The worrying thing for me from Saturday was not the schoolboy errors made by some of our players which lead to all 3 goals, but the thought processes of a manager who felt that it would be better to play a second rate centre half (who missed all of pre-season , looked hopelessly off the pace in his comeback against Tottenham & who was suspended in our only game since then) at left back and leave his 2 specialist left backs either on the bench or out of the squad altogether
He can bang on that Figueroa was fatigued or jet lagged after his international games for Honduras but I doubt that the 45 mins of extra kip he got during that 1st half would have made much of a difference
Quite why he dropped Van Aanholt altogether is beyond me – & according to the football first commentator on Sky beyond Van Aanholt too.
People can debate Bobby’s tactics, formations & style of play till they’re blue in the face, but such a glaringly bad judgement call can’t be denied or glossed over.
Everyone makes mistakes though & I hope that its one Bobby acknowledges & learns from just as I hope that examples in recent games of players getting caught in possession in dangerous territory highlights to him that there are times when giving it a good old hoof is a better option than trying to play it out from the back – although I think one is more likely than the other
EDIT – & one other thing. I’ve never thought that Caldwell deserves the flak he gets from some Latics supporters but in the last couple of games his lack of mobility has been horribly exposed. All Eagles needed to do for that 3rd goal on Saturday was stop & turn onto his other foot & Caldwell was incapable of either stopping or changing direction. Same the other week against Villa. It shouldn’t be that easy to turn a premier league defender
