Karanka's squad rotation yes or no ?

[Rioch's Braves 711]

Karanka since being manager has very rarely started with the same 11, some fans opinion's are that we should play our best team, others will say we're 2nd in the league so what's the problem, but could we by keeping the same 11 have been in an even healthier position, hard to say.

 

My opinion is that if your in a winning team and playing well then you should keep your place until suspension, injury or loss of form dictates otherwise.

 

By rotating the squad and resting players,the argument is that it keeps the players fresher and fitter, but a  player who has a 4 and 5 day break between matches surely shouldn't need a rest, 2 games in a week has been the norm for years.

 

On a higher level would Leicester, Spurs or City rest Vardy, Kane or Aguero or midfield players Drinkwater, Eriksson and Ya Ya Toure while pushing for the league, I don't see it happening.

 

Karanka obviously picks the side on the day that he feels will pick up the 3 points, but when an inform player is dropped to the bench what must be in the players thoughts does he become unhappy disgruntled or just shrug his shoulders and accept it, Adomah certainly didn't when dropped.

[BillyWoofs_shinpad 1,884]

The only problem with the argument about not changing a winning team is that quite a few of our victories this season haven't been particularly convincing, AK is a perfectionist and he will always analyse every game and see if he can improve on it, when we went on that convincing streak he kept pretty much the same team apart from Nugent who got suspended so was replaced by Kike.

AK has had to make changes more recently due to suspensions. Ask the likes of Forshaw about AK's rotation policy, he'll tell you that he doesn't have one!

[CurtisFleming 86]

I don't like rotation for rotations sake. I'd rather we didn't try to pre-empt players being tired and avoid looking at fixtures past the one that is immediately coming up. Play your best team and get the immediate fixture out of the way first. There are no bankers in this league, even more so when you rest your big players and as Burnley have proved; Playing your best team and dispatching the so called lesser teams first can take you a long way. Then once that is done you can re-evaluate the players fitness. Even if one of our better players is tired I would even prefer us to play him until half time then sub him if needed or we are winning comfortably.

 

It would be interesting to see the appearance/game minutes stats for teams previously promoted from this league.

[Maccarone 265]

At this stage we just need a settled side to get some consistency back, all this chopping and changing is damaging the team, play your best eleven, end of.

[Prowler 197]

Think part of the rotation is also dowb to what happens in training. If a player doesn't pull their weight but another does, is it sending to right message to the rest of the squad to keep playing the player who is being a bit of a ***?

[Salopsmoggie 2]

Rotation in the earlier part of the season makes sense to keep the squad as fit and free from injury as possible for the later part of the season. However we have now reached that important part of the season and having had lots of games to look at his squad I would have thought that AK would know his best 11 and they should be fresh enough to play all of the games remaining.

It is time for him to trust his first 11 even if they have an off game and keep a settled team.

He seemed to play a more settled team in the last 10 games of the season last year.

[BillyWoofs_shinpad 1,884]

Think part of the rotation is also dowb to what happens in training. If a player doesn't pull their weight but another does, is it sending to right message to the rest of the squad to keep playing the player who is being a bit of a ***?

 

Which apparently is why Nugent is getting the nod.

[Essuuaitch 330]

At this stage we just need a settled side to get some consistency back, all this chopping and changing is damaging the team, play your best eleven, end of.

 

Generally agree Macca but what do you mean by BEST 11.... form or reputation. Downing being the glaring example. 

he really should be a shoe in for the starting 11 and even though i think he can have no qualms with being dropped recently, i look at our teamsheet without him and it immediately looks weaker. and in turn strengthens the belief in the opposition seeing his name missing. 

 

On he whole though, im with the majority in that we should play our best 11 on paper whenever possible , rotation is really aimed at a higher level of football than the championship ,

[richmfc 41]

What do you mean by best 11. Our best 11 before ko may not be the best 11 after you've watched the game or seen them in training. And your best 11 against a top side may not include the same players as against a bottom side

[Essuuaitch 330]

What do you mean by best 11.   Our best 11 before ko may not be the best 11 after you've watched the game or seen them in training. And your best 11 against a top side may not include the same players as against a bottom side

 

i think that philosophy seems to be what we have taken in recent matches and maybe weve been guilty of overthinking .  the second sentence tends to err on the side of worrying too much about the opposition rather than letting them worry about us

[pikerman 1,121]

I do not believe in rotation purely for the sake of it, changing players should be based on a/fitness, b /form and a remote c/the opposition. I have said on here before that I find some of AK,s decisions on team selection baffling and inconsistent, even Ranieri the original 'Tinkerman' has learnt his lesson these days

[Jimmy 140]

I agree with the fact that he might be basing it on what he see's in training that week (which we don't see), in which case it's fair enough really. If you work hard all week, you get rewarded, nowt wrong with that.

 

I think having an established forward who starts week in week out would help mind. Confidence plays such a big role for strikers (more so than other positions imo), and they are unable to put a scoring run together if they are in and out of the team.

However if the rumours are true about Rhodes not pulling his weight in training, then he deserves to sit on the bench.

[TheTeessideOne 4]

I think it works and he has proved it does. However, sometimes I think he overdoes it.

[Rioch's Braves 711]

I agree with the fact that he might be basing it on what he see's in training that week (which we don't see), in which case it's fair enough really. If you work hard all week, you get rewarded, nowt wrong with that.

 

I think having an established forward who starts week in week out would help mind. Confidence plays such a big role for strikers (more so than other positions imo), and they are unable to put a scoring run together if they are in and out of the team.

However if the rumours are true about Rhodes not pulling his weight in training, then he deserves to sit on the bench.

Rhodes must have pulled his weight last week he started against Wolves.

[Boro_Gadgey 12]

I think it works and he has proved it does. However, sometimes I think he overdoes it.

 

Agree with that. Keeping people fresh and on their toes is one thing (and I do think it is generally a good thing if not overdone) but I also think that after the disappointment of Blackburn he should have stuck with last Friday's winning team for Rotherham. It was a brave decision not to do that but a gamble that did not pay off - like twisting on 17 at pontoon.

 

After that 5 game winless run we had, despite green shoots of recovery in performance and a couple of wins, we clearly still have some distance to go to find our feet again. I think sticking with the successful wolves team would have been a safer approach in the circumstances.