[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Slaven Bilic said on the BBC News website that the penalty was hard to explain because the Albion defender was nowhere near their guy.
Can anyone comment?

Yeah, their full-back Masuaku had an absolute mare. He committed the first handball (which conceded the initial free-kick) by falling over and clambering all over the ball. Then when the free-kick came in, even though the ball had drifted way past the far post and Chadli was miles away, he seemed to misjudge its flight and failed to get his head underneath it, so he lifted his arm up to control it instead when he could have just let it drop.

Hilariously, he cost them six million quid. I only hope their stadium is similar value for money, and will be falling apart like their defence in the very near future.

[Salopbaggie]

Afternoon.  

Here's how I saw things yesterday.

Foster. Vital saves at 1-0 and 4-2. The latter particularly good.
Galloway. Struggled when WHU on top. good decision to replace him.
McAuley. Solid.
Evans. Impressive
Dawson. OK, but a little subdued. Didn't seem to get forward much.
Yacob. Did a good job without fuss.
Fletcher. Decent. Great pass for the 4th goal.
McClean. Work-rate and commitment high. Looked focused not angry. Sharp finish.
Chadli. Quality player in possession and distribution.
Phillips. Good, hard working contribution. Needs to add goals to his game.
Rondon. Another hard-working performance. Good strike. Needs continued support from the 3 behind him.
Nyom.  Did a good job at a difficult time.
Morrison.  Lively 15 minute cameo.
R-Kanu. Only 5 mins. Almost reached a late cross.

Overall, a well deserved 3 points. We took the opportunities that came our way and coped with most of the WHU pressure.  There was a wobble at 4-2 -  a few passes went astray and we couldn't keep hold of the ball.  But we wouldn't want it to be too easy, would we ?

Pretty much agree with that summation.

A couple of talking points within it I thought;

Dawson: I think we will find with the recent acquisitions, we can safely say either Phillips or Chadli are going to be on pounding up and down the wing duty and as such our RB will become a more static position. So do we look for a dedicated RB, keep Dawson for CB duties and fill in at RB, if required. That would free up Ollsen (great servant that he has been) to travel to pastures new and finish up his career playing first team football, somewhere or other.

Galloway: Lads had a couple of chances now, but I don't think he is ready for Premiership football just yet. I think he may well have the ability, but his lack of top level experience has him out of position far to often. If he does not improve significantly by Christmas I would be talking to Liverpool about cutting his loan short and look elsewhere with the freed up loan slot.

R-Kanu: I do feel for him a little, he seems to be being written off by many before he had even kicked a ball. Lets give the lad a fair shot before we write him off. Like many I will be very pleasantly surprised if he comes up trumps, but I will wait and see before writing him off.

[valpayne]

Afternoon.  

Here's how I saw things yesterday.

Foster. Vital saves at 1-0 and 4-2. The latter particularly good.
Galloway. Struggled when WHU on top. good decision to replace him.
McAuley. Solid.
Evans. Impressive
Dawson. OK, but a little subdued. Didn't seem to get forward much.
Yacob. Did a good job without fuss.
Fletcher. Decent. Great pass for the 4th goal.
McClean. Work-rate and commitment high. Looked focused not angry. Sharp finish.
Chadli. Quality player in possession and distribution.
Phillips. Good, hard working contribution. Needs to add goals to his game.
Rondon. Another hard-working performance. Good strike. Needs continued support from the 3 behind him.
Nyom.  Did a good job at a difficult time.
Morrison.  Lively 15 minute cameo.
R-Kanu. Only 5 mins. Almost reached a late cross.

Overall, a well deserved 3 points. We took the opportunities that came our way and coped with most of the WHU pressure.  There was a wobble at 4-2 -  a few passes went astray and we couldn't keep hold of the ball.  But we wouldn't want it to be too easy, would we ?

yes just seen that other foster save at 1-0 missed it last night but it was indeed vital

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Galloway:  If he does not improve significantly by Christmas I would be talking to Liverpool about cutting his loan short

Well that'll certainly be an interesting negotiating tactic, given that he's an Everton player

[aries22]

Slaven Bilic said on the BBC News website that the penalty was hard to explain because the Albion defender was nowhere near their guy.
Can anyone comment?

Yeah, their full-back Masuaku had an absolute mare.  He committed the first handball (which conceded the initial free-kick) by falling over and clambering all over the ball.  Then when the free-kick came in, even though the ball had drifted way past the far post and Chadli was miles away, he seemed to misjudge its flight and failed to get his head underneath it, so he lifted his arm up to control it instead when he could have just let it drop.

Hilariously, he cost them six million quid.  I only hope their stadium is similar value for money, and will be falling apart like their defence in the very near future.

Ah! Bilic was talking about the penalty awarded to Albion, not the one awarded to West Ham. Yes, the West Ham defender had a real rush of blood to the head for that one.

[BaggyBomber]

Hey, Val, we're a "moneybags team", now!  Just wait till we start splashing the cash! LOL

[Beefy 1965]

Possession is a myth in today's game
You can have all the tippy tappy possession you want,
Under Irvine we were always 54 -58% and the football was just as boring but the other way around.
As a footnote the two teams with the least possession last year were WBA and erm............ Leicester , Now where did they finish,
With a couple of signings more in the bracket of Chadli, this counter attacking style could just work for us but be alot more easy to the eye

We will just have to be patient until January unfortunately,

[aries22]

Possession is a myth in today's game
You can have all the tippy tappy possession you want,
Under Irvine we were always 54  -58% and the football was just as boring but the other way around.
As a footnote the two teams with the least possession last year were WBA and erm............  Leicester , Now where did they finish,  
With a couple of signings more in the bracket of Chadli, this counter attacking style could just work for us but be alot more easy to the eye  

We will just have to be patient until January unfortunately,  

Let's hope we show a lot of determination in getting the players we want in January, Beefy.

[Stairs]

Possession is a myth in today's game
You can have all the tippy tappy possession you want,
Under Irvine we were always 54  -58% and the football was just as boring but the other way around.
As a footnote the two teams with the least possession last year were WBA and erm............  Leicester , Now where did they finish,  
With a couple of signings more in the bracket of Chadli, this counter attacking style could just work for us but be alot more easy to the eye  

We will just have to be patient until January unfortunately,  

Let's hope we show a lot of determination in getting the players we want in January, Beefy.

I am intrigued by the rumours around 'free' players and the quality that might or not be there.

In theory these can be signed up and play now. I guess some will not be match fit for some time, even if quality enough. But you never know, we might add to the squad before long.....

[Beefy 1965]

Possession is a myth in today's game
You can have all the tippy tappy possession you want,
Under Irvine we were always 54  -58% and the football was just as boring but the other way around.
As a footnote the two teams with the least possession last year were WBA and erm............  Leicester , Now where did they finish,  
With a couple of signings more in the bracket of Chadli, this counter attacking style could just work for us but be alot more easy to the eye  

We will just have to be patient until January unfortunately,  

Let's hope we show a lot of determination in getting the players we want in January, Beefy.

I am intrigued by the rumours around 'free' players and the quality that might or not be there.

In theory these can be signed up and play now. I guess some will not be match fit for some time, even if quality enough. But you never know, we might add to the squad before long.....

True
But sad to say they wont be the quality of Chadli,

However if we do sign someone on a free and we are ok position wise in January we maybe able to add another class Player,
Williams said we can add some quality in the window,