Why Spurs are right to rotate

After our loss to Leicester, a lot has been made about Pochettino’s team selection, many feeling the squad rotation is unnecessary and showing a lack of ambition for certain competitions.

In an ideal world Spurs would field a full strength team in every game but it must be remembered that we have currently played more games than any other Premier League team. The term ‘fitness’ is usually taken at face value, whether a player can last a whole game and be ready to play the next at the same pace. While this is correct, there is more to it.

Firstly, from an injury prevention perspective, playing too many games will dramatically increase a player’s chances of picking up an injury. We only have to look back to Ryan Mason’s hamstring injury against Chelsea. Between Nov 1 and Jan 1 he’d played 12 games. Sure, 12 games in 62 days doesn’t seem that much but just think about the recovery needed when playing at the pace of elite football, especially with Mason’s superior energy levels during a match.

[linequote]From a ligament and tendon standpoint, it only takes one turn with a tired muscle not firing for a ligament/tendon being forced to compensate and overwork, tearing in the process[/linequote]

Pochettino saw the value in giving Mason game time, allowing his partnership with Bentaleb to bed in and with Mason being such a driving force in midfield, he’d become one our most important players. There was no way in foreseeing Mason’s hamstring going but those type of injuries can be a ticking time bomb for some players and with the amount of games he’d played in that 2 month window, for a player in his first season in the Premier League, it’s a good example of how not enough rest can lead to injuries.

Over the course of a season, players’ soft tissue takes a beating, micro tears occur that need time to repair with the body producing scar tissue to allow for this recovery. A build-up of scar tissue will prevent the muscle from moving through its full range of motion and will eventually cause a bigger tear, as we saw with Mason. From a ligament and tendon standpoint, it only takes one turn with a tired muscle not firing, or unable to because of scar tissue, for a ligament/tendon being forced to compensate and overwork, tearing in the process.

Fitness and recovery go hand in hand. See the graph below.

Before a training stimulus, or in our case- a football match, a player starts at base fitness level. After the stimulus of playing, fitness level dips due to fatigue and begin to rise again thanks to rest and recovery. The ‘supercompensation’ period is where a player wants to be playing a match- at peak performance. The body has recovered and due to the stimulus has adapted and improved to enable the player to operate above base fitness level.

If a player is forced to exert themselves while in the recovery period, as shown by the green line, their peak performance will never be above their base fitness level, thus ensuring they are never at their best. At this level of football, games are won and lost by fine margins, if players are never fully recovered they won’t be playing at their peak.

[linequote]It speaks a lot to Spurs’ medical team’s impressive work that at the time of writing and despite the amount of games played, there are 0 players on the injury table[/linequote]

Recovery is also very individualized, as Brendan Rodgers identified at Liverpool. He gives his more explosive players an extra day’s rest to ensure they aren’t training too hard during their recovery phase. A lot of fun was poked at Raheem Sterling’s claims of being tired but he’s been coached to value the importance of recovery and taking the supercompensation theory into account, it’s easy to see why.

It speaks a lot to Spurs’ medical team’s impressive work that at the time of writing and despite the amount of games played, there are 0 players on the injury table. The club monitors the team throughout the season, we’ve all seen the pictures from training of the players wearing what look like sports bras, these are measuring a number of metrics including heart rate. The fitness staff are now able to track players’ heart rate variability (HRV) which is an indicator of an individual’s readiness or fatigue level based on the variable timing of intervals between heart beats.

If a player’s fatigue level is deemed to be high on a game day, it would make sense not to play that player as their fitness level will continue to decrease, as per the supercompensation theory, and they won’t be performing at their best (another discussion would be on the psychological impact of this). The staff may choose to use this information to know how hard to push certain players in training, if they are measured to be at peak readiness it’s a good time to boost fitness levels and work them hard.

By the same token, if an individual shows up for training in a state of fatigue they may be sent to the massage table for a lighter day of recovery. Technology is also now available to measure players’ dehydration levels. A 1-2% drop in hydration has been shown to lower performance by up to 45%. If a player isn’t fully recovered and dehydrated they will end up getting more dehydrated, creating a vicious cycle, just as with fitness levels.

[linequote]The fitness staff are now able to track players’ heart rate variability (HRV) which is an indicator of an individual’s readiness or fatigue level based on the variable timing of intervals between heart beats[/linequote]

After seeing the importance of rest and recovery for players that play regularly, it’s worth discussing the need to keep players on the side-lines in match condition. If there’s an injury to a first team player, a replacement needs to be ready to slot in and perform to a similar standard. The term ‘match fitness’ is widely used and often derided- these are professional footballers, how can they not be fit enough?

In any sport and at any level, there is no direct replication for a competitive match or race. Nothing gets an athlete moving like the scent of victory, so it’s impossible to be match fit without playing matches. In combination with good training and appropriate recovery, players need games to get up to speed. It would be irresponsible for a manager to leave 10-15 other players from the squad at a lower fitness level to the others as they will be at a higher risk of injury and lower rate of performance should they be required to come in and play. Pochettino will be well aware of this, particularly as his high pressing system is very physically demanding.

[linequote]It would be irresponsible for a manager to leave 10-15 other players from the squad at a lower fitness level to the others as they will be at a higher risk of injury and lower rate of performance[/linequote]

While the best team should always be fielded (we all want to win every game!) these factors have to be considered. Spurs don’t want to end up like the Woolwich Wanderers down the road, with a selection of first team players always side-lined with injury.

It’s always a tricky balancing act for a manager, he’ll want to put his first choice XI out but has to be aware of the upcoming fixtures because if one or two of those XI don’t recover in time, they won’t be at their best for those games. With so many important matches in the following months, it would be wise to think about the points raised in this article before jumping on Pochettino’s team selection. He wants to win as much as we do.