I see no ships; only hardships. V Pompey away, Tues 28th Feb. 7-45.

[BWFC_Insane]

If we are that tired now I don’t know how we expect to cope till the end of the season. We’ve had a busy schedule but not one completely out of the ordinary for league one.

So is this a Bielsa thing where we’ve just worked players too hard and now they are burned out?

[GhostoftheBok]

If we are that tired now I don’t know how we expect to cope till the end of the season. We’ve had a busy schedule but not one completely out of the ordinary for league one.

Fixtures plus injuries. It's not just about games, it's about being able to rest players - even if that just means subbing them off.

A lot of minutes in some of these lads now. Some of whom don't seem to be moving as freely as you'd like.

You have to cope, but to suggest this run of fixtures with the injuries we have isn't an issue seems a bit off.

[BWFC_Insane]

If we are that tired now I don’t know how we expect to cope till the end of the season. We’ve had a busy schedule but not one completely out of the ordinary for league one.

Fixtures plus injuries. It's not just about games, it's about being able to rest players - even if that just means subbing them off.

A lot of minutes in some of these lads now. Some of whom don't seem to be moving as freely as you'd like.

You have to cope, but to suggest this run of fixtures with the injuries we have isn't an issue seems a bit off.

Well the number of players we sign who get injured immediately is alarming. So a review of training methods and some sports science intervention is desperately needed and I assume will be put in place in the summer.

I don't necessarily agree though that this is some unprecedented situation where we are playing so many games with so few players. We've had enough rotation generally bar the cup game. We've not on the whole had to flog anyone too much - Lee has rested. The only players I'd say maybe we've played too much of are Morley and Charles but Charles looks least impacted.

My guess is that this is less physical tiredness and more mental fatigue. Hence set pieces issues. We switched off completely for their equaliser failing to drop in from the high line. That isn't a symptom of tired legs but of tired minds. I'm not a huge fan of managers talking about tired players because I do think its a mental thing.

We were flying until Wycombe when we lost a narrow game. We went to Accrington a bit depleted due to cup tied players and whatever and won. We then obviously dipped for Port Vale. Portsmouth away always difficult anyway. But I'm not seeing a reason for a huge physical dip in there. Had we been struggling for a while I can see it.

But to me it feels like we expended too much mental energy for the semi final and have struggled since then. 3 games a week is always challenging but we made enough changes Accrington-PV to mitigate some of that.

If we're struggling suddenly I suspect its more in the mind than in the body. I also come back to - the new signings in January aren't doing enough to take the strain. None of them bar Shola appear to be selectable in our 'strongest 11' right now. Which is problematic.

[Worthy4England]

I do think some players are looking tired and probably need a rest...but.

I'd love to see a stats comparison between Liverpool's 53 game 14 player season and today. I'm fairly sure we'll hear words like faster and intensity and the like, to support the contention that everything's different. That belies the fact that the bodies on the pitch are also likely much better conditioned today, to cope with the intensity, than they were in 1965...

Words like "twinge" and "spasm" get me rolling my eyes, and whilst I'm sure we don't roll cortisone jabs out like candy these days and aware this'll make me sound like the grumpy old man that I am. I mean really? A fcuking "twinge". It has me mumbling "soft bastards." Especially when I weigh it against high impact contact sports...

Where's Hoboh when you need him? Get them up Winter Hill dragging tractor tyres...

[irie Cee Bee]

We lost because as a team, too many players had awful games. Simple. Traff, Lee and Bradley, three of our key players had terrible games for whatever reasons I don't know. Very uncharacteristic for Lee, having failed in his first tackle, to race after the second and kick after him like a petulant child seeking justice. Never seen him do that before.. I smiled.. but what has happened to the players since the Papa John semi-final??

Shola started to really taking over the game when he was subbed? Don't know why, but we lost all momentum after that. Charles worked hard but that first touch (sigh)...I also thought Toal played decent but our midfielders struggled.

The last 2 games we were not ourselves. Hope we turn up against Morecombe.

[Mar]

I'd be very interested to see a graph of where we've had free kicks here. I can't seem to remember us getting a free kick in the opposition half.

Us attacking right to left:
.
Screenshot 2023-02-28 at 21.40.35.png

Nice one. Do you have the oppositions for comparison by any chance?

It’s from WhoScored chalkboard. https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/16487 ... uth-Bolton

Thanks. The graphs showcase exactly what I expected.

Ref giving twice as many free kicks in the opposition's half for Portsmouth than they did for Bolton. Now of course the argument could be made that Portsmouth had more of the ball, but the stats don't suggest that either. 544 touches compared to Bolton's 542, heatmap shows that Portsmouth had more of the ball in their attacking right side but nothing substantial.

It may be bias, unconcious or otherwise, or us being crap at tackling on the day.

[Worthy4England]

They spent 38% in their attacking third (our defensive). Compared to us spending 26% of the time in their attacking third (might be a point out either way). How does that factor in?

[BWFC_Insane]

If any players are looking for an excuse, this game offers one. If there are tired players out there then the long journey down South isn't going to leave them feeling refreshed. Nobody enjoys flying down there for games.

I think it'll be put to the players as a challenge and they'll rise to it. As you said, they keep knocking down targets. We've beaten this lot twice this season and it's another game where our levels matter most.

Mousinho has won 50% of his games, so they're no joke; but he's played 3 good sides so far and not beaten any of them.

Far from an easy game. In Bishop and Morrell they have two of the best players in the division. If they give us a severe reality check then they do.

Hmmm.

[GhostoftheBok]

Hmmm.

Yup. I also took note that Evatt said he wanted a reaction after the Pompey performance and they'd never failed to give him a response when asked.

For me the response was needed after Vale. The need to improve should have been impressed on the players then. Evatt probably wanted to keep a buoyant mood going, but I suspect a minor misstep there.

It is what it is. Hopefully he is right and they put in a proper display on Saturday.

[BWFC_Insane]

Hmmm.

Yup. I also took note that Evatt said he wanted a reaction after the Pompey performance and they'd never failed to give him a response when asked.

For me the response was needed after Vale. The need to improve should have been impressed on the players then. Evatt probably wanted to keep a buoyant mood going, but I suspect a minor misstep there.

It is what it is. Hopefully he is right and they put in a proper display on Saturday.

I agree entirely with that. Our performance has dropped since losing to Wycombe - yes we beat Accrington in between but that game was a bit odd - they were down to ten men and we didn't exactly play well until the second half and really as they tired.

But I'm wondering what the reason for such a poor display against Port Vale and then Portsmouth was? I can buy fatigue to some extent but PV we changed players over and again against Portsmouth. Lee didn't start against PV but was dreadful at Portsmouth. Bradley looks done in but had two weeks off not that long ago.

I'm just wondering how distracted they got by a semi final and Wembley? Did it cause them to take focus off what they were doing before that? Because we won two 5-0 lost narrowly at Wycombe (still played relatively ok there). I don't think all of this is down to tiredness. It doesn't explain Santos being sloppy early doors, Trafford looking like he'd never kicked a ball and Lee falling over every 2 minutes. Nor Toal suddenly looking a bit pub league. If we'd been on top against Portsmouth taken the lead then they'd beat us I could say 'yeah tired legs'. But truth is we never deserved to win that game and only really for about 15 minutes second half did we look close to the team we can be.

[Worthy4England]

Hmmm.

Yup. I also took note that Evatt said he wanted a reaction after the Pompey performance and they'd never failed to give him a response when asked.

For me the response was needed after Vale. The need to improve should have been impressed on the players then. Evatt probably wanted to keep a buoyant mood going, but I suspect a minor misstep there.

It is what it is. Hopefully he is right and they put in a proper display on Saturday.

Did you hear Evatt's post match after Vale? Delighted with the win but observant about pretty much every aspect we'd been below par at, including training the day before the match. Didn't strike me it was lost on him that we needed an improvement...

[GhostoftheBok]

Did you hear Evatt's post match after Vale? Delighted with the win but observant about pretty much every aspect we'd been below par at, including training the day before the match. Didn't strike me it was lost on him that we needed an improvement...

No, but that's why I said it seems likely he wanted to maintain buoyant mood, rather than get into them.

Staff tone matters. You can be well aware of issues and still not light fires under people.

I think Evatt understands the game pretty well. He knows when we're bad and usually knows why. However, after a win it's easy to let it go a bit in the name of keeping positivity in the squad. I suspect that two years from now a more experienced Evatt lays down the law, but I'm saying that from the outside so it's pure guesswork. Sometimes you want to go easy on players, but I don't think that was the time for it.

Arses will have been kicked after that loss, so hopefully we get the reaction he's after.

[Worthy4England]

I have no idea whether Evatt got into them or not. What you describe is pretty much part and parcel of any team anywhere, sport or business...knowing when to do tea cups vs arm round collectively in individually is what high performance teams is all about. Whatever he did, it didn't get the reaction, on that, I'm sure no one would disagree

[BWFC_Insane]

I have no idea whether Evatt got into them or not. What you describe is pretty much part and parcel of any team anywhere, sport or business...knowing when to do tea cups vs arm round collectively in individually is what high performance teams is all about. Whatever he did, it didn't get the reaction, on that, I'm sure no one would disagree

I’m not that worried about what Evatt did or didn’t do I think he probably generally gets his man management and squad management right.

More worried that we were poor against Port Vale which was put down to difficulty following on from a semi final but then even worse (imho) against Portsmouth.

Something going on there for me and I’m not having it all being tiredness. If it is tiredness alone that’s probably more concerning. As you say these are professional athletes.

[Worthy4England]

I have no idea whether Evatt got into them or not. What you describe is pretty much part and parcel of any team anywhere, sport or business...knowing when to do tea cups vs arm round collectively in individually is what high performance teams is all about. Whatever he did, it didn't get the reaction, on that, I'm sure no one would disagree

I’m not that worried about what Evatt did or didn’t do I think he probably generally gets his man management and squad management right.

More worried that we were poor against Port Vale which was put down to difficulty following on from a semi final but then even worse (imho) against Portsmouth.

Something going on there for me and I’m not having it all being tiredness. If it is tiredness alone that’s probably more concerning. As you say these are professional athletes.

Yeah mate. I think he put some of it down to "mental fatigue" and "switching off." - it does make you wonder what sort of IQ you need to know that you need to head that football!

[BWFC_Insane]

I have no idea whether Evatt got into them or not. What you describe is pretty much part and parcel of any team anywhere, sport or business...knowing when to do tea cups vs arm round collectively in individually is what high performance teams is all about. Whatever he did, it didn't get the reaction, on that, I'm sure no one would disagree

I’m not that worried about what Evatt did or didn’t do I think he probably generally gets his man management and squad management right.

More worried that we were poor against Port Vale which was put down to difficulty following on from a semi final but then even worse (imho) against Portsmouth.

Something going on there for me and I’m not having it all being tiredness. If it is tiredness alone that’s probably more concerning. As you say these are professional athletes.

Yeah mate. I think he put some of it down to "mental fatigue" and "switching off." - it does make you wonder what sort of IQ you need to know that you need to head that football!

I have a feeling if you are told you are mentally fatigued it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

For all this talk about tiredness we’ve all seen teams on three games a week runs go on winning streaks and suddenly start to lose after a break. I’m sure there is some tired legs but if we are that bad then I think we need to look at the training workload.

[LeverEnd]

I'd be very interested to see a graph of where we've had free kicks here. I can't seem to remember us getting a free kick in the opposition half.

Us attacking right to left:
.
Screenshot 2023-02-28 at 21.40.35.png

Nice one. Do you have the oppositions for comparison by any chance?

It’s from WhoScored chalkboard. https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/16487 ... uth-Bolton

Thanks. The graphs showcase exactly what I expected.

Ref giving twice as many free kicks in the opposition's half for Portsmouth than they did for Bolton. Now of course the argument could be made that Portsmouth had more of the ball, but the stats don't suggest that either. 544 touches compared to Bolton's 542, heatmap shows that Portsmouth had more of the ball in their attacking right side but nothing substantial.

It may be bias, unconcious or otherwise, or us being crap at tackling on the day.

We were also a bit slower to everything than they were. Lots of niggly, slightly late minor fouls probably down to tired timing.
And the ref was a bellend too of course.