He's not made many this season...

[ealingfox]

...but I think big Nige has made a sizeable mistake with regards to managing his squad here.

 

Two poor results, caused largely by fatigue. Absolute sitters have been missed, and very sloppy goals conceded.

 

How can you expect to go with an unchanged side during a run of 5 games in under two weeks, from the 36th game of the season? Utter madness.

 

Now we are facing the prospect of facing the league's two most in-form teams with a tired first XI, and fringers short of match practice.

 

We might also have been a bit less predictable and a bit stronger by making changes for both Blackburn and Yeovil. Drinkwater and James, nobody could blame them for being absolutely knackered, and now they're up against a midfield only marginally less talented but just as hard-working. Vardy and Nugent are missing chances left, right and centre, and our next two games could easily be decided by one chance.

 

Time will tell, and if we get a reaction to last night on Saturday then fine, but I think NP made a big mistake by not giving Wood, King, Hammo, Moore etc larger chunks of the last two games. Now we have another 3 games in 9 days, and our points cushions could be devastated by the end of them.

 

Unbeaten run this and that, but three or four straight draws is as bad as losing.

[Lionator]

...but I think big Nige has made a sizeable mistake with regards to managing his squad here.

 

Two poor results, caused largely by fatigue. Absolute sitters have been missed, and very sloppy goals conceded.

 

 

Slightly hypocritical. If it was fatigue then we wouldn't have created chances to miss 'sitters'.

[Ric Flair]

...but I think big Nige has made a sizeable mistake with regards to managing his squad here.

 

Two poor results, caused largely by fatigue. Absolute sitters have been missed, and very sloppy goals conceded.

 

How can you expect to go with an unchanged side during a run of 5 games in under two weeks, from the 36th game of the season? Utter madness.

 

Now we are facing the prospect of facing the league's two most in-form teams with a tired first XI, and fringers short of match practice.

 

We might also have been a bit less predictable and a bit stronger by making changes for both Blackburn and Yeovil. Drinkwater and James, nobody could blame them for being absolutely knackered, and now they're up against a midfield only marginally less talented but just as hard-working. Vardy and Nugent are missing chances left, right and centre, and our next two games could easily be decided by one chance.

 

Time will tell, and if we get a reaction to last night on Saturday then fine, but I think NP made a big mistake by not giving Wood, King, Hammo, Moore etc larger chunks of the last two games. Now we have another 3 games in 9 days, and our points cushions could be devastated by the end of them.

 

Unbeaten run this and that, but three or four straight draws is as bad as losing.

 

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. We've played a settled team all season and ripped it to pieces. Who says we'd be where we are if we'd looked to rotate at the earliest opportunity just incase the players put in bad performances and the fans are worried it's tiredness. I understand what you're saying to a point, but had Nigel made changes against the likes of Barnsley, Charlton or Blackpool and we didn't win then there'd be uproar that he's tinkered when he didn't need to.

 

It's a precarious part of management and the fact it's not his policy to change a winning team unless forced, we can't grumble too much that he's not changed it. It's what he does and it's worked so far. Plus, we've had 2 decent breaks whilst other teams around us carried on playing so i'm not buying this tiredness just yet. We were crap, simple as. If we can't raise our game vs Burnley and Wigan then i'll agree there's signs of a problem emerging. Let's chill out though, thankfully even when our fans have lost their heads this season such as Watford at home, Forest away and last night, the players have battled on and nicked equalisers when we were down and out. They have the belief, they have the mentality. It's time our fans did.

[thybluefox]

I kind of get the point. 

 

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. 

 

Had Nige changed the team last night, and then that team had put out a similar performance, he'd be getting slammed for changing a successful side. Instead, he keeps the team (never change a winning team blah blah blah) and gets slammed for not making changes. 

[svensson]

So other teams aren't struggling with fatigue then?? Its no coincidence that we came on strong for the last 10mins last night, we have a very fit squad/team that are more than capable of playing 3 games in a week.

[Babylon]

Two poor results, caused largely by fatigue.

So fatigue has caused Vardy to miss sitters (he always has done) and fatigue caused us to concede sloppy goals form set pieces (which we always do).

[Ric Flair]

...but I think big Nige has made a sizeable mistake with regards to managing his squad here.

 

Two poor results, caused largely by fatigue. Absolute sitters have been missed, and very sloppy goals conceded.

 

How can you expect to go with an unchanged side during a run of 5 games in under two weeks, from the 36th game of the season? Utter madness.

 

Now we are facing the prospect of facing the league's two most in-form teams with a tired first XI, and fringers short of match practice.

 

We might also have been a bit less predictable and a bit stronger by making changes for both Blackburn and Yeovil. Drinkwater and James, nobody could blame them for being absolutely knackered, and now they're up against a midfield only marginally less talented but just as hard-working. Vardy and Nugent are missing chances left, right and centre, and our next two games could easily be decided by one chance.

 

Time will tell, and if we get a reaction to last night on Saturday then fine, but I think NP made a big mistake by not giving Wood, King, Hammo, Moore etc larger chunks of the last two games. Now we have another 3 games in 9 days, and our points cushions could be devastated by the end of them.

 

Unbeaten run this and that, but three or four straight draws is as bad as losing.

 

By the way mate, Burnley have a tiny squad and only change it through injury and suspenstion. Why aren't they suffering from so called fatigue? They've also played more games than us recently.

[Ric Flair]

So fatigue has caused Vardy to miss sitters (he always has done) and fatigue caused us to concede sloppy goals form set pieces (which we always do).

 

Let's face it, we are guilty of missing loads of sitters every game. We create an obscene amount of chances, it's just what we do. We'll have 3 shots on Saturday and score all 3 now, you watch! Haha

[Jobyfox]

It’s always a difficult argument this one. If you keep winning with the same team the question never arises, but as soon as you lose (or you get a couple of poor draws) then everyone will jump on it and say the team is fatigued or out of form and we need to change. So how many games can you stay unbeaten with an unchanged team before it becomes the right thing to do (or have done) even when your form does inevitably start to dip? 46 games? 25 games? 18 games (with 13 wins and 5 draws)?

 

You could argue that we’ve already received the benefit of an unchanged team and, had we rotated, we wouldn’t be where we are in the table now. Alternatively you could argue that we should have changed a couple of games back but, as people have pointed out, everyone would say we shouldn’t have changed if the results had been poor.

 

I don’t know the answer, but NP and CS make the calls based on what they see in training. There are probably only two players I’d always try and pick (Drinkwater and Vardy) but, for the rest, the manager needs to decide whether they’re fit (mentally and physically) to play.

[Biggus]

I don't buy the fatigue argument, not physical fatigue anyway.  We have had at least two gaps of 10 days between games since the New Year and there have not been that many mid-week games.  However, we have a busy period and like Nige did at Christmas he might need to rotate the squad and make substitutions on the 60 minute mark more often. Mental fatigue is another matter. 

[Babylon]

Let's face it, we are guilty of missing loads of sitters every game. We create an obscene amount of chances, it's just what we do. We'll have 3 shots on Saturday and score all 3 now, you watch! Haha

Exactly.

 

Sometimes it feels like players aren't allowed to dip in form without there being a reason, or it being someones fault.

 

We laud Pearson and the club for their use of sports science and medical expertise when things are going great... a couple of draws and we're running people into the ground.

[ScouseFox]

surely a last minute equaliser would be something you'd use to argue against fatigue?

 

and the fact we were still creating chances and going strong in the last ten last night (from the radio) and at blackburn. If we were dead on our feet because we hadn't changed the squad we'd be coming out strong, taking leads and not seeing games through, not conceding first half goals and missing glorious chances or scoring in injury time.

[blueharmie]

Idiotic post

[RowlattsFox]

Easy to blame tiredness after a poor result. Burnley don't change their side very often and it's not done them any harm.

Saying that though, I did feel last nights game was an opportunity to rest a couple and freshen it up slightly but who knows whether that would have had any impact on the result.

[cc_star]

31 chances... Fatigue, really?

We must have been dead on our feet. 

 

Contradicting myself now, we could actually have been fresher last night, but the subs have been used quite well to combat fatigue & mix up our style over the past few games imo, GTF, Philips, Wood, Hammond, Dyer, King, Moore & plenty of match 'practice' spread around in the process.

[Captain...]

surely a last minute equaliser would be something you'd use to argue against fatigue?

 

and the fact we were still creating chances and going strong in the last ten last night (from the radio) and at blackburn. If we were dead on our feet because we hadn't changed the squad we'd be coming out strong, taking leads and not seeing games through, not conceding first half goals and missing glorious chances or scoring in injury time.

 

Not when it is scored by your keeper...

 

I was thinking about making a similar post to the OP, but I don't get to many games, so would only be basing it on the radio and people's comments.

 

A lot of people have commented that players look tired, especially Drinky and James, and they make us tick, I have been arguning against the never change a winning side mentality for years. We came a cropper last season with players looking burnt out and fatigued on the back of a long spell of an unchanged  team.

 

This season it could be happening again, and if so it has come at the worst possible time, hopefully it is a blip and Yeovil and Blackburn should take the credit for making us play badly, and we can raise our game for Burnley and Wigan, but I would like to see some players given a rest for Sheff Weds. Nige should have learnt from last season and it is my only criticism of him, that he doesn't utilise the squad to its best. It is no good picking the best player every game if they are knackered. A 100% fit and fresh King is better than James or Drinkwater at 50%.

[Babylon]

They didn't look tired, they just looked shit.

[Tommy G]

^{If we throw the league title away now it will be our own fault}

 

^{I stuck a tenner on burnley to win the league last week}

[billyn88]

People are trying to hard to find something more complex than the most likely explanation - no team can be sensational every single game, we didn't keep up our usual extremely high standards for one half at Blackburn against a good side.  Then we were (by all accounts) fairly rubbish last night.  It happens. 

 

One (one and a half if you're being harsh) poor game(s) is not cause for mass upheaval.  None of the players deserve to be dropped purely on the basis of the last couple of games.

 

When we went into QPR away, we'd gone three without winning and they were undefeated at home.  We didn't make mass changes going into that game and look what happened.   

[Kitchandro]

They didn't look tired, they just looked shit.

 

Agreed. Sorry but this thread massively inaccurate and unnecessary.

 

This 'fatigue' thing is so overplayed. These players should be no more tired than other players (bare in mind the size of Yeovil and Burnley's squads in comparison). In fact they should be physically as fit as they've been all season unless they're carrying knocks. They're athletes, if their training is right they should get stronger, not weaker.

 

We actually got better towards the end of the match, it was the first half where we looked slow and lethargic. Towards the end we showed urgency, energy and more quality than we did for most of the match.

 

So no, this tiredness argument doesn't hold up at all.

 

Players just go out of form. It's unrealistic to expect players to be at their best every single game.

[Happy Fox]

I think it is a testament to the side that we play below par and still achieve draws, hardly the worst predicament to be in.

 

We will be bang up for Saturday you can be sure of that.

[Callabinho]

Burnley have hardly changed their side at all, unless forced to. So thats not an excuse is it? 

[Christoph]

NP picks different team = OMG SHUD AVED STAYED WITH TEH WINNING FORUMULA 

 

NP picks same team = OMG SHUD AVE MIXED IT UP M8

 

No winning...

[kingcarr21]

Ridiculous thread. Dont agree at all with this fatigue nonsense. Players are allowed the odd bad game. the fact is even when were not playing at our best the players are still picking up points. That is a sign of a team heading for the Premiership.

 

With the urgency of our play in the latter stages of matches it clearly shows we can turn it up another gear hense why we have scored so many goals in the latter stages of games.

 

Just accept that Yeovil played really well and closed us down quickly and effectively. They probably put in the best performance from an away side at the KP this season.

 

Pearson can never win with some fans. Position in the league doesnt mean a team are pushovers especially in the championship. At the end of the day we simply played below average because Yeovil played really well.

 

every fan just needs to enjoy this unbeaten run and get behind the team

[Corky]

The amount of late goals we score and chances we create doesn't show fatigue. We probably were just really poor where before this season we've made these games comfortable.

 

Also, do we reckon NP's illness affected them and their performance?