I am sure that Arsene Wenger would love to be able to rotate his Arsenal squad and give all of the players that put in such a shift on Boxing Day a well earned rest, with less than 49 hours between that hard fought, 10 man victory and the trip across London to face high flying West Ham.
But the fact that our opponents are doing so well in the Premier League, especially at home, as well as the injury situation that is ravaging our squad and leaving the manager with a fewer good options, means that is not really possible.
The Gunners could be boosted by a couple of players coming back from injury, which would be a big help to the boss. Hopefully our France international defender Laurent Koscielny will be one of them and if so he will obviously come straight back into the starting line-up.
The same can be said of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, although it seems that the midfielder is a lot less likely to be available than Koscielny.
The problem is that Wenger knows we are in for a tough game and so he will probably go for his strongest possible team, even though the likes of Kieran Gibbs, Per Mertesacker and Alexis Sanchez could do with a break. And Tomas Rosicky has only played the one game in a long time and might struggle with his fitness but unless the Ox passes his fitness test we are struggling for another option.
Maybe Cowquelin could come in to form a double pivot with Flamini, especially as we need to be solid away from home against a more expansive than usual Sam Allardyce side. So apart from Koscielny and a striker to replace the banned Olivier Giroud, do you expect any changes from Arsenal?
Podolski
Walcott or Ox or Welbeck
Sanchez
Cazorla
Rosicky
Flamini
Debuchy
Koscielny
Mertsacker
Gibbs
Szczesny
Also, give Chambers a shot at DM and give Flamini rest.
Rotation and Wenger is just fantasy.
Arsene is primarily the reason we have a bunch of players ‘redzoning’:
1) our squad, in terms of quality depth, is thin
2) the profile of player we buy/have is not robust (arteta/diaby/jack/sanogo/Gibbs)
3) what we have he simply doesn’t utilise (poldi/rosicky etc)
Our best player this year Alexis, just played 90mins vs the worst away team in the whole of Europe. Perfect game for Poldi and Campbell, but no. Now we have a tired Alexis for West ham and Southampton away. Explain that logic, please.
Not trying to stir the ‘Arsene out’ pot, but when it comes to rotation you can forget it with him. Sir Alex was a master at it, Jose gets it spot on too. We flog our best 11 until they break, then replace them with players like Flamini/Sanogo vs Chelsea who bring in Mikel/Ramirez/Remy against poorer teams to keep their big guns fresh.
“Now we have a tired Alexis for West ham and Southampton away. Explain that logic, please”. Surprised to see you use hindsight to shoot down your own argument. Most would say it is a good job Sanchez did play – MOTM, goal + assist.
“Jose gets it spot on too. We flog our best 11 until they break”. Mourinho has given starts to 17 different players and 10 of his squad have started in 15 or more of the 18 PL games to date. Wenger has given starts to 21 different players and only 3 have played 15 or more games. Care to explain your sweeping statement?
First point: You’re surprised Alexis was decisive vs QPR? I think more accurately ‘most would agree’ Podolski/Campbell are more than good enough to have been the difference, thus resting Alexis. I mean our best player filled his boots vs the worst team…earth shattering.
Point 2: wengers use of more players has come in less taxing roles (defence), and typically only through injury. Jose on the other hand, rotates players who spend most of the game sprinting and making runs (strikers, wingers, cm).
Nice of you to try and point to numbers as if it takes away from what is glaringly obvious to many a fan. Proof you can twist a ‘fact’ to meet an agenda. How often has Costa been subbed this year also when the game was won??? How have we protected our golden boy? Ahhh 90mins vs the worst team in the league. Brill .
We have a ridiculous number of injuries yet we’ve only used 3 players more than a team who I can’t think have anyone injured of note. That shows REPLACEMENT vs ROTATION. One is proactive, the other reactive.
Sorry to shit on your stat I’m sure you were excited to share.
Monreal to be rotated with mertesacker!
I think the boss should start to consider my formulated new playing style of 4-3-2-1 as an option to successfully deal with WH. It is a playing style consisting the defense-line of 4Defenders, 3CDMs, 2CAMs and 1Striker. This is a unique playing style which I have been trying to convince the boss to start adopting it as his newest 4th playing style that uniquely differs from the well known 4-2-4, 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. The boss have the players that can successfully plays my 4-3-2-1 playing style. Doesn’t he? My amateur starts for the WH game: Szczesny. Bellerin..DebuchyChambers..Gibbs. FlaminiCoquelinPodolski. SanchezCazola. Welbeck. Summary: I think the boss should further rest Koscielny and Oxlade for a possible Saints start. While the tiring Bfg should equally be rested for the Saints game. Walcott should further be rested to start the FA Cup game against visiting Hull City. Podolski will play the defensive holding midfielder in place of Ramsey and covers the overlapping Gibbs. Flamini will cover bombarder down the line Bellerin who keeps WH defending busy as he constantly harassed them. Coquelin will shed the adventural Debuchy when he ventures out. I think Chambers should not venture pass the 18 yards box area because he lacks the pace for recovery. Debuchy can play CB and heads well. He is not very comfortable at RB as he does give away penalty from there.
Wenger doesnt like to Rotate…
He just love the excuse of keeping the team rhythm and flow
How ever Wenger decides to line up he shouldn’t play chambers as RB,cos he ll get destroyed by the pace and trickery of Enner Valencia
You may be right. But if Chambers is set to be an EPL-capable player, he must learn to defend against wingers with pace sometime.
Wrong Question. It should be……..
How can Arsenal afford NOT to rotate players?
With the heavy schedule and already clear signs that some players are worn out…… not rotating players would be insane. We shall see if Wenger has lost his sanity or not. He must rotate BEFORE they are completely worn out – not AFTER.
Agree but not sure where the evidence is that says AW is not rotating. I swear people are just making these things up. Of the 18 PL games to date we have given 2 or more starts to 20 players and only 3 have started in 15 or matches (WS/PM/AS). Of the teams above and around us in the PL:
Chelsea: 17 different players with 2 or more starts with 10 having 15 or more starts.
Southampton: 15 and 7
Liverpool: 22 and 5
Man City: 19 and 3
WH: 20 and 4
TH: 21 and 3
Swansea: 18 and 8
Man U: 23 and 2
So by that analysis Chelsea, Sotn, L’Pool, WH and Swansea appear over reliant on, and thus “overplaying”, more players than us, Man City and TH the same with only Man U (in abnormal circumstances) one less. And we have given 2 or more starts to more different players than Chelsea, Man City and Swansea. Why are we talking in terms of “sanity” and putting the caps lock on for Wenger?