[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

After a string of good results we were due a blip by the international break, and sure enough, being held to a draw by Hull at home was a disappointing end to a week in which we dropped four points through defensive error. The playoff chase is bunched up again as a result, even as some of the stragglers fall away; among them Norwich City, whose two defeats in a week all but ended their campaign a fortnight ago, just in time for our visit.

The Canaries are now winless for over a month, though their last victory came at Carrow Road, and indeed, their one win against Albion in the last seven encounters came in the corresponding fixture last season. For the Baggies, meanwhile, it's now a dry spell of eleven on the road; our worst in any division since the winter of 2017-18. Small wonder, then, that the odds tilt a little in the home side's favour in anticipation that they'll target a return to winning ways in what's inevitably their last chance at clinging to the coattails of the playoff race.

The fixture list isn't going to get any kinder for Albion between now and Easter, so while this is the kind of match in which a draw would ordinarily do, the bigger picture demands something more this weekend. The away win-drought has to end, and as difficult as it'll undoubtedly be, we need to look at doing it here.

[Blue Baggie]

Fingers crossed we can get something out of this game. We desperately need the points now. COYB.

[talkSAFT]

Bo**ocks 1-0 92 mins

[Salopbaggie]

Well I would not want to be in that dressing room when TM gets the players back, even though I do question some of his selections/tactics. I will guarantee we will hear from him later and it will not be, "we did not take our chances", it will be "we did not really create any". Easily the better team but that gets you nothing and in a week when we could have put some daylight between us and the other play off contenders, we go and muck it up. Oh the life of a baggie.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

With the disclaimer that it's only one result, and (thankfully) hasn't affected our position too badly, there's still a bit of a "first nail in the coffin" feel about that as far as our campaign's concerned. If we're going to cross the line with home wins then we'll be needing a couple of big and unlikely upsets in the weeks ahead, and it's hard to see where we're going to turn things round on the road.

[baggietrousers]

Time for a bit of honesty without the rose tinted glasses.
This squad, including the management and coaching staff, are quite simply not good enough to be serious promotion candidates. Baffling decisions on selection and lack of substitutions, when quite obviously some players are nothing short of useless. There’s a reason why Armstrong couldn’t get a game in the worst premier league team in years, but we’re giving him game time and might as well be playing with 10 men. If by some miracle we make the the playoffs we are going to be up against one of the current top four who are quite simply way better than we are, and even then if we were to fluke promotion we would need a completely new stating 11 and, I hate to say it, a much better manager/coach otherwise we would be the next Southampton.
I know many of you will not agree and come back with ‘give TM time’ ‘it’s not his squad’ etc. which is fine. But as I said , take off the rose tinted glasses.

[4evaabaggie]

This is exactly why I didn’t want Tony back, he did well with us last time, a hero, bit of a blot on his copybook when he left for a poor league north of the border but still a promotion nae championship winning manager. He has taken us from a strong playoff position to one we will not be able to hang on to. We have dropped to many points in the eighteen draws, too many from winning positions, too many from late goals and too many from trying to hold on to a single goal lead when well on top and killing the game off would have been more sensible. His legend status may well be tarnished when we spend another year in the championship.
Armstrong was a strong EFL striker damaged by lack of game time in a division beyond his skill set and he has struggled to recover it.
If our fingernails are strong and we cling on to a top six spot, the only silver lining is the fact that so far we have not lost to any of the current top five sides. A small speck of hope in that.
Playing blues next season me thinks.
Don’t want to be pessimistic but we’re just not getting results.

Albion til I die.

[BaggieSteve]

It’s a real blow not having Maja for, most likely, the rest of the season. After a goal in his first match , Armstrong has proven to be something of a one game wonder. I feel he needs to be left out and either Lankshear or Dike needs to start.
I suspect losing one point today is probably not going to determine whether we make the playoffs but the continuing lack of goalscoring will. From the reports of today, Angus Gunn played a blinder but we still had enough chances to win. I suspect we are going to miss out

[Baggievicar]

I remember losing 1-0 to Norwich sending us down from the top division in the 70s sometime, so this has a nasty echo to it.
I suppose TM has to be careful what he says in public but from what I heard of the game he doesn't seem to be very realistic (or clear-sighted?) about where we are.

[Baggiebob(BBB)]

As i said when we had about 9 draws, having too many would not help our chances of the last six, and now we have 17 i'll be very surprised baring a miracle if we do make the six, with Bristol City and others winning.. 3pts...

I'd rather we'd lost 8 games and won 9, we'd have instead 27pts instead of 17pts ... if you get my logic..