Rotation?

[Ban]

Only when he does. When he doesn't, he should have. Of course, it's always easy to point these things after he doesn't lose the game anyway. And nevermind the quality of the backups he should be rotating in. When they do get on the field, the required response is either that you already said they shouldn't be out there or you cannot believe how bad they are and why didn't he pull them as soon as they slipped up. Because we all know there's no risk in pulling three guys off the field before the end of the first the half.

Of course, the alternative is to just sit back and enjoy the wins...

My point is he does rotate.

 

[Ban]

Fred in midfield is also suicidal, he gives the ball away more than anyone but hes a risk taker and that means sometimes things don't come off, sometimes you lose the ball.
We need more than 1 system of play, he'd be deployed behind the striker. Hes a risk taker and a player at #10 needs to take risks. Hes a good finisher with excellent movement in behind the defence, example goal against arsenal, Hes got good vision as well as a good cross, he would have a free role there allow players interchange freely.
Hes not doing great on the wings and he knows that himself, he needs to be adapted to a new position or he'll have to leave.

So we'd play with a midfield 2?

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Yes, but also Rashford and Martial. Might disturb our balance but the alternative is Fred. Hard to say which is worst. Our lack of depth is a concern as witnessed against Burnley.

If we play against a team parking the bus, with weak offensive play then we could scrap by with a weakened midfield, and vice versa against a team with a weak defense. But we are really struggling to rotate the midfield and attack at the same time. And if we are not playing Pogba we will struggle to create chances.

As a minimum to be able to compete on multiple fronts and assuming we are lucky with injuries; 4 midfielders and for attackers for the 3 positions in each area that can play without the team becoming shit. And each of these players should be able to perform in two positions; Rashford and Martial can play ST and LW. Lingard can play multiple positions. Matic and Herrera can to some degree play the two CM roles(holding and B2B), but more specialized. Pogba can play B2B and CAM efficently.
In the summer we need to add a midfielder able to cover/improve for Matic and Herrera and a RW able to slot in for Pogba at CAM when needed.

 

[deadrevelz]

No one mentioned long balls, but would G. Jesus have scored a hattrick against Arsenal? (definitely not). Hence the point of bench players normally not being able to play at the same level as starters; otherwise they wouldn't be on the bench. but I do understand what you're saying you need a quality squad to compete on all fronts..

I think we're arguing about different points. I know our squad players normally won't be as good as the first 11 (although if you look at City now and Fergies great teams you can argue the bench was nearly on the same level as the first 11).

I would happily swap Lukaku, Mata and Sanchez for players of lower quality if they fit into our system and performed well. We can't have a situation where we need to give one player a rest, and have to sub on someone who plays in a completely different way that disrupts our performance. This is what happens with Lukaku and Mata, Sanchez to a lesser extent. It's why Fellaini was sold.

 

[simpandenstore]

DDG
Dalot Lindelof Smalling/bailly Shaw
Fred, Herrera
Mata
Sanchez Lukaku Martial

This is my lineup to the fulham game. We should beat Fulham with this. Matic, pogba and rashford obviously needs a rest.
And why not play Mata instead of pogba in the CAM for once and see how he will perform there.
Hope there is one or two youngsters on the bench too.

 

[Gandalf]

I feel like that is a few too many changes and I definitely do not fancy Fred in the Matic role. If I want to rest Matic I would far rather go with McTominay and I also would not rest Rashford and Lingard together as we lose so much of our attacking movement when that happens. I would not rest Pogba at all, Jose gave him a nice long rest and I would rather start with him and sub him off around the 60 minute mark if we are cruising. For Fulham I would go with

DDG
Dalot Lindelof Bailly Shaw
McTominay Herrera
Pogba
Lukaku Lingard Martial

I would definitely be looking to get Fred on for the last 30 minutes and hopefully get Sanchez and Chong some minutes too.

 

[Khalifa711]

So we'd play with a midfield 2?

If you watched the game yesterday, you may have realized that we played a 2 man midfield for majority of the time

 

[Khalifa711]

This is what I would like to see, but swap out Fred (if he can show some quality) for Sanchez.

A squad doesn't need 23+ internationals, 14 key players who can rotate in with little to no detriment is what keeps things consistent and allows everyone a game off every 3 or 4 when things get conjested. The rest can be youngsters or the experienced who can get the time during cups, injuries and suspensions.

Thanks, this is basically what I'm saying

 

[Ban]

If you watched the game yesterday, you may have realized that we played a 2 man midfield for majority of the time

Nah. Not really.

 

[cyril C]

No, we don't need to rest on the Fulham game, because everyone will be having a 1 week rest. Play our best 11 and finish the game by half time, then rest Pogba and Rashford at 60th. The real question is Liverpool after PSG.

Problem is, we can't really afford to rest too many players. Take Young and Rashford out for injury and age reason, that's about it. That's why it is important to kill the game by half time and cruise to finish.

 

[Fortitude]

Ole is doing a bang on job of it. Rotated well at Fulham and took off Pogba when we went up to 3 scored.

Just imagine what could be done with a functional squad!

 

[jeff_goldblum]

The run of form he's ushered in and confidence amongst the team means Ole can afford to rotate. Hes not having to play his best XI into the ground to chase a result every game. We haven't seen that in a long time.