Puel the Tinkerman - it is working!

Hate to say I told you so

Make your mind up. Only 3 changes tonight.

So are you saying there is no rotation or the rotation is working?

 

Another confused thread from MLG

He's (obviously) saying there's rotation between competitions, but not from game to game in the League.

Whether he still thinks that's working, who knows?

We're in a major cup semi-final for the first time since we got back to the Premier League, missed out on Europa qualification by one dodgy header over the course of 6 games, have the FA Cup to come, and to the shock of no-one, cup runs have affected our League form. We've also introduced or re-introduced McQueen, Sims and Reed to the first team.

I think Puel's managed it as well as can be expected, by aiming to do the minimum possible to get us through - but when you operate on the margins, little things like one misplaced pass and a couple of teams scoring with their first shot on target, and Saints missing loads of chances in Milan, etc. leave you no room for manoeuvre.

Ditch the rotation, it doesn't work. Pick your best team and play them in every match. If an individual shows signs of fatigue give him a one match rest. Don't change three or four players every match - the best 1X need to be playing together week in week out. Players don't give their best when playing one week and out the next. Otherwise why do we always hear these excuses that a player is not match fit because he has not had a run of games? - you can't have it both ways. Either you get match fit by playing games or you get match fit by playing every other game - which is it?