Team Selection Under Scrutiny At West Ham Wednesday, 19th Feb 2014 13:25 Mauricio Pochettino's team selection will be in the spotlight at Upton Park after the controversial exit from the FA Cup at Sunderland. There is no getting away from it, last week at the Stadium Of Light the Saints team that was selected lacked the fluidity of previous weeks, but it wasn't just because of certain players coming into the side who don't usually play, but other key areas. At Fulham for instance the Saints manager came under fire for having selected a clearly unfit Victor Wanyama and there is no doubt that in the first half at Craven Cottage Saints were even more out of sorts than at Sunderland, giving away possession far too easily. Pochettino realised the error of his ways for the visit of Stoke City and the trip to Hull, strangely though in those games he did nothing to ease Wanyama back into the swing of things, limiting his pitch time to only injury time at Hull a matter of a few minutes. It was no shock though when for the trip to Sunderland, Cork was dropped for Wanyama and didnt get off the bench, the feeling is one of predictability that Wanyama will always play instead of Cork "whatever" barring injuries. Of course Wanyama didnt cover himself in glory at Sunderland being found wanting in the play leading up to the goal, so what will Pochettino do now, if he is going along the route of keeping fluidity and team spirit then he has to recall Cork for the trip to West Ham, if he is going on form then it has to still be Cork, however if Pochettino is one thing it is is he a very straight manager in what he does, with him you are either in favour and playing every week, or you are out of favour and out of the picture. This was proved earlier in the season when some good results were achieved, the dichotomy of the situation though was that we were not giving half the squad game time and that did not help us because it lead to players being over played leading to over tiredness and being more prone to injury. The best answer to the situation is somewhere in between, yes managers will always have their favourites, however a good manager will know when he needs to hold back his favourites and how to get the best out of the squad in total rather than just the dozen who are the first choices. So after the criticism aimed at the manager after the defeat up in the North East we will now find out how much Pochettino has learnt from the past three months, has he learnt a little more about using the squad to its capabilities and has he learnt how to use substitutes to change games positively. My biggest gripe last Saturday was the fact that he took off Adam Lallana and brought on a teenager for his first team debut, perhaps the manager wanted to go out of the cup, perhaps he was gambling, although personally I don't think Pochettino as a manager is a gambler as his team selection in the early part of the season proved. But it isn't just the Wanyama/Cork situation that is in the microscope now, there are other key areas that have to be addressed, who is now his first choice right back and is Rickie Lambert going to be used or will Sam Gallagher get more of a look in. In the case of the right back there is little in it, given Chambers decent opening four games and then not playing another till December some three months without even a minute off the bench as a sub, this highlights the problems I have mentioned, I think that away from home and against the better teams Chambers has the edge in that he is bigger and stronger, Clyne for his part is quicker and can cross the ball better when going forward. Up front the problems after signing Osvaldo came of our own doing, we had two players who both wanted to play in the same lone striker position, we tried to rotate and this was the recipe for the disaster that it became, Osvaldo could adapt but didnt want to and Lambert as good as he is as a target man, is not a midfielder to the standard that is needed in the Premier League of 2014, the odd goal and assist is fine, but mobility is the key to the way Pochettino wants to play, at 32 Lambert isnt getting any younger and needs to be used sparingly, in recent weeks he has looked tired and for long periods in games can be a passenger through no fault of his own but the system, as I said you can get away with this against poor sides like Fulham, but its no coincidence that we have beaten only one side in the top ten this season. So the scrutiny is on the manager, accusations have been levelled at him in some quarters that he didnt care up at Sunderland and his long term future is still open to speculation, over the next few weeks we will get the answers to some tricky questions, does he want to stay here or was his bond with Nicola Cortese really that strong. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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