[WBA-Josh]

I think we are still good defensively. Dawson and Lescott work well together, Pocognoli at left back is as solid as ever but at right back is where we are below standard. Wisdom is not a right back and his positional sense isn't up to scratch as a right back. Gamboa is a natural right back who is good in both attack and defence and is a much better choice.

Ahead of them we have Gardner who is very solid and composed but I think we need a defensive minded partner for him. A player who will sit in the midfield, stop opposition attacks and keep the sides possession play ticking over. Yacob does that well and could be the solution but his overall game in the past year has been below par. I think that we should look at signing a new defensive midfielder in January. Someone in the mould of Stefan Reinartz from Bayer Leverkusen.

The pressing side of our game is still OK but I would like to see us press a bit higher at times because too many times over the past 6 weeks, we have been sat way too deep. Defending deep is all well and good but we don't have to defend that deep all the time. There are matches where pressing high up the pitch can work to our advantage because it doesn't give the opposition any time and space. Against Sunderland the players showed that they can press high up the pitch. (The same players who couldn't hack pressing high under Pepe)

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Drewks, I also believe that Pepe would have had us in a good position if he was still in charge. The one thing that continues to bug me is that the club's hierarchy didn't want to buy into Pepe's philosophy yet they still signed players who would fit Pepe's philosophy for a coach whose previous managerial work resolved around defensive minded football.

Speaking of Pepe, for anyone who is interested, he is set to return to Real Betis. The club's President and it's board have been replaced (they were the guys who chose to sack Pepe nearly 12 months ago) and the new President has already relieved Julio Velázquez of his duties as Head Coach. This means that Pepe has a great chance of returning to the club whose fans love and idolise him.

[betterthanbaird]

I think Wisdom gets too much criticism sometimes but Gamboa would probably have done more for the Arsenal goal and looks more natural going forward (his crossing etc)

[drewks]

.....Speaking of Pepe, for anyone who is interested, he is set to return to Real Betis. The club's President and it's board have been replaced (they were the guys who chose to sack Pepe nearly 12 months ago) and the new President has already relieved Julio Velázquez of his duties as Head Coach. This means that Pepe has a great chance of returning to the club whose fans love and idolise him.

...that's great to hear!
I loved the guy, and think he'd of done a really good job for us; he connected with us fans and had a great passion and sincerity that is almost extinct in this money grabbing era.
Really good to hear that the mutual love affair between Pepe Mel and Real Betis is set to be revived, and I really hope he does well.
Top, top bloke

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What do people think of our defence? We always look solid for most a game but concede goals where we should be doing much more.

Gardner was good with more freedom to attack and Mulumbu was mainly good defensively.

We still haven't replaced Cunningham and need to try something new out wide, because we're not creating near enough.

Some of our players really need to work on their left feet (Wisdom, Samaras) instead of avoiding using it like the plague.

That offside decision was fooking annoying.

"We still haven't replaced Cunningham" ??
Blimey! Nor Jeff Astle or The Bomber!!

[WBA-Josh]

I think Wisdom has had a decent season so far. He has put in some good performances but there are times when you can tell that he isn't a natural right back. For example, during today's game he let Welbeck get goal-side of him after the ball was played over the top of Dawson. This almost led to Welbeck being through on goal. A proper right back wouldn't have allowed that to happen.

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Drewks, it will be really great to see Pepe back at Betis. If he is appointed, which seems like a good possibility, his first match in charge will be at home against Real Mallorca. He will probably receive a heroes welcome from the Betico faithful.

[Beefy 1965]

Tony Goddens Gloves
Baby Baggie
*
Posts: 69
Saw Pocognoli after the game...he will not play Tuesday

Great !!!!!!

[Slick_Footwork]

Surprised at some of the stick Samaras is getting.

He's barely featured. When he has come on, he looks a better option than those who are playing. I've seen enough of him at Celtic in the last few years to see that he can play a bit. He controls the ball well, passes well, is pacey and breezes past players on the break. IMO, he should be starting on the left side (One of Irvine's countless selection mistakes I believe).

The Wisdom vs Gamboa is an interesting. I do like Wisdom because of his composure on the ball. Rarely does he give it away, even in tight spaces he passes better than our midfield players for the best part. However I really am not sure what his actual position is. At right back, he gets caught out positionally, but I don't feel he has the height or power to be a centre half. IMO, Irvine prefers him to Gamboa simply because of his height and physical presence (Thinking of defending first, as usual), but he doesn't win much in the air on set plays anyway.

I don't buy that Varela still isn't fit enough for the bench. I firmly believe that AI is just frightened to death of using offensive players. The same reason why Blanco can't make a bench that contains Chris Baird, despite Gamboa also being on the bench as full back cover.

[Beefy 1965]

Cant see any reason why we cant use Gamboa and Wisdom together on the right,

We then have pace and they can cover each other,

far better option than Dorrans,

Then Verela on the left for brunt and we are almost sorted,

Agree Samaras would be a better option than brunt at the moment, he showed some nice touches when he came on.

Never mind Jimmy will be fit soon

[wba_1996]

I just can't get over how AI won't even put Varela on the bench. He is blatantly fit, he was fit enough 2 weeks ago and scored for the U21's. The guy has the credentials to be our best player.

Let's look at it shall we:

Portugal: 26 caps and 5 goals and he has been directly competing for his position with Ronaldo and Nani
FC Porto: 115 appearances and 30 goals, playing alongside the likes of Falcao and competing for his place with the likes of Ricardo Quaresma
Honours: Europa League champions, 3 Portuguese titles, 2 Portuguese cups and 5 Portuguese super cups
West Brom: 2 goals in 2 for the under 21's, a sublime assist against Hull in his only 15 minutes for the first team

But somehow the guy can't get on our bench ahead of Chris Baird, let alone in the first XI - even though he is our only winger and we have been crying out for a winger after every single match for the past 18 months

Its laughable really

[BaggieMan]

Agree 1996....
it seems very odd that Varela doesn't get any recognition whatsoever. It makes you start to wonder if there's a hidden agenda or something about the player that hasn't been released like he's got a wooden leg or something.

As I said on a previous post, I give up on giving Irvine any more chances. He's a stubborn jock who probably voted for Scottish independence and the sooner he's deported, the better it will be for West Bromwich Albion FC.

Trouble is, JP wouldn't like being proved wrong and losing face.

[silverbaggie]

Agree 1996....

As I said on a previous post, I give up on giving Irvine any more chances. He's a stubborn jock who probably voted for Scottish independence and the sooner he's deported, the better it will be for West Bromwich Albion FC.

Trouble is, JP wouldn't like being proved wrong and losing face.

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JP being proved wrong again and losing face???

He should be getting used to it with Steve Clarke and Pepe Mel.

Have just watched QPR vs Leicester........ two clubs below us in the table.

Did someone say that there must be three clubs worse than us and we should therefor be safe from the drop??

In terms of attacking ability and determination; these two clubs aren' t among of them.

JP you need to 'bite the bullet' and sack this Muppet before it's too late.