Watt View - Puel's Rotation Justified
Monday, 19th Sep 2016 14:33

This week's Watt View debates whether Claude Puel was right to employ squad rotation for this weeks double header of home games.

Saints boss Claude Puel's decision to rotate players has been the subject of much debate since Thursday's Europa League win over Sparta Prague.

The Frenchman stated expressly ahead of yesterday's visit of Swansea of his plans to ring the changes and insisted he would not be deterred.

“The season is very long with many chances to play, many possibilities, many games," he said.

“My job is not just to play ten or 11 players but to improve with all these players and to give chances to show their qualities. It’s important for the development of the club and for the future."

As Puel reflects on two wins in European and league action in a week - with seven changes against Sparta from the team which played Arsenal and six changes against the Swans - he will feel his decisions were justified.

And who is anyone to argue against that? He and the team delivered what was required and asked of them.

There were many dissenting voices around St Mary's upon hearing the news Charlie Austin, Saints' two-goal hero in midweek, and ex-Bayern Munich midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg were dropped to the bench.

As it happened, their introductions on 54 minutes had the desired impact, with former QPR frontman Austin coolly chesting down and rifling home ten minutes after his introduction from Cedric's flicked cross. The Portuguese being another player rested on Thursday evening.

Austin also hit the bar prior to his goal and could have had more.

Hojbjerg's quality was again clear to see, giving the team another dimension going forward and focused energy across the centre of the field.

“Different players played on Thursday," Puel said after yesterday's win. "It was another team for this game and it's important to keep energy to avoid finishing the game with tiredness.

“For example, to start this game with the same players as Thursday it is not possible. It's important to keep a good attitude when some players can start the game or stay as substitute, or perhaps be off for a day.”

Austin suffered hamstring and knee injuries last season which resulted in him making just seven appearances for Saints.

Following his match-winning strike yesterday, Puel concentrated the explanation for his rationale on the Englishman.

"Charlie cannot start another game after just two days off, it is not possible,” he said.

“But if he can be introduced [as a substitute] the second time, for example, he can make the difference."

He added: “If he started at the beginning it would be very difficult to score. It's important to keep good energy for every player, and to turn the team and to try to have all the time good results.”

Obviously only time will tell if the system will be as successful throughout Saints' Europa League group stage campaign but Puel, having managed teams in both the Europa League and Champions League, is aware of the demands on players.

Given Austin's injuries last season, a steady approach has to be the way to go with him.

Puel's decision to stick to his policy resulted in three goals for the striker in four days.

On this occasion, at least, the rotation paid dividends.

Photo: Action Images

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highfield49 added 16:08 - Sep 19

This week's game against Palace could prove interesting, with the possibility of resting both starting full backs and VVD. In midfield JWP and Harry Reed might be expected to feature and maybe Isgrove and Jay Rod further forward. There are of course other players who haven't as yet featured at this level who might be given an opportunity. Compared to the, apparent, contempt with which RK treated the non regulars last season I feel this is a welcome breath of fresh air.

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ThereIn76 added 16:38 - Sep 19 In Claude we trust.
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richardmdcooper added 17:10 - Sep 19 Agree - the rotation makes a lot of sense. I was fine with CA on the bench as apparently he ran out of steam against Sparta. Given his injuries, made sense to start him on the bench. The one decision I disagree with though is Clasie over Hojlberg. Play Clasie in the cups if we have to.
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saintjeff52 added 17:49 - Sep 19

Rotate for the Cup & Europa League Games, BUT ALWAYS play strongest side in Premier League Games. Retaining our position in the Premier League should be the Club's number 1 Priority. We've already dropped 4 points to Watford and Sunderland, and made hard work at beating Swansea yesterday.
Ironically, we profess to aim for European Qualification each Season, and then put out Resrve Sides in the very Competitions that we are likely to have a chance in Qualifying. For us, we have little or no chance of a Top 6 finish in the Premier League. The Game against Palace is likely to be between 2 Reserve Sides. Let's hope our Reserves are better than Palace's.
Nathan Redmond, a fine young Player, is NOT a Striker. When we brought on a Striker yesterday, he scores and we win the Game. Mr Puel seems more pleased at keeping 'clean sheets', rather than scoring Goals to actually win Games. 1 Goal a Game is not good enough. We've only scored 4 Goals in 5 league Games, hence we are in the Lower League Pack, currently 14th.
I thought Ramirez was known as the 'Tinkerman' - 'Dilly Ding, Dilly Dong'

saintjeff52 added 17:49 - Sep 19

saintjeff52 added 17:53 - Sep 19 Ranieri, Predictive text can be a nuisance
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abingdonsaint added 18:52 - Sep 19

I have no problem at all with rotation. We have arguably our strongest squad ever, particularly with midfield options, and it's not that obvious what our absolute best team is in my view. Not only does this keep players fresh, it also motivates everyone rather than just the chosen few. As regards Charlie Austin, it's obvious he doesn't have the legs, at the moment at least, to play a full 90 minutes. He also lacks the pace and mobility Puel clearly wants. He is a goal scorer though, so I'm sure will play his part.

By the way, don't agree that Puel is negative and just after clean sheets. Hardly his fault if our finishing so far this season has been abysmal. Much of our play yesterday was excellent, and we should have won by 3 or 4!

lemmsy added 21:26 - Sep 19 Agree with Abingdonsaint If we weren't creating chances then there's a problem, the manager can only send the team over the white line. We should have scored four comfortably yesterday, two absolute sitters & good goal disallowed .also judging after 5 games somewhat naive
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pintsizedsaint added 23:35 - Sep 19 Saintjeff - seriously? Rotate in the Europa, so we can concentrate on getting top 6 in the EPL, so we can have another season rotating in the Europa...?! It's like a dog chasing its tail! and then you bemoan us rotating in cup games! Clearly Puel is not good enough for you after 4-5 games. Perhaps you should put in a speculative CV now?
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SonicBoom added 09:10 - Sep 20

Rotation is fine provided it's done correctly. Rotation should not mean that we have an A , B and C team and we play one of those depending on the opposition.
I was shocked we made 7 changes for the Europa league. We worked hard last year to get into it and then we played what was demonstrably not our strongest team in the first game at home which we really needed to win.
Then again rotated the squad again for Swansea and frankly until the second half we were pretty poor. When he changed it again, then we looked much better.
Resting key players and using the squad is of course necessary in today's game but 7 players is 3/4 of the team. It's all very well planning for games later in the season but you have to make sure you are still in those competitions first.