Lack of rotation: Will this hurt us deeper in the season?

Samid

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Is this going to come back and bite us in the arse towards the back end of the season?

I know people will say that he'll rest players vs Forest but that's really not the point. Tonight is the 5th game in 15 days where we've more or less gone full strength. 3 of those games were really grueling so it's not like we've breezed past teams in that period. Sure, they'll get a rest midweek but after that it's non stop critical games every 3 days until the end of the season. Cup games against lower league teams is about making economical decisions. It's a good chance to give players a breather and avoid potential accumulated fatigue. If you don't trust players like Fred, Garnacho, Pellistri/Elanga at home vs Reading, when are you ever going to trust them?

I'm not usually big on the 'rotate everyone' malarkey that gets thrown around in every match thread. Reeks of people who play too much FM/Fifa. League and European matches plus deep in the domestic cups should feature strong lineups. But playing full strength week after week in every competition every 3 days and only rotate if you're facing a crap League One club or leading 3-0 before a second leg, that's insanity.

Hope there's a method to this madness from the management but in the past seasons we've seen players gassed out once we get proper deep into competitions. Will that be the case this year too?
 

SadlerMUFC

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Yes...ETH is going to run these playes into the ground. There is no reason to have so many starters out there today. We could have gone with this team and still dominated the game:

----------------------------Heaton-----------------------------
AWB-------Maguire------------Lindelof-----Malacia
-----------------McT----------------Fred---------------------
Pillestri--------------Mainoo----------------Garanacho
---------------------------Elanga-------------------------------

Then if we need to change it up bring in the heavy hitters. ETH is going to wear these players out
 

charlenefan

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SadlerMUFC said:
Yes...ETH is going to run these playes into the ground. There is no reason to have so many starters out there today. We could have gone with this team and still dominated the game:

----------------------------Heaton-----------------------------
AWB-------Maguire------------Lindelof-----Malacia
-----------------McT----------------Fred---------------------
Pillestri--------------Mainoo----------------Garanacho
---------------------------Elanga-------------------------------

Then if we need to change it up bring in the heavy hitters. ETH is going to wear these players out
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Not a chance that team would have scored a goal, I mean even our first choice hasn't
 

foolsgold

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No point in excessive rotation now and losing matches. We can worry about the rest later, right now we need to keep winning games.
 

bosnian_red

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100% it will. Ten Hag will live it and learn from it though. It is what it is. All managers seem to come to the Prem and think they don't have to rotate. It's a learning season. Hope it doesn't cost us vs Newcastle in the cup final.

Livewire1974 said:
Our squad is not deep enough.
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This is not it. It's reading. Fred can start vs City but not Reading? Pellistri starts for Uruguay in the world Cup but can't play vs a bottom half championship team? Garnacho has been class, etc etc etc. This is just the manager refusing to rotate.
 

bosnian_red

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charlenefan said:
Not a chance that team would have scored a goal, I mean even our first choice hasn't
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Not exactly how football works though is it... We've had 75% possession and fully dominated. Probably would've fully dominated with backups in too (TBF though i wouldn't start Mainoo yet, but the rest should be playing).
 

ForeverRed1

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I just said a similar thing on the match thread. We need squad depth for the likes of Bruno and eriksen. They are being played way too much and because of that they are not at their best. A central midfielder and another number 10 who is versatile would be ideal.

Enzo Fernandes/Bellingham/rice and James Maddison would be beautiful.
 

Zen86

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No replacements for Bruno, Eriksen or Casemiro. Worrying about later on in the season is irrelevant if rotating these players hurts us in the short term, which it does.
 

Irwin99

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It would help if Martial and Sancho were around to call on and things might improve there when they do come back but the midfield is a worry. Centre backs Lindelof and Maguire can do a job while Shaw, Varane and Martinez have a break.
 

Andycoleno9

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To rotate today and vs NFO next week would be too much space between games. He will rest key players on Wednesday.
Also it is sometimes better to give players 45-60 minutes instead give them full rest
 

Sandikan

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Get the game won then rotate.
Perfection today and expect to see quite a few left out midweek.
 

cyberman

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Not sure these games are too taxing.
ETH has said games have replaced training for us and the players are happier for it. I dont see anything wrong with it
 

flameinthesun

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I think we will be fine, the forest and reading games especially the players hardly exerted themselves with some coming off around the 60min mark. One of the benefits of us controlling games better and being in possession more is against these weaker teams we can almost beat them at a walking pace. I imagine midweek more will. be rested so at the moment im not too concerned.
 

youngrell

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Think the last 20 showed why we needed a strong lineup today. You’d have never guessed Reading were a man down.
 

SER19

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To be fair, tonight it was our second string back 4, and eriksen fernandes and rashford all hooked fairly early and likely won't feature midweek, so most players will have played about 150 minutes in 10 days. Ill retract this if we go full strength midweek but very much doubt we will.

So these key players won't play again for a week. Do you really want key players taking 2 weeks off when in form?
 

SadlerMUFC

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youngrell said:
Think the last 20 showed why we needed a strong lineup today. You’d have never guessed Reading were a man down.
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Are you kidding? We kept getting scoring chance after scoring chance. We just couldn't finish. there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the team that finished the game today would have won if they started
 

Real Name

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SadlerMUFC said:
Are you kidding? We kept getting scoring chance after scoring chance. We just couldn't finish. there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the team that finished the game today would have won if they started
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Given it was 0-0 at HT there's really no guarantee.
 

NLunited

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Shut up. We can rotate next game. This one needed to be won.
 

RedPed

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I love the fact that despite how much people bitch and whine about rotation in here, ten Hag's just gonna ten Hag. Unless we're playing Lincoln Red Imps in the Europa League, he's gonna go full strength game by game, which is exactly what he should be doing.
 

SadlerMUFC

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kouroux said:
That's my opinion, you can post yours. No biggie. Besides we aren't that good to the point of rotating more than we did
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But it's not your opinion. You clearly just said that you go with whatever the manager says, so it's the managers opinion and you don't have one of your own so there really is no point in you posting
 

TheGodsInRed

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SadlerMUFC said:
Then there is no point in ever making a reply on this forum seeing as you can't think for yourself and only follow what the manager does
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In terms of sports science, yes. It's all about numbers. If you can't hit your power levels or your resting heart rate is elevated you need to rest up.

Ten Haag clearly likes to keep his top players sharp and playing regularly. I'm happy with that as long as they are getting subbed early in these types of games.
 

Real Name

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Its the notion he doesnt rotate or refuses to rotatw which does my head in cause its completely false. He rotated in the league cup and today he wanted to get sure we get the result and than we subbed 5 players plus he'll probably rotate on Wednesday so I really dont know whats the panic about.
 
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