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+----- Thread: Blackpool vs WBA - FA Cup Third Round Match Thread (/showthread.php?tid=10089)
Blackpool vs WBA - FA Cup Third Round Match Thread - Ska'dForLife-WBA - 07-01-2021
![[Image: 30287.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/DGHw9rJ/30287.jpg)
With our league form increasingly suggesting that the next away trip will probably be to Dignitas, it's a welcome relief to put the Prem table away for a couple of days and embrace what tends to be my favourite weekend of the football calendar. Yes, it's the third round of the FA Cup: that exhilarating fairytale of frosty, windswept grounds and floodlit miracles, in which Albion have never ever come a cropper. Well, not with Sam Allardyce sitting in the dugout, anyway.
Ah, hang on.
Yes, Tuesday of this week was the thirtieth anniversary of Tim Buzaglo Day, which sent Big Sam and Brian Talbot packing the first time round. No Woking to set up a date with destiny this time round, though not for lack of effort on their part; they were edged out by Gillingham in the first round. Instead, the draw has set up our first senior fixture against Blackpool since the dramatic 3-2 victory at the Hawthorns - our last under Roberto Di Matteo - exactly ten years ago; the first cup tie versus the Seasiders since our heroic-yet-doomed 1978 run to a Highbury semi-final, and the first to send us to Bloomfield Road since a third-round replay on the 8th of January 1964. Even the most cursory glance at history suggests that this match-up produces goals galore: the last 0-0 between the sides was in 1976, and since then we've had ten consecutive games in which both teams scored, with the average being bang on four goals shared each time. And if it helps to settle the nerves at all, Albion have generally had the better of these encounters, though as our last stroll along the prom-prom-prom resulted in Michael Oliver kindly reducing us to nine men in the first half, that 2010 visit ended in a narrow, frankly unlucky defeat.
Still... as banana skins (or tangerine skins) go, it's big enough to cause some alarm, and slippery enough to be an embarrassment if things do go wrong. Having dropped down to the basement of the Football League in the long aftermath of their Premier League adventure, Blackpool have clawed their way back up to League One and finally escaped the shadow of the hated Oystons. They're not prolific scorers, but around the Albion defence at the minute, you don't really have to be; the threat comes from Gary Madine and Jerry Yates up front, with Chris Hamilton also regularly finding the net from the wing. On paper, Albion easily have the strength and firepower to top whatever Blackpool offer, but strength and firepower don't always translate into confidence in front of goal during a miserable season.
With major league matches ahead, the temptation of modern football is to regard this competition as a sideshow, but clearing the hurdles ahead is going to be infinitely harder if we clatter headlong into this first and lowest one. Whatever else may come, a win on Saturday is a must.
RE: Blackpool vs WBA - FA Cup Third Round Match Thread - drewks - 07-01-2021
Yup, methinks a win here is TRULY a must.
A win might give us a tiny bit of confidence back, but a defeat will be catastrophic regarding the fragile /non existent confidence that the players must currently have.
Would a defeat here mean the end of SA? Nothing would surprise me.
RE: Blackpool vs WBA - FA Cup Third Round Match Thread - Blue Baggie - 09-01-2021
Balancing act needed by Sam. The team needs to strong enough to win the game. However weak enough to ensure a loss could be dismissed as unimportant. I would like a win with a clean sheet just a moral booster just before Dingle day.
RE: Blackpool vs WBA - FA Cup Third Round Match Thread - Slick_Footwork - 09-01-2021
The team looks like...
Button
Peltier
Ivanovic
Bartley
Gibbs
Grosicki
Livermore
Ajayi
Gallagher
Krovinovic
Pereira
--
It could be 3 at the back, but I'm hopeful we will actually see Ajayi in midfield. Not a striker in sight so Austin most certainly off.
Not sure if it will be Pereira or Grosicki operating up top? Or could Sam actually be trying Ajayi or one of the other central defenders there?
Interesting team, but should certainly see us through.
RE: Blackpool vs WBA - FA Cup Third Round Match Thread - Stairs - 09-01-2021
Bloody Hell. Could have predicted that
RE: Blackpool vs WBA - FA Cup Third Round Match Thread - BaggieSteve - 09-01-2021
Anyone tell me which of these two teams is in the EPL as I can’t seem to work it out ?
RE: Blackpool vs WBA - FA Cup Third Round Match Thread - Slick_Footwork - 09-01-2021
What complete dour dross.
Does make you wonder where we go from here...
Not a single forward in the squad. Pereira clearly can't play there as he's only useful with options in front of him picking passes. Some of our squad players like Peltier and Bartley would look at home at this level.
One of the players I was excited to see - Kamil Grosicki - looks completely disinterested. Can't even be arsed to get involved.
In terms of changes, we need to add some spark to the centre of midfield because the trio of Ajayi, Livermore and Gallagher is far too industrial. There's nobody in there who can pick a pass in there. I'd probably be looking at moving Krovi inside and putting Pereira back in wide midfield. Maybe we can try Edwards up top as at least he has pace and is direct.
Then Grosicki needs to be hauled as well, as we need XI players on who at least have some interest in being involved. Not sure if one of the youngsters on the bench can play in his role? I think this could be the last time we see him play, unless he remains on and suddenly shows something 2nd half.
All in all, this game highlights how poor our squad is. If Robinson was involved, we would probably have enough threat to go through. But as the only fit forward at the club (with Austin's departure looking imminent) I can understand him not being risked. Honestly not sure this squad has what it takes to get back into the game, but hope I'm wrong.
RE: Blackpool vs WBA - FA Cup Third Round Match Thread - baggietrousers - 09-01-2021
I think it's safe to assume that the appointment of Allardyce is the worst decision ever made by anyone concerned in the running of WBA.
2-1 down to a league one club, and not a high flying one at that, so what does he do, bring on another f#$king centre back!!!!
Mind you with a bench full defenders I don't suppose he could do much else.
RE: Blackpool vs WBA - FA Cup Third Round Match Thread - Blue Baggie - 09-01-2021
The players are looking for a move, they have already decided they don't want to be here. As for Sam after his tactics today IMO he's just waiting for his pay off.
Let's look forward now and see who goes and who stays.
RE: Blackpool vs WBA - FA Cup Third Round Match Thread - Dingle-Dingle - 09-01-2021
Reportedly Austin is at QPR watching the game.
DD
