[BaggyBomber]

Like it, Stairs, like it!

[Foxman_WBA]

I agree stairs, we always used to be a counter attacking side but the problem with Mondays game was that we couldn't keep possession meaning every time we gave the ball away they wouldn't, attack and be on top of us again.

I think the thing to remember here is that we are very much starting at the beginning re-learning how to walk before we run. One game doesn't define how we will play for the rest of the season. I think the point is that this everton game fell at a bad time, 3 weeks later we may have been more prepared to counter attack and in the end put the ball in the back of the net.

I say give it 6 weeks and we will look back at yesterdays game as a point earned under the circumstances.

[Squirrel Regis]

Baggieman,
Well the Burnley game was a great result, they were very very poor but agreed we did put them to the sword.
Interesting to read JP saying that Irvine was just the wrong side of narrow margins and I guess that is right. Bad luck in some games, individual mistakes in some games yes but so far touch wood TP is on the right side of those fine margins.
That's football I guess, I know you aren't a TP fan but was speaking to a stokie today who will not have a bad word to say against him and said he saved their club. Fingers crossed we can stop up and see what happens.

[drewks]

Big Vic talking in the Birmingham Mail:
“I thought we played well, we kept the ball well but it was a difficult game. Maybe we should have put a few chances away, but we didn’t,”

'...kept the ball well"
"...we should have put a few chances away, but we didn’t”

Bless him!!

[Mosestheballwinner]

I get really bored watching Swansea and the likes playing tippy tappy. Its as bad as total hoofball on the eyes. You have to have a mix of styles and know when to apply them. Good teams do that. Even Real hit it long when the time is right. Gerrard is a hoofballer, so was Hoddle but the make raking 40 yard passes and are revered by their respective clubs.

If TP can educate the team to find the right balance as he was doing with Palace we'll be ok. Our biggest problem since we first came to the Prem with Megson is we just haven't had enough players with serious pace. Therefore we became one dimensional and convinced ourselves that possession football was the way to win games. That's why they revolted against Pepe. They hated pressing when they lost possession. Thankfully I don't imagine we'll see anyone telling TP and his motley crew that their tactics are wrong. TP teams don't play counter attacking football. It's about percentages. Get the ball in the box often enough and you'll score. Don't concede and the odds of winning increase. I think it'll be exciting ultimately. If we're creating chances and seeing players busting a gut TP will win a few people over.

Like Megson TP is tailor made for us. We like no nonsense talking and a strong work ethic. It's how we're made in the Black Country.

[BaggyBomber]

I'm with you, Moses.

[WeeWillie]

Well said, Val.
I was probably one of the negative posters you're referring to, and I WOULD personally prefer to watch the Albion in League 2, playing proper football, than the ugly stuff they played on Monday.
My main gripe, though, was that you actually get 3 times as many points for winning a game as you do for drawing, and there was absolutely no intention of going for a win (v Everton). If we had shown any desire we could have nicked a goal, and chalked the points up.
We would celebrate into the night if we heroically get 2 draws with ManC and Chelsea, or ManU and Arsenal, but it would have been a damn sight easier to have played Berahino upfront (instead of left back!) and at least tried to get a goal against a very beatable Everton...... and you get the same number of points.

Quite right.
Drawing away at OT, Chelsea and Man City is the same as holding onto a 2 goal lead at QPR...

Feckin Irvine...

Interesting stuff, I wonder if we would have won at Spurs & Leicester (who were unbeaten at home at the time) with TP in charge? Two clean sheets and we nicked a goal.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Even Real hit it long when the time is right. Gerrard is a hoofballer, so was Hoddle but the make raking 40 yard passes and are revered by their respective clubs.

At the risk of pointing out the obvious, playing an accurate forty-yard ball for a player to run onto isn't "hoofing"; it requires exceptional natural talent above and beyond short one-touch passing. If Stoke had played in that style, I wouldn't have had a bad word to say about them, and wouldn't have the slightest qualm about seeing the same from us; by all means, give us another Bobby Hope who can loft a deadly-accurate ball thirty yards to a winger's feet!

Hoofball as a tactic is specifically the hit-and-hope long ball played up from the back for a target man to knock down and someone to bundle home. Requires little or no talent from the players involved, which is ideal for a club struggling, but tends to become a tactical prison in the long-term when that club wants to push on and do better. All I'm saying.

However, on the evidence of the games so far, I don't think TP is taking us in that direction here and now - fingers crossed he'll be moulding a counter-attacking side - so I look forward to seeing us in a few weeks' time when we'll hopefully have all the pieces of the jigsaw in place.

[valpayne]

I get really bored watching Swansea and the likes playing tippy tappy. Its as bad as total hoofball on the eyes. You have to have a mix of styles and know when to apply them. Good teams do that. Even Real hit it long when the time is right. Gerrard is a hoofballer, so was Hoddle but the make raking 40 yard passes and are revered by their respective clubs.

If TP can educate the team to find the right balance as he was doing with Palace we'll be ok. Our biggest problem since we first came to the Prem with Megson is we just haven't had enough players with serious pace. Therefore we became one dimensional and convinced ourselves that possession football was the way to win games. That's why they revolted against Pepe. They hated pressing when they lost possession. Thankfully I don't imagine we'll see anyone telling TP and his motley crew that their tactics are wrong. TP teams don't play counter attacking football. It's about percentages. Get the ball in the box often enough and you'll score. Don't concede and the odds of winning increase. I think it'll be exciting ultimately. If we're creating chances and seeing players busting a gut TP will win a few people over.

Like Megson TP is tailor made for us. We like no nonsense talking and a strong work ethic. It's how we're made in the Black Country.

That's exactly right MTBW you have to mix it up. That's why I mentioned Chelsea and Arsenal in previous post. Chelsea because they can play some good football but they can be downright ugly to. Their quite happy to cheat as well, Ramires dive that lead to the penalty and the beginning of a horrible period that carried on until AI was sacked anybody?   They can dazzle at times but scrap out a 1-0 if needs be. This is the tactical nouse the moronihos    of the world possess that we've lacked since Hodgson departed and I truly believe there is more to TP than Hoofball. The difference between his big physical stoke average team compared to what he did with palace shows that. Arsenal on the other hand play the nice on the eye stuff almost constantly and that is why they're not achieving as much as teams like Chelsea because theyre a bit one dimensional and they get sussed out.  in fact many gooners want AW gone  

and I agree with you about the megson TP analogy though I believe TP is better than GM was But GM was a massive part of our return to top flight footy and yes the type of players we have do need to roll their sleeves up and work twice as hard to get results in this league. We were far to easy to beat but I think in just a few weeks we've already changed that mentality. We rarely beat Everton especially away so it was a hard fought draw ugly yes but never the less its what we need until we can get TP players in and some more weeks getting the philosophy across to the players then slowly we will see progress