The start to the most anticipated season for a very long time is nearly upon us. Could I just take this opportunity to make this small point about our manager. Firstly, I like Sven. So this is not an anti-Sven post. However, I feel we must focus on what we are about to experience (potentially). Sven likes to "Tinker" with his line up. Last season he couldn't settle at all. Probably for good reason, some of the time. However, 2011/12 is surely different. I think that now we have 2 players per position, we should be preparing ourselves for plenty of "Tinkering" though the season. Players dropped that shock us. Players playing that surprise us. I could be wrong, but I suspect the 1st 11 will differ most weeks for whatever reason, but more importantly Sven likes to Tinker....So, is this going to be good or bad? (ps Burnley FC Got promoted 2 years ago with 16 players) Discuss?
yes your right. It will be frustrating at times im sure, however at least the players coming in are quality.
I think we'll be chopping and changing, yes. Injuries, suspensions, form ect. The competition should be accepted by the players, those who can' deal with it won't play. simple. The team know what they need to do. When they find themselves on the bench they will be impressing in training so as they find themselves back in the starting 11. I personally think its a great thing.
The thing is though, if players are being dropped because they are out of form, that's competition. If players are playing well and are dropped because Sven is 'tinkering' for the sake of it, that's not competition. In fact I'd argue that's the opposite. It's not very encouraging if you are giving your all for the team and playing your best, yet you are only getting the same amount of game time as everyone else, some of which might not be performing to your standard. Of course there's nothing wrong with competition, there's nothing wrong with strength in depth either. But I don't particularly like the idea of tinkering for the sake of it, I think that's bad for consistency. I know people will say 'well rotation helps the players stay fresh', but I think that's debateable. Regular football and a routine will make your body used to playing week in week out. And if players get injured or 'tired' then so be it - that's when you alter the starting line-up, not before just because that's what you forsee. There's no point fixing what aint broke.
He will take each game as it comes, he will set up a team for each of our opposition this season, they will work on tactics and play the players he believs can win the matches. I am sure he would have told all of them that! The only area you may see a bit more consistency is defence. The attack and midfield will change constantly i think.
At the end of the day we have to trust Sven, he has brought together a large sqaud with competition for every position which means that to keep the shirt you are going to have to earn it. I am not a believer in tinkering but if Sven brings us promotion Bring it on---In Sven we trust
I agree with the others, Sven is just generally covered for any injuries, suspensions or bad form. This is why i can't see him failing this year, the owners have given him everything hes wanted (apart from that striker), we have quality to replace quality.
Sven isn't stupid. I'm sure he knows that the basic principle of if a player plays well he keeps his place and if a player doesn't play well he gets dropped is the best way to run a team. I'm sure changes in the team will only occur if a player is out of form, is injured, is fatigued etc. I doubt Sven will rotate player who are playing well.
Vitor scored a hat-trick away at Scunthorpe, was our best player that day and got dropped to the bench the next game at home for Bruma. I thought that was tinkering.
When Sousa was here, fans were going crazy about the players being dropped/not included. In fact, in our play off season with Pearson, many moaned that he always had to tinker and change at least one player even when were on a good run. I think this is just managers in general, the benefit this year is the strength in depth; is for example, he would tinker by bringing up Pantsil for Peltier as opposed to Neilson...!
He only got 2 that day but I agree with your point - we were all but out of the play-off race and really needed a win against Portsmouth to stand any chance, yet he dropped our best player in the previous game. That was one change that didn't really make any sense.
Exactly - tinkering to bring in second rate Cannot believe he dropped Vitor after that game? Must have been a good reason we don't know about.
Yeah, NP always had the mantra of 'I'll pick the team best suited to beat the opposition' so that often brought about a few changes per week. As I said, competition is good for a squad as long as players are being rotated for the right reasons (injury, loss of form, fatigue etc.)
Yep, don't forget the 'chess' behind managerial thinking. Even if you could field the exact same team each week, doing so would allow opposition managers to easily find weak points and field specialised teams to exploit them. In the end we just have to trust that Sven will get it right over the course of the season. I'm just hoping we don't get off to too shaky a start, given that it will likely take a while for the team to gel with all the new players..
