This thread is going to list all the starting lineups of the Big 5 - Liverpool, Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs in the coming season. Only Premiership lineups will be listed. I will also add the no. of changes in the lineup from the previous League match and the total changes for that team so far. I will also list the result of the match. The point is to see who has made the most changes at any given point and if there is a noticeably positive or negative impact on the result. We will clearly see whether Rafa rotates in a comparable way to Wenger, Fergie, Jol or Jose. These comparisons can be seen as the season unfolds.
Good idea, I'll be sure to let the media know....and it won't make any difference to them. But I like it.
Great article. Nice to see someone has looked into the facts of this and published an article. Tompkins is always a quality writer.
I really do like this idea...will provide a lots of discussion and criticism of the top fives rosters...this just gets me more excited for the new season.
Good stuff as usual from Tomkins. Nice to see some actual facts introduced into the argument. This season Rafa can rotate the squad without seeing a drop in quality.
Subscribing - I was going to dig out that post I did earlier this summer with the line-ups of the side for the first three months of last season which showed that we didn't rotate a lot at all, contrary to what all the media, all opposing fans and even some of our own fans believe. But I couldn't find it immediately, so I stopped looking. I'm an instant gratifications sort of a guy.
Re: Rotation watch 2007/2008 [R] Here we go. Results in chronological order... Team: Spurs Fixture: Spurs @ Sunderland Lineup: Robinson, Chimbonda, Gardner, Stalteri, Yaboul, Jenas, Zokora, Malbranque, Tainio, Berbatov and Keane. Games played: 1 Changes from last game: N/A Match Result: Loss Total lineup changes so far: 0
Team: Liverpool Fixture: Liverpool @ Aston Villa Lineup: Reina, Finnan, Carragher, Agger, Arbeloa, Pennant, Gerrard, Alonso, Riise, Torres, Kuyt. Games played: 1 Changes from last game: N/A Match Result: Win Total lineup changes so far: 0
Team: Arsenal Fixture: Arsenal vs. Fulham Lineup: Lehmann, Clichy, Eboue, Toure, Gallas, Sagna, Fabregas, Flamini, Hleb, Rosicky, Van Persie. Games played: 1 Changes from last game: N/A Match Result: Win Total lineup changes so far: 0
Team: Chelsea Fixture: Chelsea Vs. Birmingham Lineup: Cech, Cole, Ben Haim, Carvalho, Johnson, Lampard, Essien, Pizarro, Wright-Phillips, Malouda, Kalou. Games played: 1 Changes from last game: N/A Match Result: Win Total lineup changes so far: 0
Team: Man Utd Fixture: Man Utd Vs Reading Lineup: Van Der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Silvestre, Evra, C Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Rooney Games played: 1 Changes from last game: N/A Match Result: Draw Total lineup changes so far: 0
Incidently, are injuries being considered at all during this exercise? Obviously rotating a squad and having your hand forced through injury are two different things.
This thread will not distinguish between the reasons for team changes. When people criticize Rafa for rotating they do not distinguish between injuries or other reasons for changing teams. When listing changes made, it is impossible to determine the reasons behind them all. Some players may be coming back from an injury and are not match fit or may have picked up a niggle in training. Either way the management team is aware and takes this into consideration when selecting a team. Outside the management team the reasons for any changes are only speculated upon. Is a player rested, swapped for tactical reasons, has he fallen out with the boss, has he a personal issue, is he injured, is he ill, is he unfit? All these reasons cannot be known with certainty and thus I will not attempt to classify the reasons behind each change. I will just list what are the known facts - the lineups and the changes made. This thread is not intended to make judgements but just record the facts regarding team changes as the season progresses.
nice. the press however are not going to let facts get in the way of criticism can I suggest a couple of things - tabulated format instead of linear - even though by the end of the season only the last round of postings will show the results. We can put this in a shared spreadsheet @ google. we could do this at the end of the season, but who will want to recap.. - headcount perhaps (number of players used in starting lineups)?
I'm getting a headache already. I'll wait for the end of season Highlight DVD. Better go "sticky" with this one.
- You want to create a table/spreadsheet, go ahead. Can we post/paste tables from Word here at BigSoccer? I'll think about it. - If you want to keep count of how many matches a particular player starts you can. This data can be found elsewhere though. I am just recording the lineups and changes, as the changes are not recorded elsewhere AFAIK.