[Droitwich Baggie]

Darren took on a impossible job trying to keep us in the prem & almost pulled it off. The job he now faces in trying 1st time to get us back into the prem is far harder for him to achieve but gets the backing of most of us fans/supporters but a large percentage of them must have fears on if he's up to the job based on what we have seen so far
His starting 11 seems to make no sense at times when he keeps playing players out of position even when the game before they looked just has poor.
His subs baffle some of us by taking of players doing a job only to replace them & by doing this our team seems to lose its way.
Its this kind of substitutions that worry me the most.


But on the other hand if he is trying to show Mr. Lai that he needs money for the January window to better the squad it could be a Master Stroke by  him.

I wanted him to succeed and want him to succeed in the Championship and get us back. He needs to have a hard look at his squad, but is it good enough?

[frazzle]

How many people on this forum truly believe that we should expect to go back up?  And how many of those have followed us in the championship before? It’s not a given, we have no divine right, and we have to fight for every point against some extremely talented sides managed by extremely talented people.

To take on our squad after what has been a devastating season in every possible way, bring back pride, transform the style, and deliver a start to a season that sees us with a chance to go top this weekend as leading goal scorers ... and we moan about Moore? Really? I am genuinely astonished at some of the comments being made on here.

This is a time when we should be completely and utterly united behind the team. That’s where I am.

[Adamstv]

How many people on this forum truly believe that we should expect to go back up?  And how many of those have followed us in the championship before? It’s not a given, we have no divine right, and we have to fight for every point against some extremely talented sides managed by extremely talented people.

To take on our squad after what has been a devastating season in every possible way, bring back pride, transform the style, and deliver a start to a season that sees us with a chance to go top this weekend as leading goal scorers ... and we moan about Moore? Really? I am genuinely astonished at some of the comments being made on here.

This is a time when we should be completely and utterly united behind the team. That’s where I am.

Hear hear cracking post and I feel exactly like you . Cannot believe the amount of moaning going on . Yes he will make mistakes , what manager doesn’t, and he is new to the job but have I enjoyed some of the football this season - Yes I have compared to the sterile I have watched for the last 3 years or so.

[DaveWBA]

I want the club to give them a chance. A real chance, not a perceived chance like last night.

If they are good enough, they'll come on and do well, and become a regular. If they don't, then neither fans nor players can claim that it's just because they haven't been given a chance.

On a wider scale, I'd like to see more trust in young players such as you see in Spain, Germany, et al. It wasn't that long ago England U21's lined up against Germany U21's, and they had four times the amount of first team appearances our lads did. That's a gap that needs closing if the national team and the game is to progress.

At any level the most they're going to get is 5/6 games to prove their worth. The only one of our current crop I think has taken their chance is Field and arguably he can feel a little hard done by having to sit and watch Livermore, Brunt and Barry on the pitch ahead of him each week. I think you forget the coaching staff see these players every day and whilst it's nice to be able to bring youngsters through, if there are any doubts over whether they're good enough then it's not potentially worth sacrificing points for. What other team in England has four/five youth team players all coming into the first team at the same time? I can't think of one off the top of my head, maybe Everton? There was a stat produced last season saying West Brom academy graduates had the most minutes of any in the PL. What will you be saying if we line up on Saturday at Preston with five academy lads in the team and get beat 3-0?

[Mister AT]

At any level the most they're going to get is 5/6 games to prove their worth. The only one of our current crop I think has taken their chance is Field and arguably he can feel a little hard done by having to sit and watch Livermore, Brunt and Barry on the pitch ahead of him each week. I think you forget the coaching staff see these players every day and whilst it's nice to be able to bring youngsters through, if there are any doubts over whether they're good enough then it's not potentially worth sacrificing points for. What other team in England has four/five youth team players all coming into the first team at the same time? I can't think of one off the top of my head, maybe Everton? There was a stat produced last season saying West Brom academy graduates had the most minutes of any in the PL. What will you be saying if we line up on Saturday at Preston with five academy lads in the team and get beat 3-0?

I think the problem with youth players stems through pretty much every team in England.

You only have to look at some of the teams the big boys put out in the cup this week, Chelsea for instance, could easily have played Loftus Cheek and a few youngsters.

United could have played a few youngsters, Liverpools team didn't really have too many youngsters in it. Look at Arsenals starting 11 against Brentford, hardly any youth players in it. If they aren't going to give this youngsters a chance in a round 3/4 cup game, then they are never going to break in to the first team.

Someone pointed out earlier that the coaching staff see these youngsters training every day so they will know if they are 'ready'. But it baffles me that if some of them aren't going to get any game time, then it makes more sense to send them out on loan for a few months.

Especially when we are now close to signing Sako, we could have easily loaned one of Edwards/Leko out on loan, and also looked to potentially loan Harper out (just pop an emergency recall in the deal).

[boinging_along]

I think the problem stems from everyone wanting instant results NOW.  It's fine to play the kids and win, pats on the back all round.  Lose though and you get heavily criticised.

Loaning out to lower leagues can work but only if they're good enough to get results at that level AND good enough to improve.

[DaveWBA]

I think the problem with youth players stems through pretty much every team in England.

You only have to look at some of the teams the big boys put out in the cup this week, Chelsea for instance, could easily have played Loftus Cheek and a few youngsters.

United could have played a few youngsters, Liverpools team didn't really have too many youngsters in it. Look at Arsenals starting 11 against Brentford, hardly any youth players in it. If they aren't going to give this youngsters a chance in a round 3/4 cup game, then they are never going to break in to the first team.

Someone pointed out earlier that the coaching staff see these youngsters training every day so they will know if they are 'ready'. But it baffles me that if some of them aren't going to get any game time, then it makes more sense to send them out on loan for a few months.

Especially when we are now close to signing Sako, we could have easily loaned one of Edwards/Leko out on loan, and also looked to potentially loan Harper out (just pop an emergency recall in the deal).

These kids have to be good enough in the first instance though. There was quite interesting discussion on Sky last night before the Liverpool game. Looking at the case of TAA, he was given 5/6 games and took his chance and now he's a regular in the team and has playing in the WC and the CL final.

I'd love to see an Albion team full of local lads doing well, playing good football but the reality is they're not going to get in the team if the management don't deem them an improvement on what we already have. Like I say, the only one I feel has been slightly hard done by is Sam Field.

As for letting them go, our squad is wafer thin and realistically we need them. We've played 9 of 46 games - I'm sure they'll all get their chance between now and May.

[Albion79]

I think Darren Moore is doing a good job, he will make mistakes along the way but overall we are going well.

As said previous i dont think he has the luxury of building a team over a few years, developing players, etc i think his remit is get promoted ASAP or likely scenario he will be out of a job.

Some things i think he gets wrong, i know people say we need a big squad for the championship and i agree to an extent but realistically we all probably know the team for saturday and it will just be who plays centre midfield out of Barry and Brunt, whoever plays saturday against Preston will also play against Reading the following saturday, with the other coming in to play midweek against Sheffield Wednesday.

They then have two weeks off so I think this rotating and keeping players fresh thing just doesnt happen, injuries aside we probably know what the team is as it has been for most of the season! When your winning everyone wants to play so that tiredness doesnt quite seem so bad!

As stated above, i think Moore is under pressure from the board to get promoted ASAP so has gone with
the tried and trusted players, rather than risking giving the youngsters a run of games which us fans maybe want, however i just cant help but think if the youngsters were really that good, he would include them.

Field i think we confirmed we had turned down loan offers for previously and he is obviously around the first team, Fitzwater i think said that Moore had said he was very close to the first team but loaned him out.

I havent seen enough of the others to comment but i do find it strange that last season we had players on loan at Redditch and Hereford, year before that we had a few at Kiddy Harriers and Evesham United, this season we have one at Barrow and i think another non league club.

I think we are a catergory A academy, i dont know about this season but previous seasons even as a championship club, Villa loaned players out to other championship clubs and league one, i think Wolves are similar to Villa, the bulk of our loans seem to be league two and non league, the two who went to championship and league (Leko and Harper) had both came back by Xmas.   

Like i say i dont know enough to judge but i think the above and the fact Moore was the loans manager, worked within our academy so knows what they are like, yet still doesnt pick them perhaps means they just arent good enough which begs the question why they havent been loaned out to give them game time.

PS - Whilst on about the academy, the fact our under 23's lose every week really grates me, i know people say there are a lot of 18 and 19 year olds playing but they also have some senior players involved too, the club have to look at this, losing every week achieves nothing, its okay saying they are learning from the defeats, i think thats rubbish, you creating a losing mentality, the gallant pride in defeat is okay every now and again, not every week.

Winning breeds confidence, you also learn from winning, its okay having the odd bad spell but from what i have seen for nearly two years now our under 23's seem to lose nearly every game, that has to change.

[ronnie_allen]

PS - Whilst on about the academy, the fact our under 23's lose every week really grates me, i know people say there are a lot of 18 and 19 year olds playing but they also have some senior players involved too, the club have to look at this, losing every week achieves nothing, its okay saying they are learning from the defeats, i think thats rubbish, you creating a losing mentality, the gallant pride in defeat is okay every now and again, not every week.

Winning breeds confidence, you also learn from winning, its okay having the odd bad spell but from what i have seen for nearly two years now our under 23's seem to lose nearly every game, that has to change.

Haven't seen our Under 23 side myself so I am sure yourself and others are more informed than me. My own thoughts on this is that given that Moore (and Jones) are looking to implement a new football style for our first team;  is this also being reflected in the style that our Under 23s play. While there is a good case that results breed confidence; I personally think that in this less pressurised area there is even more of an onus to focus on style of play and allowing players slot into the first team and the style that the manager wants.
Similarly; I do expect us to lose points (and we arguably have already) in the League as we are still transitioning and the manager just has to either to decide whether to stay true to his convictions for the long term benefit or whether to adjust current style to get results more immediately.

Given the approach being taken I am very happy that we are in the upper echelons of the League now and if we can stay within touching distance come the New Year I would be reasonably confident that we can compete for an automatic promotion spot.

[stoxman]

Overall I think he is doing OK.   On a scale of A-E I would give him a B-.    1 point off top is good but I would expect nothing less given the squad he has got.  He's got the best strike force in the league, great wing backs, best attacking midfielder (if that's how we describe Barnes), a midfield squad of Barry/Livermore/Field/Hoolihan/Harper that would get in any other Championship team, centre halves that have all played PL (including a wonderkid from Man City) and a goalkeeper that was envied by all teams.   3rd place must be regarded as a minimum for a team of this quality and therefore I'd give him a C+ for results so far.  Pretty good but no better than I'd expect given his resources.

I'd knock him down a mark for his failures to address our away form, our constant tendency to get overrun in midfield and our appalling defensive record.  We have conceded a similar number of goals as Ipswich and Millwall who are both in the relegation zone...

I'd probably also knock him off a mark for the passing.  I have never seen passing so bad by Albion.  There are times when it looks like an Attackers v Defenders training session in which the defenders have to give the ball back to the attackers to have another go.   

I'd add a mark for the entertainment.  I'm enjoying this season for the first time in quite a few years and his tactics are responsible for that in large part.

Overall B-   

[Foster#1]

Top after 10 games
1 point clear
4 clear from 7th
Top goal scorers,
Fantastic

Huge well done to Darren, the staff and players

[frazzle]

Top after 10 games
1 point clear
4 clear from 7th
Top goal scorers,
Fantastic

Huge well done to Darren, the staff and players

Totally agree. 5 unbeaten with 4 wins. The form team in the league. And plenty of room for improvement. Given the devastation of last season I never expected to see us where we are, playing the way we are. Well done!

[garry]

Division Manager of the Month

[baggie82]

We just need to stop conceding soft goals. Or at least not as many. Still get the sense we have a lot more to give. Big game on Wednesday now.

[WBAinDEVON]

needs to drop some of the defenders

[BoingFlyer]

We just need to stop conceding soft goals. Or at least not as many. Still get the sense we have a lot more to give. Big game on Wednesday now.

Perhaps it's a ploy to get teams to play expansive football against us so we can out score them?

[stoxman]

Top after 10 games
1 point clear
4 clear from 7th
Top goal scorers,
Fantastic

Huge well done to Darren, the staff and players

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.

[Baggies]

Having just gone through the last 10 years in the championship, the side who are top after ten games nearly always get promoted.

Now we have some real deficiencies, but it is looking likely that Moore will have us in a real promotion battle this season, rather than a struggle to break top 6.

Disagree with a lot of what he does but hard to argue with his results.

[geoff]

Perhaps it's a ploy to get teams to play expansive football against us so we can out score them?

If it is it's working great.

[geoff]

Having just gone through the last 10 years in the championship, the side who are top after ten games nearly always get promoted.

Now we have some real deficiencies, but it is looking likely that Moore will have us in a real promotion battle this season, rather than a struggle to break top 6.

Disagree with a lot of what he does but hard to argue with his results.

Like yourself I can't get my head around lots of things he does but the table doesn't lie.

[liverbaggie]

The thing is,there are things that can be  improved on,think about that,its looking good,top of the league top scores enjoy the ride because the league isn't won now. So guys pace yourselves for the ups and downs.

[elkiellis]

Congratulations Big Dave,now just drop Bartley,move Dawson across to centre half,get a right back in,and a commanding centre midfielder,and all will end well,it is that simple

[Atomic]

Congratulations Big Dave,now just drop Bartley,move Dawson across to centre half,get a right back in,and a commanding centre midfielder,and all will end well,it is that simple

Dawson does play centre half.

[Albionic]

Dawson does play centre half.

Suspect that he means central centre half

[elkiellis]

Dawson does play centre half.

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