[kc56wba]

Anyone who thinks thats a good point are deluded like Irvine

Any point away from home is good, and I ay deluded.

[ex coseley kid]

The players are working extremely hard for him and the organisation and defending of the team today were spot on. I think it's a decent point today and we move on to the Villa game. Agree about concerns with the attacking side of our play and that needs to improve without a doubt.

I think Berahino on the bench cost us two points. I've not read up why he did that, there may well be a good reason.

I think your optimism knows no bounds. One point out of fifteen, for god's sake.

[baggie96]

Berahino starts every week for me and that's a massive mistake from irvine. If he's on he can score from nothing and I'm 100% sure he woul have scored that penalty.

[The Black Pearl]

Lets not kid ourselves, this was two points dropped, yes Irvine can point to the missed penalty, but this is just dreadful football, I turned off and watched the Snooker for a long period (it was nice to see a ball moved with purpose), Irvine is an attack minded desert, when he does put on attacking players, it looks desperate, un co-ordinated and frankly clueless.

[RedHead_Baggie]

Until the point where we drop into the bottom 3 I don't see Peace getting rid of Irvine.  I'm sure the aim at the start of the season was no more than avoiding relegation and Peace will probably look at it and say were no better/worse than probably 9 other teams in the league at this stage.

Anyway, on to the Villa game where i'm sure another substandard borefest awaits.

[alex1]

We are just not creating enough chances. That's the main reason we have managed just One goal in the last 5 games. Pathetic!    I am not saying Berahino should start every game, no questions asked, but it so obvious he is the one natural goalscorer. So if he is dropped and the team doesn't score, it doesn't look like a good decision.

[maccbaggie]

1 goal from open play in nine games. Looking forward to someone trying to defend that.

[lewisant]

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/west-brom-alan-irvine-still-8237615

Has anybody seen this? Contradicting what he said the other day I'm sure. Lepkowski and Swain must be Villa fans or on a secret mission to get Irvine out, because the PR of Irvine is awful and he just says too much too often

[WBAinDEVON]

1 goal from open play in nine games. Looking forward to someone trying to defend that.

no doubt there will be somone. there was a strong rumour if we had lost today but a draw has most likely endured us to another game of dross and a boring local derby

[maccbaggie]

Can't wait for Irvine, Downing and Kiely to be sacked so we can finally see Gamboa, Varela, Blanco and Ideye start together

[maccbaggie]

Unfortunately I think it may already be too late. The decision to appoint Irvine will ultimately see us relegated. Hardly undeserved after our failure to learn from last seasons mistakes.

[sconesy]

1 goal from open play in nine games. Looking forward to someone trying to defend that.

Quite shocking - this certainly is some feat! I honestly believe that there isn't a single manager in the league who boast these stats should they be managing us. This really is 'proof in the pudding' of just how limited a team Irvine is evolving us into. Surely simple probability would dictate a more impressive scoring rate than that......oh and the defence has been marvellous too! 3 points against Vile is so so important now.

[timdon]

I would think today is a weight off AI's shoulders. He's been trying to teach the players how to get a 0-0 result for weeks and FINALLY they seem to have got it

[Albion79]

Although there can be no denying today was a borefest some of this agenda is getting ridiculous.

As far as i am aware a goal is a goal whether its from a setpiece, own goal or open play? Interesting picking up the last 9 games, what about  going backa few before than where it was 2 vs Man United and 4 vs Burnley, 3 vs Hull?

Today was turgid and boring (again) but we have just lost 4 x games on the bounce, i wasnt expecting some all star great football, as with most teams on a bad run, you end the rot, under any other manager it would be classed as professional today, but under Irvine apparently is shocking! its happened with all our previous managers and will happen with all future ones too, thats what sometimes you have to do.

Anybody hearing Irvines interview after may be interested to know he said he didnt want to take Anichebe or Sess off but both were injured but why let that get in the way of things! He also said the plan was to get Varela on anyway, another half hour under his belt, the bloke has been injured for best part of 6 x months and as with most players coming back ease them in.

I sometimes feel i sound an Irvine fan club member, i am not, i am realistic and know the last month hasnt been great but he had a go 2nd half Tuesday night, got a hard earned point today and brought on all attacking players so could say maybe he has acknowledged the sitback approach wasnt working.

The reason i stick up for him because its almost like a witchunt and its crazy, we are 5th from bottom, we could be bottom 3 next week or half way, the league is that tight and we are in the mix and it probably wouldnt matter who was the boss.

We have had a rubbish run of form against 2 x teams who everything they do at the moment goes right (Newcastle and West Ham - play them any other 7 x months of the season and more than fancy us for a result) the champions elect (Chelsea) and a usual top 4 club (Arsenal) I wish we had had more of a go as i hate it too when clubs just sitback but also trying to give it some perspective.

Also pretty much every neutral fans i know seem to think we play decent football and are quite entertaining, granted they havent seen the the 3 games prior to Tuesday and today but in a 38 game season, you are going to have some bad ones.

[PepeMel]

Get him out now. I hope we read our papers in the morning and it's good news. He will definitely be gone next week any way because this clueless coach won't be able to muster even a draw against villa. I don't understand how anyone can defend this rubbish football

[The Black Pearl]

Although there can be no denying today was a borefest some of this agenda is getting ridiculous.

As far as i am aware a goal is a goal whether its from a setpiece, own goal or open play? Interesting picking up the last 9 games, what about  going backa few before than where it was 2 vs Man United and 4 vs Burnley, 3 vs Hull?

Today was turgid and boring (again) but we have just lost 4 x games on the bounce, i wasnt expecting some all star great football, as with most teams on a bad run, you end the rot, under any other manager it would be classed as professional today, but under Irvine apparently is shocking! its happened with all our previous managers and will happen with all future ones too, thats what sometimes you have to do.

Anybody hearing Irvines interview after may be interested to know he said he didnt want to take Anichebe or Sess off but both were injured but why let that get in the way of things! He also said the plan was to get Varela on anyway, another half hour under his belt, the bloke has been injured for best part of 6 x months and as with most players coming back ease them in.

I sometimes feel i sound an Irvine fan club member, i am not, i am realistic and know the last month hasnt been great but he had a go 2nd half Tuesday night, got a hard earned point today and brought on all attacking players so could say maybe he has acknowledged the sitback approach wasnt working.

The reason i stick up for him because its almost like a witchunt and its crazy, we are 5th from bottom, we could be bottom 3 next week or half way, the league is that tight and we are in the mix and it probably wouldnt matter who was the boss.

We have had a rubbish run of form against 2 x teams who everything they do at the moment goes right (Newcastle and West Ham - play them any other 7 x months of the season and more than fancy us for a result) the champions elect (Chelsea) and a usual top 4 club (Arsenal) I wish we had had more of a go as i hate it too when clubs just sitback but also trying to give it some perspective.

Also pretty much every neutral fans i know seem to think we play decent football and are quite entertaining, granted they havent seen the the 3 games prior to Tuesday and today but in a 38 game season, you are going to have some bad ones.

79, I accept some of your points, but, the style of football is so boring, turgid and unadventurous, if this is the future for West Brom FC, I won't be part of it, I expect just a smidgen of entertainment. Villa will be my last game whilst Irvine is in charge.

[GrGr]

Also pretty much every neutral fans i know seem to think we play decent football and are quite entertaining, granted they havent seen the the 3 games prior to Tuesday and today but in a 38 game season, you are going to have some bad ones.

Sounds a bit like Norwich last season doesn't it. The fans wanted Hughton out but it wasn't that easy to see why from the outside. Until it became very clear what was going on. By then it was too late for them to save their season. We are very much following the same path.

I watched Newcastle Chelsea today and guess what? I missed that feeling of excitement you get from watching a good game of football. It is clear to me now I will NEVER get that feeling with Irvine. His football is just mind and soul numbing dreck. 

As a way of supporting the club I subscribe to Albion Player. Albion Player has a feature to watch "highlights" from our games. Guess how many "highlights" there have been to watch from Irvine's games? It's basically just one big long "lowlight" completely void of anything exciting (ie hightlights), that's what it is.

[Albion79]

Fair comment, i am not saying it is entertaining at the moment, far from it.

However we have played entertaining stuff at times this season too and its like its not acknowledged as its Irvine.

This isnt aimed at you Black Pearl but can anybody let me know the last manager / team we had where the attacking, winning, consistent top flight (not championship) football was played which seems to be the benchmark Irvine is against?

We played good stuff in some games under all our managers going back as far as Megson right upto Pepe Mel but we also had a lot of shockers under those managers too so i just dont get why it was acceptable to have poor runs of form under those managers but it isnt under Irvine? I said previous if we were bottom of the league, boring all season, played no football then i could understand the witchunt but aside from 4 of the last 5 games we have been okay this season, good some games, bad others, and fair to middling in others, the same as every other manager we have had!

I dont think its good to change manager every time you have a run of bad form or peformances, if that run goes past 7 or 8 games then fair enough as thats nearly a quarter of a season, today we stopped the rot, with 2 x winnable games coming up, if we lose them then i can well imagine Irvine will be gone and it would be hard to justify him staying with modern day football as it is.

[VVVAlbion]

Although there can be no denying today was a borefest some of this agenda is getting ridiculous.

As far as i am aware a goal is a goal whether its from a setpiece, own goal or open play? Interesting picking up the last 9 games, what about  going backa few before than where it was 2 vs Man United and 4 vs Burnley, 3 vs Hull?

Today was turgid and boring (again) but we have just lost 4 x games on the bounce, i wasnt expecting some all star great football, as with most teams on a bad run, you end the rot, under any other manager it would be classed as professional today, but under Irvine apparently is shocking! its happened with all our previous managers and will happen with all future ones too, thats what sometimes you have to do.

Anybody hearing Irvines interview after may be interested to know he said he didnt want to take Anichebe or Sess off but both were injured but why let that get in the way of things! He also said the plan was to get Varela on anyway, another half hour under his belt, the bloke has been injured for best part of 6 x months and as with most players coming back ease them in.

I sometimes feel i sound an Irvine fan club member, i am not, i am realistic and know the last month hasnt been great but he had a go 2nd half Tuesday night, got a hard earned point today and brought on all attacking players so could say maybe he has acknowledged the sitback approach wasnt working.

The reason i stick up for him because its almost like a witchunt and its crazy, we are 5th from bottom, we could be bottom 3 next week or half way, the league is that tight and we are in the mix and it probably wouldnt matter who was the boss.

We have had a rubbish run of form against 2 x teams who everything they do at the moment goes right (Newcastle and West Ham - play them any other 7 x months of the season and more than fancy us for a result) the champions elect (Chelsea) and a usual top 4 club (Arsenal) I wish we had had more of a go as i hate it too when clubs just sitback but also trying to give it some perspective.

Also pretty much every neutral fans i know seem to think we play decent football and are quite entertaining, granted they havent seen the the 3 games prior to Tuesday and today but in a 38 game season, you are going to have some bad ones.

What is amusing and entertaining is the people moaning about negative football calling for two defensive midfielders and those moaning about not scoring in open play in 9 games complaining about dropping the striker who played in all these games. I also enjoy listening to those who have suddenly labelled Dorrans, Brunt and Morrison as defensive midfielders.

[maccbaggie]

If we stick with Irvine we will have a slow, painful descent to relegation. This may only become apparent to the less perceptual of us when we get to our ominous run-in on the same number of points as our competitors.

[maccbaggie]

What is amusing and entertaining is the people moaning about negative football calling for two defensive midfielders and those moaning about not scoring in open play in 9 games complaining about dropping the striker who played in all these games. I also enjoy listening to those who have suddenly labelled Dorrans, Brunt and Morrison as defensive midfielders.

I'm not aware of anyone who's said any of that, other than playing Mulumbu and Yacob, which would give us more balance by allowing us to play three attacking midfielders/wingers who might actually threaten the opposition, e.g.

     Yacob Mulumbu
Varela Sessegnon Blanco

This is in contrast to playing four of the same type of player as Irvine favours.

[GrGr]

What is amusing and entertaining is the people moaning about negative football calling for two defensive midfielders and those moaning about not scoring in open play in 9 games complaining about dropping the striker who played in all these games. I also enjoy listening to those who have suddenly labelled Dorrans, Brunt and Morrison as defensive midfielders.

Mate at the moment we are playing with four defensive midfielders. Five if Irvine chooses to play five men in midfield. Saido is our only scoring threat because he is our only forward with talent (haven't seen Ideye yet but...).

Our previous seasons in the prem our midfield has chipped in with it's fair share of goals (Brunt, Mozza, Dozza, Sess if you count him as a mid, even Mulumbu), so we know there are goals there. Under Straight Jacket Irvine those goals have disappeared completely. Can you figure out why?

[Dexy]

Just got in, feet still frozen ...bored rigid from Mr Handbrake today once again....has he gone yet?

[timdon]

If we stick with Irvine we will have a slow, painful descent to relegation. This may only become apparent to the less perceptual of us when we get to our ominous run-in on the same number of points as our competitors.

You're more optimistic than me !!

[The Black Pearl]

Fair comment, i am not saying it is entertaining at the moment, far from it.

However we have played entertaining stuff at times this season too and its like its not acknowledged as its Irvine.

This isnt aimed at you Black Pearl but can anybody let me know the last manager / team we had where the attacking, winning, consistent top flight (not championship) football was played which seems to be the benchmark Irvine is against?

We played good stuff in some games under all our managers going back as far as Megson right upto Pepe Mel but we also had a lot of shockers under those managers too so i just dont get why it was acceptable to have poor runs of form under those managers but it isnt under Irvine? I said previous if we were bottom of the league, boring all season, played no football then i could understand the witchunt but aside from 4 of the last 5 games we have been okay this season, good some games, bad others, and fair to middling in others, the same as every other manager we have had!

I dont think its good to change manager every time you have a run of bad form or peformances, if that run goes past 7 or 8 games then fair enough as thats nearly a quarter of a season, today we stopped the rot, with 2 x winnable games coming up, if we lose them then i can well imagine Irvine will be gone and it would be hard to justify him staying with modern day football as it is.

Hodgson and Clarke both played entertaining attacking football, yes Clarke lost the plot, but the current stuff is beyond dire.

If you play with no width and no penetration, what do you expect.