Will we rest players before Chelsea?

[zimbo]

Given that the league games immediately preceding the two legs of the semi are away to Fulham and Birmingham:

a) will Rafa decide to rest most of the regulars?
b) is this likely to effect our chances of securing fourth place?
c) will we be subject to the usual Warnock-esque whingeing from managers of other struggling teams?
d) will we be bothered?

I suspect the answers may be along the lines of:

a) yes
b) hopefully not, but you never can tell
c) almost certainly - step forward Gary Megson, Steve Bruce and Steve Coppell
d) nope.

Although it'd be nice to end the season on a winning run, I think we could all understand a wee bit of 'rotation' at this point.

[bobbyfallon]

rafa will definately "use the squad" for those games

[Rich]

My worry is we take our eye off 4th place, which would be suicide

[zimbo]

In theory, we should still be able to win both games even whilst leaving a few of the first choice starters on the bench. However, we saw at Fulham and Portsmouth last year that it's rarely that straightforward.

On paper the most difficult game left is away at Tottenham. We should be able to pick up enough points in the other matches to keep a telling distance between ourselves and Everton, particularly as they're to play Arsenal and Chelsea yet.

Who have they got this weekend?

[BFG]

I think we should be fine for 4th now. With the goal difference we have we can lose a match, win the rest and still get 4th even if the bitters win all theirs.

[saveferris]

As was discussed by some of us last night, we think the most difficult game is Blackburn this coming weekend. I originally thought the spurs game too, but they have nothing to play for and so have inconsistent performances .

A win in both of the next two games I think would secure 4th place, but a lot depends on Arsenal, if they continue to slip we may go for 3rd.

[zimbo]

As was discussed by some of us last night, we think the most difficult game is Blackburn this coming weekend. I originally thought the spurs game too, but they have nothing to play for and so have inconsistent performances .
A win in both of the next two games I think would secure 4th place, but a lot depends on Arsenal, if they continue to slip we may go for 3rd.

Could be right there actually, given that last night's efforts will have drained the players both physically and mentally. Perhaps Rafa will choose to freshen things up against Blackburn and look to include the likes of Lucas, Finnan, Risse and Benayoun. Maybe even Voronin, although that is akin to 'freshening up' a room by slipping a week-old kipper down the back of the settee.

Everton away at Brum - can't see them winning there.

[homer1]

I am still confident we will get the 4th place and don't blame Rafa for resting some of our top players, however my fear is even if we get 4th, that we will drop points and we end up another 20+ points off the top come the end of the season. These are the stats that come up every year and they won't reflect the fact we played a reserve team for 2 or 3 games at the end (like we did last year)

[Exiled_red]

I can certainly see us resting the likes of Gerrard and Torres for a bit, probably one or two others aswell, Mascherano and Carragher etc

[barnes10]

i was looking at the fixtures and we basically need birmingham and reading to win this weekend and we need to beat blackburn. if that happens, we can take it realtively easy for the rest of the season i think.

[Morten_nogamst_Pedersen]

I sincerely hope Rafa will won't sacrifice 4th spot. But recon he'll have to compromise.
When's the 1st semi final leg BTW?

[Kenneth]

I think we should be fine for 4th now. With the goal difference we have we can lose a match, win the rest and still get 4th even if the bitters win all theirs.

That's called 'over-confidence'.

[dww]

I think the key is to ensure the teams for each game are hungry and motivated. this may mean rotation - not necessarily to rest the top players but to ensure no one in the team/squad eases up. I think the last Arsenal game was in some ways an ideal show - Plessis came in and was great and so did Crouch. They in no way weakened the team and if the alternative is a player who has his mind of the task in hand or is complacent about getting 4th then I would consider some fringe players favourites to play.

[Nic83]

Given that the league games immediately preceding the two legs of the semi are away to Fulham and Birmingham:

a) will Rafa decide to rest most of the regulars? definitely
b) is this likely to effect our chances of securing fourth place? It shouldn't but might and there's no doubt that Rafa will be blamed if we slip, wheras the players should be the ones to take the blame if they can#t winnboth those games
c) will we be subject to the usual Warnock-esque whingeing from managers of other struggling teams? If we lose or draw, of course, it's only natural
d) will we be bothered? Foooook no!

I suspect the answers may be along the lines of:

a) yes
b) hopefully not, but you never can tell
c) almost certainly - step forward Gary Megson, Steve Bruce and Steve Coppell
d) nope.

Although it'd be nice to end the season on a winning run, I think we could all understand a wee bit of 'rotation' at this point.

[danwms]

One important point here is the fact that chelsea won't be resting their players.

In between our two Cl games they are playing Utd which could be a very important game for the league.

Thay are not going to rest any players in that game.