[talkSAFT]

Rondon is actually no better than Sicknote imo. I've excused him for weeks for perhaps not being fit enough, and travelling around South America with his National team; but his touch is atrocious. Most 10 year-olds can bring a ball down better.
I'm not singling him out either:
McLean showed a little bit of improvement, but I'd still only give him 5/10. Put Manamana 1st choice, and play either Fletch or Yacob - not both. Bring Mulumbu back. We missed GaryMac, but Craig Dawson is Championship - so is Myhill (and Lindegard!)

Time and time and time again we gave the ball away. Just what else can the Coaching Staff be working on during the week that is more important?

[May68]

I still think we need to give Rondon a bit more time to adapt to the Premiership before judging him too harshly.

I honestly believe Big Vic is a better option off the bench than Lambert. I know lots of people here don't rate him, but he has often changed games coming off the bench for us. When teams are chasing the game they tend to go more direct and this suits Big Vic more than anyone else we have. Lambert, despite being a big man, just drops into the midfield too much.

talkSAFT I totally agree that we miss Mulumbu's energy already. Getting rid of Dorrans and Mulumbu when we have no cover in central midfield was crazy. It means we're only two injuries away from a crisis at any time.

[drewks]

The comment about Brunty backing off is interesting. This seems to be the accepted way of "defending " these days - not just us but most teams - but "defending " it ain't. It frustrates me no end when defenders continually do this and continually allow balls to be crossed with no attempt to tackle or block.
As I say, I don't believe it's just Brunty, or us - it seems to be coached. Why, I just can't imagine  

[Slick_Footwork]

I think we were ahead after 60 minutes because of our endeavour. However, when we tire, we simply don't have enough quality to keep the ball.

Whenever McAuley is injured, we look like we're going to concede a hat full.

I think a lot of fans fail to notice how he dominates everyone in the box. Whenever he's out, we concede plenty of goals in the air.

I saw a fair bit of Rondon at Malaga and was chuffed when we signed him. To call a square a square though, he looks just as useless as Ideye so far.

I don't understand why we paid so much for Chester. The guy was playing predominantly on the right side of 3 centre halfs at Hull and with that in mind, paying so much for him in the hope that he could adapt to right back seems ridiculous. So far, he looks a fish out of water there and too weak in the air to play centre back in a 4. Lukaku dominated him for the first goal.

As for McClean, his signing was the reason I decided not to renew my season ticket. Not because of his religious beliefs, but because I've seen him play numerous times for Sunderland and just don't think the guy is a footballer. How he's managed to make it pro is beyond me. I've seen him trip over the ball more times than deliver something positive. The fact that a winger can be accepted in the UK just for 'putting in a shift in' is exactly the reason why football in this country is so far behind the Spanish and German leagues.

I don't think we'll go down but there's no denying that considering the amount of cash we spent this summer, there's nothing to show in the way of improvement.

[wba_1996]

Didn't bother watching the game, but after initial anger I just don't care anymore. If we win, great - if we lose, meh.

Think the last Albion match I actually enjoyed watching was at some point before Steve Clarke turned into Terry Connor.

Pulis will keep us up, but him persisting with the likes of Gardner and signing the likes of McClean is why I won't be watching another match in the foreseeable future.

[devwakey]

Not sure if anyone noticed last night but every time McClean got the ball TP would shout Take him on Son, it was clear as day and happened around 10 times.

I have never once yet seen this lad skin a player and whip in a cross, never! Even against Port Vale, my one trip to the stadium this year, they looked comfortable with him!


We looked very good in the first 20mins, high pressure, really not letting them have the ball and a real gutsy performance.

They had the best chance with Barkley missing the ball however to go in 1-0 up was a dream!

Second half started much the same, but going 2-0 up so early seemed to have hurt us!

The team look so lost, everything looks slow and overplayed.

It's like we want to carve teams open, however want to do it with 3-4 touches!

Not happy with the squad, Saido for me stood out as the attacking threat, McManaman is our best attacking player I think and cant get a look in!!!

We need a shake up!

[Bournemouth Baggie]

McManaman must have been looking on last night in despair, he would have done so much for us at 2-0 or even 2-1

[Tibby Baggie]

Hopefully McManaman gets the nod to start against Palace. Always looks like he can create a chance and we'll need some pace against Palace for sure. Just worries me on how few games he actually gets through the full 90 minutes. I can't remember him doing a full 90 since he signed for us...

Also I've found the post match analysis online from Monday Night Football. I didn't hang around to watch it understandably on Monday night but I will be casting another eye over it sometime tonight, but from how I remember it the players just didn't get tight enough to stop Everton putting the crosses in for two of the goals and Kone was offside for his goal.