Will lack of squad rotation affect Chelsea in the long term ?

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With another win this week over Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea have rubber stamped their champion credentials. A solid 3-0 win over rivals meant that the blues maintained their 6 point lead over Manchester City at the top of the table.

This win also meant that Jose Mourinho again started his prefered 11 (with an exception of Diego Costa who was ruled out due to accumulation of 5 yellow cards).

Despite having some of the best talents at his disposal as substitutes, Jose Mourinho has now fielded the same starting lineup for as many as 9 Barclays Premier League matches. Ten players have now started atleast 12 matches out of the 14 premier league matches that have taken place. Apart from his preferred 11, no other Chelsea player has even started 4 Premier League matches.

The lack of squad rotation could result in fatigue and further affect the results in long term. The lack of playing time has also resulted in an unrest among many players.

The World Cup winning talented German midfielder Andre Schuurle has started only four Premier League matches despite constantly giving efficient performances. As a result he has been heavily tipped to leave the Stamford Bridge in the January transfer window.

Bought this summer, former Atletico Madrid left back Felipe Luis has failed to make much of an impact. Overshadowed by an out of position playing Cesar Azpilicueta , he has been largely restricted to the bench having started 6 games in all competitions for Chelsea. Kurt Zouma has also failed to make the cut and has not started any Premier League game till now. The talented 20-year-old has been used just twice as a substitute this season.

Another Brazilian in the out of favour list is Ramires who has featured in just 7 games out of 21 this season in all competitions with just three Premier League starts. He is rumoured to be a transfer target for the Spanish heavyweights Real Madrid with Carlo Ancelloti, a long time admirer of the industrious Brazilian.

The case of Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Salah is also a very complicated one. He has featured in only 2 Premier league matches as a substitute.Yet Chelsea are reluctant to sell the coveted Egyptian. As a result he has been looking forward to a loan move away from Stamford Bridge with Sunderland looking as a possible destination.

If the midfield trio of Ramires, Andre Schurrle and Mohamed Salah look forward towards leaving the Stamford Bridge, Chelsea would be left with no experience on the bench especially on the wings. The lack of playing time for others could also result in the lack of effectiveness on the pitch for the unused players when they are required to step up.

Using the same players certainly gives a sense of much needed stability to the squad but, at the same time it also leaves results in imbalance in the squad. Some players could be troubled with excess fatigue while others could be missing sharpness in their game.

Jose Mourinho is undoubtedly one of the best managers in the game, but he needs to look at the future and make necessary changes for benefit of the team. He must not wait for his players to get injured or get tired enough to play at the highest level. An assurance of a name in the team sheet every week could also result in complacency among the regulars which Mourinho needs to tackle efficiently. With a busy fixture list coming ahead, Jose Mourinho must look forward to rotating his squad much more often than he has been doing in recent games till now. The coming fixtures would not only prove out to be a test for Chelsea but also for Jose Mourinho.

It would be interesting to see how he handles the growing unrest among the out of favour players and also the increasing fatigue.

And the question remains the same….

Will lack of squad rotation affect Chelsea in the long term ?