Squad Rotation.....

I don't know whether to let ass man pick 11 every week or choose myself and rotate players by picking players that are over 90% fitness and good form over past 5 games? What do you do? I had 1 good season rotating with Cambridge in BSP but in L2 it didn't work so I'm stuck.

i have team1 and team2 saved on the selection, if one oor more is injured, i switch it around manually.

Rotate, but dont change the whole team.

Rotate half the team one week, and the other half next week.

I rotated alot with R. Madrid once, had enough players to make 2 very strong teams, so played one team in the league and another for the Spanish Cup/Champions League/occasional midweek league game. The only player not rotated was the keeper. This kept everybody happy, as they all got at least 25 games a season.

But it depends on your squad and fixture schedule, if you can play your best XI every week then you should do that. I tend to rest players that are under 95% fitness if I have a good enough back-up or a promising youngster, or sometimes I rest my best players if I have a massive game coming up in 3 days time.

Basically I would consider myself similar to Rafa Benitez (except for the goatee).

Well I would pick players that are at least 92% fitness and whoever has the best form over past 5 games. So if players are good enough they will stay in the team. What do you think, would it work?

I rotate to give my youngster 1st team match experience so they progress. I also rotate to keep my players happy. I only ever play my strongest teama in my hardest matches and this can vary on form. Works for me.

try not to rotate your players too often though as they will become unhappy.

Well I've got 4 saves going with Man Utd, Arsenal, Stoke and PSV so I was just wondering if it would work with all of them?

Well I've got 4 saves going with Man Utd, Arsenal, Stoke and PSV so I was just wondering if it would work with all of them?

Depends on the strength and depth of the squad really.

probably wil work for MUFC and Arsenal though:thup:

So if team report says very good depth to the squad I should rotate?

Rotate to keep all your players happy... I rarely rotate unless someones fitness is down or injured, or they start playing like crap. Too much rotation for me messes with everything. Then again I'm impatient so that could be a problem too

Well I've got 4 saves going with Man Utd, Arsenal, Stoke and PSV so I was just wondering if it would work with all of them?

should keep you going:D:thup:

Well I would pick players that are at least 92% fitness and whoever has the best form over past 5 games. So if players are good enough they will stay in the team. What do you think, would it work?

I do similar. Look at who is at least 92% and then go by recent form.

I do similar. Look at who is at least 92% and then go by recent form.

Does that work for u then and what team r u?

Does that work for u then and what team r u?

Well it gets other players some play time and keeps them fresh and happy. That's all you want at the end of the day. I do the 92% and form thing from my preferred team selection that i have saved. I'm an Irish team myself so small enough. I presume at higher levels it should do the job as well.

How many players in your preferred selection? I put anyone with 3stars into first team squad, the rest in reserves and obvs youth speaks for itself.

So if team report says very good depth to the squad I should rotate?

I usually don't pay too much attention to that, as it seems the Assistant Manager places a bit too much weight on CA/PA, and also tend to ignore players who can play multiple positions. What I mean by that firstly is that sometimes I'll sign some 33 year old on a cheap 1-season deal to provide cover. Older players who have started to decline may have a lower CA, but as long as their pace/acceleration/stamina is still decent they'll tend to do a very good job as backups. The assistant tends to beleive they're not sufficient cover.

As for the multiple positions, I love to have versatile players. Currently in my squad I have players covering four positions (Marco Motta; DL, DR, ML, MR, Mauricio Isla; MR, ML, MC, AMC and could also play DMC if I used one. And there are others). When you have lots of these players, you can cover pretty much any injury with some creativity, without having two strong players dedicated to each position. Which the AM doesn't always realise, and will consider some irrelevant 17 year old as the backup to one of my starters.

Anyway, I'm always looking to improve my squad management, but what I tend to do is this;

In a small-ish squad when I don't have a ton of games to play (As is usually the case in the first few seasons with the type of club I play, i.e before qualifying for Europe) I'll often have a pretty set first XI who'll play most games when fit. I like having some versatile backups who can rotate in at various positions if needed, but normally I'll only change when players are unfit or unavailable. I do try to make use of all of my subs to keep players happy. Unless I happen to have more than two great DCs, I'll never ever rotate them. If my defense is solid I'll change as little as possible.

This approach will lead to some unhappy players, so I generally keep a core squad of maybe 16-17 who'll get enough playing time to keep them happy, and then have some "disposable" players in the squad. Players who I accept will leave after the season, but who are good enough to do a job in the case of injuries. If I have some good youngsters in the U20 squad then I'll try to use them as well when needed.

Once I'm more established and playing in Europe, I often maintain two separate XIs (Sometimes I'll use only 2 or 3 DCs though as they can often play two games a week and still be fit), and play the second string in the easier games, or when I need my first team fit for an important game, whether league or CL.

Either way I tend to keep smallish squads, even in the second case I'll really only have 22 first team players. So looking forward to hearing any good ideas in this thread.

How many players in your preferred selection? I put anyone with 3stars into first team squad, the rest in reserves and obvs youth speaks for itself.

Only my first 11. From that i give them a rest from a game if they can't make 92% or give them a slightly longer "rest" if they are just not performing and i've got someone who may be able to do a job.

I rotate based on performance, injuries and the opposition. I don't like to change my defence much, rather have a unit that knows one another and is tight.

I usually rotate between 2 teams 1 for weekends and 1 for midweek but it means none of your players win top scorer, or best player etc. which can be frustrating.