Perhaps it’s time for Pep to rest starters from league action?

With Real Madrid enjoying a seven point lead atop of the standings, thanks to some fine no-calls from the referees, maybe it’s time for Pep to conserve some of the team’s energy when it comes to league matches. Although they are not out of the race for a fourth consecutive league crown, their chances are looking a bit tough. Additionally, they have two other titles to think off with the Champions League still theirs to lose. The club has seen numerous players pick up injuries and we are only in the month of February. Thus, perhaps Pep is better off saving his players for the Champions League and Copa Del Rey titles by resting his starters from some league matches.

Now, I’m not saying that the league is lost and that the quest for the fourth consecutive is over. It looks bleak but the league has already been decided in the final five matches. However, this season is condensed season because of the upcoming UEFA Euro 2012. That is why Barça has had to play a lot of midweek games this season. Just January alone saw them play two games a week and that will continue this month when they host Valencia in the second leg of the Copa Del Rey Semi’s and then travel to Germany next week for the first leg of the Round of 16 encounter against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.

That makes it six consecutive weeks where they have played twice a week. In other words, 12 games in 6 weeks.  The schedule is going to be like that the rest of the season with midweek games late in March, all of April and that is just the league fixtures only. You also have some international fixtures coming up which will regrettably cause more fatigue. Bottom line is that these guys will be playing a lot of games without the usual six to seven days off between games like last season. Pep has seen many players go down with injuries and players fighting fatigue from playing too many games.

Unfortunately, the price of success has taken a toll on the players with an awful summer preseason along with trips to Monaco and Japan. The players average around 60 to 70 games a season and it was inevitable that fatigue and injuries would plague this team someday. That’s why I enjoyed watching Guardiola rest some of his starters in Saturday’s victory against Sociedad. Xavi got to enjoy a full week off while Pique and Abidal got to rest for a half. It’s time to utilize the other players who have not featured much along with players from the youth setup.

It’s time for Pep to give the Barça B players more minutes in the league. Montoya should be playing a few games in place of Dani Alves while Bartra and Muniesa should start in place of Puyol and Pique with Adriano filling in for Abidal here and there. Mascherano now can fill in for Busquets while he recovers from the injury that caused him to get 15 stitches. Thiago and Jonathan Dos Santos filled in for Xavi and Iniesta while Cuenca and Tello filled in for the injured Pedro and Alexis. That leaves us with Cesc and Messi. Cesc, Xavi and Iniesta, when he comes back from his injury, can all alternate with each other with some league starts.

Unfortunately, Pep seems reluctant to rest Messi and that could be a vital mistake. Whether he likes it or not, Messi needs to be rested and not start every match for a full 90 minutes. It is rather odd that Pep is reluctant to rest Messi. After all, he used him as a substitute 10 times in all competitions during his first season as the manager of Barça where they won the treble. Perhaps it is better to bring on Messi in the final 30 minutes of a game in the occasional league match than watch him play 90 minutes every game the rest of the way. Keep him fresh for the more important league matches only and for the Champions League. The issue is which games are considered non-important in the league.

Valencia dropped more points yesterday and are currently 11 points behind Barça for second place. Pep can afford to rest his players without worrying about falling into third or fourth place. If the team does well with all these rotations and somehow catch up to Real Madrid while resting their players for the Champions League, then the risk would have been worthwhile. If not, then Pep still has players well rested as they look to capture their fifth Champions League title and another Copa Del Rey crown should they succeed in advancing to the final on Wednesday. Either ways, our starters will get the rest that they so desperately deserve.  We may be halfway through the season but the second half of the season will be quite demanding so here’s hoping that Pep looks at the long term solution of resting and rotating his players, especially Messi.

The remaining schedule with pending Champions League dates should Barcelona advance all the way to the final.