[Rich99]

It's fine if we are getting results with it but right now I'm starting to pine for free flowing attacking days of RDM.

[Cunningham]

I don't think its the players not adapting, I just don't think we have the players to let us play 442

Correct we don't. If Hodson wants to play 4-4-2 then he has to bring in players that are suited to that system. We as a squad aren't and he has to get over his stubborness and realise this pretty quickly.

[Greenock Baggie]

It's fine if we are getting results with it but right now I'm starting to pine for free flowing attacking days of RDM.

There werent many pining last week when we played sh!t. The result is a big part of football but to turn a blind eye to a sh!t performance usually ends up where we are today.

[zippyandbungle]

Well....

The asumption was that we "needed " to be more defensive, I dont think so and 11th spells out that we were doing ok..
If we are going to play 4-4-2 then Scharner is going to have to move/be dropped because clearly him sat next to Mulumbu leaves us with zero creation.
If Roy had really pressed JRP for the money to buy Long and Petes new deal how easy will it be to go to 4-5-1 and tell the chairman that at least 1 of his major investments will not be playing regular football?
Finally lets not get to upset , yes we got beat by "little Swansea" but last year there was a promoted team that beat Liverpool , Arsenal , Aston villa and were the only team to get a point at old trafford 

[RedHead_Baggie]

Well something's got to give cause I ain't stomaching a seasons worth of the dross being served up at the moment.

[Tequila Rich]

welll it'll be interesting to see where we go from here...or more importantly if roy stays stubborn or realises what he's trying to do just isnt working!?

if we're going to play 4-4-2 we definitely need someone else partnering mulumbu in midfield, and im kinda hoping gera gets back to fitness because if roy is going to stick with 4-4-2 i think he gives us much more than any of the others who play RM.

personally i'd go with something like this (if we're sticking to 4-4-2)

                                foster

reid             dawson              olsson           shorey

                     mulumbu
  gera                                dorrans           brunt

                    odemwingie
                                           long

there's limited width but a midfield with players comfortable holding onto the ball and putting a pass together at least!!

[GrGr]

Well something's got to give cause I ain't stomaching a seasons worth of the dross being served up at the moment.

I promised myself that I would remain calm and not get angry but I am angry I can't deny it. It is not only that we are playing cack and that our approach and system doesn't work. Also Roy is ruining our top players this way, Brunt, Mulumbu, PO, Dorrans etc soon will lose their edge if they play in a system that doesn't suit them and don't get to play to their strengths. Then they will lose confidence and form and then we are in for a long, long, long painful season.

Roy has to wake up now or go and save us a season of pain. Just shockingly poor management so far. If Roy doesn't see that his master plan (the "same old" plan I might add) is in tatters here and now he is hopeless and I give up on him.

[hardtobeat]

If you sign championship players you end up with a championship team and then a team in the championship and in my mind thats where we are heading if things dont change quickly

[Greenock Baggie]

Thing about Championship football is that over the last 2 games, we've been played off the park by 2 championship teams. Managed a skanky 1 - 0 win against one of them, albeit away from home and got mullered by another.

What does that make us ?

Earth to Roy, earth to Roy !!.................IT AINT WORKING ROY !

[AlbionBest]

This is Roy's first real test with us to see how he gets us performing and what changes he makes as to how we play. Fulham is a must-win 'target' game so anything less win be a real failure and, with more difficult matches ahead, it could shape the rest of the season. A defeat and we have made a appalling start on a par with anything previously and we would be playing catch up with the mediocre teams that we need to finish above to survive.
I think most of us were a little too confident that we could at least continue as per last season so hopefully players, management and fans now realise we will have to fight just as hard as ever to stay at this level. Against Fulham we need to get back to basics and try and regain the confidence, power, pace and togetherness we had for the first third and the last third of last season.

[Cunningham]

This is Roy's first real test with us to see how he gets us performing and what changes he makes as to how we play. Fulham is a must-win 'target' game so anything less win be a real failure and, with more difficult matches ahead, it could shape the rest of the season. A defeat and we have made a appalling start on a par with anything previously and we would be playing catch up with the mediocre teams that we need to finish above to survive.
I think most of us were a little too confident that we could at least continue as per last season so hopefully players, management and fans now realise we will have to fight just as hard as ever to stay at this level. Against Fulham we need to get back to basics and try and regain the confidence, power, pace and togetherness we had for the first third and the last third of last season.

We create our own problems though thats the annoying thing. There is no reason why we couldn't continue playing the way that has served us so well. We finished eleventh last season we didn't need radical changes all we needed was an extra striker and to strengthen our defence.

[smethwickw]

We create our own problems though thats the annoying thing. There is no reason why we couldn't continue playing the way that has served us so well. We finished eleventh last season we didn't need radical changes all we needed was an extra striker and to strengthen our defence.

Nail on the head mate. Unfortunately Roy and the coaching staff think differently.

[WBAinDEVON]

Didnt we play with flare against Man U and Chelsea? why has it changed all of a sudden since those games.One of either Long or Pete may have to go possibly

[Cunningham]

Didnt we play with flare against Man U and Chelsea? why has it changed all of a sudden since those games.One of either Long or Pete may have to go possibly

No we didn't. I remember United destroying us for twenty minutes before the game settled down. I don't remember us creating anything really other than the goal. In any case its different when you play the likes of Chelsea and Man United because nothing is expected of you and you can play without fear. When you are playing the rest of the teams in the top flight expectation and mentality are different.

[smethwickw]

Ignoring the formation / style of play etc, yesterday again just summed up how poor we are defensively. It doesn't matter how we set up we are always going to concede poor goals due to the fact that the personnel are not good enough.

[Lego]

Last seasons formation and style was great to watch, there was no reason to alter too much. Roy came in, drilled the players better defensively and we started to get points again. Imagine if we had played all season the way we had towards the end, where could we have finished (europe anyone)?. Yet we totally change the formation this season and look too easy to dominate and control. Why totally change something that wasn't broke? Pure madness to me, I think RH has really cocked this up and needs to re-think his formation.

[kie the baggie]

i dont quite understand why we have changed from a formation where we absolutely dominated teams the back end of last season to this 442. in this league if your losing the battles in midfield then 99 times out of 100 you will lose the game. i want us to go back to what we know best. we look light weight, outnumbered, no pace in the middle, even when we break on the counter last season it was quick and there was always an option on, this season we are slow and when we get into the final 3rd we seem to be going backwards, yesterday i think steven reid was playing like our main play maker at times, its getting a little embarrasing now, but what can we do? we're just the idiots the follow west brom through thick and thin, i just hope things change soon, because i cant see us winning another game atm. coyb 

[Baggies]

Ignoring the formation / style of play etc, yesterday again just summed up how poor we are defensively. It doesn't matter how we set up we are always going to concede poor goals due to the fact that the personnel are not good enough.

Still a long way to go and players like Dawson, Jones and Macauley still have to be given their chance but it was my view as well after the window closed and I dont think that will change.

The real mystery is why a club like Swansea can keep 3 clean sheets already with personnel you wouldnt think is all that much better.

[Political Cake]

The end of last season was very risky, at least I thought. The only games that we without doubt definately deserved the points was against Everton, and Birmingham. All of Chelsea, Wolves and Newcastle shown us up defensively, and Sunderland was an 'Ian Holloway Special' game, which could have finished with either winning.

In all, I am so much more concerned about the performances that all the players are putting in at the moment.

Perhaps, however, the end of a season feels so much different that the end of one. We don't seem to do starts of seasons, anyway...!

[Standaman]

The 442 is not working it does not mean it won't work. For it work 3 things need to happen.

1. Either Long or Odemwingie need to drop deep to pick up the ball from the midfield
2. Wide midfielders must get involved in the game both tracking back and getting ahead of the player in possession  to offer him a forward pass
3. Scharner and Mulumbu both cannot play because their first instincts are to sit deep which leaves a huge gap between defence and front 2.

Unless we get those things fixed I am afraid there will be a lot more days like yesterday

[MarkW]

The lack of a good box-to-box midfielder in our squad means that is is very difficult for us to play 4-4-2. You can have one DM and one b2b, but not two DM.

Dorrans is the closest we have, but I prefer him in the advanced role that a 4-5-1 would utilise him in.

[GrGr]

The lack of a good box-to-box midfielder in our squad means that is is very difficult for us to play 4-4-2. You can have one DM and one b2b, but not two DM.

Dorrans is the closest we have, but I prefer him in the advanced role that a 4-5-1 would utilise him in.

Yeah, Dorrans doesn't have the defensive oomph need to play DM really. He might have in time, but he is is at his best when he gets close to the opponents box.

[wbako]

The lack of a good box-to-box midfielder in our squad means that is is very difficult for us to play 4-4-2. You can have one DM and one b2b, but not two DM.

Dorrans is the closest we have, but I prefer him in the advanced role that a 4-5-1 would utilise him in.

Spot on.

[OldburyWBA]

Yeah, Dorrans doesn't have the defensive oomph need to play DM really. He might have in time, but he is is at his best when he gets close to the opponents box.

I agree totally but we have the same problem with Brunt (not a central midfielder at all) )which is why its baffling to see him sit in front of the back four like he did yesterday. At least Dorrans has a bit of bite and will put his foot in when needed.

[GrGr]

But Brunt brings playmaking to our game. As soon as he came on to the pitch at Swansea we were able to move the ball along the ground again.

Again the only way I can really see us playing to our strength is in a very fluid system with players interchanging a lot. Not this static, locked, rigid horror system Roy is installing where each player has a fifty feet radius he is allowed to move within.