[Slick_Footwork]

A long-long-time work colleague and Blunts fan more or less said the same last Summer. Worked miracles to get them up and not just keep them up but by a big margin. The wheels fell off after the mid-season break last season and then spending silly money on a couple of guys that didn't perform/couldn't score in a house with a red light over the front door etc. The wheels never got put back on.

BTW - your problem with Karlan Grant is he's a wide player that cuts in off the wing (left usually) to score in a front 2 or 3. You keep playing him up front on his own, where we also found out that he couldn't score in a house with a red light over the front door. Someone at Baggies HQ needs to dig out a few of our video's, I assume they have some or why else did you even turn up to look at him - or better still maybe the manager chap could talk to him about it.

Not one of Sam's best qualities tho'-but, talking to players about their strengths then picking tactics accordingly. It isn't anything he's well known for. Picking a system and then blaming players because they aren't suited to it/capable of playing in it is his modus operandi. Square pegs, round holes and all that when even the round holes are to his own design are with the wrong sized drill to boot for the few round pegs that he has. Some players still fall right through, some are also too big to sit comfortably in the hole he drilled for them. Pleased about his 100% England record, wouldn't want him to be able to go double or quits on that one tho' either.

Good luck chaps, I see Snoots has already welcomed you back.

Respectfully, it's clear you haven't watched many (if any) of our games.

I can see you're not an Allardyce fan, which is fine. However, regarding Grant, he hasn't "kept playing him up front on his own" at all. Grant hasn't started a single game up front on his own since Diagne was brought in. It was Bilic who bought Grant to play central striker.

Since Diagne came in, on the rare occasions Grant has started, he's done so from the left. Had Allardyce been here in the summer I doubt we would've even acquired him to be honest.

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Warned ya's on another thread about Allardyce.

Couple of good results, go watch paint dry the rest of the time. It's fascinating by comparison.

Again, more proof you haven't watched us.

The football under Allardyce has been far better than the previous regime. More bodies in the box, more shots, more goals.

Recently, we were dreadful against Leicester, but in every other game we have given every team a game and created chances.

[wba13]

Keep Allardyce he’ll do for me.

[Salopbaggie]

I think if I were on the board and had offered SA the job and he said he wanted two weeks to think about it, I would be saying "don't bother, I'll look for someone who is hungry and wants it". We don't need someone who is just coming for the cheque, we need someone who is hungry and we can look at for the long term, if there is such a person these days, not someone who is making their final payments to their pension. Now I don't know if that is what has actually happened, the other alternative of course is, he has already said he does not want the job and the club are delaying the announcement.

[theo_luddite]

Didn't appear to have anyone along side him when he came on against Liverpool Slick. Ran around chasing shadows for the most part.

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What I'm getting at, and he's not the only one, if he picked his (with the ball and to some extent without) tactics around the strengths of the players he has rather than "the square pegs in round holes play to my tactics" he generally employs you could have done better than you have. Whether that "better" would have been good enough to save you is open to discussion. The "better" that you think he's made you clearly wasn't good enough this season.

Ether way I'll enjoy our matches against each other next season regardless of the results, or who's in charge at yours or ours.

[Baggiebob(BBB)]

I don't think it was time to think, it was to have heard what backing he'd get, money and options to get the players he wants to get us straight up.

He's too professional just to accept what Bilic did, and enter the Prem without the right players to keep us up. Look what BS did in the Jan window which unfortunately wasn't enough time to get them playing as they now are. Just saying

[Slick_Footwork]

Didn't appear to have anyone along side him when he came on against Liverpool Slick. Ran around chasing shadows for the most part.

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What I'm getting at, and he's not the only one, if he picked his (with the ball and to some extent without) tactics around the strengths of the players he has rather than "the square pegs in round holes play to my tactics" he generally employs you could have done better than you have. Whether that "better" would have been good enough to save you is open to discussion. The "better" that you think he's made you clearly wasn't good enough this season.

Ether way I'll enjoy our matches against each other next season regardless of the results, or who's in charge at yours or ours.

So basically you've watched 1 game against Liverpool and derived that a single 10 minute spell up front means he "kept playing him up front on his own".

Well, as a fan who has watched every West Brom game this season, I can assure you that he hasn't kept playing Grant upfront on his own at all. In fact, he's barely played recently.

On his last start, back in February against Tottenham away, he started from the left hand side. Diagne was up top as he has been since he was brought in. He left Diagne out against Pool because he's a loanee who we will not be keeping, presumably.

Also he hasn't kept playing square pegs in round holes at all. Everyone has played in their proper position since Sam was brought in and the players signed have helped the existing players to look better. For example, the signing of Diagne - a target man - has helped to get the best out of Pereira playing just off him. The signing of Yokulsu - a big defensive midfielder - has made our centre backs and full backs look 10x better because he actually covers for them. Something we didn't have at all at the start of the season.

It was pre-Allardyce signings that we had square pegs in round holes. The previous regime has Romaine Sawyers - a player who tackles softer than mashmellow - in defensive midfield. Bliic signed Karlan Grant specifically to play up front on his own, despite the fact the Cowley's didn't feel he could do that job last season. We started the season with a back 3 and Pereira in a 4 man midfield on the wing, when we knew from last season he operated best as a 10. When we moved him to a 10 with Grant, he didn't excel because the ball didn't stick.

My personal opinion is that we were relegated because our summer business was dreadful. Allardyce has always played players in their proper positions since he came in, but unfortunately pre-January signings, we were missing key elements - namely a midfielder who could actually run and tackle. His signings have made us a lot better and I actually can't think of anyone being played out of position tbh. Pereira's form since Diagne was brought in has probably added £10m to his price tag.

[theo_luddite]

Give me strength - you've been on tv more than that, you really think I've only seen you twice? Grant is best running on to through balls played between defenders, not playing as a lone target man to hold the ball up. Plus my comment about Grant being played as a lone striker didn't just refer to Allardyce, though that's how you interpreted it. As you've said, Allardyce has hardly played him.

[wba13]

I still think Grant,s best position is coming in from the left but time will tell.
I think the likes of Grant,Diangana, Kanu are being reintroduced with next season in mind.

[WBA-Josh]

Allardyce using players in their proper positions is not true. He did continue to play Sawyers as a deep midfielder and even went one step further than Bilic did by playing him as a lone 6 rather than in a double pivot. Pereira was used as a winger during February and March before he was finally moved back to the middle. Snodgrass had a couple of ineffectual games in the centre of midfield. Maitland-Niles came to the club having spent 3 seasons at full back and Allardyce put him into the centre of midfield, the position that he wanted to play in but hadn't played in for a couple of seasons. Gallagher has spent a couple of matches on the right side of midfield.

I could go on but that would be boring.

[Slick_Footwork]

Allardyce using players in their proper positions is not true. He did continue to play Sawyers as a deep midfielder and even went one step further than Bilic did by playing him as a lone 6 rather than in a double pivot. Pereira was used as a winger during February and March before he was finally moved back to the middle. Snodgrass had a couple of ineffectual games in the centre of midfield. Maitland-Niles came to the club having spent 3 seasons at full back and Allardyce put him into the centre of midfield, the position that he wanted to play in but hadn't played in for a couple of seasons. Gallagher has spent a couple of matches on the right side of midfield.

I could go on but that would be boring.

The thing is Josh, the with the exception of Maitland-Niles, these examples are before Allardyce got his new men in.

Sawyers for example, hasn't been selected at all since Yokuslu joined.

We didn't have a sitting midfielder at the club before Yokuslu's arrival, so Sam was going to select someone out of position whoever he selected for the role. Snodgrass came in to the centre of the park replace Sawyers as a stop-gap prior to Yokuslu's arrival and Sam is criticised for selecting him there. My question is, who else could he pick? At that point, Snodgrass was the best tackler at the club despite being a winger traditionally. This is what you get after a summer window which centred exclusively around acquiring luxury players.

The only player we had that even half resembled a sitting midfielder at the club was Jake Livermore and he was sent off in Allardyce's first game. So he had his hands tied. He inherited a lopsided squad with no depth or quality in defensive positions.

Not that I agreed with Big Sam continuing with Sawyers as long as he did, I'd have selected O'Shea or Ajayi in holding midfield myself. Ironically, had Sam did that, he'd be criticised for playing square pegs in round holes too! I suppose there was Sam Field, but he'd been injured for the best part of 2 years.

There's only 2 wing positions up for grabs, so with a squad of 10 wingers, someone is going to be out of position!

And I'll not knock Sam for playing Maitland-Niles in midfield. Yes, I think he's better at full back but our only chance of getting him was agreeing to play him in midfield and we were desperately short of legs in the middle of the park. He's been a massive improvement on what we had even if that's not his best position.

IMO we were relegated as a result of our woeful summer business...

Spending £30m on Grant and Grady while failing to strengthen the defence and protective midfield was suicide. I'm not knocking the Grady transfer - which I was chuffed about at the time - but I had alarm bells about Grant from day 1. When you consider he operated on the left for Huddersfield, it seemed mental to spend big on him after already acquiring Grady and Robbo in the summer, turning Pereira's loan permanent, loaning Krovi again and having Grosicki, Edwards and Phillips. All of them could operate on the left.

Defensively we lost Ferguson and Hegazi who were probably our best 2 defenders and brought in Kipre and Ivanovic, who even the most optimistic fan would say was a gamble.

If only Sam had a couple more defensive players to work with, maybe he wouldn't of had to play the likes of Sawyers at all. Unfortunately, he inherited a squad put together by a duo who had a winger fetish!

That's why I thought it was only fair to judge him after the January window closed...

Anyway, Sam is out the door now so we'll see what the next manager can bring to the table...

We could do better or a lot worse, but it's in the hands of Dowling. I certainly am not holding my breath that he's going to select the right man for the job.