West Brom (H) 11/02 - 15.00 k/o

thornburyiron

Hammy they got it because Bilic took off two of our best players today. Had they stayed on I'm sure we'd have seen the game out.

FlorinRaduclious

I thought Reid had a fantastic game, yes the Baggies weren't offering much, but he cleared up everything in his path. Stopped a lot of breaks before they had the chance to become dangerous.

jay_in_cpt

I'm proud and gutted at the same time ;weep

claretandbluesky

Brilliant performance with a comical ending.

Brilliant to get back into and get ahead against a team who know how to defend but Randy has had a mare for me with that cross, I will need see it again but on first look he has decided that his main priority at that corner is to push his own player over rather than be first to the ball. He cost us points at Spurs due to his cross handling and has made an ear of that and cost us two again.

Lets be clear however that aside, a great performance without Carroll and with as predicted by all who begged for a striker 10 men due to Calleri being useless. If carroll is not there we have no strike force.

Gutted but without that stupid ending we would be singing the teams and Slavs praises in my view and deservedly so.

As for West Brom only had themselves to blame if they had left with nothing a sthey should have done, they are a capable team who sat back to try and defend a lead rather than play football as they came, deserved nothing and got something, football for you.

grey_til_I_dye

Thought we were terrific in the 2nd half.

Even if we hadn't got a goal back, I would still have enjoyed it and be proud of the team.

To have got ahead, and then be denied by yet another terrible decision is galling.


People can stick it to Slav if that's their thing, me, I'm proud of the manager and the team.

;scarf coyi

Hantshammer

Missed Carroll big time today. Deserved the 3 points but pleased we didn't lose it. What has Fletcher done wrong not to get on ahead of calleri?

FlorinRaduclious

Accidently posted the same thing twice - sorry.

Agree on Calleri, looking lightweight and a bit out of his depth. However, he must be showing something in training for Slav to pick him.

OldCastleSwift

Lost 9th place too.

Can't put that right for two weeks now. So frustrating. This season just keeps on giving ;weep

TwistandShout

Rubbish refs. Getting worse every week

thornburyiron

Grey I had a go at Bilic because I think his tactical substitutions are poor most games. There was no need to take off two attackers and put on a midfielder and defender. We surrendered the initiative there.

OldCastleSwift

2-1 with four to play and no reason to bring on a midfielder and defender for two attackers?

So when is a good time to do that?

thornburyiron

Well today wasn't because it cost us 2 points. They threw all their defenders forward because we left them no one to defend against and it was one of their defenders who scored.

grey_til_I_dye

thorn

So, if the official had correctly given us the throw in, would WBA still have scored because of Slav's substitutions?

The minute we scored, WBA were going to try and come at us.

I'm not going to blame Slav, all my blame is used up on the inept officials.

OldCastleSwift

Thorn, they were a goal down with seconds to play and nothing to lose! Do you really think with Snodgrass and Feghouli on the pitch Evans would have stayed back?

grey_til_I_dye

thorn

I may have missed it on the thread. Did you give any credit to Slav for the changes whcih brought us back into the game?

thornburyiron

My point was had we not made defensive changes they may well not have been in that attacking situation anyway. Who knows. We'd played very very well until that point and were pinning them around their penalty area.
They had taken their best attacker off.

thornburyiron

I'd be interested to know if Bilic was annoyed at the throw in decision or our poor defending of the corner.

FlorinRaduclious

Thorn - he was intending to replace Feg for Fernandes prior to the Lanz goal. Kouyate was effectively playing wide right so Fernandes an attacking central midfielder coming on made sense to keep pushing on centrally, as wide play crossing it was not working. Obviously our goal came from attacking central. Once we scored it then made sense to take off Snod who was tiring, and was not really offering much as the second striker at that point, and adding a defender (Collins) when we needed to defend the lead.

My only gripe would be that although when he intended to bring on Fernandes the decision was right (IMO), however once the goal was scored the game changed (and it was after the goal the sub was allowed to occur). For me the right two went off but instead of Fernandes, Fletcher should have come on hustle up top and give extra height akin to Carroll from set plays. Would have given us:
................Randy...........
....Collins..Fonte..Reid.....
Cheik..Obiang..Nobes..Ant
...............Lanzini............
........Calleri......Fletch.....

However, hindsight is a wonderful thing. We just got unlucky at the death.

baracks_a_hammer

Not too disappointed with the team or Slav. The last minute goal is gutting though. We fought back well and played well

What it does show though IMO is that when Slav said he was "happy with what he had" when it came to transfers he was probably saying so through gritted teeth. When your first choice striker breaks down and neither of the specialist replacements play in his place it tells me everything I need to know.

SuzanneClaret

That was a really odd game.

I'm a bit perplexed by it.

FlorinRaduclious

Baracks - either that or he genuinely thought Ant could deputise. However I agree the most natural direct swap without shifting all about was Fletch for Carroll (the most similar replacement) and the rest of the side the same as vs Shmapton. What he appeared instead to do was still go 4411 but bump Ant up 1, put Snod in Ants position last week just behind, and Lanz in Snod's position last week wide left. However after this game hopefully he now knows Ant is not a #9. A second striker maybe, but he does not have the technical ability, or natural striker nous to play up top on his own.

Also he may have wanted another striker this window, but maybe none of the ones available were, in his opinion, good enough. You can't buy what isn't there.

Adam

My word, West Brom are the most boring team to watch. They were wasting time after 5 minutes and continued to do so for the next 85 minutes. The ref should have been on top of this and booked players for this but he's too weak to do this, imo.

OldCastleSwift

Yeah, Antonio isn't a good enough striker. Nor is Calleri. Fletcher clearly not trusted by Slav. Sakho is months away from full fitness. Which leaves Ayew who has failed to convince all season.

Fair enough to say you can't buy what isn't there, but Southampton managed to get Gabbiadini for £17m and he's got 3 in 2 for them, so I think the players are there if you're prepared to pay for them.

Carroll is a big, big player for us, which leaves a big, big hole in our side when he's injured. We knew the risks with Carroll's fitness, and didn't cover it, IMO.

baracks_a_hammer

The strikers are there - the only problem is when the Dave's and their managers decide to buy one they always seem to get it wrong. Looking at gabbiadini's record and what happened with the daves last serie A striker acquisition you can understand why they might have passed on him

eskimoking

I thought Calleri looked pretty decent today. I'm a bit confused by the grief he's getting on here.

FlorinRaduclious

OCS - Gabbiadini had 3 in 13 in the league for Napoli this season, and 5 in 23 last season. He was hardly prolific, and in an arguably? worse league. £17m seemed very steep to me, could just be a honeymoon period. He also it should be noted is behind Zaza in the Italian squad, in what is currently a very poor crop of Italian CFs. Although I've been known to be wrong before..

However I do agree we either need another out and out striker in the summer or trust Fletch if he's good enough.

Even if Calleri steps up and proves useful (though I currently doubt it) he plays a very different style to Carroll and we would have to play a completely different style to accommodate him.

MarkNobleLocalHero

Toni Martinez anyone?

Hantshammer

I think calleri looked weak at times- maybe the prem is too physical for him. Agree if the strikers aren't available u can't buy. But still don't understand Fletcher not getting game time today.

Huttonhammer

Good fight back and good character.

Nobody to blame but the officials. How long must the deliberate cheating by officials go on against us.

It is utterly ridiculous now and something really should be done about it.

Referees for whatever reason are definitely anti West Ham.

OldCastleSwift

FloRad ;ok Gabbiadini was a risk, I know, but his Napoli stats mean little when you get three in two for your new club.

I know where you're coming from though and he wasn't someone I particularly wanted, but he was an available striker that someone took a risk on and it looks like it's paying off ;ok