[Albion] Lack of squad depth will cost us

[andys320]

Can’t believe professional football players can’t play a game on Sunday , then on Wednesday,
I suppose they will be tired on Saturday as well
ridiculous

Serious?

Thin squad, at this level 2% makes a difference.

Forest executed an excellent press and deserved their win, sometimes with the football RDZ wants us to play it will go wrong, tonight was that night.

 

[Springal]

Isn’t it strange then that the teams that can rotate their players seem to be doing rather well.

Have Villa ? A quick look doesn’t look like it especially. Or Brentford

According to the stats we’ve used the same amount of players as Villa, and more than Brentford.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Knackered after a cup semi final and playing a team fighting for survival with fantastic support behind them. In hindsight, it's hardly the most surprising performance and result in the world, is it?

 

[BNthree]

Dunk should've been off for Veltman/Webster/JPvH after 60 mins, he was all over the place. Gilmour or Veltman should've been on for Gross or Caicedo around the same time.

I love RDZ but that was on him tonight.

I don't think Buonanotte looks PL quality yet either if I'm totally honest, and Enciso is nowhere near as effective when starting.

But is Gilmour an adequate replacement for Caicedo? The others I agree with

 

[Bridcutt]

True although a lot of it can be masked but having no striker readily fit killed us tonight. We could not hold anything upfront and it meant our midfield got swarmed constantly. Julio offered very little

 

[The Fits]

Dunk should've been off for Veltman/Webster/JPvH after 60 mins, he was all over the place. Gilmour or Veltman should've been on for Gross or Caicedo around the same time.

I love RDZ but that was on him tonight.

I don't think Buonanotte looks PL quality yet either if I'm totally honest, and Enciso is nowhere near as effective when starting.

I think a bit of complacency has set in about our youngsters, especially after Julio's worldie. Undoubtedly got potential, all of them, but they're playing against seasoned pros who are men. There's no doubt we look a little short now, but it's been a brilliant season.

 

[jcdenton08]

Knackered after a cup semi final and playing a team fighting for survival with fantastic support behind them. In hindsight, it's hardly the most surprising performance and result in the world, is it?

I saw it coming.

 

[hart's shirt]

Albion had 75% possession, 17 shots with 7 on target compared with Forest's 12 and 5.

We were the better team, but made mistakes which Forest punished.

Pretty sure that if we got the same stats on Saturday against Wolves, we'd probably end up with a different result.

 

[Littlemo]

But is Gilmour an adequate replacement for Caicedo? The others I agree with

Yes, Gilmour is perfectly capable, he’s not the same kind of player as Caicedo, but can absolutely do a job. Look back at when he came on in the cup against Liverpool and helped set up the Mitoma winner. The games he’s played mainly have been against Arsenal and Liverpool, he did alright and that was without Mac and Caicedo.

 

[BNthree]

Yes, Gilmour is perfectly capable, he’s not the same kind of player as Caicedo, but can absolutely do a job. Look back at when he came on in the cup against Liverpool and helped set up the Mitoma winner. The games he’s played mainly have been against Arsenal and Liverpool, he did alright and that was without Mac and Caicedo.

Good to hear a well made argument

 

[BBassic]

Albion had 75% possession, 17 shots with 7 on target compared with Forest's 12 and 5.

We were the better team, but made mistakes which Forest punished.

Pretty sure that if we got the same stats on Saturday against Wolves, we'd probably end up with a different result.

I don't think we were.

Lots of patterns and pretty passing and not much else.

Navas had a good game to be fair. But we looked sloppy.

 

[HalfaSeatOn]

Strange combination of complacency (through over confidence) and then trying to force things when things don’t go right. I usually put in my worst golf scores under such circumstances.

 

[A1X]

Sounds like prediction to me …out of curiosity were you saying the same during the January transfer window?

I wasn’t, but I was also at that stage hopeful Undav might not turn out to look like a competition winner. I did worry about a lack of cover at LB, though.

 

[andys320]

I don't think we were.

Lots of patterns and pretty passing and not much else.

Navas had a good game to be fair. But we looked sloppy.

Tired more than sloppy I thought.

Whatever happens we've had a great sesaaon, when Potter left I never thought we'd be where we are now.

It's almost FM level of acheivement, lets just enjoy where we are!

 

[Weststander]

Players in less illustrious squads suffer fatigue, it particularly shows when opponents have a longer rest and prep. Fact.

A great example is where Europa League teams play shit on following Sundays.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Albion had 75% possession, 17 shots with 7 on target compared with Forest's 12 and 5.

We were the better team, but made mistakes which Forest punished.

Pretty sure that if we got the same stats on Saturday against Wolves, we'd probably end up with a different result.

How I saw it. Great chances for Mitoma, Enciso, MacAlister, March - they just capitalised on what really were unforced errors. If and buts BUT they don’t get a lucky goal before HT and it’s a comfortable second half for us with a tense home crowd. Each mistake we made gave them a bit more impetus.

Hard to take after Sunday but I would have picked that team.

 

[zefarelly]

After Sunday's disappointment, it was a bad day at the office.

Hopefully back to winning ways at home on Saturday.

Villa have Man United away. Liverpool at home to Spurs. Plenty of dropped points there.

Europe is still very much in our hands.

There are a lot of ill-informed uneducated children soiling pampers This week.

A pic popped up on FB that 26 years ago we stood in the rain, dreaming of survival . . . The last time we ever play at home. . . That still hurts.

4th, 10th, 17th, I don't care . . . . Finishing above Chelsea is important . . . They are the modern Archer/Bellotti types

we've been raped this season and still look likely to end it as well as we ever have, if not better.

One rung at a time is good. . .

 

[GT49er]

This can’t be true as I was told repeatedly in the “Team for Forest” thread that we have to play every one of our best players, for every game, from now until the end of the season.

From the first few pages;











Not being funny, I just could foresee tonight and am surprised RDZ’s selection wasn’t braver.

Well, hang on just a minute! How many changes did he make to the team that started on Sunday? How many should he have made? Should he have brought young players in (Buonanotte, Endiso and Colwill don't count for some reason?)

 

[jcdenton08]

Well, hang on just a minute! How many changes did he make to the team that started on Sunday? How many should he have made? Should he have brought young players in (Buonanotte, Endiso and Colwill don't count for some reason?)

I refer again to my OP in the “Team for Forest” which is referenced in the post you quoted. In fact, I humbly invite you to re-read the post you’ve just quoted.

 

[Berty23]

Players we are missing who we would have hoped to have fit
Mwepu - out forever
Moder - I guess we knew he was out most or all of season
Lamptey - means gross is having to play right back and he is a lovely football but gets caught. Or lamptey could give March a rest
Veltman - was he not fit enough to start?
Lallana - makes us tick
Ferguson - star man these days
Welbeck - not fit enough to start.

We sold Trossard.

We bought a couple of promising youngsters but we simply don’t have the squad to have game changers on the bench and allow rotation.

Despite us being poor by our standards, we were still the better side but gave away two dumb pens and some shocking mistakes.

I don’t think I have seen caicedo and dunk have worse games for us in the premier league. Mitoma was fine for the first half but lost all confidence after his bad miss. Alexis was okay. Enciso looked okay in patches. Colwell looked poor today and if fit Webster should have played because he is more robust.

Oh well. Let’s hope that is the little blip before we come alive and play brilliantly for the rest of the season. Europe is still on (although villa are annoying me now).

At least if we miss out we can all complain about the shocking var calls that did this. (I think both pens were correct calls today although dunk being given and not Maguire the other day stinks).