(10-05-2021, 14:06)BaggieSteve Wrote: I'm pretty ambivalent about Allardyce. If he stays, I'd be Ok about it although it would not fill me me with any great optimism or enthusiasm, although I concede the benefits of continuity and experience. If he doesn't, then I agree with Stairs that a young, ambitious manager would be my preference, someone who would take a different direction to how we've been managed these last twelve months. If that was the case, I think we should not expect an immediate return to the Premier League, which would likely upset many fans but which, I honestly think, might be for the better long term interests of the club.

I take issue with the description of Bilic as "clueless" and his squad as dreadful. He clearly made signing errors - although its less clear whose signings some of these were (Bilic or Dowling)  - particularly the failure to recognise the need for a strong, defensive midfielder. However, we were all very happy to see Pereira and Diangana sign permanently, and, in my view, Gallagher was the stand out midfielder for us in the first half of  the season. He also kept faith with Johnstone, when many - including some of us on this board - were castigating him as not being good enough. I think that faith has been vindicated. Bilic has achieved success in his profession, just as Pulis has, but these are not always reflected in trophies or glowing accolades from TV pundits. I think the only manager we've had in recent years who comes close to 'cluelessness' is Pardew, but that's a whole different discussion thread.

I'm not anti Allardyce because I do recognise the improvements he has made to the squad, most notably the signing of Yokuslu. But let's also not gloss over the crap by damning Bilic and laying Allardyce's failure at Slaven's door. Bilic was criticised for signing Grant, who has been completely underwhelming I'll fully admit, but let's get real on what is affordable for a team like West Brom when looking for a Premier League striker. That was the pool we were fishing. Allardyce's signing of Diagne, for me, confirms that.....he's a million miles away from being a Premier League level player but that was about all that was available to us. I have no idea why he signed Lonergan (but I'm happy to be enlightened on that) and I've absolutely no idea why he continued to not play Robinson (even ignored as a sub in favour of HRK) for many games, and why Diangana has been completely sidelined, particularly when we've been crying out for some creativity up front.

As I said, I'm OK about Allardyce staying but let's please not regard Bilic's time with us as some dismal failure because it certainly wasn't.

(10-05-2021, 14:06)BaggieSteve Wrote: I'm pretty ambivalent about Allardyce. If he stays, I'd be Ok about it although it would not fill me me with any great optimism or enthusiasm, although I concede the benefits of continuity and experience. If he doesn't, then I agree with Stairs that a young, ambitious manager would be my preference, someone who would take a different direction to how we've been managed these last twelve months. If that was the case, I think we should not expect an immediate return to the Premier League, which would likely upset many fans but which, I honestly think, might be for the better long term interests of the club.

I take issue with the description of Bilic as "clueless" and his squad as dreadful. He clearly made signing errors - although its less clear whose signings some of these were (Bilic or Dowling)  - particularly the failure to recognise the need for a strong, defensive midfielder. However, we were all very happy to see Pereira and Diangana sign permanently, and, in my view, Gallagher was the stand out midfielder for us in the first half of  the season. He also kept faith with Johnstone, when many - including some of us on this board - were castigating him as not being good enough. I think that faith has been vindicated. Bilic has achieved success in his profession, just as Pulis has, but these are not always reflected in trophies or glowing accolades from TV pundits. I think the only manager we've had in recent years who comes close to 'cluelessness' is Pardew, but that's a whole different discussion thread.

I'm not anti Allardyce because I do recognise the improvements he has made to the squad, most notably the signing of Yokuslu. But let's also not gloss over the crap by damning Bilic and laying Allardyce's failure at Slaven's door. Bilic was criticised for signing Grant, who has been completely underwhelming I'll fully admit, but let's get real on what is affordable for a team like West Brom when looking for a Premier League striker. That was the pool we were fishing. Allardyce's signing of Diagne, for me, confirms that.....he's a million miles away from being a Premier League level player but that was about all that was available to us. I have no idea why he signed Lonergan (but I'm happy to be enlightened on that) and I've absolutely no idea why he continued to not play Robinson (even ignored as a sub in favour of HRK) for many games, and why Diangana has been completely sidelined, particularly when we've been crying out for some creativity up front.

As I said, I'm OK about Allardyce staying but let's please not regard Bilic's time with us as some dismal failure because it certainly wasn't.

(10-05-2021, 16:35)Salopbaggie Wrote: I would pretty much go with the flow as long as we don't give SA to much credit, at the end of the day if the season had started when he took over we would only just be outside the relegation zone now with 3 still to play.  It also bothered me a little yesterday, that he did nothing about Furlong getting overloaded often 3 on 1 on that right hand side, with the same move over and over again, a three way triangle followed by a cutback to the third man, they cut through us numerous times with the same move and  nothing Furlong could do about it on his own.

(10-05-2021, 19:55)BaggieSteve Wrote: I think our squad in the first promotion under Megson was technically inferior to this current squad by some distance but it had a hunger and passion that endeared it to the fans (let's face it, if you played for Megson with less than 100+% effort, you were dead!). I agree Slick that there seemed to be a resigned air to this team from early in the season, an attitude that Bilic should have resolved as the coach, although you wonder if the players were mirroring his approach, as he never seemed to exude the sort of passion we needed. I also agree that the balance of the transfer dealings was wrong; we were too lightweight in midfield and the defence had precious little cover as a result.

As regards Grant, I don't know what to make of that piece of business; we seemed to have been tracking him for a while and yet, when he arrived and we saw him play, I think many of us wondered why we had been so keen. I guess our problem was that, if we were looking for a 'Charlie Austin' type of player to act as a focus for the attack, we probably had limited options, in terms of availability and affordability. Fulham had Mitrovic, and he would have been the type of player who may well have suited us, given the other players we had or recruited. Sheffield United pissed £20 million on Brewster, having previously, and unbelievably, spent the same on Ollie McBurnie, a player who makes Grant look like a bargain. (for these reasons alone, I would not want Chris Wilder as manager). Maybe Grant will be an inspired signing for the Championship, since he wasn't one for the Premier League.

Despite all this, I'm looking forward to next season, regardless of who is managing us, although I would struggle with a return of Pardew! I enjoy the Championship, there are some great away days, there's no VAR, we rarely take a beating and our interest is usually at the top end of the table, rather than the bottom. I hope to see a number of the young players feature in the squad, which is probably likely given Lai's reluctance to provide funds.

So, f*ck of season 2020-2021 and hello 2021-2022

(10-05-2021, 18:10)Slick_Footwork Wrote:

(10-05-2021, 16:35)Salopbaggie Wrote: I would pretty much go with the flow as long as we don't give SA to much credit, at the end of the day if the season had started when he took over we would only just be outside the relegation zone now with 3 still to play.  It also bothered me a little yesterday, that he did nothing about Furlong getting overloaded often 3 on 1 on that right hand side, with the same move over and over again, a three way triangle followed by a cutback to the third man, they cut through us numerous times with the same move and  nothing Furlong could do about it on his own.

I think he tried to, he switched Robbo who started on the right with Phillips who is more defensively minded.

I like Robbo, but he didn't do any defensive duties at all. Saka basically had a free lunch.

Unfortunately Phillips couldn't really live with Saka either. I guess it would've been an occasion for Snodgrass, had he been fit.

Sometimes though you just have to acknowledge the opposition are a bit too good and I think Saka was excellent marauding forward from left back.

Although, we've had some bad luck this season. In every other game where Tierney was out, Arteta selected Xhaka or Cedric at left back. Had he done that yesterday, we probably would've got a result. Sod's law that he finally realises how good Saka is in that position when they play against us.