[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

In the first half, we played football which was good but ineffective. Again, it was reminiscent of Mowbray; we were passing the ball around and creating goalscoring chances, but the fact is, Begovic could have put a deckchair on the goalline and got stuck into a Bosnian crossword book for all the trouble we caused him.

I've said many times that I don't think Irvine is the source of all our ills, and there's plenty of blame to go around the players who aren't pulling their weight, the coaching staff who seem to preside over a team which is going backwards in terms of ability, and the recruitment staff who are scouting and signing players not fit for purpose. But when "Norman" Wisdom is nailed on for a starting place each and every week despite being this season's answer to Liam Ridgewell, you have to wonder just what is going on. Either Cristian Gamboa isn't good enough for the Premier League (in which case, why is whoever signed him still in a job?) or Alan Irvine just refuses to hand a chance to a different player (in which case, why is Alan Irvine still in a job?)

Basically, this is where we are right now. We as fans aren't party to what's going on behind the scenes, but what's going on out on the pitch still isn't good enough, and we'd like some reassurance that the situation's under control. As I said on the match thread: new year, new start, and if that means sticking with Alan Irvine, then I'd at least like to see some honesty from the club about what the long-term plan is with this guy.