Resting Pogba...

[King7Eric]

Rashford, Pogba, Herrera and Matic all need some rest. All have looked tired in the last games, and ideally we should make a decision on wheter to go all out for top 4 or the CL/Fa. I would definitively choose top 4 as we will not win the CL, and if Pogba gets injured due to fatigue, then the rest of our season is fecked.

This loser mentality of having to choose which competition to try to win should really have left with Mourinho. A club the stature of Man Utd shouldn't need to prioritize between competitions. I'm sure Ole would say the same. We should go into every match expecting to win. We have enough players in the squad to be able to rest them when they get too tired.

 

[Kostov]

No rest for anybody, they hardly broke a sweat from August to December anyway. On a serious note, I think we will be fine and I fear injuries more than anything. But injuries can also be correlated to fatigue and when you look at it that way, we should try and spare some of our more important and riskier players when we can afford.

 

[11101]

I don't think it's too bad now.

We have a full week's rest before Fulham. PSG is soon after but then there are 6 days rest after the following couple of games, including Liverpool. We have a tough beginning to April, but every team is getting tired by then, and it should slow down again after that.

I would be quite happy for us to drop out the FA Cup too.

 

[Red00012]

This loser mentality of having to choose which competition to try to win should really have left with Mourinho. A club the stature of Man Utd shouldn't need to prioritize between competitions. I'm sure Ole would say the same. We should go into every match expecting to win. We have enough players in the squad to be able to rest them when they get too tired.

Exactly. We go for everything just like the SAF way.
Makes me want Liverpool to end up with nothing even more seeing what he put out v Wolves in the cup.

 

[LoneStar]

This loser mentality of having to choose which competition to try to win should really have left with Mourinho. A club the stature of Man Utd shouldn't need to prioritize between competitions. I'm sure Ole would say the same. We should go into every match expecting to win. We have enough players in the squad to be able to rest them when they get too tired.

We don't have the squad depth capable of doing all of that.

Without Pogba and Rashford, we are half the team. We saw how the team performed in the Burnley match without Herrera. Fred can't even get in over the likes of Perriera, who himself is a drastic drop in quality compared to our starters.

We do have numbers in defence, but again, there is a huge drop in quality compared to the starters.

None of this is a problem if we had a mixture of easy fixtures in between. But pretty much every match we play in the next month or two is a big game.

 

[crossy1686]

Running yourself into the ground only makes you fitter in the long run. We're currently having a week between games, no one should be rested unless injured or at risk of injury. Also, no one's saying Pogba has to play the whole game if we're winning convincingly.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Fairly sure Toure got almost no rest when he played a massive part in winning City a title. Ditto Lampard at Chelsea. Fitness needs to be judged on an individual basis and Ole will have a shit-load of data to know when Pogba is in “the red zone” (as Van Gaal used to say). If he keeps picking him then he knows it’s the right thing to do. Which is good enough for me.

 

[Maticmaker]

Players get tired when someone tells them they are! Ole will not fall into that trap, players should only be rested at this stage of the season if they are likely to aggravate an injury, or induce a strain, tiredness has nothing to do with it.

 

[Jib]

Fairly sure Toure got almost no rest when he played a massive part in winning City a title. Ditto Lampard at Chelsea. Fitness needs to be judged on an individual basis and Ole will have a shit-load of data to know when Pogba is in “the red zone” (as Van Gaal used to say). If he keeps picking him then he knows it’s the right thing to do. Which is good enough for me.

I don't remember Yaya or Lampard winning a world cup in the summer before their best PL season...

He's obviously tired. He should rest against Fulham. We don't even need him against them ffs.

 

[Canagel]

This loser mentality of having to choose which competition to try to win should really have left with Mourinho. A club the stature of Man Utd shouldn't need to prioritize between competitions. I'm sure Ole would say the same. We should go into every match expecting to win. We have enough players in the squad to be able to rest them when they get too tired.

Of course . There's enough resting period between the matches anyway.

 

[King7Eric]

We don't have the squad depth capable of doing all of that.

Without Pogba and Rashford, we are half the team. We saw how the team performed in the Burnley match without Herrera. Fred can't even get in over the likes of Perriera, who himself is a drastic drop in quality compared to our starters.

We do have numbers in defence, but again, there is a huge drop in quality compared to the starters.

None of this is a problem if we had a mixture of easy fixtures in between. But pretty much every match we play in the next month or two is a big game.

Let's take a look at the gap between our upcoming fixtures:
Leicester- Fulham : 5 days
Fulham- PSG : 2 days
PSG- Chelsea: 5 days
Chelsea- Liverpool: 5 days
Liverpool- Palace: 2 days
Palace- Soton: 2 days
Soton- PSG: 3 days
PSG- Arsenal: 3 days

The only real taxing run physically is the run after the Liverpool game to the Arsenal game. In between we have a home match against Soton where we can rest a few players and still expect to get the points. We can rest Rashford and still get the job done (as evidenced by the Arsenal game). Pogba is a bigger miss for the team no doubt but unless he's nursing an injury we can always keep him on the bench to bring on if things go south, if we do want to rest him. Also every player is different, SAF always used to say about Rooney that the more games he played the fitter he was and not vice versa. Top players at top clubs go through this every season and if you want to win trophies its a small price to pay.

 

[JohnnyKills]

Can see him being rested this weekend. We could play Lingard there or go slightly different and play Sanchez as a 10.

 

[rotherham_red]

Rest him for Fulham - give Mata a runout as the 10, and play 4-2-3-1

 

[StrettyEnder07]

They all get a full week this week, so rest during the week and then back at it on Saturday. If we were playing midweek this week then yeah maybe rest a few of them but they all get 5/6 days rest, no international football, no cups, full week training and I would think Ole probably gave them a day or two off.

If everyone is fit they should be all raring to go now, if we are 2-3 up at Fulham after an hour then yeah give one or two of them a rest for PSG but we should not be resting players now, they should now be pretty fresh.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Rashford and Herrera have both been rested in our last two or three games to be fair. They can also both be rested a bit more easily over the next month. Pogba and Matic have no able deputies.

Their positions and the way they play are more tiring than others. And their movement seems more sluggish compared to a month ago. If we rest either of them we have to play Lukaku/Sanchez/Pereira/Fred. Not the optimal setup against some of the teams we are playing in the coming future.

This loser mentality of having to choose which competition to try to win should really have left with Mourinho. A club the stature of Man Utd shouldn't need to prioritize between competitions. I'm sure Ole would say the same. We should go into every match expecting to win. We have enough players in the squad to be able to rest them when they get too tired.

Difference between loser mentality and being sensible. If the other players we had in the team were more suited/adjusted/able to perform to the way we are playing now, then rotating the squad would not be an issue. The problem is that we have 11 players that are suited to the way we play and we can in no way let them start every match for the rest of the season. If Pogba were to play every match this month then he would get tired, both mentally and physically and his performances would drop. Better long term strategy than "play til you drop".

 

[Rozay]

They all get a full week this week, so rest during the week and then back at it on Saturday. If we were playing midweek this week then yeah maybe rest a few of them but they all get 5/6 days rest, no international football, no cups, full week training and I would think Ole probably gave them a day or two off.

If everyone is fit they should be all raring to go now, if we are 2-3 up at Fulham after an hour then yeah give one or two of them a rest for PSG but we should not be resting players now, they should now be pretty fresh.

I said the next month, not the next week.

 

[StrettyEnder07]

I said the next month, not the next week.

Yes so what I'm saying is he has a full week this week to recover, you would assume he is 100% fit raring to go, we play:

Saturday 12.30pm
Tuesday 8pm
Monday 8pm (virtually a whole week without a game again)
Sunday 14.05pm (virtually a whole week without a game)
Wednesday 8pm
Saturday 3pm
Wednesday 8pm

That takes us to the 6th March, exactly a month. It's hardly a bloody grueling taxing month game wise is it, he would expect to play that most months.

So why does he need a rest?

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Rest him?

That would be like going to see a hooker and leaving your penis at home.

He’s vitally important to our team. Maybe take him off after 60 minutes if things are going to plan, but we can’t afford a slow start to any game which I fear if he isn’t on the pitch.

 

[Adebesi]

I would rest him against Fulham. One, it keeps him fresh for PSG. And two, we need to make sure our squad players arent too rusty for this upcoming group of games, because they will be needed.

Mata at #10 makes sense, though I would personally love to see Fred get a game. But who knows what's going on in training, if he just isnt up to the pace of things then fair enough.

Either way, we really ought to be able to beat Fulham with a couple of first teamers rested.

 

[SAFMUTD]

I dont think we can afford to not start him in any game, he is vital to the way we play. All creativity starts with him, I think what we should do is start subing him around the 70th minute if the game is controlled. Our midfield subs options are so poor that if we get Pogba injured we can say goodbye to the current team form.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

I dont think we can afford to not start him in any game, he is vital to the way we play. All creativity starts with him, I think what we should do is start subing him around the 70th minute if the game is controlled. Our midfield subs options are so poor that if we get Pogba injured we can say goodbye to the current team form.

True. We should fix this issue during the summer window. Either through finding a way to play attacking football without Pogba, or buying a player able to perform a similar job as Pogba. Ideally we should do both.

 

[SAFMUTD]

True. We should fix this issue during the summer window. Either through finding a way to play attacking football without Pogba, or buying a player able to perform a similar job as Pogba. Ideally we should do both.

Right, for me after the RW position this is the most critical. People talking about bringing a top CB, but we have Lindelof, Smalling and Jones, they may not be world class but you can trust them to get the job done against regular oponents.

While in the midfield we have no trustworthy options, not only for Pogba but for Herrera and Matic, we are one injury away of completely falling.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Right, for me after the RW position this is the most critical. People talking about bringing a top CB, but we have Lindelof, Smalling and Jones, they may not be world class but you can trust them to get the job done against regular oponents.

While in the midfield we have no trustworthy options, not only for Pogba but for Herrera and Matic, we are one injury away of completely falling.

RW that can play as CAM and used to be the main creative outlet in a team: Suso £35m clause. Killing two birds with one stone.
CM that can cover for Matic and Herrera: Pellegrini £23m clause.

 

[Smores]

People saying you can't rest a player that good. Sir Alex regularly gave our best players rest periods and it never did us any harm. New fans or just forgetful?

Personally i think Pogba has demonstrated fatigue countless times recently but I'm more inclined to think it's within game tiredness rather than fixture overload (although they are arguably linked). He should be subbed more often when we're winning to prevent us losing control in the middle Fred should be that man.

 

[kouroux]

Fairly sure Toure got almost no rest when he played a massive part in winning City a title. Ditto Lampard at Chelsea. Fitness needs to be judged on an individual basis and Ole will have a shit-load of data to know when Pogba is in “the red zone” (as Van Gaal used to say). If he keeps picking him then he knows it’s the right thing to do. Which is good enough for me.

100% this

 

[deadrevelz]

Our squad is so crap though that if we start resting players dropping points to Fulham is a possibility. It would be great if we could rest Pogba, Matic and Herrera before PSG but our midfield would be atrocious without them.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

People saying you can't rest a player that good. Sir Alex regularly gave our best players rest periods and it never did us any harm. New fans or just forgetful?

Personally i think Pogba has demonstrated fatigue countless times recently but I'm more inclined to think it's within game tiredness rather than fixture overload (although they are arguably linked). He should be subbed more often when we're winning to prevent us losing control in the middle Fred should be that man.

I'm not sure about that. The fact Fergie once sent (a very young) Ronaldo home for Christmas gets talked about a lot but once he hit his prime and became our best/most important player, Fergie was happy enough to play him fairly constantly when fit. He averaged 33+ league games (50+ games per season overall) in his last 5 years at the club.

If we make the FA Cup Final and the CL final with Pogba playing in every game, he'll still need to play 34 league games to make it 50 games this season.

Beckham's stats would have been not far off Ronaldo's. Ditto Ruud in his first few seasons at the club (immediately after ACL surgery)

 

[SAFMUTD]

RW that can play as CAM and used to be the main creative outlet in a team: Suso £35m clause. Killing two birds with one stone.
CM that can cover for Matic and Herrera: Pellegrini £23m clause.

I’m not so convinced about Suso, as an squad player he is a good option but I think we should aim higher for a starter, since Lingard would be the back up.

I’ve never seen Pellegrini but habe seen him mentioned here several times, in which team does he play?

 

[hocane]

There's a week break since our last league game, no need to rest players.

 

[gerdm07]

Pogba or Matic should not start this weekend.

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

Pogba or Matic should not start this weekend.

Can't understand this, we've got on this fantastic run of form by playing a consistent team week in week out, the time we changed things Burnley found us out.

Just play your strongest team unless injury prevents it, think about resting players once the game is won.

 

[pacifictheme]

Of course we can rest him. Ole's side doesn't depend on Pogba. He's been terrific but so has everyone else. I'm sure we will have enough to dispose of Burnley with Pogba on the bench.

Pogba has definitely been the stand out player since ole took over.

 

[wolvored]

This loser mentality of having to choose which competition to try to win should really have left with Mourinho. A club the stature of Man Utd shouldn't need to prioritize between competitions. I'm sure Ole would say the same. We should go into every match expecting to win. We have enough players in the squad to be able to rest them when they get too tired.

Ole has already said we go into every game to win and we go to win every trophy, so there wont be any let up.

 

[VP89]

Pogba has definitely been the stand out player since ole took over.

Rashford and Pogba together, yeah.
In general lots of players have been performing like they're completely different beasts now. We can afford to rest Pogba vs Fulham if he needed one.

 

[mariachi-19]

This loser mentality of having to choose which competition to try to win should really have left with Mourinho. A club the stature of Man Utd shouldn't need to prioritize between competitions. I'm sure Ole would say the same. We should go into every match expecting to win. We have enough players in the squad to be able to rest them when they get too tired.

Are you saying... the quad is on?

@Dwazza Gunnar Solskjær what do you think he means?

 

[Minimalist]

Fcuk sake he saunters about most games - he's fine. He's not old - play him every game he's fit for.

 

[tomaldinho1]

This loser mentality of having to choose which competition to try to win should really have left with Mourinho. A club the stature of Man Utd shouldn't need to prioritize between competitions. I'm sure Ole would say the same. We should go into every match expecting to win. We have enough players in the squad to be able to rest them when they get too tired.

I think the opposite - particularly with regards to the League cup. Ole will say the same to the cameras but priority will always be the PL and CL.

For me the aim should be field a full strength starting XI for every PL and CL game, if possible you also do the same for the FA cup. With the league cup, it should be full to the brim with youth players and used for fitness for other first team players.

 

[King7Eric]

I think the opposite - particularly with regards to the League cup. Ole will say the same to the cameras but priority will always be the PL and CL.

For me the aim should be field a full strength starting XI for every PL and CL game, if possible you also do the same for the FA cup. With the league cup, it should be full to the brim with youth players and used for fitness for other first team players.

The priority is always the PL and CL but I don't think we're gonna play a team that's without 4-5 key players when we play Chelsea in the cup. Some rotation will be there but I don't think we'll be having the mentality of not exerting ourselves too much just because it's the FA cup.

 

[Oldyella]

Fcuk sake he saunters about most games - he's fine. He's not old - play him every game he's fit for.

This. If a games won take him off but he really needs to be starting whenever he's fit.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

Are you saying... the quad is on?

@Dwazza Gunnar Solskjær what do you think he means?

I think he means IT'S ON!