I think if you re-read what I put I said that Alex/Terry should be the centre back pairing and that Luiz should play defensive mid. I must admit I have seen some stupid posts before but deciding exactly the amount of games each player plays before the season starts is right up there. How do you take into account injuries and form? How do you take into account tactics for each individual game? You might need to shuffle the midfield/attackers to counter who may be playing for the opposition at that time of the season and who is on form for them. Rotating players to 'keep them fresh' is a load of rubbish. You may drop some of the bigger players if you have weak opposition before a big game, but take a look at Barcelona, you can name the starting eleven for pretty much every game and there is so much that can be said for a settled team as they have shown by becoming the best in Europe by quite some distance. A symptom of that success would be the amount of games they would play, but they didn't rotate preferring a settled team and look what that did for them. Your entitled to your thoughts no matter how naive they may appear. I have been watching Chelsea for 30 years now and wouldn't claim to be an expert, but one thing I have learned over the years is that the best teams are settled teams.
Drogba was famously a late starter in football terms though so shouldn't burn out as quickly as some. Also his game is based a lot more on power than pace. I love Villa as a player and think he is arguably the best finisher in world football but 40 million is crazy money for someone of his age with no prem experience regardless of how rich our owner is. If we are going to spend that sort of money, might as well bid for someone we need like a sneijder type.
Sorry for having an opinion and my figures are guesses of about how many games they should be playing and yes I completely forgot Ramires Just take away some of the Frank and Essien games and all of Kakuta What about the departures Its possible that 6 7 players will go Bos Anelka and Zhirkov guarantees in my opinion and Drogba, Malouda would also go with good offers taking Kalou and Essien
You don't have to say sorry for having an opinion, but I would suggest thinking things through before posting articles. I would sell Zhirkov, Anelka, Drogba, Malouda, Kalou, Bos and Mikel. I would keep Essien and Lampard and sign Lukaku and one other striker, a Modric type player, Van Der Weil and two wide men. We need a good back up keeper too.
Totally agree with selling those players just wasn't sure if it would be Essien or Mikel that goes Settled teams dont always prosper , United are by no means a settled side but just won the title and reached the CL final despite chopping and changing all year long
United only really rotated the strikers up front with the rest of the team being settled. Make no mistake the United team that won the league last season was far from a top United side. Settled teams don't always prosper, but the teams that do prosper are usually settled.
So Liverpool don't waste money? Robbie Keane or Aquilani anyone? Villa would cost the same as Carroll one a world cup winner and champions league winner considered one of the best finishers in the world and the other couldn't even finish top scorer in the championship.
The stats are here During the 2010-11 season Manchester United used 24 outfield players plus 2 single appearance players Defenders Vidic 35 Appearances Evra 34 R ferdinand 19 O'Shea 18 Rafael 15 Smalling 11 Evans 11 Fabio 5 Brown 4 Neville 3 Midfielders - Appearances Nani - 31 Fletcher - 24 Carrick - 23 Giggs - 19 Scholes - 16 Anderson - 14 Park - 13 Valencia - 8 Gibson - 6 Obertan - 3 Hargreaves - 1 Strikers Rooney - 25 Berbatov - 24 Hernandez - 15 Macheda - 2 Owen -1 And Chelsea used only 17 outfield players plus 4 single appearance makers Defenders Cole 38 appearances Terry 33 Ivanovic 32 Bosingwa 13 Ferreira 12 Alex 12 Luiz 11 Bruma 1 Midfielders Malouda 33 Essien 32 Mikel 28 Lampard 23 Ramires 22 Zhirkov 6 Benayoun 1 Kakuta 1 Mceachran 1 Strikers Drogba 30 Anelka 27 Kalou 16 Torres 8 So in the last season Chelsea had the much more settled team and used less players but manchester United were much more successful
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/team/squad/_/id/83/league/esp.1/barcelona?cc=5739 Have a good look at a real successful team. The current Barcelona team is rated as one of the best club sides in football history. Valdes 32 starts Iniesta 32 starts Villa 32 starts Alves 31 starts Messi 31 starts Pique 29 starts Xavi 29 starts Pedro 24 starts Abidal 23 Maxwell 19 Macherano 18 Puyol 17 Keita 15 Adriano 11 The rest of the players had a small handful of appearances so the majority of teams started from a group of just 15 players, which you would have to agree is about as settled a team as you can get. As I said and stand by it, rotating teams is utter rubbish. Lets also put United into perspective. This is a side that won the league by one of the lowest points totals in the history of the premier league and were totally outclassed by Barca in the final. They were desperately clutching at Chelsea's coat tails until we completely collapsed and Arsenal did the same after losing the cup final. This is not a great United side by any stretch of the imagination. They still had Nani, Fletcher, Giggs and Carrick in most games with Park being swapped with Giggs, Park, Anderson and Valencia in games. As for the muppet that said that United changed the 'whole midfield every game' that's laughable.The fact that Chelsea's team was more settled does not mean that United's whole team was rotated. I think you are totally missing the point. The fact that Chelsea's team was more settled does not mean that they should finished above united (they should have anyway), but the truly great teams tend to be successful teams are settled (just look at those Barca stats) Have a good look at this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009–10_F.C._Internazionale_Milano_season This is the treble winning Inter side that won the Italian league, the Italian cup and the Champions league Apart from some players that played a handful of games most of the players came from a group of just 17 players. 2 GK Júlio César 52 13 RB Maicon 49 SS (1) 25 CB Samuel 36 6 CB Lúcio 46 26 LB Chivu 26 CB (2), SS (1) 19 DM Cambiasso 39 4 CM J. Zanetti 53 LB (14), DM (1), RB (4) 5 CM Stanković 33 AM (11) 10 AM Sneijder 38 CM (4) 9 FW Eto'o 41 SS (7) 22 FW Milito 45 Other starters 1 GK Toldo 3 2 CB Córdoba 17 LB (2), RB (1) 23 CB Materazzi 11 29 RB Donati 1 39 LB Santon 10 14 DM Vieira 8 17 DM Mariga 3 CM (1) 15 CM Krhin 1 8 CM Thiago Motta 29 DM (2), CB (1) 11 CM Muntari 22 DM (1), LB (2) 7 SS Quaresma 3 30 SS Mancini 2 FW (1) 18 FW Suazo 1 27 FW Pandev 18 SS (10) 45 FW Balotelli 18 SS (8)
