When it comes down to it, the reason Albion lost both those games was down to defensive errors, and not team selection. Mistakes from Thomas Gaardsoe and Paul Robinson gifted Chelsea the first two goals at the Bridge, and poor marking by Neil Clement and Steve Watson was a massive factor in all three of Birmingham';s goals on Saturday. In other words, the back four, which has been the most settled area of the team all season, was largely responsible for the two defeats. In fact, the one member of the defence to escape the week unscathed was Martin Albrechtsen, who came into the side for the Chelsea game for Steve Watson, who is first choice right back if Cascarino's suggestion that it was a reserve side at the Bridge is to be believed.

But any Albion fan who has watched a few games this season will know that Bryan Robson probably doesn't have a first choice right back, or at least hasn't decided. Albrechtsen made that position his own for the second half of last season and he and Watson have both started two games apiece this term. And few Albion fans are able to select a first choice midfield or attack either, because Robson has spent the summer assembling a squad of players that are all capable of doing a job in this division, and he doesn't have a first eleven.

That is the crux of the matter. Robson did not pick a "weakened" or "reserve" side against Chelsea, he made use of his squad in a week when we had three games in eight days. And if you actually look at the team that played, there was plenty of first team experience. As well as last season's first choice back four and the first choice 'keeper, Jonathan Greening has played every game this season, Andy Johnson was a first choice until his injury last January and Kanu and Scimeca have both had extended runs in the side. The only players who haven't had a great deal of first team experience at Albion were new signing Diomansy Kamara, who played well, and Richard Chaplow, who I thought was Albion's man of the match.

Moreover, I suspect that Mr Cascarino did not watch the game at Chelsea, because if he had, he would have known that Albion contained Chelsea for long periods and, without the two dreadful first half errors, could've easily gone in at half time at 0-0. The two goals after the break were only conceded once Albion changed to a more attacking approach.

Cascarino's suggestion that "damage limitation has no place in the top flight" is either naïve or not really applicable to this situation. My understanding of "damage limitation" is accepting defeat but trying to limit the size of it. If that was the aim at Chelsea, attacking midfielders such as Greening, Chaplow and Kamara (arguably a striker) would not have played, and Robson would’ve not brought on Inamoto and Ellington to try to get something from the game. He cites the vital point the Baggies gained at Old Trafford last season as an example of a different approach - in reality, in both games Albion, along with 90% of the Premiership, would've been happy with a point, but in neither case was defeat accepted. If that is what Cascarino means by damage limitation, then he needs to accept that it is a fact of life in the top flight today.

While I can understand the teams Robson selected for both games, the bench on Saturday was poorly chosen. As he was playing Carter for the first time, he needed a midfield option if it didn't work (which it didn't). That could've been Scimeca in place of either Albrechtsen or Moore, Kamara in place of either Earnshaw or Ellington or Inamoto, Chaplow, or Johnson in place of Moore. Hindsight is very useful, but common sense should dictate that a midfield option is required in any event if only to allow for injuries. One could argue that Watson could move into the middle and be replaced by Albrechtsen, but with Inamoto and Chaplow having impressed in recent weeks, one of them at least deserved a place on the bench.

At this early stage of the season, Robson is still working out the strengths of his squad and, had his largely settled back four continued their good form of last season, Albion could've been three (or even four) points better off and everybody would be content. As it is, the argument as to whether the squad is strong enough to be rotated will rumble on - it took Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea fans time to get used to it (remember the Tinkerman), but they all now accept it. Obviously, the Albion squad isn't of the same quality as those three, but there is an argument that most of them can add something to the team in a given situation, and that is the basic idea.