Benefits of a settled team?

[7percent]

So I thought at the time that the 2-2 against United was our best performance of the season. Alright, it wasn't a win, but we gifted United both goals and really should have won. I thought something had clicked, AVB tried Paulinho behind the striker and he'd looked far better than any previous game this seaon. I thought maybe AVB had found his best team;

25 Lloris
02 Walker
05 Vertonghen
19 Dembélé
20 Dawson
06 Chiriches
07 Lennon
30 Sandro
09 Soldado
08 Paulinho
21 Chadli

3 days later we scraped a win at Fulham, with 3 changes. However it was only 3 days so it may have been a situation where some players weren't fit enough to play twice in a week;

25 Lloris
02 Walker
05 Vertonghen
15 Capoue
20 Dawson
06 Chiriches
11 Lamela
30 Sandro
18 Defoe
08 Paulinho
07 Lennon

Followed by a win at Sunderland;

25 Lloris
02 Walker
16 Naughton
19 Dembélé
15 Capoue
20 Dawson
07 Lennon
08 Paulinho
18 Defoe
14 Holtby
21 Chadli

Bold is a difference from the United game and Italics is a difference from the game before.. Now, these 3 starting lineups are from 3 premier league games within a week and you can see the differences.

I might just be being simplistic, and I have chosen 3 games where we got positive results, and I haven't really taken into account any injuries but am I on to something? Did AVB like to tinker too much?

What I was telling my mate in the pub the other night is if I was spurs boss I'd choose a starting 11 and play it a few weeks in a row and if things weren't going well or beggining to gel I'd make a change or two max.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

So I thought at the time that the 2-2 against United was our best performance of the season. Alright, it wasn't a win, but we gifted United both goals and really should have won. I thought something had clicked, AVB tried Paulinho behind the striker and he'd looked far better than any previous game this seaon. I thought maybe AVB had found his best team;

25 Lloris
02 Walker
05 Vertonghen
19 Dembélé
20 Dawson
06 Chiriches
07 Lennon
30 Sandro
09 Soldado
08 Paulinho
21 Chadli

3 days later we scraped a win at Fulham, with 3 changes. However it was only 3 days so it may have been a situation where some players weren't fit enough to play twice in a week;

25 Lloris
02 Walker
05 Vertonghen
15 Capoue
20 Dawson
06 Chiriches
11 Lamela
30 Sandro
18 Defoe
08 Paulinho
07 Lennon

Followed by a win at Sunderland;

25 Lloris
02 Walker
16 Naughton
19 Dembélé
15 Capoue
20 Dawson
07 Lennon
08 Paulinho
18 Defoe
14 Holtby
21 Chadli

Bold is a difference from the United game and Italics is a difference from the game before.. Now, these 3 starting lineups are from 3 premier league games within a week and you can see the differences.

I might just be being simplistic, and I have chosen 3 games where we got positive results, and I haven't really taken into account any injuries but am I on to something? Did AVB like to tinker too much?

What I was telling my mate in the pub the other night is if I was spurs boss I'd choose a starting 11 and play it a few weeks in a row and if things weren't going well or beggining to gel I'd make a change or two max.

Your logic is right.... However to do that you need to know your best available 11

AVB never appeared to know his best team IMO and I'll be honest and say no one does with the players we have. We could even debate players positions and never come to an agreement on some which is a BIG problem for me

You can pick the Liverpool team bar one player pretty much for every game, same with arsenal and arguably City and Chelsea too. I think you would struggle with United as none have actually performed at a level that warrants their starts by the unusual united standards butbyounprobablyncannwork out the Southampton team tommorow too

The first thing a new manager has to do is decide on his core players that will start every important game.

That has to include Sandro as first name on the sheet when fit by the way

If we do that we will be much further down the road in consistency

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Thinking about it I could only say 4 players are dead certs when fit

LLoris, walker, Verts and sandro.... That actually quite scary because it shows either a lack of real quality or strength in depth depending on you view

Just to reiterate your point Liverpoo are playing the same team today that played us last week

 

[ringo]

That is what makes the summer signings so mystifying. How did we end up with so many similar-ish players/players who prefer to play in the same position. And serious shortages in other areas. It is a very unbalanced squad.

 

[Hully]

Just to reiterate your point Liverpoo are playing the same team today that played us last week

Two points, a week apart and following a 5-0 away win why would you change? Difficult to drop anyone. Also with key players out, not all that many alternatives.

I don't have a problem rotating players, but it's got to be done with a purpose. There didn't seem to be any logic in AVB's selections.
To many round pegs in square holes so far for us this season. We'll look a totally different proposition if we start playing players to their strengths.

 

[7percent]

Your logic is right.... However to do that you need to know your best available 11

I don't agree. I think it's much more beneficial to have some consistency. 11 players, all playing in their preferred position for a few games is all I ask for.

After 3 or 4 games if one player is letting the side down swap him out, or if one player is impressing in training swap him in. Players will get injured as well so before long you'll be forced to make a change.

Having a different lineup each game doesn't help the players get to know each other or get used to the system. It's not the end of the world if the starting 11 isn't the best starting 11 on paper because theoretically we'll get there gradually.

But I do agree with you that we need a core to add some stability to the team.

 

[Cochise]

To be honest, we have been screwed over with injuries between those games. Dembele had a hip problem, Vertonghen did his ankle and Vlad did his knee. We have actually suffered poorly on the injury front all season but I agree that we never had a settled first team. However given that we have been playing once every 3 days, you need to switch things around to keep players from get injuries due to fatigue. I think we started to see towards the end that Lennon was pretty much nailed on as was Chadli, but the middle of the park was chopping and changing all the time. Last year we had Dembele and Sandro until the latter got injured. This season we have had Holtby, Eriksen, Paulinho, Dembele, Sandro all being given a chance in various parts of the midfield three, I think if we settle on that area the rest will be ok to shuffle around a little bit.

 

[7percent]

Yeah, injuries have had a major influence on team selection this season. Just Fulham stuck in my mind as when I saw the lineup I thought '**** sake, changing the team again'

I'm just hoping Sherwood has an idea for a decent starting 11 and will give them a chance for a few games.. though Christmas is probably the hardest time to field a consistent starting 11 as there will most likely be injuries and fatigue in such a busy period.

Does anyone know if we have even kept the starting 11 the same for two games on the trot?

 

[Hully]

A big complaint of mine this season is not making enough changes for league cup and Europa League games. We've dropped points in the league as a consequence.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

A big complaint of mine this season is not making enough changes for league cup and Europa League games. We've dropped points in the league as a consequence.

From what I remember in Europa we have only kept on average 2 players from the league games... I think that's what has been mentioned anyway but I haven't done the research. It any have been 2 outfield players

Players should still be relatively fresh this side of Christmas anyway shouldn't they.... They train for 50 games a season and we have had nearer 20 so far!!!

I don't think we can blame league defeats on cup games however we have done awful after the Europa games so statistically you can argue that.

 

[Modric THFC]

A big complaint of mine this season is not making enough changes for league cup and Europa League games. We've dropped points in the league as a consequence.

How this for a stat.
League games directly after cup games p10 w3 d3 l4 pts/g 1.2
Leagues that werent directly after cup games p6 w5 d0 l1 pts/g 2.5

 

[Modric THFC]

From what I remember in Europa we have only kept on average 2 players from the league games... I think that's what has been mentioned anyway but I haven't done the research. It any have been 2 outfield players

Players should still be relatively fresh this side of Christmas anyway shouldn't they.... They train for 50 games a season and we have had nearer 20 so far!!!

I don't think we can blame league defeats on cup games however we have done awful after the Europa games so statistically you can argue that.

I remember adding them up at the time and 8 of the 14 that played against united played in the pointless game against Tronso in Norway and 7 of the 14 that played against Liverpool played in that pointless game against Anzhi.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I remember adding them up at the time and 8 of the 14 that played against united played in the pointless game against Tronso in Norway and 7 of the 14 that played against Liverpool played in that pointless game against Anzhi.

Tromso and United had Chriches who started both games plus Dembele, Chadli and Soldado, obviously Verts came on as a sub for injury early in the European game

Against Anzhi we were short on fit defenders but you had Naighton and Capoue who played both games, plus Dembele and Soldado.... That's from Memory but I could be wrong

It's more alarming that we're losing after Europa games when we haven't played our stringers team in that tournament

 

[7percent]

After Tim Sherwoods first 3 games;

v West Ham
25 Lloris
02 Walker
03 Rose
19 Dembélé
15 Capoue
06 Chiriches
07 Lennon
22 Sigurdsson
18 Defoe
10 Adebayor
17 Townsend

v Southampton
25 Lloris
02 Walker
03 Rose
23 Eriksen
20 Dawson
06 Chiriches
11 Lamela
19 Dembélé
09 Soldado
10 Adebayor
22 Sigurdsson

v West Brom
25 Lloris
02 Walker
03 Rose
14 Holtby
20 Dawson
06 Chiriches
21 Chadli
23 Eriksen
10 Adebayor
09 Soldado
22 Sigurdsson

If I've got this right then players in Bold have started all 3 games and players in Italics have started 2 of the three.

Not a lot you can do with this information, it's probably a bit too soon and it's a very small sample size. However I'd love to hear people's take on it.

Also injuries haven't helped at all.

 

[onlyme]

I remember adding them up at the time and 8 of the 14 that played against united played in the pointless game against Tronso in Norway and 7 of the 14 that played against Liverpool played in that pointless game against Anzhi.

The EL is a big tournament to the rest of Europe and doing well in it really helps your chances of a good job abroad. Getting 4th does not work similarly.

AVB ain't ready to go rally driving yet.