Antonio Conte has admitted that he faces a rotation dilemma with his Tottenham squad ahead of their clash with Manchester City on Saturday. It comes as Spurs only have two days to recover before they face the Premier League champions following their outing in the Champions League.
Antonio Conte said: “I have for sure a big decision, not only this [Richarlison or Dejan Kulusevski]. Because honestly, I’m a bit worried because we are going to play against [Manchester] City in two days and it’s not easy, because I think some players need to rest and to recover. We have many players that played every game until now. But on one hand you know we have to make rotations to give these players a possibility to rest, and we have to try to find a good balance to make rotations because we are playing City and then Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League. It’s not easy when you play matches every few days because especially in the Champions League. Because in the Europa League, Europa Conference League group stage you can make more rotations and then you can afford also to lose some games because you know that in the end you’re going to recover. The Champions League is always a massive game. Now we have to manage the game very well for the game against Manchester City. I have to trust in my players and to make rotations. Because it would be impossible to play with the same players on Saturday and then Tuesday. Impossible, but yeah not easy, for sure.”
It may reach a time of the season when Conte’s summer transfer plan comes into play, having added a number of new bodies to try and cope with the demanding fixture schedule that the teams struggled to at times at the back end of last season. While there remains questions over the forward options, they are good ones to have as their ideal form continues.
