1st XI rotation til season end?

[sammsky1]

Potentially 12 games left, and coming thick and fast.
Let's assume we need to beat Leicester in final game to get top 4, and want to win both cups.
OGS is going to have to start rotating very soon. I'm not sure how many more games he can play his recently discovered 1st XI.
If all players stay fit, when does he play his best team, what games does he rotate in, and who does he rotate in and out?


Sat 4th July H Bournemouth
Thurs 9th July A Aston Villa
Mon 13th July H Southampton
Wed 15th July A Crystal Palace
Sat 18th July H West Ham
Sun 19th July FA Chelsea
Wed 22nd July H West Ham (assuming rearranged from 18th)
Sun 26th July A Leicester

Sat 1st Aug FA Cup Final

Wed 5th Aug vs LASK Europa 16th
Mon10th Aug: Quarter-finals
Sun16th Aug : Semi-finals
Fri 21st Aug: Final

 

[el3mel]

Bournemouth and Southampton are the worst teams in this run so makes sense to rotate in them, but not much, 1 or 2 players rotated at best that's all. Can't enter a match playing with Lingard and Pereira if that's what you are talking about.

 

[sammsky1]

Bournemouth and Southampton are the worst teams in this run so makes sense to rotate in them, but not much, 1 or 2 players rotated at best that's all. Can't enter a match playing with Lingard and Pereira if that's what you are talking about.

So you think he just keeps playing this recent XI til they drop, and then react on the hoof, or do we make a detailed workplan to ensure our key players have enough energy in the tank?

 

[Carl S Bridge]

So you think he just keeps playing this recent XI til they drop, and then react on the hoof, or do we make a detailed workplace to try and ensure our key players have enough energy in the tank?

Play the best 11, with at most 3 changes. One of pogba and fernandes must start.
You can make 5 subs a game plenty of opportunities to rest people when your cruising towards a win

 

[el3mel]

So you think he just keeps playing this recent XI til they drop, and then react on the hoof, or do we make a detailed workplan to ensure our key players have enough energy in the tank?

We have 5 subs every game, pretty much half of the team can be subbed after we score goals and ensure the win just like Brighton game.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

1 or 2 players rotated at best that's all.

Agree with this.
Generally our best 11 every game but -2 for few "easy" games.

The next important question is who should be rotated?

1. DMF -- Definitely Matic with either one of McT and Fred.
2. FB -- AWB or Shaw with Williams.
3. LW -- Rashford with James or Martial (the latter with Ighalo at CF).

I'm not confident at all if the others are subbed out.

Martial
???? -- Bruno -- Greenwood
Pogba -- ????
Shaw* -- Maguire -- Lindelof -- AWB*
DDG​

We definitely need Bruno. Pogba is also important there to help break defense asap, and he doesn't really play a heavy-energy intensive role. Kill the game early and switch Bruno with either Pereira or change to 433 with either one of Fred and McT. I don't think we should rotate Martial at all, Ole always switch him with Ighalo near the end, and Martial doesn't tend to burn down his fitness that quickly compare to Rashford. Might also be a good idea to play Martial at LW at times with Ighalo at CF to manage Rashford's fitness and maintain Martial's sharpness.

 

[sammsky1]

Agree with this.
Generally our best 11 every game but -2 for few "easy" games.

The next important question is who should be rotated?

1. DMF -- Definitely Matic with either one of McT and Fred.
2. FB -- AWB or Shaw with Williams.
3. LW -- Rashford with James or Martial (the latter with Ighalo at CF).

I'm not confident at all if the others are subbed out.

Martial
???? -- Bruno -- Greenwood
Pogba -- ????
Shaw* -- Maguire -- Lindelof -- AWB*
DDG​

We definitely need Bruno. Pogba is also important there to help break defense asap, and he doesn't really play a heavy-energy intensive role. Kill the game early and switch Bruno with either Pereira or change to 433 with either one of Fred and McT. I don't think we should rotate Martial at all, Ole always switch him with Ighalo near the end, and Martial doesn't tend to burn down his fitness that quickly compare to Rashford. Might also be a good idea to play Martial at LW at times with Ighalo at CF to manage Rashford's fitness and maintain Martial's sharpness.

So you think the likes of Maguire, Lindelof, Pogba, Bruno, Martial, Greenwood can play 12 games on the bounce (even with some subs) in such a period of time? Im not so sure.

 

[Stig]

How is Periera getting game time ahead of Fred. Fred was probably the worst player in the league at the start of the season. Turned it around so much he was probably one of the first names on the team sheet. Now he's not getting ahead of Bruno, Pogba or Matic, but he should be off or on the bench before Periera in my opinion.

 

[Stig]

Can you trust Bailly in the centre of defense without McGuire. I can't. So how does McGuire get a rest ?

McT can cover for Matic. Left and right back can be covered by Williams, (not at the same time).

Can Mata play for or at least start for Pogba or Bruno - in an 'easier' game ?

 

[Web of Bissaka]

So you think the likes of Maguire, Lindelof, Pogba, Bruno, Martial, Greenwood can play 12 games on the bounce (even with some subs) in such a period of time? Im not so sure.

Basically yes. They can but more-so we need 'em to. Expected to see drop in performances of course especially Bruno, nonetheless his presence and his play are too important to be left out. Similarly with our defenders.

Ole is setting up the team to kill the game early (hopefully) by finally starting the best 11 then sub many of 'em out as early as possible. Contrast this with his earlier games since this restart where he basically rotate the players around (with the upcoming hectic fixtures in mind I'm sure).. and we lost 2 points vs Spurs and pretty much struggled in the FA Cup.

Taking too much risks at this time is just a poor decision making.

I think the league points and position will get wrapped up before the last two league games (ideally although the final league game is more likely), so rest 'em all during those games.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

How is Periera getting game time ahead of Fred.

Because Ole is still insisting on 4231 system even without Bruno. And he never play Fred nor Pogba at #10.

Rather have Pereira play at #10 than Mata/Lingard.
And before that (once we subbed out Bruno), rather we change the system to 433 with both Fred and McT play + other CM, or 523 giving games to Laird, Dalot and Williams, etc. I don't mind parking the bus once we kill the game at this stage.

 

[mancave bear]

I dont think he will rotate very much.

Saying that our best XI is the team that played this week against Brighton, I think he might rotate in James, Fred, McTomney, Baily, Williams and Romero, in some games.

But he have 5 subs every game, that can be subbed in the last 30 minutes if he needs to. We allso have extra breakes. So i dont think he will rotate wery much.

 

[ManRed]

Potentially 12 games left, and coming thick and fast.
Let's assume we need to beat Leicester in final game to get top 4, and want to win both cups.
OGS is going to have to start rotating very soon. I'm not sure how many more games he can play his recently discovered 1st XI.
If all players stay fit, when does he play his best team, what games does he rotate in, and who does he rotate in and out?


Sat 4th July H Bournemouth
Thurs 9th July A Aston Villa
Mon 13th July H Southampton
Wed 15th July A Crystal Palace
Sat 18th July H West Ham
Sun 19th July FA Chelsea
Wed 22nd July H West Ham (assuming rearranged from 18th)
Sun 26th July A Leicester

Sat 1st Aug FA Cup Final

Wed 5th Aug vs LASK Europa 16th
Mon10th Aug: Quarter-finals
Sun16th Aug : Semi-finals
Fri 21st Aug: Final

Are these dates confirmed? As google and premier league website are showing different dates for Southampton and Palace games.

Either way we need to concentrate on the next 7 games and not worry about europa and fa cup final right now. If we make top 4 and fa cup final then the team will be up for the final, also the europa becomes less important and we can rest for Lask game.

 

[CallyRed]

Problem is, we rotate we more than likely get the performance against Norwich again. Calvary comes on, we squueze out the win. And so forth.

 

[cyril C]

I dont think he will rotate very much.

Saying that our best XI is the team that played this week against Brighton, I think he might rotate in James, Fred, McTomney, Baily, Williams and Romero, in some games.

But he have 5 subs every game, that can be subbed in the last 30 minutes if he needs to. We allso have extra breakes. So i dont think he will rotate wery much.

No, Ole will play 343 in big game, but this means Chelsea and post-August games only. So very soon he needs to rotate Pogba and Bruno as well rest of the squad.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

We’ve seen the gulf between our first eleven and our squad players. I don’t mind Williams for Shaw or Ighalo for Martial occasionally. I don’t want to see more than 3 changes ever though. We collapse as a team when we make too many changes.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Bruno, Pogba, Rashford & Martial are likely to start all the games while we’ll sub them off after or if we can kill the game off before 60th min.

I expect Maguire & DDG to play full minutes. Can’t afford to drop Maguire especially. I supposed this could add more people to appreciate his value even more in the team, the guy has been playing lot of games for us in Europa, league and cup games. Vidic 10/11 was the last centre back I can remember we can keep playing a centre back in almost all our games.

Matic, Fred & Scott will be rotated for the DM role. Williams will be used as full back rotation. Both James & Greenwood will be rotated. As for Lindelof I’m not too sure, may be Bailly will play in two of our 6 remaining league games.

 

[Havak]

I think de Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, Bruno, Pogba, Martial, and Rashford starts every Premier League game unless we somehow go into the last two games with a 6-7 point lead and don't need to win both which is a little unlikely. I expect things could look bright if we keep going full strength for at least Bournemouth, Villa & Southampton and manage to win those three in a row. It'll probably have us in the top four by that point.

James for Greenwood, McTominay/Fred for Matic, maybe at a push Williams for Shaw are the only starting XI changes I expect to see to the starting line-up from the Crystal Palace game onward. We will generally just try to win games early and utilise the five substitutions to our advantage whenever we can. Despite wanting us to win the FA Cup massively, I think ourselves and Chelsea will make a couple of changes for that fixture. That could be a game where Romero, Williams, McTominay/Fred, James, Ighalo start as well.

 

[laughtersassassin]

Play the same team again this weekend for sure. Others can't handle the pressure of knowing it'll bring us 4th

 

[sammsky1]

Are these dates confirmed? As google and premier league website are showing different dates for Southampton and Palace games.

From bbc

 

[TMDaines]

Nothing from Palace onwards is confirmed yet. Given our FA Cup semi is on the Sunday, it is obvious that Palace will be moved to the Thursday before for sure, so we’re already fortunate in that our next four league games are spread out over the maximum number of days they could be.

People become a little bit too fixated with resting for the sake of it. Any changes you make, you need to be able to answer why. Our lads look really fit and determined currently, which stands us in good stead. If things continue to go well, we definitely won’t play the same XI for all our remaining domestic games, but the core of the team will remain the same. DDG, Maguire, and Lindelöf will play every minute if fit physically and mentally. Bruno, Matic, Shaw, AWB and Rashford likely start every league game. You might see Ighalo or James or McT over Martial, Greenwood or Pogba, but only for good reason.

I still think five subs was a ridiculous rule change part way through a season and hands a massive advantage to those squads with genuine depth such as ours. If we play well, we can give many players good rest each match.

 

[-Supreme-]

We should only play one of Lingard, Mata or Andreas as part of our 4 attackers if we want to score.

Midfield is fine to rotate if Pogba or Bruno plays or we have a strong attacking 4.

For the defense, I'd rest Shaw or AWB with Williams, and bring in Bailly for the home games.

 

[sammsky1]

Mcguire and Bruno will both require a game off at some point. It’s just impossible to play at such intensity for so long. Or they will pick up a muscle injury because the are entering games with tired limbs.

I think Bailly/Lindelof is fine against most teams we have to play, I’d rest Mcguire vs Palace. Also give Bruno full game off vs Villa or Southampton. Play Pogba at 10, and bring in Fred.

Williams should also start next two games, alternating rest for Shaw and AWB.

Front 3 are fine, though Igalo can start some games if need be.

 

[SteveW]

We'll probably need to rotate in one of Palace/Soton. Go full strength otherwise and use 5 subs every game.

 

[romufc]

Mcguire and Bruno will both require a game off at some point. It’s just possible to play at such intensity for so long. Or they will pick up a muscle injury because the are entering games with tired limbs

I keep reading this. Liverpool played 2 seasons of PL and CL without rotating.

They didn't think oh we need to rotate VVD or Mane or Salah.

We need to get top 4, we go with our best team unless someone is injured.

We have given chances to everyone throughout the season and they are the reason we are in this position. We cannot trust the backup players.

Liverpool have played 50 games this season:

VVD - 43
Trent - 43
Robertson - 43
Gini - 40
Mane - 40
Salah - 41
Firminho - 45

If fully fit, Maguire, Bruno, AWB, Pogba, Rashford, Martial, Matic have to play every PL game.

 

[MalcolmTucker]

feck rotating, start every game with our strongest 11 and then utilise the 5 subs if we can. Every game is crucial and seeing how we performed vs. Norwich, but also vs. Spurs (until Pogba and Greenwood came on) shows us that we need our best players on the pitch from the start.

 

[paulscholes18]

Only game I would rest the XI would be LASK. Only other 2 players I trust starting would be Williams & Ighalo. Unless anyone is injured our best XI has to start

 

[freeurmind]

No room for error so no room for rotation. Rest people for the Cup semi-final but otherwise Ole should play his strongest team every game.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Just keep winning games in the first half/60 minutes then we can drop off several levels/rotate for the last 30.

It'll get whingers on here moaning that we're not winning 10-0 or whatever, but its the sensible way to manage the game.

 

[fps]

How is Periera getting game time ahead of Fred. Fred was probably the worst player in the league at the start of the season. Turned it around so much he was probably one of the first names on the team sheet. Now he's not getting ahead of Bruno, Pogba or Matic, but he should be off or on the bench before Periera in my opinion.

I do wonder if he might do quite well a bit further forward coming on for Bruno. Great presser, used to get the odd goal before joining United.

 

[hobbers]

We don't need to be rotating much. Christ just look at the squads of the other clubs in our run in. They're all fecking tiny. There's barely any scope for Bournemouth or Villa or Southampton to rotate players. Or even Leicester for that matter.

I'd rather have Greenwood on the pitch playing at 60% than Lingard anywhere near it. We have got some players who are good enough to feature as rotation options -
Williams for Shaw/AWB
McTominay/Fred for Matic
Ighalo for Greenwood
Bailly for Lindelof

Not much scope for rotation beyond that unless we want to piss away the top four. Lingard, Pereira, Jones, Mata, Dalot... None of these guys should be getting more than the odd minute at the end of games, let alone starting any game in the run in. And if they do that's just piss poor management from Ole.

 

[Infra-red]

Assuming that they remain injury-free, I think that DDG, Maguire, Pogba, Bruno, Rashford and Martial will start all six Premier League games, plus (with the probable exception of DDG) the FA Cup semi final. We'll need to use the subs bench to rest them in the latter parts of games, wherever possible.

Shaw, AWB, Lindelof, Matic and Greenwood will likely be subject to rotation during the Southampton/Palace/West Ham sequence, either side of the Chelsea game.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Why on earth do we play Monday and then Wendesday? Sounds so bloody stupid.

We have seen Liverpool play more intense schedule without much rotation so it is possible. Not sure we got the fitness for it.

 

[ReddBalls]

I do wonder if he might do quite well a bit further forward coming on for Bruno. Great presser, used to get the odd goal before joining United.

It is not far fetched that bearing the responsibility of the arguably most important offensive position was too much for Andreas, and that coming on for Bruno after the game is won might make him play with a little more freedom. It would be grand if he could develop to be an adequate squad option in that position. I know a lot of people would deem that impossible, but he has shown some glimpses of what he can do. Playing without the immense pressure of being the fulcrum of the team and learning from Bruno might do him a lot of good.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

You drop Bruno &/or Pogba the quality in the team drops massively.

Start strong & then take players off early is the only way. We have 5 subs & drinks breaks; we’ve left ourselves with a gap to close so we don’t have the luxury of optional rest.

 

[fps]

It is not far fetched that bearing the responsibility of the arguably most important offensive position was too much for Andreas, and that coming on for Bruno after the game is won might make him play with a little more freedom. It would be grand if he could develop to be an adequate squad option in that position. I know a lot of people would deem that impossible, but he has shown some glimpses of what he can do. Playing without the immense pressure of being the fulcrum of the team and learning from Bruno might do him a lot of good.

Oh sorry I meant Fred! Definitely training with high quality players makes you a better player, thought that was an issue at the club for a while, how do your defenders get better if they're defending in training against *names usual suspects*? And vice versa?

 

[Momochiru]

So you think the likes of Maguire, Lindelof, Pogba, Bruno, Martial, Greenwood can play 12 games on the bounce (even with some subs) in such a period of time? Im not so sure.

It's not 12 games, practically it's 11, because we can play the youth (plus 2-3 second team seniors) against LASK, so our first team can have 9 days rest between the FA final and the EL QF.

 

[Sandikan]

You take it the classic one game at a time, and see how it's developing.

Bournemough saturday - best 11 to start. If it's comfortable at 60 or so minutes, make your 5 subs over the next 10-15mins

Villa away - same strategy

Southampton at home - this is where you need to do some starting rotations, being 3 days after Villa and just 2 days before Palace away.
This might have to be a Norwich style lineup and hope to squeeze the win out without using too many of the crown jewels players.

 

[ReddBalls]

Oh sorry I meant Fred! Definitely training with high quality players makes you a better player, thought that was an issue at the club for a while, how do your defenders get better if they're defending in training against *names usual suspects*? And vice versa?

Good point. Fred is at the very least a good squad player. Getting Andreas to that level would be good, as it's cheap and he's already integrated socially.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

It'll be a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation the second we drop points.

It's going to be unrealistic to see our starting eleven start every single game from now on - and that's assuming that we don't suffer any injuries that would force a change anyway!
If we keep to the same eleven, play a bad game, Ole will be hit with "He's run these players into the ground, we needed a fresh pair of legs here and there".
If he makes one or two changes, he'll be hit with "Why tinker with a winning team!".

I hope fans realise this. The games are coming at a rate that is completely abnormal to the norm. Granted, all teams are in the same boat but at some stage we're going to need some luck as well.

I think Bournemouth is the best game to rest a couple of players. I'd say give Ighalo a start instead of Rashford, give Fred or McTominay a game instead of Matic.