West Brom (League Cup) Post match thread

The referee was pretty casual in not controlling the cynical and over physical challenges early on. That sets the tone and opens the door for poor/clumsy/rash challenges later on. I'm not sure who dragged the studs down Yaya's achilles but how the referee from 5-10 yards away didn't caution them is a mystery.

Having only seen one full speed replay I'm not entirely convinced Delph got the ball when he was given his yellow. But I could be wrong there. Leroy and Raheem yellows were correct, regardless of what had occurred earlier with Ilkay it amazes me how nearly every player in the prem gets stupid yellows venting frustration. I suppose that level of competitive aggression is a good thing though so can be forgiven. It's tough to swallow though when the refereeing standards are so poor and I think the players feel that.

Leroy saves us this game single handedly and we were more than lucky not to concede after Ferny replaced him. We dodged a bullet today. It's a shame we didn't score more early when we were all over them so we could get Diaz and Foden on. Maybe in the wolves game.

Also the way we panicked in that final 20 minutes after Leroy scored was very 2016. As many have mentioned Bravo just doesn't give us that confidence in defence. But even walker, Dani, Ferny all hoofing it up to nobody just so it comes back was also a product of Yaya being absent and us not having an outlet. The baggies were pressing right up too so they can take a little credit but with our front line eleven I really think we'd have been comfortable.
I wouldn't have exposed any young player to that game it was like something from 40 years ago.
 
Great goals from sane, particularly the second. His class got us out of jail there after missing some great chances, and we still had to rely on their poor finishing to see us through.

I'd say fair play to west brom for giving it a good go and so on, but imo there is no way that idiot yacob should have even been on the pitch to level the score at that point. He'd made several borderline yellow card offences already, before going in two footed from behind and injuring a player. Looked a red at the time and just looks even worse with replays, what a cowards tackle. Scumbag.

No idea what the ref was thinking with keeping him on the pitch, a decision he followed up by seemingly bollocking sane for not taking a corner because there were two balls on the pitch.

My main other concern was how we struggled with the long diagonal balls bypassing our midfield totally, something which is a rag speciality under mourinho, and our loss of discipline. Means against the cloggers and the hoofers Mendy and Walker need to start.
Fair play and West Brom should never be in the same sentence.
 
Result was better than the performance, i'd take that every time in cup competitions.
 
It was always going to be a case of after the lord mayor's show comes the dust cart so to speak given the changes and the fact its the league cup which whether we like it or not as fans is an irritant to top clubs these days and players have one thought in mind and that's not getting injured.

To be fair to us that first 45 mins was excellent despite the above but in the 2nd half we lost focus and Gundog to a horror tackle and it began to show in virtually all of them.

Moment of sheer class form Sane got us through in the end and we have a great chance of progression now at home, finally, to Wolves but we will never see the levels of performance in this competition that we do in the league, never and i think in the next 5 years, top PL clubs will either opt out of it completely or be able to enter their EDS sides instead.
I'm not taking anything away from the Carabao Cup but it's more than an irritant at times. A midweek match in late October in between the Weekend/midweek CL and Premier Lesgue matches plus in the middle of two International breaks. Then a quarter final in November if we beat Wolves and then for teams that have qualified a two legged semi final in January just after the hectic Xmas games. Just takes away the recuperation time in the heart of winter.

On another note (slightly related), the European Championships qualifiers for 2020 don't start until March 2019, does that mean the FIFA International breaks will still be on in Sept, Oct and Nov next year? If so it will be three meaningless breaks for International Friendlies.
 
I'm not taking anything away from the Carabao Cup but it's more than an irritant at times. A midweek match in late October in between the Weekend/midweek CL and Premier Lesgue matches plus in the middle of two International breaks. Then a quarter final in November if we beat Wolves and then for teams that have qualified a two legged semi final in January just after the hectic Xmas games. Just takes away the recuperation time in the heart of winter.

On another note (slightly related), the European Championships qualifiers for 2020 don't start until March 2019, does that mean the FIFA International breaks will still be on in Sept, Oct and Nov next year? If so it will be three meaningless breaks for International Friendlies.
Answer to your FIFA question: Yes
 
Excellent result and the second time already this season I've been very impressed with our character, something I doubted at times last season.

These are the games where you learn something about players, attritional anti-football, unhelpful refereeing and in a game which isn't a priority.

Just when I thought we were wobbling, we went and won it. Great stuff.

Hoping it's only a minor injury for Gundogan.
 
We were dominant up until Gundogan got injured by the assassin Yacob we then seemed to lose our mental approach and let WBA to get under our skin

Pullis teams always try and fight their way to victory because he knows technically he is out of his depth in the Premier league even the Championship, he is anti football.

Yaya should have got a grip of his team mates and calmed them down but he didn't and it nearly cost us.

And how the fuck can two players have a clear chance from a corner to score that goal, Mangala followed Stones to the near post when he should have stayed in the centre.
 
Great result barring the injury. Two great finishes from Leroy. Barely a mention in the media that we won a tough tie away from home with the second string against one of the teams who's physical approach would be our undoing. I think last nights win is a big statement. Not only that we will be taking every comp seriously but that our supposed frailties may have been over emphasised. Still I understand it's hardly the achievement beating burton at home is thanks to a homegrown legend who Phil Neville thinks could be better than mbappe based on his two against the mighty burton.
 

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