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Will Mauricio Pochettino Rotate Tottenham’s Starting XI This Season?

By Alexander Balano

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Tottenham Hotspur will need to rest some players this season.

Through eleven games this season in all competitions, aside from injuries, Mauricio Pochettino has figured out which players will be a part of his starting eleven for a majority of games this year. The results so far have come out to a 4W-5D-1L record, meaning that it would be hard for Tottenham Hotspur to go away from something that has worked well through two months of football action.

Based on certain matchups and which competition Tottenham are playing in, a semi-rotated starting lineup will benefit the team in the long run. Last season, Mauricio Pochettino’s squad lacked depth, or rather he lacked faith in playing backups/reserves to do a good enough job in place of starters who were resting and/or recovering from injury.

By deciding to change up the starting eleven a little bit with a squad that no longer has “deadwood” players — Roberto soldado, Emmanuel Adebayor, Paulinho, Benjamin Stambouli, Étienne Capoue and Younès Kaboul — this will give some first team minutes to youth players or former starters. Rest will be given to Pochettino’s most overworked players while keeping some in the lineup to have continuity.

Tottenham players who have over seven appearances in all competitions:

Eric Dier — 11 appearances
Harry Kane — 11 appearances
Toby Alderweireld — 10 appearances
Dele Alli — 10 appearances
Nacer Chadli — 10 appearances
Hugo Lloris — 10 appearances
Érik Lamela — 9 appearances
Jan Vertonghen — 9 appearances
Kyle Walker — 8 appearances
Tom Carroll — 7 appearances
Ben Davies — 7 appearances
Christian Eriksen — 7 appearances

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Tottenham players who have under seven appearances in all competitions:

Clinton N’Jie — 6 appearances
Mousa Dembélé — 5 appearances
Ryan Mason — 5 appearances
Nabil Bentaleb — 4 appearances
Danny Rose — 4 appearances
Heung-Min Son — 4 appearances
Alex Pritchard — 3 appearances
Andros Townsend — 3 appearances
Kieran Trippier — 3 appearances
Michel Vorm — 2 appearances
Kevin Wimmer — 2 appearances
Federico Fazio — 1 appearances

Right now there are three positions that Mauricio Pochettino can’t afford to risk a change and those are the striker, defensive midfield and goalkeeper positions. There are no backup strikers so by default Harry Kane is the starter. Although Pochettino could play Kane as the team’s central attacking midfielder and have Heung-Min Son become the new striker if Kane can’t recapture his scoring form.

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Eric Dier and Hugo Lloris are the best at their positions. Nabil Bentaleb, the backup at defensive midfield, has suffered through a rough season right now. Whereas Michel Vorm the backup goalkeeper will only play in domestic cups if Mauricio Pochettino wants to rest Lloris or doesn’t deem a competition — the Capital One Cup in this case — a priority by not playing a stronger lineup.

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So, if Pochettino had to rotate two or three players into his starting eleven, Clinton N’Jie, Mousa Dembélé and Ryan Mason would stand out as good backups to start who have appeared under seven games this season.

Érik Lamela and Dele Alli will need rest once in a while, so N’Jie and Dembélé/Mason would be perfect picks. Nabil Bentaleb and Danny Rose would be swapping with Eric Dier and Ben Davies.

Once Heung-Min Son returns from injury, he will return to the starting lineup which will move Nacer Chadli back to the bench. As for Andros Townsend, he is another option to help spell Érik Lamela while he gets some rest.

Of course the players selected for the bench or rotating into the starting eleven will vary depending on who Pochettino chooses and the competition Tottenham are playing in. If Pochettino had to pick who his 18-man matchday squad would be based on who started over and under seven games in all competitions this season, there should be no reason why Spurs won’t be ready to play whoever they face.

That is, only if Mauricio Pochettino can rotate his starting eleven with players who can also do the job when called upon. There are no more deadwood players, this entire 24-man squad that Pochettino has put together this season is a team comprised of players that he, Paul Mitchell and Daniel Levy have scouted, promoted and signed. The results thus far reflect a very good season after two months because of the talent that is on Tottenham’s current squad right now.

Next: Eric Dier's Suspension is a Blessing for Spurs

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