West Brom (h) post-match thread

[bondsman]

I think that’s completely reasonable, and having seen our profligacy last season it may be a bit naïve of Pep to rely on us to take chances at the required frequency.

What we don’t know is how tired or unfocused or just plain fed up the players are, and how much that plays into our approach.

I know personally that right now I’m doing only what I need to do at work because I’m burnt out and exhausted by everything. This is their job, and it’s a dream job, but they have families and lives and hit the wall sometimes just like everyone else.

Fed up and tired? Wow wonder how fed up and tired they'd be living in the real world.

 

[Vicious111]

Owen Hargreaves hit the nail on the head.

Why we are playing two defensive midfielders when we are absolutely dominating possession is absolutely beyond me.

 

[paulsimpson]

You may be right but tbh there is no chance we win the Champions League playing like this. Any one of Bayern, PSG, Juventus or the Dippers will absolutely twat us.

agree but Pep has to get out of the tactic which keeps us narrow in games. We never used to draw. Now we are getting more draws than ever before. He has to go back to his possession + risk ,tactic. At the moment it's still about possession but not willing to push wide to the side lines for fear of leaving gaps and vulnerability to counterattack . Well if we bought recent central defenders for over 100 million then we simply have to be prepared to take the risk of exposing the defense as it should be good enough to withstand attack along with a defensive midfield. We certainly would be winning more games by opening things up a little. It would be better than this slow, narrow build up at the moment which just constricts the play down the middle. Maybe he is afraid of risk.
The players are told what to do . They carry out Pep's orders to the letter. What we are seeing now is all his doing. What he says goes. Not one player will defy him.
Give us the same tactics that we finished off in the PL last season. At least we would be winning more games and would be in the top 4 by now.

 

[Blumers Bloomers]

Shite.

There is a blueprint on how to get points against us and has been since Wolves at home last season.

Problem is the more teams get points from us, the more teams we are yet to play will think we’re not all that and know we are there for the taking

 

[SamBlue]

I am just lost for words, from the team capable of conceding the most absurd goals and sinking down mentally after that - and still we are on basis of tonight's game- we turned into the one that's literally incapable of scoring. It is really becoming scary, our conversion rate tumbled from more than 15% two seasons ago to barely above 10%, if it doesn't sink bellow that it with this game. That's conversion rate of a team just above relegation zone. There are nine teams, I repeat, nine fucking teams that scored more goals than us and another on the very same 18 goals.
But it all starts and ends with Pep. Every single game he is making, if not wrong than questionable decisions about the team and tactics. He was angry tonight at least!
#bringedinback

 

[fredmont]

Cancelo's passing in the final third was awful. He's a wannabe striker who tries to shoot at every opportunity, although most his shots are miles off target.

His final ball is consistently awful and his shooting is terrible. People seem to like the other stuff he does, but I ain't one of them.

 

[ancoats]

Please don't do it mate.

its a thing i been doing any way hahah
this season is a puzzle in why pep fears leaking goals even vs weaker teams. the setup is so wrong and even if we leaked a goal last season or the season before we score 4 or 5. this season we leak a goal and they are getting a point or better or why bother

 

[Blu1]

Give over.

It's not the manager's fault that the players are not putting the ball in the net enough.

We have the most possession, best pass completion, most shots at goal and concede fewest shots on goal.

We face massed defences in a way and with a frequency that I've never before seen.

We are not as good as we were but we are not as bad as a lot of people think.

No but we are getting worse not better. Peps tactics are poor this season for me. At home against West Brom & he plays 2 holding midfielders is crazy. We are getting slower by the game for me

 

[The1nvisibleMan]

KDB is a passenger at the moment. Zero intensity in his game and he has to be taken out of the side.

He’s playing way too high up the pitch. By the time he gets it its nicked off him, he should drop deeper to receive it so he can see where things need to go

 

[manimanc]

Unfortunately, that's true. If I was a neutral, I'd have binned that game at HT.

Thats two games in a row where I've gone on my phone playing one of my games.
Something just isn't right.

 

[Phil Mitchell Foden]

If we are playing two people in the pivot role then one of them has to be fast and mobile enough to move upfield to feed the forwards. We are just two slow in transition. Perhaps Pep should play Bernardo there. Rodri is essentially a new Gareth Barry. He can't move the ball fast enough. He would be good if we were defending a 2 goal lead away in Europe but not at home against West Brom.
It's amazing that Mendy is still getting into the team at all. His legs went two years ago. He would not get in any other PL team.

Gareth Barry was a quality player, he just wasn't an athlete.

Rodri is a piss poor player and he's a shocking athlete. No comparison.

 

[I'm Blue]

I'm beginning to think Pep's trying to get the sack, a big payout and see you later after his new bumper deal.
All fine when we are winning, when we're losing he's stood on the sidelines looking clueless.
I really thought we'd began to turn a corner, making us hard to beat and the attacking play would come, but after that I'm fuming.
It's like he's given up.
He can start by calling the players out for their lack of effort, lack of fast paced passing, lack of a press, lack of pride!
Not sure how well that will go down considering he was largely at fault, but fuck it they need a rocket up their arses.
Maybe he's got to friendly with the players being here so long, the Pep of old wouldn't have stood for the pure lack of effort we've seen tonight.

 

[Akira]

If we are playing two people in the pivot role then one of them has to be fast and mobile enough to move upfield to feed the forwards. We are just two slow in transition. Perhaps Pep should play Bernardo there. Rodri is essentially a new Gareth Barry. He can't move the ball fast enough. He would be good if we were defending a 2 goal lead away in Europe but not at home against West Brom.
It's amazing that Mendy is still getting into the team at all. His legs went two years ago. He would not get in any other PL team.

He did play Bernardo there. Issue is Rodri isn't quick or clever enough to cover 2 number 8s, which resulted in us getting slapped on counters.

 

[FromPollockToSilva]

Fed up and tired? Wow wonder how fed up and tired they'd be living in the real world.

They do live in the real world. Pep’s mum died of COVID. They’re not immune from how shit of a year this has been

 

[ysmsa]

Need to cash in a fuck him off, should have done that last year he’s absolutely wank

You watch that shite and pick on Sterling, same with other comments on Foden.
At least they try to get it going and try things, the 4 expensive buys who offer absolutely nothing are the reason we are shit.
Gundog, Walker, Sterling get some stick but at least they try to do stuff. Rodri, Cancelo, Mendy, Ake ffs actually embarrassing watching them, fuckin clueless robots, cost us 2 points between them.

 

[LongsightM13]

also one of the reasons foden isnt a regular starter thought he struggled tonight

He is a midfielder tbf, not a left winger. Yet another square peg in a round hole

 

[5 Hit Gibbon]

Fair play to WBA, good point for them. Shite performance from City though.

 

[hgblue]

Owen Hargreaves Just said we are not the same team We used to be and Two years ago we win 5-0
He’s bAng on, we would win 5-0 and complain it should have been 10
We have lost our spark

It’s simple, the team isn’t as good as it used to be. Pep has lost confidence in them so feels he needs extra cover in midfield. Unfortunately he’s probably right.

 

[chaddblue]

At least we don’t have to go out of our way or spend a fortune to watch the worst football we’ve played in years

 

[Chak19]

We are clearly being set up to be solid, conserve energy, not give anything anyway and create just enough chances to win games. If we took the simple chances we created that would have been job done.

Comparing us to previous seasons is pointless. The world has changed, the sport has changed. We’re trying to deal with that as well as we can, and often that feels kind of underwhelming.

This season was always going to be weird and unpredictable and that requires us to be mindful of context and patient with the real and fallible humans involved

Create just enough chances to win ? that works if you have guys like Kane and Son upfront, clinical strikers, that won't work with a team who is notorious for needing 20 chances to score 1, and it was proven in added time when we missed two sitters.