West Brom (h) post-match thread

[avoidconfusion]

With every game it becomes clearer just how poor our transfers have been recently

 

[gorton guvnor]

We’ve failed to replace legends with like for like quality (hard I know). Each one we kept until their body couldn’t give any more which gave us ample time to replace. The same thing is happening with Sergio. The way I look at it is if you gave any of our competitors a free hit at taking any of our current crop who would they take to improve what they’ve got. After Kev I’m not so sure. Don’t want to dig the lads out because this is a strange season for everyone but it’s clear that there’s plenty not good enough for where we want to be

 

[Txiki Txiki Bang Bang]

It's sub-standard from so many players.

I'm pleased for Gundo, I have given him pelters for so many performances in recent seasons but it is now abundantly clear he isn't the problem, it's that big lump next to him.

Gundo is the only risk taker in the team outside of Kev, with arguably more end product this season.

He looks leaner than I have seen him before and has been out best player this season.

You can see why Pep continues to rotate Foden, he doesn't impact games half as much starting, same goes for Jesus.

I'm just frustrated as in the half-time matchday forum I said the obvious was to take Mendy off and put Walker in, yet Pep left it too late.

For me, to countenance that City have paid £230m for Mendy, Cancelo, Rodri and Mahrez, is a failure that cannot be easily excused.

Still confident we will be there at the business end but a striker in January wouldn't go amiss!

If we are going to build a team with the aggression and tenacity of the old guards and possibly push for at least one or two ucl finals within the next five years, then we have to start now. Currently we are blessed with the best CB pairings we have ever had and I feel like we might miss a trick here if we don't apply some ruthless decision making. We need to get players who are ready to make an impact right now, any player that has had enough game time but still hasn't "come good" needs to be moved on quickly. Yaya, Silva, Kompany and Aguero were all winners but somehow I feel like we didn't get the best out of their prime years because we didn't go all out to get the best defenders out there, right now we have a similar situation only this time its our great defensive pairings that we risk wasting! Yes, Dias is still young but Stones, Walker and Laporte are all in the 26-29 years age bracket, if we intend to build a winning team with these players at the heart of the defence then we have to start now!

We need to revert to a working system and spend money on like for like replacement players.

-Get a Zakaria/Ndidi type player for Dinho.

-Give the Rodri project a couple more months, if he doesn't improve by the end of the season, cut our losses and get Luiz in. I would have suggested we play him as a CB but what's the point? we are already stacked in that position unless the management plans to get rid of Ake.

-Leone Bailey in as a replacement for Sane. Form is temporary, Class is permanent, he has found his form back in Leverkusen and is ripping the league up at the moment.

-FFS Out.

-Aouar/Bennacer in for Gundogan.

-Get Theo Hernandez, Mendy can fuck off.

-Find the closest thing to Kun in the transfer market. Haaland? Daka? Lautaro? Mbappe? Time to make a decision and go all out for that player.

-Sign players based on their ability in their natural position! find an attacker that can attack, a wing who totally dominates and forces chances from the wing, a defender that can actually defend (done this already). The ability to complete 1000 passes in a game is great but that shouldn't be what we look for when signing certain players especially in key positions like the wings and in the dm position. We have relied on this lately and it hasn't proven successful. A decent pass conversation rate would do.

-Sell Garcia, no room for nationalistic sentiment .

-No more Girona/CFG signings, No more freebies for "sister clubs", we have enough of them already! Enough of the random 16-18 year old signings, get players that are ready RIGHT NOW to bring in a flurry of trophies for the next 4-5 years.

-Play Torres more or loan him out until Pep has confidence in him, no need to waste him on the bench, we don't want to see another Leroy situation.

 

[Keeper!]

we had 26 shots yesterday.

And how many goals?

We are not creating like we used to.

 

[The1nvisibleMan]

Well that would be a bit silly, wouldn’t it? To get some perspective, we certainly weren’t at the top of our game and the majority of players were below the high standards that most of us expect. We played a team that parked the bus and performed well and their manager got his tactics right. Their goalie made some crucial stops, any of which could have gone in. The goal against us was a deflection that some would consider fortunate for them, but they took the shot and it paid off. Give them credit and recognize that we could have won but for some good saves, missed opportunities and an own goal.

But every week it’s the same thing. If this was a freak result it’s fine but we’re consistently failing to improve right now. Other teams are dropping points and we can’t even take advantage by beating WEST BROM like come off it

 

[sir baconface]

Splashing the cash is not the answer or even an option. The entire globe is on the verge of an economic meltdown and nobody is immune from that reality. We are not in good shape currently and the short term prospects are somewhat concerning but getting out the cheque book is not really feasible or desirable.

We have a collective loss of form and ideas. We should be demanding accountability at the end of the season, not bailing out big egos with a bottomless bank account.

If we can’t show significant improvement with the resources already available, we should recruit someone who can.

 

[Kippax77]

Splashing the cash is not the answer or even an option. The entire globe is on the verge of an economic meltdown and nobody is immune from that reality. We are not in good shape currently and the short term prospects are somewhat concerning but getting out the cheque book is not really feasible or desirable.

Bollocks. We purposely try being famous by not breaking our record transfer fee of 65 million, regardless of Covid. We dream of players like Haaland etc but we will bauk at the price, for what?
If we don't want to spend cash then we need to show faith in our youth policy, but we have a manager that doesn't seem to even have faith in his bench.
Sterling Rodri etc starting every game for him even though its clear they are the cause of our dismise
And dont even dare say there's no dismise cos this team is going fucking backwards.

 

[willipp]

we had 26 shots yesterday.

Of which 7 were on target. Other than the 2 in injury time, we offered very little threat to west brom, so saying we had 26 shots is just not a reflection of how bad we were.

 

[LesBleuMiserable]

We’ve failed to replace legends with like for like quality (hard I know). Each one we kept until their body couldn’t give any more which gave us ample time to replace. The same thing is happening with Sergio. The way I look at it is if you gave any of our competitors a free hit at taking any of our current crop who would they take to improve what they’ve got. After Kev I’m not so sure. Don’t want to dig the lads out because this is a strange season for everyone but it’s clear that there’s plenty not good enough for where we want to be

Ferguson had the right idea of replacing a player before his demise on the field and would sell a year of two early and get a fee either Everton, Middlesbrough etc.

We appear to show loyalty and reward it and only when player is completely visibly knackered on the pitch then look for replacement. A lot of people saying last night how much we missed Silva, but forget a lot of folk were slating him last year about his legs having gone and needed moving on.

 

[Kippax77]

Id of played David Silva even into his 50s, than watch this midfield