It looks like I’ve got some support on the matter.
I briefly discussed yesterday about how Nottingham Forest should approach their game with Chelsea in the FA Cup this Saturday, and in there I said that Sabri Lamouchi needed to go the whole hog and rest every single one of the first-team players.
After all, they have pretty much earned it after winning three games on the bounce, and getting themselves into a decent position in the table ahead of the FA Cup break.
And former Red Garry Birtles also believes that Lamouchi needs to give as many players the day off as possible as we look ahead to the rest of the season. Writing in his column for Nottinghamshire Live, he stressed that the Frenchman would have to show a lot of courage to make the decision to rest the necessary players:
“To play the amount of games over Christmas that they have will undoubtedly have taken its toll, so they’ll need a break and having a weekend free of a game could be just the ticket before a busy end to the month. Of course all the players will want to play, just as they did at Arsenal in the Carabao Cup, but the manager will have to show his strength by saying no, while his players will need to act responsibly over it and focus on the job in hand.”
Birtles later goes on to name some of the players he would like to see given a runout, including Brennan Johnson, Jordan Smith and Carl Jenkinson, and I feel like there’s an added reason to play guys like them.
Not only do the senior players like Lewis Grabban, Joe Lolley, Matty Cash and others get rest, but those fringe players will get valuable minutes under their belts to help their development and also keep them fit for if we need them for later on in the season.
Would you play a 'weakened' team against Chelsea?
Yes
No
So there are two beneficial elements to taking a less than full-strength team with us to Stamford Bridge on Sunday, and hopefully Lamouchi will do the right thing when he hands in the team sheets.
