Pochettino Should Rotate Spurs Against Monaco

Ahead of just about every Europa League group stage match so far this season, Spurs fans have expected Mauricio Pochettino to rest the stars in favor of the backups. And in just about every Europa League game so far, those expectations have not been met.

It’s clear from both his words and his actions that Pochettino wants a strong performance from Spurs in this Europa League campaign. It’s been seven years since Spurs’ last trophy, plus there’s the added incentive of a Champions League qualifying round berth for the victor.

In years past, Spurs played strong teams in Europa League games at their own risk, knowing that their performance in the Premier League match three days later might be affected. Indeed, regardless of team selection Spurs have been hurt by participation in Europe’s second tier international club competition. Last season, for instance, saw Spurs earn an average of 1.3 points in matches after a Europa League tie, significantly less than the 1.7 they averaged over the course of the season.

The situation has changed. Pochettino likely looked at his roster at the end of August and realized that he had the depth to make a run in the competition. The waste had been cleared away and replaced by a small handful of promising academy talent and new additions from the transfer market. The Europa League could not only serve as a training ground for these up-and-coming Spurs players, but might actually be won if Pochettino could find the right balance week to week.

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As ever, fate intervened. Injuries mounted early in the season, plus the brief cameos given to the likes of Kevin Wimmer and Tom Carroll evidently hadn’t impressed Pochettino. If he wanted to get something from these Europa League group games, he’d have to field strong teams each and every matchday.

To Spurs credit, the players coped well with the lack of rotation. Mid-September through the beginning of October were weeks densely packed with important fixtures in which many first team players were compelled to feature. Tottenham managed a win and a draw in the Europa League while Pochettino earned the Premier League Manager of the Month award in September for leading the team to three consecutive wins.

And so the endurance of those players that stayed healthy proved to be the decisive factor of this first half of the season. Pochettino runs the risk of having them burnt out for the second half, however, and will likely look more and more for ways to mitigate that risk. Which is why, finally, Spurs should field a properly rotated side when Monaco visit White Hart Lane on Thursday.

Tottenham - Europa League - 10th December 2015 - Football tactics and formations /

Spurs have already qualified for the knockout round of the competition. Thursday’s match won’t change that, though it will help decide how difficult Spurs next challenger will be. Should Anderlecht win over Qarabag FK and do so with enough goals, there’s a chance they go top of the group.

That’s a remote enough of a risk that it shouldn’t stop Pochettino from fielding some backups in place of his starting XI regulars. Newcastle might be relegation candidates, but they just managed a 2-0 win over Liverpool last weekend. They should not be written off, and Pochettino will want a strong squad to greet the Tooners when they show up in north London on Sunday.

To that end, there’s a wealth of options to choose from on Thursday. Though Alex Pritchard, Nacer Chadli and Nabil Bentaleb will likely all miss out due to injury, there are some bench options that could earn starts.