West Bromwich Albion 1 - Hull City 0

Date:	Wednesday 3rd November 2021
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
WBA: 5.5	(3-4-2-1) Johnstone 6.5, Kipré 6.3, Clarke 6.4, Bryan 4.9 (Reach, 40 6.4), Gardner-Hickman 7.6, Livermore 5.1, Snodgrass 4.4, Townsend 7.2, Phillips 4.6 (Hugill, 63 4.4), Grant 5.2, Robinson 4.9 (Diangana, 88 5.4) Unused subs: Button, Ajayi, Molumby, Taylor Manager: Valérien Ismaël 4.9
Hull: 2.9	(4-2-3-1) Ingram, Coyle, Jones (McLoughlin, 17), Greaves, Elder, Smallwood, Docherty, Wilks (Longman, 79), Honeyman, Lewis-Potter, Magennis (Eaves, 79) Unused subs: Baxter, Emmanuel, Cannon, Smith
Scorers:	Grant (69)
Referee:	Dean Whitestone (Northamptonshire) 4.8
Attendance:	19,659 Home Fans 5.9 Away Fans 2.5

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Ratings submitted so far: 17

Brendan Clegg:

Another laboured and fortunate victory.

I thought given the suspensions and how Hull we’re likely to play this was a great chance to go 4 at the back to give us greater width and get more players higher up the pitch.

Instead we got the usual 3-4-3 and a random selection of players in the lineup.

I don’t think the style was too bad and we did try and pass it, we just looked a bit disjointed because of all the changes. In my opinion the biggest problem was the formation again - had we gone 4 at the back we should’ve been able to find a way to get Grady into the team in game that was crying out for creativity.

In our best move of the half Phillips nearly scored and I have no idea how Grant didn’t put the rebound away instead striking it straight at the keeper. Had that early goal gone in might have made us play better and forced Hull out.

Instead it was just familiar - pretty drab, didn’t create much, run out of ideas and whack it. Still, the manager applauded everything from the touch line no matter how bad it got although I think the half time boos were unfair.

As is standard- when injuries and subs came nothing changed tactically and it looked like we’d blow the chance for points before we got a bit of a gift - Livermore pressed high to rob a pass from the back and the Robinson Grant combo got us out of jail again.

Thankfully from there we saw the game out. Hull were another very poor team - certainly plenty of those in this league. Saturday has to be better.

SJ - 6 Decent kicking and sweeping
Kipre - 6 Surprised to see him, did okay but you’re never confident in him.
Clarke - 6 played in the centre and tried to keep the ball.
Bryan - 6 Another surprise. Looked a bit rusty but generally okay before getting injured.
Gardner-Hickman- 7 Brightest spark of the night. Composed, quick, probably our best attacking option in the game. Struggled in the air but otherwise can be very proud.
Livermore- 6 Had a lot of the ball and made the goal through effort.
Snodgrass- 5 I was disappointed. Slow to move it, leggy and gave away cheap fouls.
Townsend- 6 Did a job all night, reliable.
Phillips- 5 Tried but in this system is never wide enough for us to create.
Robinson- 5 Dropped into pockets to try and play but there was nothing ahead/beyond him and not quick enough or strong enough to get played through.
Grant - 5 He gets an extra mark for the goal. I can’t tell you how bad he is apart from the goals. Does it matter?
Reach - 6 Came in, stayed wide, kept slinging it over.
Hugill - 5 Not a threat.

Little point in bringing Diagana on and what has Molumby done? We are still desperate for a proper striker as everyone knows.