Tottenham Hotspur have to compete across four different competitions this season, meaning squad rotation is inevitable. But, speaking to the press ahead of his side’s opening Europa League game, Ange Postecoglou suggested he is not keen on changing his lineup too much.
Four chances to win this year for Spurs
Ange Postecoglou is eager to end Tottenham‘s trophy drought, and he has four opportunities to do that this year. If he is to be successful, though, his side will need to perform a lot better than they did in the cups last season.
Spurs are already through to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup after beating Coventry in the last round, albeit in the final moments of the game.
Next up is the Europa League opener against Qarabag. The Lilywhites will then have another seven games in the continental competition as they look to make it out of the league phase and into the knockout rounds.
Then, of course, in the New Year, there is the FA Cup to consider. This is all alongside the Premier League season, which is gruelling, to say the least.
Rotation is inevitable, but not desired
So, what is Postecoglou’s plan when it comes to utilising his first-team squad effectively throughout the campaign?
In his latest press conference (via Football.London), he said: “We’ve got a squad, a squad of players that we went into the season hoping to play 50+ games in a year and you’re not going to expect players to play all of them. You’re hoping for around 35 games. We don’t really want to rotate hugely for each game.”
Spurs have to pick their battles
I think personally, I would be looking at the Europa League certainly, and the FA Cup, too, as really good potential trophies for us to win this season, and we should be putting near enough our strongest team out for those games (though we could and should be able to rest a few players in the less intimidating Europa League games).
The Carabao Cup is definitely one we can focus on a little less. Obviously, we want to win it if we can, but that’s where I would be resting players the most for sure.