Thoughts and reaction to today's match against WBA..merged

[Black, White and Fred]

Stek was brilliant today. He doesn't deserve any stick for their goal he well and truly was man of the match.

However Parker was very poor. Lost count of the times he lost the ball and he always seemed to choose the wrong pass.

With Kvist in his place could it have been 3 points instead of 1?

[DUKE]

The plan was simple. Catch them on the counter or the through ball to Mitro while all their players were camped around our penalty area. Unfortunately for us the Greek was awful today so was the service to him. Had two maybe 3 good balls. What did he do? One he handled it. The second he was out muscled by Olson and the 3rd ball he couldn't catch it. Too slow. Not good enough means just that.

[Sgt Fulham]

The plan was simple. Catch them on the counter or the through ball to Mitro while all their players were camped around our penalty area. Unfortunately for us the Greek was awful today so was the service to him. Had two maybe 3 good balls. What did he do? One he handled it. The second he was out muscled by Olson and the 3rd ball he couldn't catch it. Too slow. Not good enough means just that.

Give the guy a chance.....?

[St Eve]

The new Greek is not fit. He should know that. Kvist should have played instead of Parker. The other selections are all up for debate as we all have our own opinions. However, his substitutions were just wrong. Every single one of them. How on earth can you expect the team with the LEAGUES worst defense to defend a 1 goal lead.

[DUKE]

The plan was simple. Catch them on the counter or the through ball to Mitro while all their players were camped around our penalty area. Unfortunately for us the Greek was awful today so was the service to him. Had two maybe 3 good balls. What did he do? One he handled it. The second he was out muscled by Olson and the 3rd ball he couldn't catch it. Too slow. Not good enough means just that.

Give the guy a chance.....?

As I said in a previous  post we will get a better idea of him next week but the first pass was a peach and he handled it. Come on! We all know in this league you don't get many chances.. I hope is just a fitness issue otherwise we are in big big trouble.

[NogoodBoyo]

The problem is very obvious.  We are living with Jol's legacy of not concentrating on getting his squad fit.  In the last three games we have played well only to fade and concede at the end.  Sidwell, Holtby, Parker and Dejagah just lacked the legs to protect the back four in the last 20 mins.  A goal was inevitable.
That is unlikely to change as you can't get the fitness levels to where they should be at this stage of the season.
Nogood "thanks Jol, isit" Boyo

[One Martin Thomas]

a lot of blogs hit the spot in my mind....

0. fans were brilliant today.  So happy to see us out in numbers and noisy.  Great atmosphere.
1. Realising that Magath appointment means going back to Dad's army again.  Need some youth in that team as they looked pooped after 50minutes (Cole, Tunnicliffe ??).
2. Amorbietta is awful.  Riise is certainly the lesser of two evils.
3. Brede looked better with a decent defender next to him... is he now any better than Burn ?  Not sure anymore.
4. It looks like the Greek is gonna need time & we don't have it.
5. No shot on goal (from memory) in second half... bit like a Jol side !
6. Thought Gera substitution turned match in their favour.
7. Sidwell was excellent.  All over the place.  Heard many WestBrom fans outside stadium speaking highly of Sidwell.
8. Steks was great.  Much like the keeper we always thought he would be.
9. Parker was very average and lost the ball in several dangerous areas.
10. Long ball to the sole attacker did not work well against their defence.

Came away with a similar feeling after Newcastle away...  they were there for the taking... and we didn't.

A bit down tonight, but COYW.

[Arthur]

From where I was stood, Hangeland did well. Burn, when he came on, seemed to find Anichebe harder to contain. I don't think it was the case that we chose not to attack; we can't pass the ball well enough so we have to do a lot of running to compensate. By the second-half, it took its toll. I can't fault the commitment and yet we looked as if we were two divisions below the Baggies after half-time.

[Fulham1959]

1.  Under Rene, with his team selection, I think we would have won this match. 
2.  WBA were woeful in the first half.
3.  By half-time, I was fairly confident we would win but it all went wrong in the second 45.
4.  Early days under Felix, obviously.
5.  I wish Zoltan Gera was still playing for us !

[The Old Count]

The problem is very obvious.  We are living with Jol's legacy of not concentrating on getting his squad fit.  In the last three games we have played well only to fade and concede at the end.  Sidwell, Holtby, Parker and Dejagah just lacked the legs to protect the back four in the last 20 mins.  A goal was inevitable.
That is unlikely to change as you can't get the fitness levels to where they should be at this stage of the season.
Nogood "thanks Jol, isit" Boyo

Nogood has been bashing on about Jol and the problem with player's fitness for ages....AND HE IS RIGHT.  Not enough concentration on conditioning has always been one of Jol's teams failings and we are still suffering the fall out.

[fulhamben]

The problem is very obvious.  We are living with Jol's legacy of not concentrating on getting his squad fit.  In the last three games we have played well only to fade and concede at the end.  Sidwell, Holtby, Parker and Dejagah just lacked the legs to protect the back four in the last 20 mins.  A goal was inevitable.
That is unlikely to change as you can't get the fitness levels to where they should be at this stage of the season.
Nogood "thanks Jol, isit" Boyo

Nogood has been bashing on about Jol and the problem with player's fitness for ages....AND HE IS RIGHT.  Not enough concentration on conditioning has always been one of Jol's teams failings and we are still suffering the fall out.

or we just have to many old players. These are highly paid experienced players and should be able to condition there own bodies without a boot up there arse. I remember stories about how hard pembridge used to train to keep up with younguns, why aren't our players doing that? Either they can't be bothered or as I suspect they are just past there sell by dates. Unfortunately we will have to have another  turnstile type window to right the mistakes of the last 6

[ChesterTheTabby]

Magath reminds me of a hodgeson type. I think we will stay up. We will go to the very last game of the season, hammer Palace, and stay up. BELIEVE. Unbeaten under magath.

[St Eve]

We lost the game due to poor substitutions. Felix is to blame for that

[Baszab]

Agree with you -->
1. Great support
2. Some of Magath's decisions on team/substitutions were odd - where was Riether playing at the end ? Why not keep Heitinga in centre of defence? Presume Richardson was suffering because we needed him as an outlet
3. Amoriebeta = pants
4.Mitroglou = waste of time and money - can't run - surprised as they must have known that from the U21 game and in training
5. Couldn't attack in second half  - Holtby who has been brilliant was poor second half
6. Gera and Anichebe were really dangerous
7. Sidwell = mom
8. Steks made 2 brilliant saves - especially from the deflected shot -- but it was his mistake for the goal
9. Parker was knackered and should have been replaced by Kvist
10. WBA were really aggressive second half - we are not strong enough to hack it in this division

[PokerMatt]

"Waste of money and can't run".

I'm sick of the dramatic reactions to his first appearance from the bench when the players behind him were sitting on the edge of their own box.

Give the bloke a chance ffs.

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[YankeeJim]

Some good thoughts here except for Mitroglou not being worth the money. 29 minutes when the team was bunkering and half of our attack taken off (Richardson)? Good Lord, at least wait until you see something before you make such a gigantic jump to a conclusion. Guess he'll be the new Dempsey.  

[Baszab]

I desperately hope that Mitroglou will succeed - I just think it was a pathetic panic buy by an idiot CEO - he is not fit and could hardly run in the U21 game on Monday so surprised to see him feature today  - Hugo did OK today - actually ran around and was a proper target for some of the game - and had a great shot first half - Mitroglou just looked stodgy to me

[FPT]

The Mitroglou comments utterly disgust me. He gets 30 minutes (if that) watching his team defend.

We were camped on our own box, with no one even close to Mitroglou, but he held the ball the ball up well, and found Holtby a number of times. To add to that, I think Holtby didn't help us at all in the second half, he kept trying to force the pass and ultimately giving the ball back to WBA, when we really needed a breather and to keep the ball in the West Brom half.

Mitroglou looked strong, he held off Mulumbu, once or twice, which is no easy task, and successfully received the ball 10 times, whether it be aerially or to his feet. Maybe Cardiff away, or even when he has a shot, before judging him pathetically.

[westcliff white]

team selection was poor, to many of the players have failed us this season. shame Tunni wasn't in the squad or Kvist wasn't starting.

The Burn / Richardson sub i cannot fathom at all, in fact why wasn't Burn starting.

Not a good start at all.

[Julius Geezer]

Stekelenburg played well - took the shine off his performance with the loose handling on the goal.

Riether was re-energised today - made some good tackles, not sure where he was meant to be playing second half.

Amorebieta - poor game, gave us nothing going forward, lost out on headers too - glad he was subbed.

Hangeland was good, few sliced clearances here and there but got some vital blocks in.

Heitinga also excellent, one of our best players in fact with well timed tackling and good concentration, switching him to right back was a bad move though.

Parker was quality. Don't agree he was average at all. Covered alot of ground, constantly getting in West Brom players faces, made some crucial tackles.

Sidwell - good game, he's turning into mr consistant even if a few passes went astray and missed good chance.

Dejagah - Excellent, gave Ridgewell plenty to think about and took his goal well.

Holtby - Another great performance, does so much right, tired later on, going to be vital in the run-in.

Richardson - Fairly quiet, made some good runs, helped Amorebieta out, got subbed.

Rodallega - Gave us good options, won the ball in the air a few times, tried hard, was unlucky with his effort in the first half.

Mitroglou - Looked rusty, had a lack of zip, one or two nice touches, have faith he will settle in.

Riise done ok, still got done a couple of times down the wing.

Burn didn't have long, thought it was a bit of an odd sub, didn't have strength to cope with Anichebe.


Thought our first half looked well drilled and organised, small short passing in triangles worked well.

Should have put the couple of extra chances we had to practically finish the game off before half time.

They changed their system, we had to change ours.

We didn't look the same second half, gave possession away far too easily and repetitively, gave ourselves too much defending to do.

Having said that - I thought we would hold on and was really disappointed to concede so late. That missed 2 points could be crucial.

Anichebe was a massive threat to us with his strength - thought they didn;t have much to offer until he came on.

Special mention to our fans who were excellent today and definitely gave the boys a boost.