West Brom (h) post-match thread

[buckshot]

They're just flat without fans, once the stadium is full they'll be back to normal.

 

[Kippax77]

Tonight was absolutely indefensible, a truly awful performance and one which has summed up every single problem we have as a club.

Points dropped to another 1-shot-1-goal team. Suckerpunched for probably the 15th time now in the last couple of years.

It was obvious what WBA were going to do - sit back in numbers and defend. If we'd have got an early goal it would've been a different story but we just start - and finish - so slowly it rarely happens now. In fact, t's hard to tell what minute we're in watching the game as from minute 1 to 90 it's slow, predictable and dull.

It was clear the game was drifting from the 30th minute and I didn't know what Walker or Aguero - both 30+ year olds - were supposed to do in the last 15 minutes against a tightly packed defence that the others couldn't do. Bizarre.

We made them look like 10 Kompany's at the back. I cannot understand why we needed to play Rodri and Gundogan, Dias and Ake against them. It's just not needed and I've said it before but against the bus-parkers, we should tempt them out - take Rodri out (or Gundogan or Ake) and put Bernardo on and see if the extra space tempts them out. I've said a million times that playing more than one of Rodri, Gundogan and Fern is criminal as they kill our game. The number of backward and crab passes tonight would have made Ray Wilkins proud.

Cancelo doesn't fit into our system and needs to be moved on. He's not a patch on Walker and every time he plays, he proves this. He's not good enough for us. Mendy is useless and I don't see any point in playing him - if he's better than our under-21 left backs, fuck them off as well as they aren't good enough.

Pumping crosses in against their big lads was as pointless as trying to thread balls between their back 7 - impossible. I don't rate the lad but if Mahrez is going to play then he should be able to cause WBA problems simply because he game is about close control and dribbling. If he's not going to get a game against WBA there's no fuckin point playing him against the rest of the league.

I find it very, very hard to defend Pep tonight. I'm a massive fan of his but he's not learning anything from these games. This has been going on for too long now. He has sorted the defence out but he has one month - January - to get this side sorted. I've a horrific feeling the club is waiting for Messi to join. That's why the contract extension has been signed as he needs Messi to win the CL.

I'll say this again to finish, but we've got to look at some of our players who are either not good enough (Mendy, Mahrez, Cancelo, Zinchenko), not performing (Bernardo), ageing (Walker) or saleable (KdB, Sterling, Stones this week) and think about selling some to bring in big money to totally revamp this side. Honestly, for me there's no player who's unavailable - we need a war chest to bring in top, top players.

Like your post.
But in cancelo,s defence hes trying to do sterlings job as well as his own.
He needs to be full back and winger in one as "raz the daz" fucks off to positions he knows he can,t receive the ball.
But yes I agree on much

 

[Paul1970]

Slagging a player off who's scored shit tons of goals for us doesn't sit well with me.

Sick and tired of the same players getting hung out to dry every week.

What's KDB done lately? I'll answer "ABSOLUTELY FUCK ALL" but it's okay it's Sterling or FFS Mahrez's fault. Kev has spent the last month crying and flapping his fucking hands about, he missed a penalty against Liverpool and didn't recieve anywhere near the shit Mahrez did.

Phil Foden? All I see is a little effort and him keeping the ball too long so he's tackled, but he's an academy boy he must start ahead of Steling and FFS who are our top 2 scorers by the way.

You have some fair points there fella and some that I agree with . I’ll be honest with you I don’t think Jesus is good enough to be our main striker and I think we show way too much sentiment in holding onto players who are clearly finished at the level we need and I also think signing messi is not the answer to our problems . I understand your frustrations but one thing we all in common is our love for our club whatever our opinions are .

 

[blue for life]

They're just flat without fans, once the stadium is full they'll be back to normal.

That’s what I think. Don’t think it just affects our players either.

 

[SWPISHOME]

We are playing like a combination of the Pearce days and Pellers final year.

But even then, WBA were lucky tonight. Jammy goal and 2 point blank saves denied us at the end.

Agree with the jammy goal. I'd say more horrendous finishing than point blank saves, Both straight at him. Sterling more so than Gundogan. Shocking finishing.

I'd actually trust Sterling around my missus, No doubt he'd put it in the wrong hole.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Rodri is nowhere near as good as Gareth Barry

Both of them specialise in doing three-point turns in the middle of the pitch. Barry was more effective because he stuck to his job of protecting the back four and winning the ball back (so did De Jong) Rodri seems to think he is Ya Ya but he clearly isn't. Everytime he goes forward you know the move will slow down and then break down. It's very strange to watch. I honestly can't see what Pep is trying to achieve with this tactic. I wish some one would ask him this question. Pep is intelligent and he plays Rodri in every game when it is clear he is not a box-to-box player. It baffles me.

 

[wythenshaweblue£££]

What a strange game tonight I kind of knew from the 60 min we wasn’t going to score I think pep making his subs to late recently and once again tonight. Luckily we are not far off the top but we aren’t playing to well at the moment we need some urgency back.

 

[citytill1die84]

You have some fair points there fella and some that I agree with . I’ll be honest with you I don’t think Jesus is good enough to be our main striker and I think we show way too much sentiment in holding onto players who are clearly finished at the level we need and I also think signing messi is not the answer to our problems . I understand your frustrations but one thing we all in common is our love for our club whatever our opinions are .

It's the Love that kills us all mate haha.

 

[Gray]

Ref's fault. DId everyone see Pep was fighting for another 30 seconds and anything could have happened in those.

Nice try.

 

[trumpton]

This team isn't anywhere near good enough to get top 4 nevermind fucking winning it
Why have we changed Stones & Dias?
Why do we keep going with fucking Rodri???
What the fuck does Mendy give us going forward????
Why has Kev, Sterling dropped 50% in quality?????
What the fuck is going on with his tactics & substitutions??????

Ok Pep isn't finishing off the chances but what the fuck are we doing in front of goal its fucking awfull

City were putting these teams to sleep after 15 minutes not trying to win it in the 93rd minute

Nobody can tell me about teams parking the bus when we miss chance after chance, VAR or decisions bullshit we are in this position because we've been fucking pants

Good job the manager has mates at the club because he is not performing imo very lucky man

We all laugh at the little shit across the road yet he will more & likely be 4 points better off

Southampton right now will beat us no problem

What shape are we playing does anyone know?

We are seeing the Sterling from 4 years ago, weak, frustrating

Where is the high press & winning the ball back

Even Kevs free kicks look shit

Sorry guys but I just dont see this team doing anything absalute jack shit

Laporte, Bernardo & Torres must be pissed off to fuck,

This isn't covid, no fans or VAR its not fucking good enough

My post from earlier is pretty much the same.



Shite.

2 holding midfielders against West Brom. Only potential creativity was kev who got marked out of the game.

Mendy, you were shite before the tarantula on the front and back of your head appeared. Now you are shite and look like a twat.

Raz, what has gone wrong.

Phil, needs a run of games.

Ake, so far, not good enough.

Stop dicking around with the rotation bollocks. Play the players in form.

When Gundog is your best player on the pitch you know you have problems.

Midfield wank. What do you do. Wait until the last 15 to make changes then ignore the midfield.

2 more years of this, not for me.