Ruud van Nistelrooy's 'brutally honest' Leicester City thought gives him selection conundrum
There are two important facts to note ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup third round. One: the month of December and the festive schedule, while not as gruelling as it used to be, was the most intense period of the Premier League season so far. Two: after this weekend, there is a midweek round of Premier League fixtures.
Those two points combined mean lots of top-flight clubs will be resting players for the FA Cup. And it would not be a new phenomenon. The Premier League has been a money-spinning behemoth for some time now and it has, in turn, weakened the status of what was once the most prestigious cup competition in the world.
Leicester City, a club whose Premier League status is on the line, are a surefire contender to rotate. This is not 2021, when City’s Premier League future was secure and they could throw all they had at finally winning the game’s oldest trophy. As things stand, they will be relegated.
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They do not need extra games. They do not need to risk first-team players picking up injuries, especially when they have a handful out already. In fact, an FA Cup tie would be a great opportunity to get some fringe players minutes in case they need to replace injured stars in future Premier League games.
It would be a great opportunity to give Will Alves his first start of the season and let him show fans (and potential loan suitors from the EFL) what he can do. It would be a great opportunity for the club to give prodigious 15-year-old winger Jeremy Monga a debut and show how much they value his talent and how his future is in the right hands at the King Power Stadium.
However, City go into the game on a run of five straight defeats. As Ruud van Nistelrooy said, if they are “brutally honest” with themselves, they are in a “negative cycle of results” and one they have to break. He wants City to do that this weekend against QPR.
After the FA Cup, City have a promising run of fixtures from which to pick up points. There’s Crystal Palace at home, then Fulham at home, then an inconsistent Tottenham away, then a trip to relegation rivals Everton.
If City’s usual 11 keep their places against QPR and claim victory, they will have broken that losing spiral and will have a result to accompany the recent improved performances. There’s a balance to strike for van Nistelrooy. Is it better for the regular starters to face Palace on the back of a victory, or on the back of 10 days’ rest?
There are other matters to consider. This is only van Nistelrooy’s eighth game in charge. The squad are still getting to grips with his ways. It’s surely preferable to further test and improve the new manager’s gameplan.
At this early stage in van Nistelrooy’s tenure, there should be good strides made with every outing. One extra game of development could be vital for getting the better of Palace.
But on the question of breaking the cycle and revitalising the belief in the squad, would victory over a Championship side they are expected to beat comfortably really boost confidence that much?
In fact, if the regulars play and lose, the damage that may do to self-belief may be harder to shrug off than if the fringe players feature. And City, in a relegation battle, would be a prime candidate for an upset, especially with QPR second in the eight-game Championship form table.
So while heavy rotation may be a straightforward decision for most Premier League managers this weekend, van Nistelrooy has to decide where the balance lies on fitness, the potential boost of a positive result, the potential damage of a negative result, and the potential development of another 90 minutes playing to his plan. It may be that the best option for City’s Premier League survival bid is to play the best 11 this weekend.
