The Chelsea Rotation Question

Personally, I don't see Spurs rotating too heavily. Poch won't want another season to fizzle out like the last one. But Chelsea? Yes, maybe. The FA Cup Final to come has to be a worry. But other than that, will Conte go sentimental? Or will he want to finish the season in style?

Considering Conte won three Serie A with Juventus, I thought I'd have a look at the history. 🙂 I don't claim to be any sort of Juve expert, but I'll present the facts to hopefully clear things up.

2011-12
There were 11 players who had 30+ league apps (in order):
Pirlo, Marchisio, Lichtsteiner, Buffon, Barzagli, Chiellini, Vidal, Vucinic, Bonucci, Pepe and Matri.

Juve won the league with one game to spare - which came 7 days before the cup final.

In the last league game, Conte started with the following 11 (league apps in brackets):
Storari (3), Lichtsteiner (36), Bonucci (32), Chiellini (34), Estigarribia (14), Pirlo (37), Padoin (6), Marrone (3), Giaccherini (23), Del Piero (23), Borriello (13).

Conclusion: Buffon didn't feature in the final, so I assume Storari was a forced change. The only unforced changes for the final appear to be Padoin, Marrone and Giacherrini out. Essentially, it appears Conte only rested Barzagli, Marchisio and Vidal.

2012-13
The following season didn't see quite such a consistent line-up. However, the following had 24 apps or more:
Barzagli, Bonucci, Buffon, Pirlo, Vidal, Giovinco, Vucinic, Marchisio, Lichtsteiner, Quagliarella, Pogba, Asamoah and Chiellini.

Juventus won the league with three games to spare, with no other competitions at this stage of the season.

In those three games, the starting 11s were:
- League won on 5 May: Buffon, Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini, Lichsteiner, Pogba, Pirlo, Vidal, Asamoah, Marchisio, Vucinic.
- 8 May: Storari, Caceres, Marrone, Chiellini, Isla, Padoin, Pirlo, Giaccherini, de Ceglie, Matri, Quagliarella.
- 11 May: Storari, Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini, Isla, Vidal, Marrone, Marchisio, Giaccherini, Giovinco, Matri.
- 18 May: Storari, Caceres, Bonnuci, Chiellini, Isla, Padoin, Pirlo, Giaccherini, de Ceglie, Quagliarella, Giovinco.

Conclusion: The first thing to note is Storari. Unlike the previous season, Buffon did feature in the squads, so was available - but as soon as the league was won, the veteran back-up (now 40) came in. Fringe players such as Marrone, Padoin, Isla, de Ceglie and Giaccherini all came in.

In fact, of the regular senior players, Chiellini (captain in Buffon's absence) was the only player to start all three of these dead rubbers. Gary Cahill anyone? 😉

2013-14
Top app-makers:
Pogba, Llorente, Asamoah, Tevez, Buffon, Vidal, Chiellini, Pirlo, Bonucci, Marchisio, Lichtsteiner, Barzagli.

Juve again had the title wrapped up with three games to spare.

- 1 May (Europa semi):
Buffon, Chiellini, Caceres, Bonnuci, Lichsteiner, Pogba, Pirlo, Vidal, Asamoah, Tevez, Llorente.
- 5 May: Storari, Barzagli, Ogbonna, Chiellini, Marchisio, Lichtsteiner, Peluso, Osvaldo, Giovinco, Padoin, Pogba.
- 11 May: Storari, Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini, Pirlo, Lichsteiner, Asamoah, Llorente, Tevez, Padoin, Pogba.
- 18 May: Buffon, Caceres, Bonnuci, Ogbonna, Pirlo, Lichsteiner, Asamoah, Llorente, Tevez, Pogba, Marchisio.

Conclusion: Again, it jumps out that Buffon went straight to the bench - albeit, he got the final game of the season. Of the three stalwart CBs, each got two games (although Chiellini was suspended for the last game). Further up the field, there was the same rotation, with fringe players presumably rewarded for their loyalty. Lichsteiner and Pogba were the only players to get all three.

Tl;dr:
Conte has history for rotation, for sure. If we wanted reassurance, this doesn't give it to us. The hard thing will be picking who might get the last two games (assuming the title is wrapped up). One positive is Conte did go quite strong in the final league game of his last title-winning season, so they may finish strong at home.

Courtois looks a big risk, the CBs are likely to see rotation, the fringe forward players will be rewarded (e.g. Fabregas, Willian, Batshuayi) but Conte didn't really go to youth in his Juventus days.

Damn. 🙁 😉