08-08-2018, 06:59
Absolute garbage for the first eighty minutes, and if we replicate that week in week out then we're going to be a lot closer to the bottom of the table than the top of it.
However, the last ten minutes demonstrated that we do have the means to hurt teams in this division when things click for us. Gayle missed two sitters, but he gave us the kind of pace and guile up front we haven't seen since Fatty Bum-Bum went to Stoke, and on another day, those chances hit the back of the net instead of the woodwork. If Phillips and Barnes can create for him, I'm confident he'll come good.
Defence and midfield remain worrying areas. As pretty much everyone else has pointed out, we need someone like Guedioura in the centre who can make good forward passes and through-balls or ping it out to the wingers. At the back there's far too much fannying about, though that may improve as the back four settle in and become a unit. Johnstone needs to wipe the butter off his gloves and start catching the ball. When we're out of possession we don't press anywhere near enough, just sit back in our two banks of four, and in possession we're far too static, no one making any dummy runs to create space or even just taking a chance to get in the box. It's like we're still mentally stuck at the arse-end of the Premier League playing the likes of Chelsea and Man City. Those days are gone, and the players need to remember how to take the game to the opposition if they still can.
It was always going to be a steep learning curve for Big Dave, but hopefully from now on it'll be the last ten minutes we aim to repeat in games, not the first eighty.
However, the last ten minutes demonstrated that we do have the means to hurt teams in this division when things click for us. Gayle missed two sitters, but he gave us the kind of pace and guile up front we haven't seen since Fatty Bum-Bum went to Stoke, and on another day, those chances hit the back of the net instead of the woodwork. If Phillips and Barnes can create for him, I'm confident he'll come good.
Defence and midfield remain worrying areas. As pretty much everyone else has pointed out, we need someone like Guedioura in the centre who can make good forward passes and through-balls or ping it out to the wingers. At the back there's far too much fannying about, though that may improve as the back four settle in and become a unit. Johnstone needs to wipe the butter off his gloves and start catching the ball. When we're out of possession we don't press anywhere near enough, just sit back in our two banks of four, and in possession we're far too static, no one making any dummy runs to create space or even just taking a chance to get in the box. It's like we're still mentally stuck at the arse-end of the Premier League playing the likes of Chelsea and Man City. Those days are gone, and the players need to remember how to take the game to the opposition if they still can.
It was always going to be a steep learning curve for Big Dave, but hopefully from now on it'll be the last ten minutes we aim to repeat in games, not the first eighty.
"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