Article by Jason McGovern @e_spursthailand
The argument for rotation
Once again, against Wycombe we saw full squad rotation. It was the rotation we fully expected, it was the rotation that Poch in his pre-match press conference indicated he would make, and when the draw for the round was made 3 weeks ago it was the rotation that we knew was likely before we even pressed the confirm button when booking our match tickets.
The media comment that it’s not fair to fans is not one I fully agree with because, as I say, we book our tickets in the full knowledge we are likely to see 8/9/10/11 changes. If we don’t like it, then don’t book a ticket, and of course, cup-ties are at significantly reduced prices from normal games.
The reasons for all cubs to rotate are often trotted out, and at all clubs, not just our own. Money has overtaken everything else to do with the game, with a guaranteed £97m awarded to the club that finishes bottom of the premier league, whilst the Champions League winners pick up approx. £65m (although TV & other income can push this higher).
With our new stadium now budgeted to cost £750m, it’s of no surprise that the Premier League takes our full attention, with a top-4 place worth a minimum £140m. As supporters, we want the new stadium, we want to keep our best players, and we want to see us competing for top quality new players. Therefore, even as fans, we have to accept the financial burdens that puts upon the club and why the club makes some of the decisions on a financial basis first and foremost.
During recent media coverage of Harry Kane’s new contract, most of us wanted the club to just get the deal done, give him what he wants. The reported contract signed is worth £5.2 million per year. The difference in finishing 4th against 5th covers that contract in one season. We would need to win the FA Cup 3 seasons running to cover that contract! Add in contracts for Alderwireld, Lloris & Dele Alli, and we’d need 12 FA Cups to cover the cost.
The FA Cup is worth just £1.8m to the winners and therefore, represents little financial benefit, placed against a minimum of £2m per place difference within the Premier League.
Therefore, regardless of how important a manager believes the cup competitons to be, the chairman will place far more importance on the financial aspect than the glory. They will want top-4, mid-table security, relegation survival, or promotion from the Championship far more than the silver trophy. Manager’s themselves are answerable to chairmen far more than they are supporters, and a chairman will almost certainly not allow a good cup run to influence his decision to sack a manager for poor league form.
In 1990 Mark Robins scored a goal for Man United at Nottingham Forest to keep Utd’s season alive, (they eventually lifted the cup that season). It is frequently referred to that had Man United lost that cup-tie, Ferguson would be sacked. The FA Cup really was that important at that stage. By contrast, in 2016, Louis van Gaal was of course sacked despite winning the FA Cup. His crime, finishing 6th in the league.
We ourselves can easily make a comparison. Juande Ramos is still the last Spurs manager to lift a trophy, but within 6 months had been sacked. Since then, Redknapp & Pochettino have both lost cup finals, both suffered rotated home cup defeats to Woolwich, but neither was a problem with top-4 PL finishes in the bag.
Whilst we as supporters can moan as much as we want, Levy has a club to run and Pochettino has his own job to look after. For Pochettino to give us the club we want, one that can push for the domestic title, he simply must stay in the job himself, and that means pushing/achieving top-4, far more than cup success. Bring us a cup, and an 8/9th place finish, then Levy would soon wield the axe.
Whilst we as supporters can moan as much as we want, Levy has a club to run and Pochettino has his own job to look after. For Pochettino to give us the club we want, one that can push for the domestic title, he simply must stay in the job himself, and that means pushing/achieving top-4, far more than cup success. Bring us a cup, and an 8/9th place finish, then Levy would soon wield the axe.
My only advice to the club with regard to this is to stop using the tag line “The Game is About Glory”, when clearly that is not the case, although I have no doubt that they would claim that they want to achieve the ultimate glory of being title winners. And maybe that is indeed correct, after all, look how excited we were last season to even be in a title race. If we were league champions how much glory would we derive from that as opposed to 1-2 maybe even 3 extra FA Cup Wins. The FA Cup means so much to us because we don’t win league titles, maybe we should demand the major prize, not the lesser one.
Whilst we may scream at Poch for not taking the cups seriously, if any of us were in his shoes we would probably do the same, after all, we want to stay in the job.
We employ a squad of players, all needing to maintain match fitness, all needing to maintain motivation, all needing to feel valued to perform at their best, and all needing game time to justify their salaries. If they are considered as back up players and don’t play in cup competitions, then when do they play, how match fit will they be when called upon for important Premier League games, and what is the chance of keeping quality back-up players if they end up not playing any games in the season. Whilst their salary is important, most of them at some stage see the necessity of playing first team football to keep/push for international inclusion, and of course, to play actual Premier League games. Ryan Mason himself, despite his love for the club, is a fine example of this, as indeed was Nacer Chadli who missed out on this summer’s European Championships through not playing regularly.
The argument against rotation
If you do value trophies, all of them, and want to push for them, then you must pick your strongest side at all times. Even if playing a lower league club, pick the strongest side, get into a match winning position as soon as possible, and then if players need a rest, or trying to prevent injuries, then take them off. Players can get injured at any time; Toby & Kane have both spent a long period out this season injured in PL games, as indeed did Hugo. Dele Alli missed the Woolwich game through an injury picked up in training. There is no more likelihood of picking up injuries in the cup against any other game/stage of the season.
Our current rotation sees us make 9 or more changes each time. It’s natural, particularly for the younger players that come in to the side, when asked by the manager to make an impression, to put their own individual performance above that of the team. Kane himself worked for the team when he was a young rotation player, but there were many times he selfishly chose to shoot rather than put the team performance above that of his own. In doing so, he scored goals that earned him his eventual first team slot.
Would the manager have more faith for example in Vincent Janssen had he scored 2 goals from open play and we lost to Wycombe, or more faith in him scoring a penalty and claiming the assist that won the game?
To demand players use these cup games to push for first team places sounds good, but in practice doesn’t materialise. There is no performance Ben Davies makes in a cup game for example, (and remember he scored the key goal v Villa), that will see him chosen above Danny Rose. In fact, there is more chance of such a performance catching the eye of a rival manager looking to buy than there is of it being decisive to Pochettino.
Younger players such as Carter-Vickers who are looking to impress need experienced players alongside them to nurse them through games. Give him an experienced defender on at least one side and a top screen either in front or behind him, and you’ll see a player express himself more comfortably than he was able to on Saturday, scared every mistake would be exploited, the nervousness of being involved in such an ignominious cup exit so early in his career, particularly if he was to blame for such an exit.
There is also the signal that making so many changes sends to those taking the field. This approach also means that you don’t see the best of the players. Are you really fully prepared mentally for the game when you know you are part of the reserves, and that the manager inwardly is not unhappy at being knocked out? Even if you do succeed, you realistically know that if you do well enough to get through the rounds, then when the semi-final/final come around, your place in the cup side will disappear. Michel Vorm played every round of the League Cup run 2 years ago, but was replaced with Hugo in the final. It is safe to say that if we do make the final, then the starting XI will be very different from the XI that reaches the final.
If we are trying to see if players are good enough to play in the Premier League, then the best way to do that is play them in some Premier League games. Trippier has already played and excelled against Watford, Winks is pushing for Premier League games, and Son has shown he can play Premier League football (albeit inconsistently). With a trip to Sunderland in midweek, followed by another PL game Saturday, those 3 players could all start that Sunderland game.
Carter Vickers with Walker outside him, N'koudou & Onomah helped by the control that Dembele gives in midfield, and Janssen prompted by a Dele or Eriksen would help those younger players impress and improve our rotated side, send a message that we are taking cups seriously whilst affording some of the rotation players their game time at Sunderland, which in turn would give us a true mark and vale on their PL performances.
If we really can’t trust players against bottom of the league Sunderland, then why do we even have them on our books, particularly if they are supported by 8/9 of the genuine first teamers. And if just ¾ of our genuine first team can be involved in the cup games, it will help the development of the younger players faster, players those youngsters genuinely look up to and respect, and it also increases our chance of pushing for a trophy, then that must also benefit the club.
The rotation debate will continue for many years, we’ll all have our different opinions.
© e-Media Group 2017 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of @e_media_group
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Please keep all comments:
1-Clean (non-offensive)
2-Spurs related
3-Interesting