[BalisPen]

The commanding mf ended up at Stoke where he gets motm every game so far.

But, it's OK we have a mozza coming back from another injury.

[boinging_along]

In Bartley's defence hes right footed and playing on the left hand side.  A couple of times on Saturday when he got into trouble it was down to this.

[TheJacko2000]

In Bartley's defence hes right footed and playing on the left hand side.  A couple of times on Saturday when he got into trouble it was down to this.

What about the other 40 or 50 times?

[boinging_along]

With get me wrong, he's looking poor played in that position and maybe not excellent in his natural position. This is the problem with square pegs in round holes.

[Atomic]

where did he play last time and every time we go 442 right back

?? But we don't play 4-4-2 anymore!

[KN22]

In Bartley's defence hes right footed and playing on the left hand side.  A couple of times on Saturday when he got into trouble it was down to this.

Totally agree. But some have him marked down as the man to blame for everything. Unfair in my view but it’s all about opinions.

[paulosull]

I'd be happy if he didn't try to swap shirts with opposition player during game in our box and kept his hands down

[SirTonyM]

I’d stay with my B- assessment so far (and I’m a natural optimist!).   Of course I’m delighted that we are top of the league and scoring goals but all the coaching problems were still present today.   PNE could easily have won that game.  We scored an own goal. They should have had a penalty, hit the post and scored a soft goal.   If Moore et al are going to be a really good coach rather than just a decent coach of the best squad in this league, there is a lot more work to be done in training.

Surely we can go back over every game and point out where we “could” have had a different result. We “could” have drawn with Bolton at home and Boro away (hit bar and goal for them was handball). We could have beaten Forest away (Gayle hit post and Barnes bar).
I don’t agree we have the best squad in the league we have some quality individual players. We finished bottom of the league (below Stoke and Swansea) and the only reason we got as many points as we did was because of Moore. He took over a team on its knees that had lost 10 in a row (maybe more tried to forget).
He also recruited Gayle, Johnstone and Barnes.
He isn’t perfect but I have no idea what more people expected at this stage.

[KN22]

The guy is doing a great job in my opinion. We are far from perfect and he acknowledges that by regularly stating that we are in transition. Transfer dealings also good so far. Lets face it, had he been able to sign Tavernier from Rangers, he wouldn't have considered Mears. Keep it up Darren.

[Mikkyk]

The guy is doing a great job in my opinion. We are far from perfect and he acknowledges that by regularly stating that we are in transition. Transfer dealings also good so far. Lets face it, had he been able to sign Tavernier from Rangers, he wouldn't have considered Mears. Keep it up Darren.

I wouldn't say a great job, but definitely a good job at least.

But I think this is key, other than spunking money on Bartley, he has signed short-term, ageing, free agents or loan deals (which you assume is purely because he isn't being given the cash from the board) so has done very well with the hand dealt.

I think he sort of proved that in the Palace game as it showed just how weak nearly every backup player is.

[johnny Cash]

If fit I do think we have the best first 11 in the league, but the squad has huge problems and we have bigger problems to come in the future since the two main stars are not ours.

How much blame you can put on Moore for the above I dont know. Probably very little. He did say he was happy with the squad though prior to the window closing though which was clearly a lie. You don't sign two 35/26 year olds on free transfers if you are happy. Could he have been braver with the board, perhaps. I can understand why he may not have been as a new manager though.

Purely from the playing perspective, whilst you cannot argue with the results I dont think we have been great and unless we improve I think the wheels will come off.

[seteefeet]

I think the Villa situation, at the time, put the fear of god into tightwad Jenkins and he changed the combination to the safe!
This left Darren with few options, with regards transfers, so he has used his nous and brought in players with experience to bolster the squad. The likes of Mears and Hoolahan will do a job over the season (as proved on Saturday), provided they are only required as cover. If we do get hit by injuries then we could be found wanting but we would have to be very unlucky.
The problem will come if we get promoted, we lose key players and our already ageing squad is a year older. It's a Catch 22 though, if you do a Villa and spunk a load of money at it and don't go up, you are in financial meltdown but, if you don't spend and do go up, you need a complete rebuild.
Darren may have preferred the former but it's not his call so he's towed the party line and I think he's worked an absolute miracle under the circumstances and long may it continue.

[beechyboy90]

Mears could well have been released by January window and hopefully by then the dof and Moore have found a decent right back to compete with Phillips

[GREGMT]

Personally I think the club has done good business.  Barnes and Gayle are the Championship signings of the window.  Hoolahan was a clever signing.

If you had a manager that’s signed Bree, Hogan, McCormack, Lansbury etc then youd have cause to moan.  They’ll be there or thereabouts lol.

[elkiellis]

?? But we don't play 4-4-2 anymore!

we did 3 games ago,and we will probably play 3 5 2 and 4 4 2 before the seasons out ,and when we play 4 4 2 Dawson is used as right back,the point I am making is if and when we do go  4 4 2 dawson should play centre half

[Hull Baggie]

a nice piece about Darren Moore from The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/football-league-blog/2018/oct/03/west-brom-championship-darren-moore-smiles-return

[Hull Baggie]

we did 3 games ago,and we will probably play 3 5 2 and 4 4 2 before the seasons out ,and when we play 4 4 2 Dawson is used as right back,the point I am making is if and when we do go  4 4 2 dawson should play centre half

did we? 3 games ago was either Millwall or Bristol City neither of which we played 4-4-2. I don't recall us playing 4 at the back since Nyom left. We did end the Millwall game with 6 defenders on the pitch though!

[Atomic]

we did 3 games ago,and we will probably play 3 5 2 and 4 4 2 before the seasons out ,and when we play 4 4 2 Dawson is used as right back,the point I am making is if and when we do go  4 4 2 dawson should play centre half

No we didn't.

[CL3MO]

His substitutions tonight are an absolute disgrace.

We're two nil down and he's took off our two strikers!

[TheJacko2000]

His substitutions tonight are an absolute disgrace.

We're two nil down and he's took off our two strikers!

What we were doing wasn't working. They've gone to the Belgium 3 4 3 with a target man and 2 attacking mids.

[slate]

His substitutions tonight are an absolute disgrace.

We're two nil down and he's took off our two strikers!

Bottom line is that Moore is clearly not learning on the job and tonight's substitutions were either a) tactically bankrupt  or b) an early capitulation of the game

Either way this isn't working as it should do and progress is incredibly slow. I have zero confidence that we have the right people to improve the squad into a premier league team.

[BalisPen]

Bottom line is that Moore is clearly not learning on the job and tonight's substitutions were either a) tactically bankrupt  or b) an early capitulation of the game

Either way this isn't working as it should do and progress is incredibly slow. I have zero confidence that we have the right people to improve the squad into a premier league team.

I got to give it to you, your name is very appropriate.

A point is OK, and dm isn't thick he knows the defence needs to improve.

I don't think mears was number one choice and given the lack of funds he is given mostly free options

Let's see what happens, we need the defence to improve and dm knows this and he has to sort it out.

[WBArgo]

I think he got out of jail tonight; poor selection and sloppy defending yet again cost us - bailed out by some individual brilliance from Barnes.

That said, at least we got something. I thought his subs were awful but it did change it looking back. As said though, he seems to have his favourites (Brunt, Mears, Bartley) and they are harming us every time.

[OldburyWBA]

I got to give it to you, your name is very appropriate.

A point is OK, and dm isn't thick he knows the defence needs to improve.

I don't think mears was number one choice and given the lack of funds he is given mostly free options

Let's see what happens, we need the defence to improve and dm knows this and he has to sort it out.

Can we cut the personal comments please, not wanted on this forum, please check the rules.

[wba_1996]

If we don't get promoted we're screwed, we had the chance to build a young team and give Moore time, we/he chose the short-termist approach of keeping our old players and signing loaness and 30+ year olds. We either rebuild in the PL next summer or lose pretty much everybody and start from scratch in the Championship.

For me Moore has forfeitted his right to be given time because of the squad he has built and the fact he is clearly not interested in developing our younger players. We are a top 2 squad for this season only, Moore's sole aim is promotion, if it looks like he isn't going to achieve that this season then I want us to appoint someone who will.

To date, I've seen no coherent plan other than relying on our attack to outscore every team we play. This league is dross and we've gotten away with it so far, but we're yet to play well for a full 90 minutes, the team selection and substitutions have been severely lacking and we're shipping goals at an alarming rate.

Before anyone churns out the "work in progress" rubbish, we have the best and oldest squad in the league, our two best players are only on loan, we are at our peak. It's top 2 or bust.