Squad rotation : What would you do if you were Harry ?

[Frenchalex25]

Good Morning All,

This is true that this is a great time to be a Spurs fan nowadays and we're all looking at the top of the league rather than what's going one below us.

After yesterday's game, I was looking at the next games coming in the next few weeks and it scared me a little bit.

I am currently speaking of the games stating from the

Mon 06/02/12 - Liverpool Away.
Sat 11/02/12 - Newcastle Home.
Sat 18/02 and Sun 19/02 ???? (another FA Cup Week End ??)
Sun 26/02/11 - Arsenal Away.
Sat 03/03/12 - Man U Home
Sat 10/03/12 - Everton Away
Sat 17/03/11 - Stoke Home
Sat 24/03/11 - Chelsea Away.

I like Harry Redknapp but i think that we all know we won't go through these hard games if there isn't more squad rotation that we currently have.

HR makes changes only if he has to. (Yesterday with Jake Livermore played).

He has hardly changed his first 11 this season.

We have had a great season so far and I (as all of us) would like it to continue.
(We were off the Europa Cup but Harry told from the beginning he wasn't interested in it)
We still have plenty to play in the League and in the FA Cup.

But we all know Spurs won't continue to win if there is not more squad rotation by the end of the season.

I think Harry will have to rotate our team more in the next couple of weeks with huge leagues games every week from beginning of february.

We have plenty of players for haven't had much time on the pitch this season and that we will need them to play at some point of this season.
Bassong, Corluka, Kranjcar, Rose, Pienaar, Pav or even Defoe and Livermore.

Some of you might think most of these games they are not as good as our first teamers (I don't know if Defoe must be considered as a first teamer this season despite the fact he scored many goals).

At the moment, THFC can play to win the League and The FA Cup.

Spurs clearly won't be able to chase both if there is not more squad rotation.

There really seems to be a great atmosphere in the whole group at the time.
This might be the perfect time for Harry to keep everyone involved in the rest of the campaign with still many games to come.
( we mustn't forget that only 20 League games have been played and there are still 18 League Games to go).

This might be risky but if i were Harry, i would start to rotate more in the midfield and in the front of the attack.

In the midfield (as we still have Kranjcar, Livermore, Rose, Pienaar) who could make a good job here and get some rest or avoid injuries for our others usual starters like Modric, Bale, Lennon, Parker in order they can be 100 % against the big boys.

In the attack (as we still have Pav, Defoe or even Gio) who are good forwards who have helped and will continue to prove useful before the end of the season.(considering Ade and VDv are the usual "pair" of forwarders).
But they'll also need rest before facing the bif guns of the EPL (starting with City on the 22.01).

Not much changes needed in the back four (as we only need Seb Bassong and Corluka available if more injuries happens to our back 4).

If i were Harry, i would continue to play Livermore vs Wolves (to allow some more days to Parker to recover)
And maybe enter him within the second half of the match.

Same thing for Sandro (as he seemed injured to me but can't see his name on physio room website). To get them both available vs City on the 22.01.12.

Indeed , i think the City match will be a very physical fight and i like to see Sandro and Parker figure both on the pitch.
(with no Modric on the pitch but we can hardly happen to get him injured by the likes of De Jong....before our highly important games of February and March).

More generally for the Feb and March months, i would like to see Harry give match time to most usual subs he trusts for the Wolves game and most Fa Cup games (until the time we start to face PL teams).

And use the usual first teamers for the biggest EPL Games (the one in bold above) and as impact players to help the team (if needed) within the second halves.

Thanks for your thoughts .

Have a good day.

Alex

 

[kaz Hirai]

we dont really have any fixture congestion anymore being out of europe, they should really be able to manage 1 game a week

plus all the injuries we have means lots of players have been getting ample rest. lennons been out all Christmas having massages in the treatment room.

VDV and defoe get rotated a bit.

ade messed the first month of the season, and played in no cup games

Parker, Sandro has barely played, Gallas too, Dawson should be mega fresh

the only ones who are probably being over worked are walker, ekotto and maybe bale

 

[whitelightwhiteheat]

I think Harry will do what he always does. When all of our main players are fit he will play them. There'll be very little rotation unless it's forced through injuries or suspensions.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

I think Harry will do what he always does. When all of our main players are fit he will play them. There'll be very little rotation unless it's forced through injuries or suspensions.

Personally that's the way I want it. I don't want him to do a Benitez on us.

There was an article in the Standard the other night where Adebayor was saying he likes playing in a settled team (or words to that affect that isn't a direct quote..).

 

[whitelightwhiteheat]

Personally that's the way I want it. I don't want him to do a Benitez on us.

There was an article in the Standard the other night where Adebayor was saying he likes playing in a settled team (or words to that affect that isn't a direct quote..).

I agree, that's what I'd like to see too.

I'm now 100% glad we crashed out of the Europa League early. That would only get in the way of what could be a magical title challenge. as kaz Hirai says, we don't have a fixture congestion problem.

So yeah, mostly I want to see us play with the players who play week in, week out. We should be looking to have our strongest XI on the pitch for every league game.

 

[brasil_spur]

I agree that we should stick to the same players as much as possible. You can't criticise a manager for not rotating the team enough when we're half way through the season and joint second and only 3 points of the leaders.

As for the run of fixtures, well yes they are tough, but we've just had a relatively easy run and there is a pretty good run into the end of the season.

Whilst i hope we continue the same form up to the end of March, it would be ok if we dipped a bit, so as long as we come out of the run with 4 points up on 4th place.

 

[cwhite02]

Agreed with what the other posters have said. Why do we need to rotate? We are only playing roughly a game a week? I'm sure if a player looks dead on his feet then he will be changed and of course there will be injurys but if it's not broke then why fix it?

I love the way we are playing at the moment. I don't see one key player in the team who is carrying us through games. Our midfield is amazing and the way the game is being played is just fantastic. Long may it continue and if were lucky with injurys and suspensions who knows what we can achieve this season?

I also think this is the first time that I can remember there's not a player who I can think I would like out of the team. Sure you could say we could improve with Messi or Ronaldo but realistically our starting 11 is top class.

COYS

 

[mattlewiscooke]

we dont really have any fixture congestion anymore being out of europe, they should really be able to manage 1 game a week

plus all the injuries we have means lots of players have been getting ample rest. lennons been out all Christmas having massages in the treatment room.

VDV and defoe get rotated a bit.

ade messed the first month of the season, and played in no cup games

Parker, Sandro has barely played, Gallas too, Dawson should be mega fresh

the only ones who are probably being over worked are walker, ekotto and maybe bale

Agree with this plus walker and bale are still kids so should be able to play every week

 

[sloth]

I think Harry will do what he always does. When all of our main players are fit he will play them. There'll be very little rotation unless it's forced through injuries or suspensions.

Personally that's the way I want it. I don't want him to do a Benitez on us.

There was an article in the Standard the other night where Adebayor was saying he likes playing in a settled team (or words to that affect that isn't a direct quote..).

I don't think we should rotate just for the sake of it, and we shouldn't rotate in clearly weaker players.

There is an argument that Sandro was under used earlier in the season and that we need another centre forward in the Adebayor mould precisely so we can rotate more. Same goes for CB and maybe LB.

Harry has shown willingness to rotate with Defoe and with players like VdV, Gallas, Kaboul, King and Lennon.

He also clearly rotates with the lesser competitions and has done so precisely so he can keep his first 14 fresh.

When Huddlestone comes back to fitness expect to see us be a bit braver in CM and in our formations from time to time depending on the opponent.

It'll also be interesting to see what he does when he has three or possibly four top-class CBs free at the same time.

My criticism of Harry - and the reason I quoted the above; I know how the Spurs Bear likes to get his teeth stuck into a bit of stubborn sloth on this site - is that he's a little bit risk adverse and has not rotated Parker more often for Sandro, or even Sandro for a forward.

This also means he sometimes prefers to let fate (for which read injuries) make decisions for him, and I think this is partly because he likes to stick to what he knows and partly because he doesn't want to get the blame if he tries something and it goes wrong.

But given the season we're having, they're pretty minor criticisms and even if luck has played some part in rediscovering talent in our squad (Bale 2009/10, Sandro 2010/11, Kaboul 2011/12) you could argue that players will always get their chance with Harry if only because we're certain to get injuries at various parts of the season, and that if they take their chance they usually will get an extended run in the team as their reward.

Apart from all that Napoleon always said the quality he valued in his generals more than any other was luck, and Napoleon was probably the greatest strategist and battle-field tactician the world has known (at least in his earlier years), so maybe Harry knows a thing or two after all! :razz:

 

[whitelightwhiteheat]

Napoleon was just a poor man's Harry Redknapp, really.

"I'm not a wheeler dealer, I'm the fackin' Emperor of the fackin' French!"

 

[theShiznit]

in an ideal world players would come to the manager and say "i don't feel right today"
but it never happens at any level, most players want to play in all games, So it's down to the manager to see/know who's peaking/waining at certain points in the season, and change accordingly.

 

[tototoner]

rotation due to injuries and suspensions is enough for me

 

[Legacy]

Rotation isn't just about resting your key players and avoiding fatigue in them. It's also about keeping your back up players sharp, match fit and with the belief that their performances when they are called upon could mean they get a sustained run with the first team.

As it stands at the moment, players that aren't in the first XI in Harry's eyes pretty much have nothing to play for. Kranjcar could put in a match winning performance in a game, only to then get dumped back on the bench as soon as the player he covered for regains fitness.

 

[guy]

I still think 1 player from our best xi can easily be rested once in every while.

e.g Bale can be rested, as Niko is ample backup for one game against a rubbish team, and we should still be able to get a result

or BAE with Rose, or vdv with defoe, etc etc

Im not talking wholesale rotation, I mean one/two players once every few games.

Keeping players fresh, and keeping the squad reasonably sharp

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Personally that's the way I want it. I don't want him to do a Benitez on us.

There was an article in the Standard the other night where Adebayor was saying he likes playing in a settled team (or words to that affect that isn't a direct quote..).

Fully agreed. Teams improve organically when the changes are limited, regardless of signings. That's why the same group of players has made such obvious improvement together every year with only ever 1 or 2 coming in. 4 our of our 5 midfielders were together last season, 3 of those 5 for the preceeding 2 seasons. All of our centre backs were there last season and so any combination of them looks good. BAE has been playing with Modric and Bale for 3 seasons now so his understanding with them is almost telepathic. Yes, Parker coming in improved us, Sandro coming in improved us, Friedel and Walker and obviously Adebayor all improved us, but all came in to fill obvious weak spots in the side. None of our strikers could lead the line last year, none of our midfielders had bite and both Hutton and Corluka were poor more often than not, while Gomes had a terrible season. This is why even when allegedly better players are linked, especially mid season, I'm always cautious about it because, for instance, the fact that Kaka is better than VDV doesn't mean that Kaka will come in and be able to contribute the way VDV does straight away, because VDV has that great understanding with both Modric and Adebayor.

Anyway, that's a huge tangent from me, but basically I like as few changes as possible unless injury or significant loss of form occur.

 

[eddiebailey]

This season Harry has barely rotated at all – in the league he has picked the fittest permutation from his preferred fourteen players; in Europa and the domestic games he has fielded a second IX, with just the occasional first teamer in to fill a gap or build fitness.

It is the right approach; Bill Nicholson always said he picked his best side if they were available; and when Villa won the league they did it pretty much with thirteen players.

Next season though will be different, we wont be able to last the distance in both the Premiership and the Championship if we do not rotate. In practice that means if you are playing two big games in a week resting each player once every three games, so three or four unforced changes each game. So we will need a core squad of at least eighteen players, plus another ten or so capable of doing a job in the domestic cups and covering as necessary. I hope the likes of Krancjar and Pienaar are still with us next season because they will be getting a lot more big games.

 

[sloth]

Napoleon was just a poor man's Harry Redknapp, really.

"I'm not a wheeler dealer, I'm the fackin' Emperor of the fackin' French!"

Lol!

 

[Spurs_Bear]

I still think 1 player from our best xi can easily be rested once in every while.

e.g Bale can be rested, as Niko is ample backup for one game against a rubbish team, and we should still be able to get a result

or BAE with Rose, or vdv with defoe, etc etc

Im not talking wholesale rotation, I mean one/two players once every few games.

Keeping players fresh, and keeping the squad reasonably sharp

But that is exactly what I am talking about. What constitutes a rubbish team? Are Wolves are a rubbish team? Because I'm not expecting an easy game on Saturday at all. And I would rather go into the game with Bale than Niko all things considered at the moment.

 

[sloth]

But that is exactly what I am talking about. What constitutes a rubbish team? Are Wolves are a rubbish team? Because I'm not expecting an easy game on Saturday at all. And I would rather go into the game with Bale than Niko all things considered at the moment.

And depsite what people on here believe Kranjcar, for me, is a clear step down from the first 14 or so. I wouldn't want to rotate him in for either Bale or Modric as that's a gulf in quality right there.

On the other hand rotating Sandro in for Parker all can agree is not a significant drop in quality if at all; just a bit different.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

And depsite what people on here believe Kranjcar, for me, is a clear step down from the first 14 or so. I wouldn't want to rotate him in for either Bale or Modric as that's a gulf in quality right there.

On the other hand rotating Sandro in for Parker all can agree is not a significant drop in quality if at all; just a bit different.

That's the key for me, I don't think Parker and Sandro are as similar as some people on here do.