Whitey Grandad

If there's 'no time for coaching' then all the more reason to take every opportunity to keep the better players together as often as possible.

I saw a figure of an average £2.4m for the Premier League (can't remenber where). It was said to be £1.5m ten years ago or so.

I quite like him but he doesn't fit our business model, buy young and cheap and sell later for a big profit. Having said that we did buy Charlie Austin this time last season.

I have come to the same conclusion.

I would say that a stable defence needs to be more than just the centre half, indeed I would extend that to all the back four. The odd full back can be rotated on the odd occasion out of necessity but they then need to be regularly drilled with the first choice defence until their positioning becomes second nature. The forwards have a bit more flexibility but don't expect consistent, fluidity and excitement if the rest of the team are playing with different colleaguesa every week.

Bournemouth was exceptional in every sense of the word. I would consider Yoshida's error much more basic than Virgil's. There was a gap between him and Virgil that Phillips only had to turn into and then plant a low shot from well inside our penalty area. Phillips should have been driven out wide and never been allowed to cut back inside. Robson-Kanu's shot was something special and on a different level entirely. Like many others you're talking about 'exceptional players' but we have a squad full of internationals. What we don't have is a settled team be it first or second XI.

They've got Mané to dot that sort of thing now.

For a moment there I thought you were talking about tomorrow's squad

Including this one at Norwich?

Yoshida, who was at fault for the West Brom equaliser? I don't think anybody, not even Puel, could tell you what our first XI was. I posted this earlier on another thread: 'The lack of goals and slow play is down to the constant rotation in my opinion. Midfielders are constantly having to pause and look for the forwards and any runs they might make. Up front there is no instinctive understanding between the forwards, the player making the cross doesn't automatically know where the attacker will be, no rapid interchange of positions to pull the defence around. This is not helped by playing only one up front even when we're at home. They always used to say that the best strikers operated in partnerships but we don't have one of those. We end up with very few 'team' goals and rely on set pieces or flashes of individual brilliance from Boufal or Bertrand sometimes or even Clasie. The defence had been ok earlier in the season but changing 3/4 of the back four against WBA was asking for trouble. Instead of being a linked chain across the back small gaps develop which are exploited by quality players. Yoshida getting turned for their equaliser being an example. He was slightly out of position and got easily turned by Phillips who then had a free uncontested shot on goal.' So, the big question is whether it is better to stick with a settled side, who may get a bit mentally tired or slightly off the pace, or to have a wholesale rotation of players and a resulting lack of fluidity and cohesion? Or are we only going to get a settled side once we are out of the cups and have nothing left to play for?

Are you sure you're in the right place? I'd like to hear Puel answer anything. In French even. This rotation malarkey might work in a slower league with fewer top-quality teams, France for example, but the Premier League is notoriously fast and unrelenting. There are no easy rides here.

To be honest I'd be disappoined with 10th in the Championship.

But the rotation obviously hasn't worked. But the talk is all about individual players and not about achieving a team. What we have is a group of individual talents who are constantly having to adjust to different arrangements. It's a bit like having an orchestra who have never played a particular piece before and are having to read every note before playing it.

I thought they all did that?

Results would seem to indicate otherwise.

It just shows that stats can be misleading. Yoshi has at least one mistake in him every game. Is there a stat for 'gets turned inside by Matt Phillips leading to a goal'?

The lack of goals and slow play is down to the constant rotation in my opinion. Midfielders are constantly having to pause and look for the forwards and any runs they might make. Up front there is no instinctive understanding between the forwards, the player making the cross doesn't automatically know where the attacker will be, no rapid interchange of positions to pull the defence around. This is not helped by playing only one up front even when we're at home. They always used to say that the best strikers operated in partnerships but we don't have one of those. We end up with very few 'team' goals and rely on set pieces or flashes of individual brilliance from Boufal or Bertrand sometimes or even Clasie. The defence had been ok earlier in the season but changing 3/4 of the back four against WBA was asking for trouble. Instead of being a linked chain across the back small gaps develop which are exploited by quality players. Yoshida getting turned for their equaliser being an example. He was slightly out of position and got easily turned by Phillips who then had a free uncontested shot on goal.

Hmm, that went well didn't it? Surely of the three games WBA at home was the one that we should have planned to win?

There's a balance to be struck. It's perfectly possible to get physically fit without playing a game but that's not the same as being fully match fit. Mental sharpness is an important factor too and you won't maintain that whilst you're sitting out a game. Against West Brom we changed three of the back four and that is absolute lunacy. Pulis kept most of his team the same. Two home games in three days should not have been a problem.

Booger. Wish I'd watched it.

Might be the best save he has ever made for the club.

Large squad with quality players? Some might disagree. What you are describing is a group of players and not a team.

Playing an extra game is better than any amount of training and the more games the better. Following the argument that resting between games is good for a player would mean that after a six week layoff they should be red hot and raring to go in their first game back. There's obviously an optimum period between games but twice a week should not be a problem. There's a significant difference between home and away games too.

The converse is that we have rotated against teams that haven't and we've lost.

Rotation means we never play our best team. Nothing beats a settled team and playing the same group of players together breeds confidence and understanding. How can anybody ever get match-sharp if they don't play regularly? There's a big difference between being fit to play and being match-fit. This constant rotation is demotivating our best players and is leading to constant underachieving.