West Bromwich Albion (H) | Foster's Preview

Tuesday night’s home game against West Bromwich Albion will complete a trilogy of matches at Home Park within a seven-day period.

Argyle drew with Coventry City and lost to Leeds United, on Wednesday and Saturday respectively, but performed well in each encounter. Now, fifth-placed West Brom head to Devon, another promotion-chasing side for Ian Foster’s team to contend with, but the Argyle Head Coach is pleased with his team’s form, as well as respecting the task ahead of them.

“[They are a] really good team,” said Foster, speaking to Argyle TV. “Defensively, they're a really good unit. Out of possession, really well structured, really hard to break down. Don't concede many goals.

“Then they've got the threat the other way, with some really exciting players, an inverted wide left and someone like [Jed] Wallace on the right who can go on the outside and deliver crosses.

“We know the threats they pose; they're an excellent team. That's why they're currently in the play-off spots.

“We're absolutely fine. We're full of confidence in terms of how we play. Our performances haven't been poor. The boys have played to their maximum, sometimes that's not enough.

“We respect the opposition. We know where we're at, at the moment. As long as we stick to the game plan and we maximise our efforts, then we've got no complaints. We hope that will be enough to get some points on the board on Tuesday.”

As well as discussing the Baggies, Foster gave us an insight into what goes on behind the scenes when the turnaround time between games is so tight.

“The process immediately after Leeds is to review the game,” said Foster. “We code the game in terms of how we play. We go back through that, in fine detail, so that we can review back to the players accordingly the following day. That's our priority.

“We always review the game before we move on to make sure that we've done what we thought we had.  We know that there'll be areas that we've done really well in, and areas where we can improve.

“Sometimes you review the game based on what the game plan was or what's to come. There'll be instances in the game where we’ll said this is pertinent because it's coming again Tuesday.

“Then we turn our attention to the opposition. There's a lot of work being done prior to me looking at them. We go through our processes in terms of analysing the opponent, coming up with a game plan to deliver to the players.

“I'm always reluctant to speak to players after a game when the emotions are high - and I mean that both ways. You can get carried away sometimes after the game when you think you've done better than you have, and vice versa. We never speak in detail to the players [after a game] because the review can show you different things.

“As well as watching the coded version of the game, I'll watch the game in its entirety. We get tactical footage of the game, so I'll watch that as well. The game's never really how you thought it was when you stood on the touchline. It's probably the worst place in the stadium to watch the game from, in all honesty.

“The players then come in for a recovery session, and around the review, they're doing their recovery work. Sometimes we split the group, so the starters will do something and the finishers will do something different.

“Yesterday (Sunday), we all stayed together, and the players did a hydro session, then cryotherapy work and the masseurs were in.

“It's a quick turnaround, we appreciate that, but we've got processes in place that will help us in terms of being prepared for 7.45pm on Tuesday.”