Messages

1

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Gareth McAuley

« on: May 17, 2013, 05:07:45 PM »

Signed a new 2 year deal.

2

General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa

« on: May 16, 2013, 02:34:34 PM »

You tend to finish where you deserve. There are lots of factors which have compounded our situation the past few years and these have to be taken into account, which is why I think people have a lot of time for Lambert and what he is trying to do.

Where I hope we’ll be is a bit of an off question, as ask anybody and they will tell you they want their club to be as high up the table as possible.

I take into account that every fan wants their team to finish as high as possible, but you didn't say where you want Villa to finish, you said where they should finish. There is a difference.

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General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa

« on: May 15, 2013, 02:51:37 PM »

If you didn't keep getting turned over by them, then they would have gone down ages ago.

There is no such thing as luck. Not after 38 games. You can pin point poor decisions in certain games, but over the culmination of a season certain patterns emerge that refute any notion of luck. Dave Wheelan for example, believes Wigan have been unlucky and would be a mid-table side in other seasons.

The fact they have conceded 70 goals and lost over half their matches suggests he is talking nonsense.

As for satying up by the skin of our teeth? Not really. We will finish 8 points above the drop come 6 o’clock on Sunday, five behind you.

We have finally corrected the slide and started to sort things out. Our football these past few months attacking wise has been excellent. We’ve looked a mid-table outfit. Come the summer, I would hope for more action from Lambert and if we learn how to defend, then we will kick on and start to head up to somewhere like where we should be.

Where exactly is "Somewhere like we should be?" Where do you honeslty think you should finish every year?

4

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Steve Clarke

« on: May 13, 2013, 07:52:09 PM »

We mainly played 4-4-2 under Hodgson, our setup under Clarke was totally different.

I can't believe people have forgotten how bad at home we were under Roy.

This.

I don't see how anyone can say how the success of the first half of the season was just a carry on from Roy because as mentioned we were absolutely horrendous at home for the majority of the season. A few wins at the end gave it a much more respectable look but in truth we know how bad it was. Our good form at the start of the season was based on a superb home record, where we lost only twice from the start of the season to January.

We have always struggled around December time in the Premier League, it happened under Mowbray, RDM and even Roy. This is down to the squad size we have, it's been the same issue every year. This year I think we had more injuries than ever before, and they didn't help Clarke particularly as injuries were to key players in our system.

Clearly there has been a few problems in the 2nd half of the year. I can't decide whether it's motivation of players or whether it's because we've been playing teams who have had something on the line-our performance against Southampton was the best in 2013 imo and that was against a team who at the time thought they were safe so it was seen as a nothing, end of season match.

I think our main problem in 2013 is that we haven't been able to use the formation or at least have the personnel to play the formation we want to. The success we had at the start of the season was with the 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 formation but with the Odemwingie sage and the Gera injury, we don't really have the players to use that formation hence a lot of the tinkering in the 2nd half of the season imo. It is also why I think Morrison has struggled the 2nd half of the season, as he has had more of the creative burden on him with no Gera/Odemwingie and relatively poor form of Brunt.

It is Clarke's first season as a head coach and I think mistakes were inevitable. I don't think he could have done any better in terms of league position. He will only get better imo. My main issue for next year is that it is going to be a big transfer window for us in terms of ins and out, and I am not sure whether Peace will change the transfer strategy to continue our upward trajectory.

5

Next Match Forum: 19/05 Manchester United (H) / Re: Sir Alex Ferguson's Last Game

« on: May 08, 2013, 02:54:54 PM »

I don't think what he has achieved will ever be seen in this country again. Very much a one of kind in modern day football. It will be strange to see United without Ferguson next season, he has been there the whole of my life plus another 8 years on top of that!

Still, I wonder who Fergie will choose to ref his last game? Can't see us getting many decisions. Rob Styles to come out of retirement maybe? 

6

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Steve Clarke

« on: May 08, 2013, 02:50:08 PM »

Everton can have Steve Clarke once Moyes sods off,
christ knows how we are still in 8th position.
Shane Long and McAuley score against Wigan then he puts them on the bench against Man City,
the bloke is clueless.
Any other manager with Odemwingie, Fortune, Lukaku, Rosenberg, and Long at their disposal would
of finished in the top 5.

hahahahahahaha

Your last post on this particularly topic was basically expressing your worry at Steve Clarke leaving. One loss later he's crap and you want to get rid of him.

At first it was relatively amusing but now you're just getting boring.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Craig Dawson

« on: May 08, 2013, 11:15:51 AM »

City were on the beach in that 2nd half and we still couldnt beat them.
Dawson has got to be the most overrated Albion player ever as all I seen him do
last night was give the ball away. If fans want to see a great player then take a look at Tamas,
putting his head in where it hurts should get the bloke with a new contract as it tells me he
wants to be here.

Tamas gave it away far more than Dawson.

Bet you'd take him at the Molineux wouldn't you?

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Last Match Forum: 07/05 Manchester City (A) / Re: In Game Chat

« on: May 07, 2013, 08:48:21 PM »

I thought we played really well there for the most. Difference was in City's spell of dominance they scored, we didn't(Should have though). Rosenberg playing quite well I feel, Lukaku big threat once again.

Brown played for the U21's today, hence not in squad tonight.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Under 21's thread

« on: May 07, 2013, 06:28:51 PM »

I wonder what is happening to the goalkeeper Shane Lewis.  I've seen him a couple of times and was reasonably impressed on both occasions but he was left out of the last game at Old Trafford and he mentioned playing some sort of trial game on his twitter.

Tweeted today was his last game for WBA so guess he has been released.

10

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Billy Jones

« on: May 06, 2013, 04:47:50 PM »

Was left unprotected Saturday, still think he could have done more against Maloney for the first goal and possibly 2nd, although Yacob was very poor up against Maloney in that situation. Still, the main issue with the goals on Saturday was the atrocious marking in the box.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Markus Rosenberg

« on: May 06, 2013, 04:46:05 PM »

I don't think it's a suprise that he played better when given a chance in his preferred role with the team actually playing well. However, I do feel that it might perhaps be a case of right player, wrong time which is a shame as he clearly has quality.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Steve Clarke

« on: May 06, 2013, 04:33:39 PM »

Cant really see him going all that way just to see what Man Utd can do as surely he
would already know, a pointless end of season game against Man Ure ?

Wouldn't be much of a head coach if he didn't watch the opposition play would he? It might be pointless to you, but to Albion fans, every game is important.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Steve Clarke

« on: May 06, 2013, 12:37:12 PM »

I notice Steve Clarke was at the Man Utd v Chelsea game doing some scouting for when Mourinho takes over.
Dont know about bringing in players as I think Mr Peace will be looking for a new manager in the summer.
Next season is already looking bleak for us.

Eh? We play Man United last game of the season, far more likely he was watching them to scout for that game!

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Is it time to change our transfer strategy?

« on: May 02, 2013, 11:50:39 PM »

Seen Scott Allen play for Portsmouth and I really wasnt that impressed so dont think we`re really
missing much. On the other hand the likes of James Hurst and D.Daniels deserve a chance at 1st
team level as they have both looked decent from what ive seen of them. If Steve Clarke has any
faults then not giving youth a chance is one of them , cant see the harm in giving Izzy Brown a game
against Wigan to replace Morrison who looks jaded.

I think Clarke has done a good job in getting them involved in the matchday squads. Far more so than Roy. But perhaps some of them should have been given the opportunity to come off the bench in the past few games, thought maybe Daniels could have come on for 5 minutes against The Saints.

I do think we'll see Brown on Saturday, probably from the bench though

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Martin Swain in Express & Star

« on: April 30, 2013, 10:14:42 PM »

Not at all worried yet, he still has 15 months to run on his current deal, this is negotiating.

And if you look at the articles from today with interviews from McAuley, what he states about wanting to stay at the club and that it's only a few small hitches, then that is totally at odds with whatever Martin Swain is saying.

No point getting the lynch mob out for Peace yet.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Craig Dawson

« on: April 29, 2013, 11:06:46 AM »

He's back already according to this;

http://www.lionofviennasuite.com/2013/4/29/4279712/jay-spearing-craig-dawson-bolton-wanderers-liverpool-west-bromwich-albion

And loan can't be extended as it is outside of the loan window.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: How Will WBA Fare In 2013-14?

« on: April 28, 2013, 05:56:22 PM »

Because we havnt got Dan Ashworth anymore and this Richard Garlick bloke doesnt exactly fill me
with confidence when he cant even sort new contracts out for average players like McAuley and Long.
The bloke has been in the job for a few months now so can someone tell me what he`s acheived
so far ? apart from keeping season ticket prices the same season after season like some amateur
football club.

1) I don't think that McAuley/Long are average players, they've been two key performers in our best Premier League season ever.

2) They've only just started contract talks. How long did Odemwingie and Olsson negotiations take? No-one was criticising Ashworth at that point.

3) It's not the transfer window, so what can Garlick actually do in this time? The club are obviously scouting a lot of players, registering their interest in a few. Not a lot else you can do really.

18

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: Losing to Wigan , the bigger picture

« on: April 28, 2013, 05:47:55 PM »

My attitude to this is similar to others by the looks of it. I want us to win, but I wouldn't feel as bad if we lost knowing it could help send the Villa down.

Obviously the ideal world is we win about 4-0 and the Villa still go down!

19

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: April 28, 2013, 03:56:16 PM »

Cracking day out and cracking win. Having heard what was said about the coaches stopping at the services, glad me and my mate decided to drive up. Got there by midday so had plenty of time in town.

The sun was shining and Albion were superb. Fantastic performance all round, the defence were solid, Yacob was back to his best, Dorrans was very good in the centre of midfield and the three pronged attack was a stroke of tactical excellence from Clarke.

Particularly impressed with the composure Lukaku showed in 2nd half. Having missed the 3 chances in the first half, he did very well to keep calm and round the keeper.

20

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Shane Long

« on: April 25, 2013, 03:04:23 PM »

I've said for months our service from midfield to the forwards has not been great this season and far too often Long and Lukaku have lived on scraps.Had both had better service i'm sure they would have had more goals.

Agree with this. Lukaku does seem to have more of an ability to create a goal out of relatively little compared to Long(Who of course has other attributes that are superior to Lukaku) which is probably why Big Rom has got the nod since the turn of the year.

21

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next seasons starting 11 :-)

« on: April 23, 2013, 11:49:50 PM »

Based solely on the rumours I have seen,what some are calling for

                      Foster
Simpson.  Gmac.    Dawson.  Popov

           Yacob.      Mulumbu

Jermaine jones  huddlestone .  Valero

             Lukaku. M.suarez

Myhill jones ridgewell mozza Thorne long Doyle

I'd be happy

I don't think we need to start with 12 players!

22

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Steve Clarke

« on: April 21, 2013, 08:08:19 PM »

I think he did make a mistake yesterday starting Fortune but then you've got to give him credit for taking off Yacob(Tactical not injury-related) to bring on Long which changed the game. I think he will have learned a lot this season and I personally think it's unfair on him to say the first half of the season was down to Roy, particularly as a lot of our success came at home where we were notoriously poor under Roy.

This slump in form is pointed to as a weakness of Clarke but the exact same thing happened under RDM and Roy himself, the 5-1 against Wolves was our season-defining result. It is also swept under the carpet that the period of December to February saw us missing various key players at various points. Look at our record since we've had a more recognisable squad, we've started doing better again which is no suprise.

As mentioned, for all the hype Swansea get, they are below us in the table. In terms of money, we are finishing above teams we have no right to be finishing above.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Ben Davies - Swansea

« on: April 21, 2013, 07:20:56 PM »

Davies has only really got so many games because Neil Taylor got injured and Swansea had no other left back at the club, outside of the transfer window, so they didn't really have an alternative.

Now is perhaps the time to start blooding a few of them considering injuries/suspensions/uncertain futures of some players, but I don't think we should have played them earlier in the season because there was no way you could warrant putting in any youngster above our first choice players. Thorne instead of Yacob/Mulumbu? Dawson instead of McAuley/Olsson? Berainho instead of Long/Lukaku? It doesn't improve the team.

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Albion Matchday Forum / Re: Match Officials

« on: April 20, 2013, 07:31:54 PM »

Just awful.

Missed the penalty. Let Cabaye ref the game for him, only booking him right at the end. To be fair, missed a couple of poor challenges from our players as well. Incapable of playing the advantage rule correctly, linesman equally as bad. Completely out of his depth.

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General Football & Sports / Re: Dingle watch - Anything Wolves

« on: April 13, 2013, 05:02:24 PM »

I guess this will be coming out again soon...