West Bromwich Albion 0 - Southampton 1

Summary:

Why, oh why do we do it. We wait all summer for the new season to start, spurred on by the success of the British Lions, the Ashes victory over Australia and even Andy Murray, Chris Froome and Mo Farrah, glued to the web and Sky Sports for news of signings - and within 90 minutes we find ourselves thinking "Oh.... yeah".

Albion started pretty much where they left off in May - the first half dominated by Southampton in terms of possession and shots on target (Albion had none) and improving after the break after, one assumes, a half-time rollicking.

But it was Saints who took away the points after Youssouf Mulumbu tripped Luke Shaw in the box during the last minute of full time and Rickie Lambert beat Ben Foster from the spot.

New signing Nicolas Anelka did little to justify his place, though he was well shackled by the Saints defence. Billy Jones was probably the pick of the side along with Mulumbu, penalty gift notwithstanding, while loanee Matej Vydra's all too brief appearance injected some pace and enthusiasm. That aside, it has the early feeling of being a long hard season.

Baggy down under:

We had no idea. The worst home display that i have seen for a long time. The manager should have put subs on around 60 mins. On that display even after one match we are going to struggle. Hopefully they will improve otherwise relegation here we come.

Off to bed now, 2am Australia time.

Colin Harris:

Sometimes you get what you deserve, sometimes you don't get what you deserve. Today we got both, which is a paradox resulting from our ineptness, indecisiveness, lack of inventiveness and, as a consequence, we were a neutralised force.

I thought overall, we should have shared the spoils. Neither goalkeeper was troubled throughout the match really as there was little goal mouth incidents at either end.

So, lets start with our keeper, as I've said he didn't have much involvement during the 90 minutes apart from collecting the ball from the back of the goal on 90 minutes.

Of the two backs, Jones, in my opinion, tried to get forward more and it appeared to me that most of the action was on his side of the pitch. He supported down that flank well, a relative term in the context of poor performances all round. Ridgewell was not on his own in being anonymous at times during large spells of the game.

Olsson and McAuley, equally worked hard to keep Southampton at bay, with Olsson's outstretched leg deflecting a goal bound effort in the first half. Both attacked the ball in the air and neutralised that threat.

The two central midfielder were always on the back foot, with Mulumbu the more prominent of the partnership. Yacob appeared to be well off the pace today.

The two wide midfielders were not creative enough and Dorrans free kicks were woeful and rarely provided the Albion players in the box with a sniff of a chance. Morrison looked jaded and nowhere near the player that performed so well at Wembley the other evening.

Anelka and Long did not have the service to provide enough evidence to evaluate whether their partnership will bear fruits in the prem, but I very much doubt it. Anelka, on this showing, no longer has what it takes at this level. On a couple of occasions he either didn't try, was scared or was just to slow to win balls that he had a decent chance of winning. It appeared to me that Anelka was used as the point man, with Long playing behind him and allowed to roam a bit more, probably because he is more mobile than Anelka.

Difficult to comment on the substitutes, they weren't given enough time to influence the game.

Steve Clark's starting line up was questionable. I would have started with Brunt and Vydra instead of Anelka and Dorrans. I thought our bench had a reasonable amount of quality to it, but we need a couple more.

The first half belonged to Southampton, who were far more enterprising than us I thought. The second half started with very much the same pattern of play as the first, but then we started to get a grip and played with a bit more pace and tempo.

Overall, it was a very sterile performance and lacked enthusiasm, but we can only get better. Its to early to make rash judgements and to start panicking, we're all disappointed and wounded, therefore, not thinking rationally and now is the time to take a step back, take a deep breath and be ready for Everton next Saturday as there are still 111 points to play for.

Didcot Baggie:

Well I had no idea - there is a time travel portal located in Halfords Lane. There I was thinking it was August and the start of a new season, but strangely I was transported to the tail end of last season and a completely lack lustre performance from Albion. Its early days, but we seemed to have learned nothing and on this form will struggle all season. Zero creativity and penetration. Out pressed and out played by an average Southampton side. Olson is looking well past his sell by date, our midfield looked Championship standard at best and Anelka offered nothing to talk about up front. It was also comical to see Steve Clarke making his substitutions about 40 minutes too late. I could go on, but I think the problems are there for everybody to see. Only Arsenal fans can be more downhearted today.

Brendan Clegg:

A game I thought neither side really deserved to win given that neither keeper really had to do much.

First half we were absolutely awful - tactically, technically and even in terms of intelligence.

We played 4 centre midfielders in a 442, with both our creative players wide and pretty much out of the game. Mulumbu and Yacob in the centre were poor in possession but also outnumbered by their floating forward and Wanyama ran the show.

When we did get the ball, too often our decsion making and execution were really poor.

Examples being Mozza electing to hoof the ball early after their player slipping left us 3 on 3 going in when carrying the ball or a pass to feet would have been the beeter choice, or in our 1 decent move in the first half Long completely fluffing a 10 yard simple pass through 2 defenders that would have had Anelka in to score. It was so so basic.

In fairness to Clarke, there wasn't a lot on the bench so in the second half rather than make changes he switched formation to more a 4-3-3, giving up on width we didn't really have anyway and trying to get Mozza and Dozza on the ball in central areas - and pushing Jones (who didn't get over the halfway line 1st half) and Ridgewell up the pitch to support with width.

It worked better and we at least had the better of the half without really getting in behind them and Southamptop defended well. We might have snatched a goal with a bit of luck but it didn't happen. I thought the changes to the forward changes were late and I do have a gripe that swapping both at the same time. It left us with no forward up with the tempo of the game and netiehr really got into it. Why not introduce one sooner and allow him to bed in before brinign the other on?

I thought the penalty was harsh but how we even got to that point is where the questions should be asked. Poor defending, before you know it the impressive Shaw had carried the ball way too far and was in our box. there was no coming back.

Our problems are pretty obvious and the mumblings of most people before, during and after the game were the same.

Every club around and below us has spent big this year. We haven't and we'll go backwards as a result.

We have lost our best player from last year (lukaku), our second best player stays in limbo (Odemwingie) where we neither involve him nor get rid of him at whatever cost to invest his wages elsewhere, our other players who could do a decent job wide (Thomas, Fortune) and we haven't really replaced them.

We are desperate for fast wide forward players. We can't rely on Gera at his stage and with his fitness history.

Most of us are struggling to believe we can't put packages together for Sinclair (who I 'm not massively convinced by but would give us something we don't have) or Kalou. Or anyone of that type. Were we not in for Redmond? If not, why not? Moses all over again - losing a great player with loads of potential by trying to save a few quid.

If we keep expecting to perform miracles with frees, it wont happen. We'll get found out. Our bench today spoke volumes.

If Peace needed a bit of a wakeup call post Ashworth, this was it.

• Foster - 6 Not a lot to do but a couple of shakey moments.
• Jones - 5 Right back is a hige problem. Does his best and isn't bad going forward but defensively is a nightmare that everyone we play tries to exploit. Not good enough on the ball and as good as Reidy is, he is never fit. We needed another right back far more than another centre back.
• Gary Mc - 6 Did Ok.
• Ollie - 6 Ditto. Could have been better on the ball but coped with Lambert well.
• Ridgy - 6 The same, they didn't really get behind us.
• Mozza - 6 Better in the centre but struggled first half.
• Yacob - 6 Is way too leggy for a 4 but solid enough.
• Mulumbu - 6 Woeful first half when he constanly lost the ball but 2nd half totally drove us on.
• Dorrans - 5 Really struggled first half - a bit better when we switched formation. Is lost out wide.
• Anelka - 5 Disappointing. Made a couple of good runs where we had nobody to supply him but didn't win a single 50/50 and I saw little of the link-up play we are led to believe he's brought into his game with age. Couldn;t have complained had been hooked at the break.
• Long - 6 As always, a hero and a villain. His pace, willing running, effort and ability in the air gave us the only thing to hold onto in the first half and he did the same in the 2nd period but so so often the quality of the pass lets him down.

Could be a long old season if we don't get a couple of attacking options in.

COUCHCRITIC:

Oh dear! So our frugal Chairman views us as a mid-table Championship side who are over-achieving! Well he's wrong on that for a start as you can take away the 'over-achieving bit.

Perhaps that's his intention & would be happier for us to be in the lower league without being badgered to spend any money on signing quality players. This to me certainly looks to be the case as there is no sign of the Sky money out on the pitch & to expect to survive in the Premiership with loan players confirms my view.

It's all very well to hold Albion up as a shining example on how to run a financially stable club if your happy to expect the fans to watch us compete with the likes of Walsall, Port Vale, or Coventry every week but this has no place in the Premiership!

Watching us yesterday was all too familiar. no real pace in any but 3 or maybe 4 of our players, little shape, desperate defending....

No good relying on an ageing Anelka to save us & to offer a new contract to Gera just beggars belief & I just can't see us surviving like this. Sorry.