[Beefy 1965]

This is so Steve Clarke,

AI is killing WBA, this is not the football we want to watch,

He doesn't pick players with pace, sets up not to lose which at home is a fookin disgrace

Lets not kid ourselves if the ref against CP was sharper the result could so different.

We got lucky against a poor Leicester team so our points tally could have been much worse.

There are no positives at all from today, Keep playing 4-4-2 with that Midfield and AI WILL take us down,

Look at the way QPR took the game to Man City Yesterday, and the way Mr Play it safe sets up.

At home we have to go for teams no matter who they and from there make our own luck.

You dont get any luck playing possession footy across the back 4,

58% Possession is a waste if you dont use it with end product.

For me AI has to go before he takes us down, he has already killed off the great name of passing attacking football WBA are known for,

Give me back mr Mowbray anyday at least I may end up enjoying watching us lose instead of getting the odd Fluke win here and their to keep our head above water until the inevitable happens

[WBA Will]

That was diabolical. Wisdom had a shocker but then so did just about everyone. Berahino and Anichebe seemed to be on a different planet to each other, they really struggled to connect and not once did Berahino manage to get in behind. Poor tactically from Irvine, summed up by Mulumbu starting the second half wide right. What the hell, Al? Also, Dorrans does not seem very fit at the moment. Against United and today (missed the Palace match so can't comment on that one) he was dead on his feet by 60/70 minutes, which surprises me.

[drewks]

Not good......but I'm actually not suicidal like a lot of posters seem to be!
Newcastle are in very good form and are difficult to play against - the old adage that 'you play as well as the opposition allow you to play' rings true here IMO. We've done it to other teams and today Newcastle did it to us. That's football.
Agree that we DO need to see a bit more creativity and pace in midfield after THAT showing - but on the evidence of quite a few games before today there was no reason to change what had been an impressive midfield. It'll be interesting to see what AI does next.
I, too, was moaning at Norman in that horrible 15 minute period in the 2nd half - till I had a good talk to myself about the fact that this was a RIGHT back showing his weaknesses in an advanced LEFT wing position!

Hey - we lost to a better team on the day; let's learn from it and move on

[BaggieMan]

Good 'home' win for the Toons today. We were at St James' weren't we ? Toons were the attacking 'home' team and their supporters totally out-sang the Baggies.
That said, our fans had nothing whatsoever to sing about. Even bringing Sess on for the second half made no difference whatsoever.
Sicknote has so little skill which was again shown today hence him being on The Baggie Man's 'Bin Him' list along with Sess the Missing. On today's performance, Brunt, Mozza and Dozza are closer to the January Baggieman's Bin along with Irvine.

[Salopbaggie]

This is so Steve Clarke,

AI is killing WBA, this is not the football we want to watch,

He doesn't pick players with pace, sets up not to lose which at home is a fookin disgrace

Lets not kid ourselves if the ref against CP was sharper the result could so different.

We got lucky against a poor Leicester team so our points tally could have been much worse.

There are no positives at all from today, Keep playing 4-4-2 with that Midfield and AI WILL take us down,

Look at the way QPR took the game to Man City Yesterday, and the way Mr Play it safe sets up.

At home we have to go for teams no matter who they and from there make our own luck.

You dont get any luck playing possession footy across the back 4,

58% Possession is a waste if you dont use it with end product.

For me AI has to go before he takes us down, he has already killed off the great name of passing attacking football WBA are known for,

Give me back mr Mowbray anyday at least I may end up enjoying watching us lose instead of getting the odd Fluke win here and their to keep our head above water until the inevitable happens  

Have to agree with the above, I would still be prepared to give AI a chance if he were prepared to "have a go", but that is looking increasing unlikely.

I still have the words of some of the Wednesday fans on the new606 board lingering in the back of my mind:

"Will defend if in front will, defend if drawing and will still defend if losing."

"Get used to seeing the same team because rather than change it he will try and fit a square peg in a round hole"

"Hope you like just hoofing the ball forward"

"take a book it will be more exciting than the game"

"Guaranteed he will take you down"

If fact if I remember correctly one of the posters of some of these quote  is a moderator on this forum,  St. Charles Owl.

Now I am not calling for AI's head, (yet) but he does need to get us back to playing attractive football, its not as if we have not got the players to do so. 

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Fundamentally, there's a direct and irrefutable link between Albion having decent wide players and being able to deliver entertaining and effective performances at home. Our defence was far too leaky under RDM, but our attacking play was exciting not just because of Odemwingie, but also thanks to good service from JT and Brunt. Hodgson also benefitted from this in his early days while keeping things tighter at the back.

Then, Hodgson's second season, we kept forcing those wide players into a defensively-minded 4-4-2 and they struggled to create. We went on our worst run of home form in years as a result, and didn't win at the Hawthorns for months on end.

Clarke came in, and we had that great autumn with Shane Long leading the line supported by an interchanging trio of Odemwingie, Morrison and Gera. We caused teams problems. We won games. Then we lost Odem and Gera, and it all changed to a hoof-and-hope reliance on Lukaku. We stopped winning.

Last season, the handful of matches we won seemed to coincide uncannily with the matches Morgan Amalfitano was on form. The rest of the time, we were shite. Why? No wide threat.

Now this season we're persisting with Dorrans and Brunt - and I understand why, because both have shown flashes of inspiration, and I do appreciate their usefulness - but neither can cause any full-back in the Premier League problems. Most of the time we're relying on Pocognoli and Wisdom to deliver crosses rather than our wide attackers. We just can't get in behind teams often enough.

Of course, when you couple this lack of width with a lack of creativity in the centre of the field like we did today, it's always going to end in tears. As I type this, Swansea have just taken the lead against Arsenal thanks to Jefferson Montero running riot down the Arsenal right. They make it look easy. We could do the same. The question is, why aren't we?

[pieandabovril]

Wasn't great was it? Go back to what I have always said,Irvine is just not a premiership coach! We will stay up because there are a few teams in the premiership that are a lot worse than us.home support was awful!

[drewks]

Fundamentally, there's a direct and irrefutable link between Albion having decent wide players and being able to deliver entertaining and effective performances at home.  Our defence was far too leaky under RDM, but our attacking play was exciting not just because of Odemwingie, but also thanks to good service from JT and Brunt.  Hodgson also benefitted from this in his early days while keeping things tighter at the back.

Then, Hodgson's second season, we kept forcing those wide players into a defensively-minded 4-4-2 and they struggled to create.  We went on our worst run of home form in years as a result, and didn't win at the Hawthorns for months on end.

Clarke came in, and we had that great autumn with Shane Long leading the line supported by an interchanging trio of Odemwingie, Morrison and Gera.  We caused teams problems.  We won games.  Then we lost Odem and Gera, and it all changed to a hoof-and-hope reliance on Lukaku.  We stopped winning.

Last season, the handful of matches we won seemed to coincide uncannily with the matches Morgan Amalfitano was on form.  The rest of the time, we were shite.  Why?  No wide threat.

Now this season we're persisting with Dorrans and Brunt - and I understand why, because both have shown flashes of inspiration, and I do appreciate their usefulness - but neither can cause any full-back in the Premier League problems.  Most of the time we're relying on Pocognoli and Wisdom to deliver crosses rather than our wide attackers.  We just can't get in behind teams often enough.

Of course, when you couple this lack of width with a lack of creativity in the centre of the field like we did today, it's always going to end in tears.  As I type this, Swansea have just taken the lead against Arsenal thanks to Jefferson Montero running riot down the Arsenal right.  They make it look easy.  We could do the same.  The question is, why aren't we?

Good post Ska'd

[HarryJAllstarWBA]

Berahino, our star player, has been playing his best ever football with us playing as the lone striker with Sessegnon behind him. In the week he got picked for the England team and surely had something to prove, why did we change the formation? Also why was Yacob AND Baird on the bench when Sessegnon (who should be in the team every week) and Samaras (who from what I've seen just isn't good enough) are our only attacking options.

This isn't as bad as it was last season but it is far from good. Playing like that at home to a team hoping for a similar finish to us at the end of the season isn't good enough.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Thinking on this a little more, I feel that Irvine is currently guilty of selecting starting line-ups more on principles of man-management than tactical nous. If a player played well in his last outing, it seems he'll be first on the team-sheet for the next match whether or not he's likely to be effective against the opposition on that day. I think this is why we ended up with Big Vic starting today (based on his efforts and goal in the second half vs Palace) rather than Sessegnon, who was admittedly ineffective a fortnight ago but who we were crying out for today. I think this has also led to the apparently undroppable status of Dorrans, Brunt, Mozza etc.

I'm not sure to what extent Irvine has his hands tied with regards to wide players. I know Varela's injured, but I have to wonder whether Samaras isn't worth a chance in a match like today's when we need something a bit more special on the flanks. Today he only came on when the match was already lost; it would have been nice if we'd seen what he can do when there was still a chance of taking something from the game.

I really hope Varela can have an impact when he gets fit, because at the moment it feels like the club have taken another Sinclairesque gamble on a player who COULD be outstanding, but could also flop horribly. I know that Ideye seemed like a necessary purchase at the time, and he could still play his part this season, but right now (with the all-knowing benefit of hindsight) it feels like that £10m would have been far better spent on a decent winger in a fit state to play 30+ matches. Knowing our penchant for resting on our laurels in January, there could be serious consequences if the likes of Varela and Samaras don't start having an impact (or if Irvine persists in not using them).

Personally, I wouldn't mind too much if Irvine wants to continue the narrow, compact approach away from home - it's given us a good couple of wins and some decent performances - but on our own patch, we NEED to start taking it to teams, and that may well require sticking on players who don't run ten miles in a match or stick tackles in at every opportunity, and may well even loaf about aimlessly until the time comes for them to conjure up a bit of game-changing magic. I get the feeling Irvine doesn't like or trust players of that ilk, but used wisely, they'll win you matches, entertain crowds and keep you in this league. If he keeps snubbing them in favour of "hard workers", we'll have a long and toothless season ahead.