I believe that as we went into the season carrying several injuries there were a few players kept around that possibly would have been moved on in the summer. When Inapper came in many of those players had returned and therefore the squad looked bloated and was blocking pathways for some of the younger players. I personally enjoy seeing some of the young players in the bench. However my gripe with Wagner would be that although we see these players make the bench they are rarely given an opportunity. He only used 3 of his 5 subs on Tuesday when it was clear we needed freshening up. Ok by the end it would have been a bit of a cauldron to throw a young player into but had he done so on 60mins he could have injected some energy and young legs into the side, he attempted this with Gibbs but why not give SVH/Aboh/Welch a go (we were 2-0 up after all at that point. Stacey has been fantastic but Fisher hasn’t had a look in for months. We are going to be without Gianoulis for the next 4 or 5 games, the only back up to McCallum we have is Montoia - give him a taste of game time in the first team.
Yeah at times we have had players dead on their feet and I think anybody would know that. I was glad Ipswich didn't notice that with McCallum after 80 mins at the weekend he was gone, yet they didn't target him. If he can't see it he needs a staff member who can, perhaps have someone watching from the stands or a TV screen able to feed that info back to him
I got up at 3.15, so missed most of the first half, but we were two up so stayed up to watch the rest of the match. How the h we failed to score more goals, that is a plural, is a total mystery to me. Lack of composure on a couple of occasions, greed on a couple of others, inadequacy also played a part (Staceys attempt for instance). I am not slating Stacy as such, he has been an excellent replacement for Aarons, but he really should score from the position he got into.
Wagner doesn't seem over pleased about Knapper stripping players from the squad in January: "This is the real problem that we have - that we can't take any risks with our players at the minute. Obviously, you've seen the teamsheet in the last four or five weeks, and the players that we have with us are talented and young, but they need their time as well. This is why a lot of players have to play a lot of minutes; even if this is the case, we have to be very careful because we need the players, not only for one game—we need them for hopefully a few more. This is a risk that I always warned (against), but the decision was made to go with such a thin squad, and I have to accept it."
This does make me wonder if Knapper and Wagner will prove incompatible. Wagner wants senior pros on the bench and won't use the youngsters Knapper wants him to.
It's expecting a lot for a young player to be thrown into a vital match like this one. Possibly the final 3 games will provide opportunities if we can get on top early. I can totally understand Wagner's feelings about the squad being stripped down to bare bones rather than being strengthened for the play-off push. The injuries to Sørensen and Gibbs have made that even worse.
I occasionally disagree with people at work, but that doesn't stop me working with them. Wagner has shown he's more than happy to play young players when they are ready, even over seasoned pros.
Yes it is but if he had the foresight to use games where we are 2 up to blood in some young players then they wouldn’t be inexperienced when we needed to call on them. What’s the worst that could happen? We draw 2-2?
