[hardtobeat]

File it under 'should have been better could have been worse'. However somebody in the clubs hierarchy needs to explain
1 why the change of tactics from a passing side to a hoofball team
2  Who decided on what we needed defensively to improve

[Greenock Baggie]

Well it's about time JP started turning the screw on him now.....

There's absolutely no way in hell I'm putting up with a seasons worth of this dross.

I'm with you mate. If I could see an improvement I'd say OK, its bad at the moment but there are signs........but the simple matter of fact is there are'nt ANY signs of it getting better.

Its rubbish Roy,

[graka]

would have settled for a point before the game however after such a great start it feels like a loss. i hope roy keeps to his word about using all the squad because even jones,jara or mattock wouldnt be as bad as shorey at the moment. strange subs i think other than the goal morrison was poor, dorrans slightly better but nowhere near his best and brunt average again. long works hard and scored a godd goal but his service to him was dire. same with pete worked hard but his touch was awful. i would have taken pete off and given tchoyi at least 15 minutes.

[GrGr]

Would have taken a point ahead of the game but at 2 goals up within five minutes they looked dead and buried and we really should have taken advantage. Made it far too easy for them to score their two goals, can't blame this one on the system we play either it is simply top players like Odemwingie, Olsson, Dorrans and to a certain extent Mulumbu not performing to the high standards they have set themselves in the past.

Absolutely dire second half, need to sort these performances out as they aren't improving.

Sorry but I disagree. 442 is more of a problem than a help for us. Our midfield gets overrun, our slow defence exposed even more, our forwards get no proper service. All of these problems are new after the summer switch to 442. Hodgson needs to rethink, but he won't.

[Baggie79]

Foster - 7 Very good
Reid - 6 Let too many crosses in but decent
Shorey -5 Not good enough
Ollson - 6 Ok
G Mac - 6 Ok
Brunt - 6 Some good deliveries but on the wrong side of the pitch
Mozza - 5 Apart from the goal woefull again
Dorrans - 6 Decent
Mulumbu - 6 Not at his best but still decent
Long - 5 Tried hard but short of quality required, too easily outmuscled
Pete 4 Shocking, he thinks he is Pele now after last season, why pass to someone though on goal when he could try and take five players on. Needs to be a team player and not just think he is better than the rest of the team.

Hodgson - 4 Got it wrong again, 442 just doesn't work with our players.

[Quakes Fan]

While Long and Pete are fine individual players, I don't see any chemistry or understanding between the two. Why persist in playing them both at the same time? Naturally I'll take it all back if it just needs more time to develop  , but I wish Roy would at least try playing one of them up front with Brunt, Tchoyi, or Thomas on the wings.

[Greenock Baggie]

Sorry but I disagree. 442 is more of a problem than a help for us. Our midfield gets overrun, our slow defence exposed even more, our forwards get no proper service. All of these problems are new after the summer switch to 442. Hodgson needs to rethink, but he won't.

Thats exactly right mate

Losing at home and picking up the odd draw here and there leads to one thing.............RELEGATION !

[boinging_along]

would have settled for a point before the game however after such a great start it feels like a loss. i hope roy keeps to his word about using all the squad because even jones,jara or mattock wouldnt be as bad as shorey at the moment. strange subs i think other than the goal morrison was poor, dorrans slightly better but nowhere near his best and brunt average again. long works hard and scored a godd goal but his service to him was dire. same with pete worked hard but his touch was awful. i would have taken pete off and given tchoyi at least 15 minutes.

I can't see Roy using all the squad when he doesn't even use all his bench.  While I'm not sure I'd start with Tchoyi in every game I don't see why he wouldn't take Long or Pete off today and put on Tchoyi.  Or Tchoyi for Morrison.  Just so we had something up front that was a bit different.

Instead we get a like for like and indicated we were happy with a point.  We got away with it.  I think Roy set out to go for the point, we found ourselves in a great position and we threw it away.

And the worst thing is, we didn't even look like we tried to get it back.  We just let it fall away.

[Dexy]

I'm with you mate. If I could see an improvement I'd say OK, its bad at the moment but there are signs........but the simple matter of fact is there are'nt ANY signs of it getting better.

Its rubbish Roy,

So you couldnt see any improvement in Dorrans,Brunt,Foster and Long today?Fully aware you care so much but sometimes i think you should have an hour before coming on here mate.It wasnt brilliant today granted but a bit better.

[Political Cake]

We tried open and expansive in the first half, had a fair amount of decent chances, scored twice and could've had more, but as ever, like last season doing this, defending looked impossible.

And then, in the second half, we try to lock up and secure the point. And guess what - we don't conceed, when Sunderland even played so much better than before. If Odemwingie were to actually try at one point, we could even have got one ourselves.

Letting a two-goal lead slip is unacceptable, but once that happens you have to hope for the point, they were easily going to win if we had went to attack.

[WBASPE77]

Once we went two nil up we should have closed shop, and prevent the game from been too open.

[Dan]

There is no way anyone in the right mind would sack him less than 10 games into the season. Its been truly awful so far and the decision to let go of Cech and get no defenders in looks increasingly puzzling, but you can't judge after 10 games. After 10 games of last season everyone was worrying when a top club was going to steal RDM as manager.

It may get better, it may not. Its clear things need to change - but not the manager.

Although the one thing I do not understand is if he wants this style, why did we not buy the right people for it. We keep crossing it at Odemwingie yet I've never seen him even come close  to scoring a header, we should have got a target man if this is what we wanted. As it is we're awful in possession and awful at hoofing it, if you're going to play hoof ball at least be good at it.

[17GD]

Foster - 7 - Pulled off some good saves, kept us in it. Got a hand to the 2nd goal.

Reid - 6 - Didn't do a great deal, but didn't have a terrible game.
Olsson - 6 - Usual commitment, but the defence is looking shaky.
McAuley - 5 - Didn't do too much wrong, although I'm sure he was out of position for their 1st goal.
Shorey - 4 - possibly his worst game for Albion.

Morrison - 7 - Great early headed goal, contributed a little, but fell away as the game went on.
Dorrans - 6 - Some good link play, supporting runs but the ball didn't reach him enough.
Mulumbu - 6 - Not his best game, but why he was subbed I'll never ever work out.
Brunt - 6 - One of his better games this season but still no where near the old Brunt.

Long - 6 - Dived too many times for me today, but took his goal well.
odemwingie - 3 - Absolutely dire. One-on-one again and fluffed it.

Subs -
Scharner - 4 - Only got 15mins or so, but still down to his usual standard...
Thomas - N/A 88th min sub...who can make an impact with 2 mins to go?

Roy - 1 - Got it all wrong today. Subs, tactics, everything. Why bring on Scharner and take off Mulumbu? He should have brought on Tchoyi for odem. A point against a team around us is NOT good enough.

[Greenock Baggie]

So you couldnt see any improvement in Dorrans,Brunt,Foster and Long today?Fully aware you care so much but sometimes i think you should have an hour before coming on here mate.It wasnt brilliant today granted but a bit better.

One decent half of football is what we got against Fulham, except this time it was the first half instead of the second half. No improvement overall mate sorry. Yes dorrans was better but now the defence has got worse. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.

[WBASPE77]

We got rid of two defenders only got one in, we should have brough a new full back.

[Kicking Pigeons]

While Long and Pete are fine individual players, I don't see any chemistry or understanding between the two. Why persist in playing them both at the same time? Naturally I'll take it all back if it just needs more time to develop  , but I wish Roy would at least try playing one of them up front with Brunt, Tchoyi, or Thomas on the wings.

The worry is with Odemwingie signing a big new contract in the summer and Long virtually our record signing does he have the balls to drop either of them? Not sure.

I can't believe people are saying this is a decent result. It's not. Taking a 2-0 lead against a struggling side then tossing it away conceding two in a mater of minutes is pathetic whatever way you look at it.

[GrGr]

How many chances did we create today? I mean genuine chances, because I really can't remember any bar Odemwingie over the top in the 2nd half with a poor touch. Everything else was outside the box.

Then compare that to the same game last season away at Sunderland where we dominated, were fluid, had great movement and despite being awful at the back (like we still are) we at least looked capable of scoring and would dictate the game with our midfield. Now we simply look like conceding a bare minimum of one goal with very little going in the opposite direction.

Judge this line-up to the one we played with at the SoL last season, is there much difference really? So why the sudden lack of quality?

Odemwingie was directly involved in 24 goals last year (scored 15, assisted 9) so we change the system and partner him with someone who is very much in the same mould as him, which means we are no longer as fluid in midfield and do not play 'between the lines' as such which limits movement. Add this to the constant hoofing to two blokes who will not win very many headers or be able to bring it down and it isn't a very good recipe.

The formula from last year was there, get a centre half (or two) in, get a new keeper and get a striker, but not to the detriment of what we had. Why fix what isn't broke?

I agree with every word. But fact is we didn't follow that formula, we went with Roy's old and "proven" 442 formula. That is where we are now. Now, we either make the 442 work, or we switch back to what we know and do well.

What I have been afraid of since the Stoke game is that we will fritter away game after game after game trying to make Roy's system work and leave it until too late to save our season. The games are ticking away and we are not really improving are we.

[B_H_Baggie]

Sorry but I disagree. 442 is more of a problem than a help for us. Our midfield gets overrun, our slow defence exposed even more, our forwards get no proper service. All of these problems are new after the summer switch to 442. Hodgson needs to rethink, but he won't.

Lack of confidence and top players simply not performing to the standard we know they can are more of a problem for us than the system they are being asked to play for me. It doesn't help but it isn't the root of the problem in my opinion.

[Dexy]

One decent half of football is what we got against Fulham, except this time it was the first half instead of the second half. No improvement overall mate sorry. Yes dorrans was better but now the defence has got worse. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Its called finding balance,if it hadnt been for two poor performances from Shorey and Pete im sure we would have won it.No improvement?....each to their own but imo your letting your heart rule your head again.

[WBASPE77]

Why did we become so poor after we went two up, did the players take the foot of the gas a bit, did they think the game was already won.

[graka]

foster 7 a lot better and no chance with either goal
reid 6 better 2nd half
shorey 4 poor all game again!!
mccauley 6 steady
olsen 7 steady
mulumbu 6 not great but often overun with little help
dorrans 5 better but not great
morrison 5 other than the goal oblivious
brunt 6 average
long 6 worked hard and good finish with very little service
pete 4 shocking touch

subs  no time to influence the outcome
 
roy 3   too late making the subs again and persevering with a front two who need the ball to feet but we keep hoofing it.

[B_H_Baggie]

I agree with every word. But fact is we didn't follow that formula, we went with Roy's old and "proven" 442 formula. That is where we are now. Now, we either make the 442 work, or we switch back to what we know and do well.

What I have been afraid of since the Stoke game is that we will fritter away game after game after game trying to make Roy's system work and leave it until too late to save our season. The games are ticking away and we are not really improving are we.

As much as I would like to see us play the same system as last season what do we blame if we do revert back and the performances don't improve. We went through a spell last season where everyone called for 442 as our system wasn't working, lets not make out that the 451/4231 will suddenly improve us make all the difference as there is a chance that it wont with players as low as they seem to be and simply not performing.

[baggie-boy-ethan]

Letting a two-goal lead slip is unacceptable, but once that happens you have to hope for the point, they were easily going to win if we had went to attack.

Decent points to be fair, but the thing that grates on me isn't the amount of attacking that occurs, I think it's more the way it happens. I can appreciate we needed to defend the point, and 2-2 isn't the end of the world, but when the opportunity comes to attack once we've regained possession again, why "attack" by putting the ball straight back on the defenders heads so they can build another attack? Then we wait, intercept, and the same happens again. There's being defensive, and there's being almost suicidal by giving possession straight back to the other team

[GrGr]

So you couldnt see any improvement in Dorrans,Brunt,Foster and Long today?Fully aware you care so much but sometimes i think you should have an hour before coming on here mate.It wasnt brilliant today granted but a bit better.

Yes they were better. But look at the game overall. We created preciously little ourselves going forward and had huge gaps defensively. We are still unbalanced and disjointed as a team. Overall no, there is no huge improvement.  We did look stronger and sharper physically and we moved the ball about well at times. But we are banging our own head against the wall with this 442 rubbish and our predictable attacking game. The ball out of our midfield to our forwards is so predictable and one dimensional. And if there is one thing we werent last season it is predictable and one dimensional.

[B_H_Baggie]

We defended very badly and made it easy for them its that simple for me, defend as badly as we did when we allowed them back into the game and you are asking for trouble.

Influential players aren't playing to the standard we know they can, too many off form and inconsistent.