Potter: Whole squad will be vital

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Albion boss says everyone will be needed for Premier League run-in.

Alex Stedman

2020-06-12T12:00:00Z

Albion's head coach on the training field.

Graham Potter has spoken about the importance of utilising his whole squad during the final nine games of the 2019/20 Premier League campaign.

Teams will now be allowed to make up top five substitutions in one match, and with nine games left to contest in seven weeks, the head coach knows the significance of using the new ruling to his team’s advantage.

“We all thought the increase to being allowed five substitutes would come into play, a bigger squad can help that.

“We’re okay with it, of course it changes things because it’s more than what we’re used to and that has an impact on the game. But we all understand why that is and we’re quite happy and positive about it.

“The challenge is to be able to use it, but we have a deep squad with lots of talent and we’ll look to use that in our favour.”

The COVID-19 crisis means that Albion last took to the field away to Wolves on 7th March at Molineux, but the boss spoke about the productive work that’s been done by both him and his staff in the meantime.

“We had a run of results where we’d have liked to have done better. It’s something we want to change,” he continued.

“The enforced break came at a good time for the team and I, then you have to use it in the best way you can to analyse and plan.

“It was a tricky process because of the uncertainty, but as we moved closer to getting back to playing, we were delighted because we wanted it to be decided on the field.”

Albion host Arsenal at the Amex next Saturday, before travelling to face Leicester City three days later. Potter highlighted the importance of his players having a focused mindset with matches being played without supporters between now and the season’s end.

“It will be very different as a whole experience, the major factor which makes the league is crowd and that isn’t there.

“We have to understand that and be aware of how that affects how we’re thinking and acting – we’ve spoken about that as a group and tried to make the players aware of the challenge.

“There’s a lot of stake and the stadiums will be empty, so it will be interesting to see how that pans out.”