuries.

Yeah Burrows was shown up as not being suitable at centre mid in the cup game against Cardiff so it was bizarre he tried it in this game, in my opinion but wasn’t blessed with options.

I think the problem we have is when any two of Hamer, Peck and O Hare are rotated out/injured/suspended we lose any kind of shape.

 

[JJBlade]

Our results when we’ve had a fit Souza, Blaster/Peck, O’Hare, Hamer, Rak Sakyi.

Watford (H) W
Hull (A) W
Derby (H) W
Portsmouth (A) D
Wednesday (H) W
Coventry (A) D
Oxford (H) W
Sunderland (H) W
West Brom (A) D
Millwall (A) W
Middlesbrough (H) W

That’s only a third of the season so far we’ve had our 1st choice midfield and, the Portsmouth game apart we’ve got good results.

Hopefully, these are all fit now and there’s no reason to change it up.

We also had Souttar.
And let's be honest, our success was our defensive ability rather than the above players ripping our opponents a new ass hole.

Souttar was an absolutely colossal loss for us, almost every game since we lost him has been a struggle whether we win lose or draw.
Our defence looks like it could concede every time our opponent has the ball since he got injured

 

[loyalblade95]

The key to success is finding the right balance between rotation and strongest 11.

The fixture congestion highlighted the need for rotation, Moore, Campbell, Souza, Rak-Sakyi and Tom Davies all having injuries related to playing too many games which aggravated previous injuries.

While squad rotation is needed, we have to get that balance right which is easier said than done.