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The others, Ideye, Varela, Blanco have not been anywhere near the first choice, either because they are not good enough, or AI cannot see how to use them correctly, and is Shit scared to experiment after the showing in the league cup.
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So would I be after their showing in the League Cup. Lets face it, we played Oxford!! And lets not mention the Bournemouth game.
We lost to Newcastle who were 4th at the time and on an unbeaten run.
We lost to Chelsea away with 10 men.
We lost, narrowly, to Arsenal at home, a team we have beat once in 23 attempts at the Hawthorns.
We now play another team on fire, currently sitting in 5th place.
I'm not that happy with Irvine as HC but I'm not joining the lynch mob.
Oh, and who mentioned Zola? FFS.
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I take it that some of you guys are un-happy with Irvine from your comments - yet i wonder if some of you are ever happy with any manager we have, cos you haven't been for at least 7/8 i have known. Although with foundation most of the time. I just wonder if PEACE reads this and is swayed by your comments - i might be - or the players are, and with the childish booing etc, are also pissed off - hence Malumbu playing like a div1 player and the others not wanting the ball, so maybe with the the press homing into to your negative vibs, they too will be reporting your feelings to Irvine.
As for my feeling about him, well i always believe in giving a chap a chance, but when you expect them to lose against whoever they are playing, even my saying to give him 20 games to prove himself is running close to 20%.
Lets hope they we win tonight or the knives will be out. 
BBB
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I was happy with Hodgson and was not at the end of my tether with either RDM or Steve Clarke
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Im not backing AI here but i dont think sacking him will solve all our problems. Everyone thought the same with Moyes at Utd and look at them, a good manager has come in and still cant fix it!!!
Now im not saying that this will be the case, possibly if we get a top class manager in thinks may change, however they may not!
It just hope we don't go the same was as them!
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(02-12-2014, 19:09)BBB Wrote: I take it that some of you guys are un-happy with Irvine from your comments - yet i wonder if some of you are ever happy with any manager we have, cos you haven't been for at least 7/8 i have known. Although with foundation most of the time. I just wonder if PEACE reads this and is swayed by your comments - i might be - or the players are, and with the childish booing etc, are also pissed off - hence Malumbu playing like a div1 player and the others not wanting the ball, so maybe with the the press homing into to your negative vibs, they too will be reporting your feelings to Irvine.
As for my feeling about him, well i always believe in giving a chap a chance, but when you expect them to lose against whoever they are playing, even my saying to give him 20 games to prove himself is running close to 20%.
Lets hope they we win tonight or the knives will be out.
BBB
Seems he was reading these posts - 58% we had of the match, and the second half was good, though sometimes a touch too many - we deserved another goal, so well done Irvine for the changes at lease it made the supporters happier,
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03-12-2014, 01:00
(This post was last modified: 03-12-2014, 01:01 by Dingle-Dingle.)
(02-12-2014, 17:01)wba_1996 Wrote: I've said it before, if he does go this club needs a complete restructure. We need a manager not a head coach, at the very least Downing has to go and the new man bring in his own assistant.
My opinion exactly.But we need a STRONG manager. DD 
Ubique.
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On the radio, Bomber was asked what the problem is with Albion. He hit the nail on the head:
"Having not bought better players over the last three years to replace Lukaku, Long and Odemwingie."
This is the crux of the matter. This is what's killing us as a Premier League team. Alan Irvine's walked into a damn near impossible situation, and for that reason I sympathise with him, because I'm sure he's a nice bloke and he only had good intentions, and he probably has been undermined by the existing situation at the club. But at this point, unfortunately, I do think he's making it worse. I don't buy into the cult of Pepe Mel - far too tactically naïve for the Prem, in my opinion, although the basic philosophy was sound - but the bloke knew how to get the fans onside, command a bit of respect and generally create a spirit of unity. Those qualities are, sadly, a distant memory now.
"I would rather spend a holiday in Tuscany than in the Black Country, but if I were compelled to choose between living in West Bromwich or Florence, I should make straight for West Bromwich." - J.B. Priestley
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03-12-2014, 02:14
(This post was last modified: 03-12-2014, 02:21 by WBA-Josh.)
I don't think that Pepe was too tactically naive for the premiership. People talk about the high tempo game that he wanted to bring to the club but his time with Betis wasn't always about high pressing and high tempo. He tactically outwitted many coaches including Pep Guardiola during his time at Betis because he was very flexible with his ideas. For example and these aren't exact cases but just a snip it at the a Pepe way, at home to Real Zaragoza, Betis would play high up the pitch and control the tempo of the game with possession football but then the next week away at Real Valladolid, he would set the team out in a more conservative manner with a deeper defensive line and when they had the ball they would look at moving it quickly from back to front at speed, like we did in his first match against Everton. The week after at home to Athletic Club, he would focus his teams play on a certain Athletic Club weakness such as lack of pace at the back by picking 2 quick strikers and 2 quick wingers and getting his team to play quick football in behind the opposition. He tactically outwitted Guardiola in his first season with Betis when they were still in the 2nd division. He knew that Barca were poor at the back so he chose a starting 11 with certain tactics to exploit it. Betis won that game 3-1. He has the tactical flexibility that a lot of current Premiership managers don't have but he was never able to truly show it with us.
I still believe that had he been given the current squad, we would be doing much better than we are right now. I don't think we would be top 10 but we would around 11th or 12th right now which I'm sure most people would be happy with. The atmosphere in the ground would also be much better than the poisonous atmosphere that we have currently.
As for Irvine's future, I think he should be given 1 last shot against Hull. Lose that and it will time to change because the fans will be even more on his back and the atmosphere against Villa will be even worse. I feel sorry for him because he doesn't deserve the abuse that he is getting but he is unfortunately a bit out of his depth.
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(03-12-2014, 02:14)WBA-Josh Wrote: I don't think that Pepe was too tactically naive for the premiership. He had to use the tools that he was given.
But surely trying to use inadequate tools to implement that style was part and parcel of his naivety? Let's face it, there's not an Albion fan on the planet who couldn't have told him what playing a high line with Diego Lugano and Steven Reid was going to lead to at Villa Park in January. As a professional coach, not anticipating that himself was very, very poor.
"I would rather spend a holiday in Tuscany than in the Black Country, but if I were compelled to choose between living in West Bromwich or Florence, I should make straight for West Bromwich." - J.B. Priestley
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03-12-2014, 02:28
(This post was last modified: 03-12-2014, 02:51 by WBA-Josh.)
I agree that doing that against a Villa side that like to exploit opposition weaknesses was a mistake but at that time he was still learning about the Albion players. He learned from the mistake because he didn't try it again. I also doubt he knew too much about Aston Villa so it was a learning curve for him.
That 1 occurrence doesn't mean that he was too tactically naive for the Premiership though. Of course the Premiership is different to La Liga but it was his first time coaching in this country. Any coach will have trouble when they first go to a new country. David Moyes will find that out when his honeymoon period with Real Sociedad ends and Louis van Gaal has found that out with Man Utd. Van Gaal is often called a genius but even he had trouble early on. For example, against Leicester City who exploited his 3-5-2 formation with 3 strikers and direct play. He learned from that and tweaked things accordingly.
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