Does Jose trust the squad enough to rotate players

[Android1974]

I dont think Martial is a guarantee to start at all
Nor Mata for that matter
Carrick plays almost always when fit, same with Rojo

Im not saying they are my picks. Im looking at it from the eyes of the devil

Seems you haven't been following lately. Both Mata and Martial started our most important games lately (Watford h, Saint-Étienne h, League Cup final). Carrick started none of those. All this coincided with our adoption of 4-2-3-1 and Mkhitaryan excelling as #10. Rojo was injured and hasn't recovered his left-center-back position yet, so only started as left-back in the League Cup final.

 

[Devil may care]

He trusts his options in behind Ibra, he seems to feel his CB's are all about the same and no one has impressed him at LB enough for it to stop being in constant rotation.

I think he's reluctant to rest Herrera or Pogba as he knows the drop in quality is big with the back-up options, and I also don't think he's a big fan of any of the RB options, although that might have changed with Young's last couple of games.

The big one is Zlatan though, at 35 I think he'd be happy to rest him in some of the easier home games in the PL if he trusted any of the other options, but he doesn't.

 

[fatboy]

Problem is, every match is a big match from here on. So I can't see many fringe players getting an opportunity unless we take an 2 or 3 goal lead into the final 20 minutes of a match. The only ones I see possibly coming more into the picture is Bastian, Rooney, Young and possibly Shaw (if Jose finally relents). TFM and Axel will have to wait till next season.

And with Zlatan, heard it from somewhere that he absolutely hates being substituted. He's ok being brought on as a substitute to rescue a game, but not the other way around. Comes with the territory I guess, but it doesn't do him or the team any good.

 

[Ish]

You are correct.
Jose is able to use small squads to compete in (and win) many competitions.

His backroom staff are famous for their players being fit. Look at the injury record at United this season compared to ... well years. The fact he generally is able to field the same 14-15 players every week says a lot about the squad to be honest.

I'll never forget 2004-05. The general thought was "they're bound to get tired/he fields the same players." They looked fresh as daisys up until the last game. They're the best in the business when it comes to fitness.

Thanks guys. Yeah, I find it a bit strange how we're questioning his "trust" of the squad, but history (to my knowledge anyway - I don't generally go do research when I post, so I could be way off at times) always showed that no matter where he was, he generally stuck to using a small pool of players, and never rotated too often. Even when he had some strong Chelsea and Madrid squads at his disposal.

FWIW, I think he's rotated alright this year, though I think there's a couple of players I'd have liked seen used a bit more, like TFM, Shaw and BFS. Though in the case of the latter 2, there was obviously also a bit more "personal issues".