He's not made many this season...

[whitlock]

I'm sure not so long ago, Burnley had a few games where they drew a few in a row? Don't think they had a melt down. We are not losing, we drew away at Blackburn and drew at home to Yeovil. Chelsea drew at home to WHU at home few games back.. and?

 

Yeovil are not just going to turn over. They unsettled us. They made us play the way we did. I think more credit needs to be given to them than criticising our players.

 

I expect a completely different game on Saturday, will be tough and would be happy with another draw.

[deep blue]

It's not reasonable to say "we couldn't have been tired because we got a second wind later in the game".  That period coincided with NP having brought on 3 pairs of fresh legs which also helped to lift the rest of the team.

[Babylon]

It's not reasonable to say "we couldn't have been tired because we got a second wind later in the game".  That period coincided with NP having brought on 3 pairs of fresh legs which also helped to lift the rest of the team.

Not sure I'd class Kevin Phillips legs as fresh anymore... even if he does come off the bench.

[Sharpe's Fox]

I would have changed it yesterday just to give other players game time, like we did at Millwall, and to make sure Vardy didn't get a yellow. I thought King and Hammond should have bee rewarded for what sounded like good games at Blackburn. This may of helped as players out of the team might work harder or it might not because players coming in might not be at a Championship level pace.

Ifs and buts really.

[Captain...]

Fatigue may not be the right word, last year I referred to it as burn out. It is not just about feeling tired, but the mental and physical pressures of playing football at the top (well near enough) is very difficult. Especially with the pressure and expectation of the fans and the media, knowing that it is all on you and one bad game could see you dropped and not get a look in for a long time (a la Konch and King) it builds up, and when things aren't going right a team like Yeovil, who everyone expects us to thrash, put up a fight, it can do funny things to people, get in their heads and you start doing things you wouldn't normally. We saw it last season with Drinkwater going into his shell and only passing backwards.

 

I know the players should be enjoying it, as should the fans, clear at the top with a game in hand, unbeaten in 18 but we are funny old creatures and we see it time and again in football, look at us last season, QPR this season, Forest, Boro, where teams have a collective melt down, quite often as the finish line nears, look at the clubs at the top almost trying not to get promoted last season, with poor result after poor result.

 

By having a fresh and motivated squad all trusted and capable of doing a job in the starting 11 helps prevent that kind of slump, that is why the best clubs in the country have large squads which they utilise to their maximum to maintain their momentum, and not allow blips to become slumps.

[Fox Ulike]

...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.

 

 

 

 

Sweet Lord! After the season we have had how on Earth can Pearson be said to have made made any "sizeable" mistake. Talk about an over-reaction. The man's human. (Apart from his knee).

 

And Sweet Jesus! Since when was an away draw at Blackburn regarded as a poor result? Jordan Rhodes cost £8million? That's more than Vardy, Nugent, Wood, Phillips, James, Drinkwater, Schmiecal, Konchesky, Moore, Schlupp, Morgan, Wasly and GTF put together!

 

Holy Mary. Our fans.

 

"Ealingfox today made available for transfer from LCFC. Coventry City have expressed an interest".

[LJS]

31 chances... Fatigue, really?

31 chances? Were you there? We might have had 31 shots but a shot isn't the same as a chance. A lot of people have been blinded by the stats from last night. We were shit. Those match stats are misleading.

God knows why people are panicking though. We're up. Enjoy it.

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

Interesting you have created this thread when there is another new thread lauding how many goals we have scored in the last 10 minutes of games. So what is it to be? We are no more tired than the next team in my opinion. We have lost a little form of late nothing more sinister than that.

[Hungry Hungry Fox]

Shows just how good we have been that we class drawing 2 games in a row as a loss of form

[Benji]

To be fair, I thought there were a few players last night who did just look knackered and ran as if they were playing in mud.  Whether that's just a perception from players having an off day and misplaced passes being made I don't know.  I guess we'll see over the next two weeks because if they are tired now, they'll be out on their arses after Sheff Wed.

[ealingfox]

To be honest, the OP was born more out of anxiety over the next two games than frustration over the previous two. A draw away at Blackburn is not a bad result in isolation or in context, but I will not accept that failing to beat (and almost losing) to Yeovil at home is anything but a bad result which has its causes. A lot of you would take a draw against both Burnley and Wigan which would make 4 points from 4 games. As I said before, unbeaten runs don't hold the same sway if you are drawing for fun.

[GingerrrFox]

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.

This is literally the most ignorant post about accumulation of fatigue and complete bullshit. You clearly no sweet FA about physiology and the demands that a 9 month football season places on the human body.

Take Danny Drinkwater for example he's played 90 minutes in our last 4 games. We've played 4 games in 14 days. It takes at least 48 hours to recover physiologically from the intensity of Championship football and that is assuming players don't pick up knocks and their recovery goes perfect with plenty of sleep and quality nutrition.

Central midfielders on average are covering distances of 13km and that is a comprised of sprints, multidirectional movements as well as jogging and walking. Going on those numbers in the last 14 days Drinkwater has totalled 52km in 360 minutes of football. It doesn't matter that we've had international breaks with 10 days between games when you have games coming thick and fast like we have in the next 10 days (Burnley, Wigan, Sheff Wednesday).

Drinkwater last season was a top player for us until fatigue set in and his form and confidence dropped drastically through fatigue which he openly admitted himself. Fatigue is such a hard thing to combat and the only way to do it is through squad rotation at sensible times. It's not the players fault that they are tired. To claim that players are fitter and fresher now than at the beginning of the season after a holiday followed by pre season training is completely ridiculous and frankly 100% wrong.

[XLM]

Bit of a silly post. If you watched the game you'd have seen how many chances we missed. And the level of running even in the 90th minute showed no signs of tiredness. An off day all around, nothing to worry about and nothing we can't turn right on saturday