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New year, new manager: a situation that feels strangely familiar. Mercifully, this time the club have acted quickly and decisively to replace Ryan Mason, and so with a handy cup win under our belt to buoy the mood around the club, newcomer Eric Ramsay can at least approach tonight's baptism of fire with a dash of positivity.
He may need it, because even on home soil, second-placed Middlesbrough are liable to be a tough nut. Although Kim Hellberg struggled over the festive season to maintain the red-hot form Boro had enjoyed before the departure of Rob Edwards, beating Southampton 4-0 was the perfect start to their year, and having Ipswich hard on their heels will doubtless be all the motivation they need to keep the momentum going. Albion's best hope lies in Boro's makeshift defence, immensely depleted by injuries and perhaps vulnerable to a forward like Heggebo, but realistically we ourselves also have to be tighter at the back than we've been for months, and for that reason a draw is probably as good as we can hope for.
No such leeway can be afforded when Norwich visit on Tuesday night, where Ramsay has to aim for his first win and give Albion a little bit of breathing space for the remainder of the month. Anything less, and it'll be tough times ahead.
"I would rather spend a holiday in Tuscany than in the Black Country, but if I were compelled to choose between living in West Bromwich or Florence, I should make straight for West Bromwich." - J.B. Priestley
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Half time 0-1 own goal Charlie Taylor 42'
30% possession, although shots are quite even both with two on target.
Need to up our game in second 45.
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He spoke about clarity and it’s clear how we’re playing. Lacking an outlet. Interesting to see what happens now we need to score
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Not winning this
Why should a man go to work, if he has the health and strength to stay in bed?
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3 hours ago
(This post was last modified: 3 hours ago by derbybaggie.)
2-0! Great
It’s a painful watch. A bit like Pulis but not so good in defence and then the occasional charge of the light brigade up field. Middlesbrough are a good team and we’ve got key injuries so it’s difficult to say too much. Hopefully it won’t be a landslide. Norwich will be the key barometer next week.
2-1 good free kick (makes a change)
You never know….
2-2 I take it all back!
Oh Poo
Well not unexpected but the last 20 mins were fun.
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Well that escalated
Why should a man go to work, if he has the health and strength to stay in bed?
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Well, would you believe it? Sunk by yet another 90+ minute goal
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1 hour ago
(This post was last modified: 1 hour ago by Slick_Footwork.)
We saw the good, the bad and ugly tonight. Mixed bag. I'll start to judge Eric Ramsay after 3 or 4 games.
First half, we had a game plan to sit in, frustrate and counter...
Whether or not Boro are good enough to justify that approach, at home, I'm not sure as I've not seen enough of them. I think they probably do have better players than we do. However, I think at home we don't need to be quite so negative.
Our execution of the plan was okay. We looked more threatening initially and probably should've scored on one of our counters. However, Boro scored thanks to yet another mistake with the own goal.
Second half started pretty poorly. We didn't seem to know what to do after falling behind. Boro scored again after Nat Phillips sold himself and the game looked dead.
The manager then made a few positive changes, dropping Price back into the midfield two for the first time, put Mikey back on the wing, had Maja in the hole and we had a good spell. We put Boro on the back foot, scored 2 and looked good.
What really frustrated me was the fact we put all that effort in and got back to 2-2 and then can't defend to keep the draw. The ball watching for their 3rd goal really was poor. Styles, Price, Phillips, Taylor all failed to pick players up. I think the goals that we conceded tonight highlight our lack of quality. In all fairness to any manager, we have to acknowledge that we've got some poor players in this squad.
In terms of positives, we saw Krystian Bielik used in midfield for the first time. He should've been picked there by Mason ahead of Diakite. We saw Price drop back into a midfield two for the first time after the changes and tbh, he looked better in that position. He's never a number 10.
On the downside, I think it was poor to play Mikey Johnston at wing back. Yes, Illing-Junior can play that role, but Mikey is an out and out attacker. Seeing him shoe horned in as a wing back reminded me a bit of what Amorim had been doing at United, playing players out of position to run with his 3 at the back formation. But at least he rectified it with the changes.
We'll see what happens in the coming games. Obviously we had injuries tonight, played one of the best teams in the division and the lads didn't have much time with the manager.
However, if he's going to continue with 3 at the back, we really could do with brining in a proper right sider, because I don't fancy anyone on our books to be able to play that role. Wallace and Mikey can't defend. Gilchrist and Campbell are naturally centre backs. Price played that role for Mowbray once last year and looked okay, but it was only once. We need reinforcements.
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