who would you rest for the Chelsea game?

[cc_star]

Get Kramaric in. This could be his big moment

Terry, Cahill & Ivanovich threat from corners and set pieces? Ulloa has to play!

Resting players shouldn't be seen as 'arrogance', as it is by some, but logical.

We would all quite happily take 3 points against newcastle now for a defeat against chelsea.

Also, maybe weakening the side for a game, may actually strengthen the squad for the remainder of the season. The like of Drinky and Kram for example clearly need game time, and i have no doubts that cambiasso will perform better against newcastle if rested against chelsea.

This!

[Grewks]

All games are crucial. Agree Newcastle is probably more winnable but we cannot go into games putting higher priorities on certain games. Every game is high priority and we always play the best team available. We have beaten United, Burnley beat City the other week. The Chelsea game isn't exactly a write off already is it. 

 

 

 

But in theory, by resting players against chelsea, the best team available should be stronger.

[lgfualol]

Oh christ please no Chris Wood.

Kasper

Was

Wes

Huth

De Laet

Schlupp (if fit, else delaet lwb albrighton rwb)

Hammond

James

Cambiasso (for at least a half cmon baby)

Mahrez

Kramaric

Albrighton/Vardz

If Nuge is fit play him as a #10. I think Ulloa will be more effective against Newcastle.

[ChrisWoodIsClass]

would definately rest esteban, bring him on with about 30 to go if we're still in it

[MooseBreath]

Shouldn't really be a problem for professional sportsmen to play two games in a week once in a while. If they're tired give them a day off training. Momentum could be more important than fitness anyway. It's foolish to just give away points.

[potter3]

If that's true about Vardy I'd probably think about starting Kramaric. Aside from that I don't see why we should rest anyone unless they truly need it.

[weller54]

All games are crucial. Agree Newcastle is probably more winnable but we cannot go into games putting higher priorities on certain games. Every game is high priority and we always play the best team available. We have beaten United, Burnley beat City the other week. The Chelsea game isn't exactly a write off already is it.

Not a write off no, but with 3 games in seven days surely there's a strong case to rotate the squad and not to play the likes of Vardy (who played today with a painkilling inj) and rest a key 34 year old midfielder for fresh legs??.. Just sensible surely?

[Bob Weasel Fox]

I think we should play a full strength team and try to beat Chelsea.

This

Anything less is unacceptable

[MooseBreath]

Kasper

RDL

Huth

Morgz

Konch

Mahrez

James

Cambiasso

King

Albrighton

Kramaric

Ulloa

Vardy

[cc_star]

Kasper

RDL

Huth

Morgz

Konch

Mahrez

James

Cambiasso

King

Albrighton

Kramaric

Ulloa

Vardy

13 players might see us getting a result

[shailen]

But in theory, by resting players against chelsea, the best team available should be stronger.

 

I get the argument, but people are acting as though resting players against Chelsea implies that we are guaranteed to beat Newcastle. If the players are fit then go with the same team. These players have been able to play three games in four days over Christmas. Fitness should not really be an issue in the modern game. Teams do this regularly in Europe where they play Saturday, Wednesday and Saturday. If players during the week look tired then rest them but I don't think fitness will be too much of an issue

[shailen]

Not a write off no, but with 3 games in seven days surely there's a strong case to rotate the squad and not to play the likes of Vardy (who played today with a painkilling inj) and rest a key 34 year old midfielder for fresh legs??.. Just sensible surely?

 

Vardy is the only one I would consider resting, because if he had an injury then clearly he isn't fit. 

[cc_star]

I get the argument, but people are acting as though resting players against Chelsea implies that we are guaranteed to beat Newcastle. If the players are fit then go with the same team. These players have been able to play three games in four days over Christmas. Fitness should not really be an issue in the modern game. Teams do this regularly in Europe where they play Saturday, Wednesday and Saturday. If players during the week look tired then rest them but I don't think fitness will be too much of an issue

Players were rotated over New Year. People moaned, we won a couple of games

It'd be reckless with the games we've got coming up to risk playing players who are playing with injuries, like Vardy reportedly is and could see us down if we lose to Sunderland and QPR

[I blame Wellens]

13 players might see us getting a result

No Konch is playing

[Grewks]

The thing is.....what if pearson makes tactical changes?

 

 

Such as De laet and hammond in for albrighton and cambiasso.

 

 

You could argue he would be resting cambiasso and albrighton. Or you could argue he is increasing the physicality of the side to deal with chelsea's physical strength in both open play and from the set piece?

 

 

What about dropping vardy for kram? Again you could argue you're resting vardy. Or you could argue that kramaric is the more disciplined player when playing deeper and pearson could select him to stop matic controlling from deep.

 

 

 

A manager is never likely to admit he has rested a player anyways. So he will select a side to not only try and get a result from this game, but more importantly keep us in the league.

[One Legged Beaver]

Schmeichel

De Laet
Wasyl
Huth
Morgan
Konchesky

King
James
Drinkwater/Mahrez

Kramaric
Wood (Should be really up for it against the team he supports and playing against his idol, whereas Vardy needs a rest to be at his best for the more winnable fixture against Newcastle.)

[cc_star]

The thing is.....what if pearson makes tactical changes?

Such as De laet and hammond in for albrighton and cambiasso.

You could argue he would be resting cambiasso and albrighton. Or you could argue he is increasing the physicality of the side to deal with chelsea's physical strength in both open play and from the set piece?

What about dropping vardy for kram? Again you could argue you're resting vardy. Or you could argue that kramaric is the more disciplined player when playing deeper and pearson could select him to stop matic controlling from deep.

A manager is never likely to admit he has rested a player anyways. So he will select a side to not only try and get a result from this game, but more importantly keep us in the league.

Spot on, end of debate for me

[fleckneymike]

I'd rest the Chelsea squad.

[shailen]

Players were rotated over New Year. People moaned, we won a couple of games

It'd be reckless with the games we've got coming up to risk playing players who are playing with injuries, like Vardy reportedly is and could see us down if we lose to Sunderland and QPR

 

But surely we want to get safe as quickly as possible. It's not like we have 10 games left where we can afford to rest players. If we go full strength from the best available and fit players against Chelsea, surely that gives us the best chance of getting something from that game. Who knows? We get a point from the Chelsea game and that is the difference come the end of the season. We need to treat each game equally important and do our best to win every game. Hand picking games is a dangerous strategy because as we found in the first half of the season, we lost some of the easier games and won some of the harder games. 

Finally, the other thing is momentum. At the moment, the team, the formation and the substitutions are clicking. Changing too many things, may be detrimental to our momentum and destroy confidence. 

[iancognito]

Maybe not rest them for the whole game but give Vardy 50-60 minutes to make an impact. Same with Cambiasso. Use his experience for an hour to try and get a foothold in the game.

 

There's plenty of options if we need to change it after an hour. Mahrez/Knockaert/Wood/Kramaric, presuming the latter doesn't start.

[fuchsntf]

Only players, I would rest, are the ones who have a knock, and dont look like recovering for tuesday.

candidates...Vardy, Schlupp, Nugent.

If all fit, dont change or try to save any player for supposed more winnable games.Change team you change form.

Plus I reckon we can get a result against Chelsea, maybe Krameric could take Vardys job if Vardy is still suffering.

Natural change for me De-laet for Konch.

[gurru991]

I'd rest Ulloa and Konchesky, and by that I mean drop.

 

Ulloa looked knackered from the start today.

 

Ulloa had a decent game today. He was strong at both ends.

[Raw Dykes]

But surely we want to get safe as quickly as possible. It's not like we have 10 games left where we can afford to rest players. If we go full strength from the best available and fit players against Chelsea, surely that gives us the best chance of getting something from that game. Who knows? We get a point from the Chelsea game and that is the difference come the end of the season. We need to treat each game equally important and do our best to win every game. Hand picking games is a dangerous strategy because as we found in the first half of the season, we lost some of the easier games and won some of the harder games. 

Finally, the other thing is momentum. At the moment, the team, the formation and the substitutions are clicking. Changing too many things, may be detrimental to our momentum and destroy confidence. 

 

No-one's saying we don't want to be safe as soon as possible. Us at full strength is still almost certainly not going to beat even a weakened Chelsea team. Don't you agree? And if that's the case (which it is), then why not use it as an opportunity to get some fringe players match fit, and a give them a chance to show NP that they should be starting. Ulloa and Drinkwater aren't match fit. Kramaric and Mahrez aren't playing as well as they could be.

 

On current form, we really should be aiming for a win in the Newcastle match, and no-one in the country realistically thinks we can beat Chelsea. So why not just focus all our efforts into getting the 3 points next Saturday instead of risking burning our best players out on a lost cause less than 3 days before it? We could easily go all out for a win on Wednesday with our best XI and not win, and go into the Newcastle match with Cambiasso exhausted and Vardy injured. I think we should rotate for Chelsea. Wrap our best players up in cotton wool for Newcastle.

 

Only players, I would rest, are the ones who have a knock, and dont look like recovering for tuesday.

 

That's a bad case of comma Tourette's.

[ImBlue]

Start the game with best team, see where we are at half time and consider then, but if we are still drawing or winning, we need to go for the points.

Losing, give the hook to Esteban and Vardy who will be crucial to beating Newcastle.

[deep blue]

So difficult to call this as there is so much that we don't know as regards the fitness of players, and their energy levels, by Wednesday.

Starting Kram is a no-brainer for me, and possibly giving Wood some involvement - could be an unlikely rabbit out of the hat. Equally, Vardy should be rested if he would still need an injection.

My biggest quandary is - what the hell do we do at LB/wing back if Schlupp isn't fit?