Arsenal Banter Archive November 11 2016

 

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11 Nov 2016 06:43:03
It's interesting that when I commented that we needed to rotate players, I was heavily criticised. The players I mainly felt were at risk were Bellerin and Sanchez. Both are now injured. Fortunately, we now have a strong enough squad to cover them, with Jenkinson and Giroud coming in. Mid-Dec we should get Perez back (remember him! ) and in January Welbeck and Meretsacker return. We have missed Santi big time, hopefully he will return after the international break, although I am concerned that he appears to have suffered Achilles problems since his nasty knee injury last season. I can't see us making any major signings in January, although we clearly need a better LB. The rest of the squad appears very strong. However, the following players need to depart over the next two windows; Debuchy, Campbell, Mertesacker, Gibbs or Monreal, Sanogo, Akpom (loan) , Zelalem (loan) , Willock (loan) , Reinne-Adelaide (loan) and Szczesny. I would monitor Wilshere and Chamber's progress.

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11 Nov 2016 08:09:00
The rotation recipe has in previous series has left those bakers who follow it with a soggy bottom while those who stick to the proven stability pie base recipe have found themselves star bakers most often and tend to still be in the tent when the prizes get handed out.
I'm sure a team will one day chop and change their way to top prize but I don't think it's going to be this time round.

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11 Nov 2016 08:55:59
Gunner62 - May I remind you respectfully that SAF used a rotation policy most successfully, even going over 60 matches without playing the same team in consecutive matches. The secret is to have a strong enough squad to sustain a rotation policy. As Arsenal fans we have suffered season after season, with mid-season fatigued leading to loss of form and injury taking effect. We will be facing a demanding fixture congestion into the new year, with players returning from international duty having to face Man U and PSG, with a few days. We possibly haven't used dquad players such as Gabriel, Elneny and Perez (before his injury) sufficiently.

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11 Nov 2016 11:34:04
We have been rotating in league cup games and so called easier cl games and prem games, nearly too our cost. If wenger had left/ rotated bellerin, sanchez or any one they think is number one and lost, he would get slated by everyone and quite right too. Saf only rotated when it suited and things were settled. Teams that win leagues very often are the teams that are not changed and settled, ie the last two league
winners. Its just bad luck sometimes when you get an injury or bad training.

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11 Nov 2016 11:38:53
Fair comment RG mate, personally I think if you play your best available 11 whenever possible you will end up with more points than you will by rotating.
But you are 100% right mate fergie did rest players and still bring success but equally for Benitez at Liverpool it brought inconsistency, Ranieri is an excellent example too at Chelsea he tinkered his way to nothing but at liecester pulled off the greatest ever premier league win with stability.
It's all a matter of options and if Arsene goes my way and we don't compete he's wrong and if he goes yours and gets the same result he's wrong too, all I will say is he's tried your way for more than a decade now :-)

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11 Nov 2016 11:45:45
Totally agree with RG69.

We have a big enough, and good enough squad to rotate players.

Prem League, FA Cup and CL amounts to about 60 games, bearing in mind most of our players are on International duty as well, that's a lot of playing time as well as flying time.

We have very good replacements in every position.

Ospina/ Cech, Gabs/ kos or Mustafi, Elneny/ Xhaka or Coq, Debuchy or Jenks to replace Bellerin. The list is endless.

I would rather rest Sanchez (for example) for one game, than lose him through injury for 6 games.

Obviously, we rotate through selective games.
If we play Utd and PSG in successive games, we play (if possible) our best 11, but than we can rotate through "easier' games.

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11 Nov 2016 13:18:14
Where are those easier league games though Dags mate? Swansea and middlesbrough at home? Where do you rest Kos or Sanchez and not moan afterwards if we drop points.

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11 Nov 2016 14:00:54
A couple of you guys mentioned Leicester last season, well they were not in the CL or EL and if I recall correctly went out of both domestic cups early. Their players probably didn't play in as many Internationals last season, whereas this season with additional games their eagle form has suffered. SAF used to keep a few constant players, but those around them were changed. Also by rotating you keep the squad happy, if you only play a nucleous of say 15 players than the remaining 10 players plus under 21 players can become unhappy and push for a transfer.

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11 Nov 2016 15:40:47
G62,
Very fair point as there is not really any easier games, but with our squad we should be able to rest Sanchez (for example) and play Iwobi against Sunderland (example) , without too much of a negative impact.

I'm all for playing our best 11, but some sort of rotation has to take place throughout the season?

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11 Nov 2016 16:39:29
Dags and RG I see your points but rotation should take place in this order league cup fa cup and if that ain't enough rotation then the champions league but not the premier league, we desperately need to seriously compete again and it needs to be this time round.
January 1st 2014 we were top of the league and I said play the squad players in the fa cup let's go for the title but we didn't and in the end just I managed to fend off Everton to finish a distant 4th and replaced Wigan as the new fa cup holders.

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11 Nov 2016 17:14:55
Totally get your point G62,

Bottom line, it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

If we don't rest player's (PL) , and they get injured, we all moan.
If we do rest player's (PL) and we drop points, we moan.

I would be perfectly happy to rest players in CL and FA Cup, and go all guns blazing on PL.

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