Fuelled by that and this post in the Top 5 defender thread... it got me looking
Beerfuelledman wrote:1 - Alonso. Best (points scoring) def in the game
2 - Azpi. 2nd Best (points scoring) def in the game
3 - Cedric. 5m, Good defensive unit, good fixtures.
4 - Milner IF he keeps his place in the team. Notice I say team, not at LB.
5 - Trippier. Better points potental than Walker. BUT Poch likes to rotate WBs to keep them fresh.
Up until 19th March… when Walker went off in the 77th minute (was it an injury... he didn't play in either of the England internationals and Spurs didn't play again until first of April). Spurs played 42 games; Walker started 32 of them (including 6 on the spin, 4 on the spin, 7 on the spin).
The 10 games he missed: 2 league cup, 3 CL, 4 FA Cup and just 1 league game (which was the new years day game (which of course came in the midst of 6 games in 23 days - and Walker started them all)).
So this poses two questions; Does Poch like to rotate? Does Poch even rate Trippier?
The interesting counter argument, is that Trippier was selected for the FA Cup semi versus Chelsea and the league games against Arsenal and United.
But yes, in those 11 games between 01/04 and season end Trippier started 6 and Walker 4 (neither started v Leicester) and they did indeed alternate.
LB is less clear.
Its arguable the injuries forced/restricted Pochs hand?
Was Rose injured earlier in the season too? He only started 2 games between 27th August and 19th November.
From the 19th November until 31st Jan.
Spurs had 16 games and Rose started 13 of them (he missed 2 FA Cup games and just 1 league game).
So again, its suggesting Poch perhaps isn't a massive rotation fan?
Davies started all 20 of the games from 4th Feb to season end.... they had played 5 games earlier in the season with neither Davies nor Rose, so not as if Poch couldn't have tried something different if he needed to give Davies a rest?
but still overegged....
