The Rotation

[Stingray 9,441]

Even if Mata can play centrally, I think his appearances there will be limited due to the presence of Oscar and KDB who seem to fit Jose's system more. 3 excellent players and only one starting spot = problems (not exactly math, but close enough )

Interesting and I kinda agree on that. It seems our overall level combined with the quantity is a bit much. It is good now we have two injuries ... but for all we know we could have an injury free year. On the other hand , it is is WC year, which means matches with something at stake, EPL, CL, ...

I just don't know anymore. I hope José has his man management skills honed for this :-)

[The Mak 4,459]

I think people need to wait a few more weeks before complaining about rotation. Ok, maybe we'll have just 1 quality player as surplus because of the signing of Willian, but I think we really have to wait to see how it plays out. Although we do have some idea, we're not even 100% of where everyone will play yet.

Last year we were complaining about the lack of depth and the fact that we were forced to play Mata, Oscar, Hazard nearly every game. We then complained about how tired they seemed later in the season. Hazard in particular seemed burned out just a few weeks in because he was asked to start 95% of games in our busiest season ever.

An injury to any of the 6 changes everything, not to mention knocks and niggles they will undoubtedly get.

We've never been in such a privileged position before in terms of depth, so we've no experience of it: therefore, I think people should seriously wait before complaining.

[Stingray 9,441]

I think people should seriously wait before complaining.

YES!

big bump for this one!

[didierforever 7,349]

Exactly, even though I've shown that no team ever uses 9 attacking players or 6 regular attacking midfielders, Chelsea NEEDS them. You are using Bayern specifically because they play the fewest games (and yes, they have too many players too) but no team, not in England, not in Spain, anywhere needs a backup at every single position. Teams will use 3 backups for 4 positions and similar. Teams have players that are flexible to cover multiple positions and Chelsea are no different. You have can have 5 attacking midfielders and you'd be fine every single time. I'll do this another way.

Team's attacking midfielders starts in the league (Arsenal,Spurs, City, and United)

#1 attacking midfielder-30.75

#2 attacking midfielder-27

#3 attacking midfielder-21.25

#4 attacking midfielder-15.75

#5 attacking midfielder-11.75

#6 attacking midfielder-3.75

This is the basic Premier League distribution for attacking midfielders. 4 players who play regularly, 1 who starts once a month, and 1 who starts every 10 games.

You can't say "in case of injuries" because every team has injuries so these numbers are including injuries and the #6 attacking midfielder still never plays. That position could easily have been covered by say Ramires or even a reserve player. (4 starts a season?)

what are you saying?

look at united. they have

strikers - rooney, rvp, welbeck, chicharito.

wingers/ams- giggs, nani, young, valencia, kagawa, zaha

that IS 10 PLAYERS FOR 4 ATTACKING POSITIONS.

city have

strikers - dzeko, aguero,negredo, jovetic

wingers/ams- silva, nasri, navas, milner.

that is 8 players for 4 positions.

its no suprise that the most successful teams in europe have the BIGGEST OF SQUADS. look at real, bayern, united, city, barca... players are needed. the stats u showed were only for PL, squad strength is not just for PL but mostly for domestic cup games and that is what is important. in the madrid stat that i showed u, exactly how many appearances each of the madrid player had made. it gave a clear indication of the immense use of squad players. plus we have 6 attacking mid for 3 positions. jose has already shown that he simply wont be putting the same team over and over again. he will be changing our tactics per opposition and he will be playing players as per requirement.

in short i simply dont get your argument. every "big" team be it united, real, city, bayern etc have a big squad with equal or in some cases (like united) more players than us. over a course of a season which is 60 matches (not 38 matches) every player will get ample amount of time to play.

[Stingray 9,441]

I say ... rotation is everything!