[4evaabaggie]

Haven't scored in five of our last six ...... with the games remaining I reckon our record premier league points haul will still be 49. Kiss goodbye to eighth ..... only good things from today, sjoke and Watford both lost so should still get ninth. Really need a goal scorer.

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exit stage left

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Is it just me or once we go a goal down to anyone I write us off and wish I was somewhere else doing something else. Watching paint dry would be preferable

Val, at the moment it's you and me both .... goal scoring is not our forte right now. Contrary to my earlier comment might get enough to reach fifty out of the Burnley, Leicester and Swansea games ...... fingers crossed.

[BaggieSteve]

I wonder what claptrap Pulis will come out with after this defeat - "the boys worked aaard" is the usual one, but that's no goals in 270 minutes and we clearly have the cutting edge of a blunt spoon. I know we all react badly straight after a defeat but we had 16 shots and cannot score; we are toothless unless we can turn corners and free kicks into goals. We have a centre forward who hasn't scored since December and precious little creativity in midfield. Why oh why is Pulis not prepared to give game time to some of the young talent coming through? I know I'll probably get criticised for saying this but I think our 8th position is a very fragile one. I know you can't argue with the results but that squad does not strike me as one good enough for the position it holds in the league and I'm pretty sure it won't finish there, likely not in the top half. Sorry, really disappointed with this result.

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Haven't scored in five of our last six ...... with the games remaining I reckon our record premier league points haul will still be 49. Kiss goodbye to eighth ..... only good things from today, sjoke and Watford both lost so should still get ninth. Really need a goal scorer.

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exit stage left

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Is it just me or once we go a goal down to anyone I write us off and wish I was somewhere else doing something else. Watching paint dry would be preferable

Val, at the moment it's you and me both .... goal scoring is not our forte right now. Contrary to my earlier comment might get enough to reach fifty out of the Burnley, Leicester and Swansea games ...... fingers crossed.

4eva, Burnley have one of the best home records in the league, Leicester have hit a brilliant run of form and play the style of football that will take us apart and Swansea may well need points from the last game against us to stay up. So, I reckon you're being very optimistic; I honestly think we'll get no points from those three games.

[talkSAFT]

Well played James McLean and Johnny Evans, but too many poor individual performances:

Chadli doesn't do enough for me; and I can't see how Livermore is worth an England place - he's not really worth a place above Yacob in our team.
We only look(ed) a threat from set-pieces, but the delivery today was very poor.

Let Rondon go to China, and splash out this summer. He never seems to take up the right positions when we're breaking, and those rubber shinpads could do with a bit of foam round them.

[4evaabaggie]

Baggiesteve, the first part of my post stated I could not see us beating our 49 point premier league record, the second part on reflection, with a bit of hope, Burnley away, a difficult fixture but maybe more pressure on them than us, Leicester may be otherwise distracted with the champions league. Swansea is the last game and they may already be down or safe, throw into the mix that Chelsea and Man City may have a cup final to stay fit for and our fifty points might just be attainable. Not rose tinted glasses but a hopeful heart, that fifty point barrier is a big one for us just now ....... and if we can get over it, it may make future seasons easier until we reach the sixty point hurdle.

[WBA-Josh]

Our passing is still not up to standard for the 8th best team currently in England, we still struggle at breaking teams down when our set pieces are poor, we still have no plan B and our whole set-up and style of play is very predictable for the opposition now. At least the coaching staff know what needs strengthening in the summer.

Tony Pulis' aim of 6 signings in the summer looks about right, I just hope they are quality players from abroad as well as the UK because the UK market is normally overpriced. In my opinion we will need a centre back to eventually replace McAuley, Marc Wilson as a permanent transfer as centre back cover, a quality left back, a ball playing central midfielder to push Fletcher and Morrison, a right winger to push Phillips and Chadli and a striker to replace Rondon as first choice. My personal choices are Björn Engels (CB - Club Brugge), Dennis Aogo (LB - Schalke), Lorenzo Pellegrini (CM - Sassuolo), Simone Verdi (RM - Bologna) and Duvan Zapata (ST - Napoil) but I'm sure Tony Pulis has other players in mind.

[BaggieSteve]

Baggiesteve, the first part of my post stated I could not see us beating our 49 point premier league record, the second part on reflection, with a bit of hope, Burnley away, a difficult fixture but maybe more pressure on them than us, Leicester may be otherwise distracted with the champions league.  Swansea is the last game and they may already be down or safe, throw into the mix that Chelsea and Man City may have a cup final to stay fit for and our fifty points might just be attainable. Not rose tinted glasses but a hopeful heart, that fifty point barrier is a big one for us just now ....... and if we can get over it, it may make future seasons easier until we reach the sixty point hurdle.

4eva, ??. I was really hacked off when I replied but now, two pints of Doombar later, I feel slightly more mellow. I think my frustration is that we could, and should, be so much better. The season seems to be following the pattern of good performances to reach 40 points and then it's "job done,lads". I know we beat Arsenal but that was primarily because they were totally unable to defend balls into the box. Concerning ly, we've also lost four out of the last fixtures, including games against Palace, Watford and Southampton. If we are truly an eighth placed team, we should be winning two out of those three. I hope we turn in performances against Burnley, Leicester and Swansea but I'm not in the least confident we will. My gut feel is that we'll finish 12th or 13th, but hope to be proved wrong.

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Baggiesteve, the first part of my post stated I could not see us beating our 49 point premier league record, the second part on reflection, with a bit of hope, Burnley away, a difficult fixture but maybe more pressure on them than us, Leicester may be otherwise distracted with the champions league.  Swansea is the last game and they may already be down or safe, throw into the mix that Chelsea and Man City may have a cup final to stay fit for and our fifty points might just be attainable. Not rose tinted glasses but a hopeful heart, that fifty point barrier is a big one for us just now ....... and if we can get over it, it may make future seasons easier until we reach the sixty point hurdle.

4eva, ??. I was really hacked off when I replied but now, two pints of Doombar later, I feel slightly more mellow. I think my frustration is that we could, and should, be so much better. The season seems to be following the pattern of good performances to reach 40 points and then it's "job done,lads". I know we beat Arsenal but that was primarily because they were totally unable to defend balls into the box. Concerning ly, we've also lost four out of the last fixtures, including games against Palace, Watford and Southampton. If we are truly an eighth placed team, we should be winning two out of those three. I hope we turn in performances against Burnley, Leicester and Swansea but I'm not in the least confident we will. My gut feel is that we'll finish 12th or 13th, but hope to be proved wrong.

The ?? should have been emojis but not sure what happened - just in case you thought I was questioning your name!

[Zinman]

I think that today perfectly illustrated the problem with Pulis' preferred selections. We have 2 capable central defenders pretending to be full backs. They are both good defensively and add a threat at set pieces due to their ability in the air but if we have to try to break teams down neither are capable of creating anything on the flanks. It therefore falls to our wide men to get crosses in rather than being in close support to Rondon who is left isolated in the middle. We looked far more threatening when Brunt came on at left back and was able to offer an additional attacking threat. It's a real dilemma - do we want to be solid defensively and dangerous at set pieces or do we want full backs that offer more pace and attacking threat while leaving us more exposed at the back? I know which I'd prefer to watch but not sure whether we would be as successful. Today also showed that we need to spend money on a quality attacking midfielder - neither Morrison nor Brunt are good enough in that role.

[wba1978]

Yacob has to play imho. This Fletcher/Livermore thing isn't working. Too much is getting through. Personally I'd drop Fletcher, but T.P will never do that. So ????

[BaggieMan]

Oh dear.... without an effective 'Arthur' we are struggling to find the net of late and I suspect a bottom half finish again for us. :-(

Hey ho, it's only a game.

PS: 'Arthur' Scargill - a good striker !

[betterthanbaird]

I think that today perfectly illustrated the problem with Pulis' preferred selections. We have 2 capable central defenders pretending to be full backs. They are both good defensively and add a threat at set pieces due to their ability in the air but if we have to try to break teams down neither are capable of creating anything on the flanks. It therefore falls to our wide men to get crosses in rather than being in close support to Rondon who is left isolated in the middle. We looked far more threatening when Brunt came on at left back and was able to offer an additional attacking threat. It's a real dilemma - do we want to be solid defensively and dangerous at set pieces or do we want full backs that offer more pace and attacking threat while leaving us more exposed at the back? I know which I'd prefer to watch but not sure whether we would be as successful. Today also showed that we need to spend money on a quality attacking midfielder - neither Morrison nor Brunt are good enough in that role.

Nyom is a full back not a centre back and if we played him on the right I think he'd pose a decent attacking threat so hopefully we'll go into next season with this back 4:

New Left Back - Evans - Dawson - Nyom