[BridgwaterBaggie]

Very disappointing today. No spark, no urgency, no creativity.
(though Palace deserve credit for creating and taking chances)

The drive back to Somerset gave me time to contemplate......
Does this performance feel so poor because our expectations have risen so much (too much) ?
Does four straight home league wins mean we should expect a routine win against relegation strugglers ?

All in all I'm still happy with 40 points, 8th place and more good days than bad.

[talkSAFT]

Very lethargic.
Let's hope we're not "On The Beach" (as D-D suggests).
Tell John Williams that each place in the Prem is worth £2m - so if we drop to (say) 15th, through complacency, that's £14m right down the plughole......just like last season.
£14 sounds peanuts. But with that money + £30m from anonymous Rondon, we could bring in 1/2 dozen players who give a f*ck.

[valpayne]

Well I gotta say the writing was on the wall with this one. Too many stats being trotted out saying we were assured a win. Allardyce only won once at hawthorns in prem. current form at home. Palace in relegation zone blah blah blah! I saw it coming a mile away. Watched the 0-0 at work dragging on into the second half and saw it coming soon as the 1st went in I mentally shut it down. In fact I even turned to a ard werkin colleague and said they will get a second
Looking at it closer it sounds like they scored 2 very good goals and fair play to them I'd rather that than 2 poorly conceded. We had one more shot on target, 2% more possession and it sounded scrappy throughout which seeing as they are in a relegation battle with Big Sam in charge surprises me not.
I don't think TP will allow them to start packing their buckets and spades yet I just don't think it's in his nature and also for those who think our players don't give a **** I think thats a bit harsh. I've seen numerous interviews and i think this group by and large are hungrier than any we've had for a long time. Fletcher epitomises that. He's fought through a nasty infliction, that would have seen most players retire, just to get out and play week in week out and he's got a desire second to none which he no doubt instills on the team. (see youtube video sir alex on fletcher) Maybe there was a sense of relief at reaching 40 and maybe that filters into the players but this loss I would think will jolt them back into action. Also Rondon TS thats a bit harsh chap. I've always seen him giving 100% chasing balls down harrying tackling He's got a tough job often as a lone striker Yes I'd like to see more goals but I don't think its lack of effort with him?
Final word on Jordan. Don't waste your breathe chaps. He's a grown man taking to twatter to behave like a complete childish imbecile. He's the one thats mentally retarded to behave like that so as my old girlfriend would say Simon J "knowing someone is a C*** is enough" :-D Remember folks we are 8th on 40pts they are 17th on 25 fighting relegation. I know where i'd rather be nuff said :-D

[4evaabaggie]

Booked an early holiday this year, off to Tenerife soon, never in my wildest dreams did I expect Albion to be on the beach before me ...... disappointing result especially with obnoxious Jordan gobbling off but we still have a cushion over ninth but that may disappear quickly with our run of fixtures.

[talkSAFT]

I didn't word that too well, Val.
Rondon never fails to give 100%, but he's just not good enough for me - £30m is too much to sneeze at for a player worth about 1/2 of that (whatever "worth" means nowadays).
Fletcher was pretty good yesterday, as well - don't understand why he was subbed.
But the players collectively lost that energy they've had for the last month or 2, and it's been that that's given us edge over the lower teams we've managed to beat comfortably. So I wondered whether there was a subconscious complacency throughout the team now that we'd reached the magical 40 pts. (After the break, Palace showed the fight that we'd been showing recently, and I'd like to have compared the 1/2 time team-talks!)

[valpayne]

I didn't word that too well, Val.
Rondon never fails to give 100%, but he's just not good enough for me - £30m is too much to sneeze at for a player worth about 1/2 of that (whatever "worth" means nowadays).
Fletcher was pretty good yesterday, as well - don't understand why he was subbed.
But the players collectively lost that energy they've had for the last month or 2, and it's been that that's given us edge over the lower teams we've managed to beat comfortably. So I wondered whether there was a subconscious complacency throughout the team now that we'd reached the magical 40 pts. (After the break, Palace showed the fight that we'd been showing recently, and I'd like to have compared the 1/2 time team-talks!)

Fair play TS and I share your frustration. I think Rondon has adapted to the prem pretty well compared to last season and he could yet come up with the goods as far as goals are concerned. I'd be wary of losing him at this point because finding strikers that guarantee goals is a very tricky business and its the big clubs that get those kind of players not the likes of us. The most frustrating thing is whenever we seem to find a gem we lose them one way or another. Sado is the latest massive disappointment. Then we had Lukaku and Odemwingie. They all wanted to leave for so called bigger clubs and were left scratching our arses. Maybe this will put a twisted perspective on our goalscoring ability look who are top goalscorers actually are. Unbelievable to see a 37 year old central defender going toe to toe with our top scoring striker :-o http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/team...op-scorers

[HRK]

I think we've really missed Matty Phillips massively these past two games as he really helps turn defense into attack. I've lost count of the amount of times he's taken control of the ball off his chest, turned and ran at defenders pushing them back towards their own goal.

We didn't have any player offer that for us Saturday, whereas Palace had Zaha and Townsend doing it all game and won. Speaks volumes about the importance of quality wide players making the difference.

[wba1978]

Letting Rondon go would be a massive mistake imo. No other striker in the league puts in as much effort as he does. He holds the ball up well most of the time, and never complains. Lets be realistic about his goal return which isn't too bad considering hes fed on absolute scraps, especially with Phillips out. 30 mil sounds good, but who do you replace that kind of work rate with, who is gonna get the goals with that kind of service?