Antonio Conte is ‘worried’ about rotation as his Tottenham Hotspur squad prepare to face Manchester City in the Premier League this weekend.
Tottenham were in Champions League action on Wednesday night, beating Marseille 2-0 in North London.
Richarlison bagged two headers for Spurs, giving Conte the win that he so desperately wanted in Tottenham’s opening group stage game.
Yet the games now come thick and fast, with a clash against Premier League champions City coming on Saturday before the Champions League returns again next week.
Antonio Conte is ‘worried’ about rotation
This is where Tottenham need to try and use their squad to deal with so many games in quick succession.
The summer signings of Richarlison, Clement Lenglet, Yves Bissouma and Ivan Perisic were all with the idea of strengthening the depth of Tottenhams’ squad.
Richarlison, Lenglet and Perisic all started last night and their impact may keep them in the team to face City.
What about Dejan Kulusevski though? Or even Ben Davies, who has lost his place to Lenglet for the last two games, or Ryan Sessegnon, who played so well away at City last season?
Conte needs to figure out when to take players in and out for such big games, and the situation surrounding Kulusevski is a tough one.
The Swede has been outstanding ever since arriving at Tottenham and started the season in strong form.
Kulusevski was rested against Fulham at the weekend and Richarlison impressed so much that he kept his place for the Marseille clash.
Does Kulusevski now come back in? Can you really drop Richarlison after a two-goal display? Is it Son Heung-min’s time to come out of the team?
These are questions Conte will now have to answer in the coming days and the rotation issue is seemingly unsettling the Italian.
Conte told Football London that he has a ‘big decision’ on whether to play Richarlison or Kulusevski, but that is the case in other areas too.
Conte added that he is ‘a bit worried’ because some key players need a rest and yet he can’t really give them one because City and Sporting are on the horizon.
The Italian added that it’s ‘impossible’ to play the same team on Saturday and Tuesday, seemingly feeling that the fixture list is now working against Tottenham with big games coming one after another.
“I have for sure a big decision, not only this [Richarlison or Dejan Kulusevski],” said Conte. “Because honestly, I’m a bit worried because we are going to play against City in two days and it’s not easy, because I think some players need to rest and to recover. We have many players that played every game until now.”
“But on one hand you know we have to make rotations to give these players a possibility to rest, and we have to try to find a good balance to make rotations because we are playing City and then Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League. It’s not easy when you play matches every few days because especially in the Champions League.”
“Because in the Europa League, Europa Conference League group stage you can make more rotations and then you can afford also to lose some games because you know that in the end you’re going to recover. The Champions League is always a massive game. Now we have to manage the game very well for the game against Manchester City. I have to trust in my players and to make rotations. Because it would be impossible to play with the same players on Saturday and then Tuesday. Impossible, but yeah not easy, for sure,” he added.
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