West Bromwich Albion 1 - Hull City 1

Paul Gainham:

If your glass is half full, then you would look at today?s game and say point earned, ends the run of defeats we had and therefore we should be happy.

That?s the positive spin out of the way, now to reality.

First half today was a pitiful shambles. I have absolutely no idea what formation we were trying to play and the players looked both totally confused and completely bereft of confidence. To the other mails on the strength of our squad, I do believe on the whole we have a good enough squad BUT it needs a coach a la Hodgson who knows how to get the best out of what we have.

What today showed me yet again was that Peace?s biggest mistake was not firing Clarke earlier. I have no idea what is going on behind the scenes or in the dressing room but our club is at its lowest point for a bunch of years, many of our players look disinterested and bereft of confidence and whoever comes in has a mountain of a job to save our season. It can be done but it?s going to be one hell of an ask.

Second half improved slightly but if the 1st was a pitiful shambles, the second was just pitiful. Davies and Bruce who are probably the weakest central defensive partnership in the league had the quietest game of their lives. It took us until the 60th minute for our first on target shot from Berahino. Again our set up in the second half I found difficult to fathom and gave up trying to figure it out. It had all the hallmarks of Mike Bassett telling a player to get on the pitch and just run around a bit.

Couple of observations today. Its blindingly obvious that Berahino is a central striker, he is at his best turning on and shooting at goal so WHY oh WHY does he continue to be played out wide. I simply don?t get it, he is lost out wide and NOT a player who can run at and beat players. Secondly, Sinclair was utterly rubbish today, did absolutely nothing and following this performance I would send him straight back to Man City. He simply has zero interest and attitude for playing for us and is living on his reputation from Swansea.

As a club, we are in the s*** and need a bit of Churchillian spirit to rally us to get out of it. If I have a fear it?s that something behind the scenes has seriously fractured and it matters not who the new coach is.

Player Marks

• Foster 7 Good to see him back, albeit Myhill did nothing wrong IMO. One great save in the 2nd half stopped us from going 2-0 down.
• Jones 8 MOTM Again. If we could get 10 Billy Jones effort, enthusiasm and commitment in the team we wopuld have nothing to worry about
• Ridgewell 5 Slightly better today, particularly in the air but still very limited.
• Olsson 3 Really Poor today, nothing he did worked, way too many misplaced long balls
• McCauley 6 Pretty steady, couple of hairy moments but on the whole OK
• Sinclair 1 Pathetic, truly pathetic, subbed at HT ? I would have subbed him after about 15 mins. Showed zero interest and application.
• Sessegnon 4 Bit of a curates egg. He always looks as though he is about to threaten but end product was again woeful today
• Mulumbu 4 Probably the poorest game I have seen him have. I still think he will be gone in January.
• Morrison 5 Huffed and puffed but made no real impact
• Brunt 3 I am sure if I got in Brunts car it would have 2 sideways and 3 reverse gears. Simply has no clue about going forwards
• Long 3 Similar performance to Cardiff. Championship level strikers game.

Subs

• Berahino 6 AGAIN played in the wrong position but started to drift more central and looked threatening occasionally
• Vydra 6 Got the goal which he took well. He needs more of a run
• Gera 6 Set Vydra?s goal up well with a neat pass

Coach 3 If you thought it could get no worse, it did. Luckily Downing is temporary.

Referee 4 Over fussy at times and stopped the game when he could have let things go.

Steve Fereday:

I wonder if all the players got into a huddle just before kick-off and said right, this performance is for you Steve Clarke. God help us if they did.

To all the people on here who thought it was Steve Clarke's fault and not the players, now start thinking again. Or is it now Downing's fault? You cannot keep blaming a 'formation' for this rubbish. Zero creativity, all midfield movement was lateral and clueless, and our centre backs recognised that so bypassed midfield by hitting long balls to Long who could not hold onto anything. One shot on target up until 85 minutes.

Utter, utter clueless rubbish against a team who were rubbish. Can't hide behind 'it's Steve Clarke's tactics anymore'. The midfield is non-existent. Brunt and Morrison please go, thanks for everything, and good luck for the future. Sessegnon and Sinclair, please turn up and justify your wages. Gera added class when he came on. And a word about Hull's fans who were absolutely magnificent for the whole 90 minutes.

The new manager will have a big challenge to keep this team in this league with these players who have clearly lost complete confidence in themselves and each other.

Bobby Hope:

The first half was the worst half of football I have seen since I don't know when - utter apathetic rubbish. No shape, no purpose, no fight and no idea. Why play Long up front on his own at home against Hull City FFS! Sinclair!!! OMG! Brunt a whinging clueless waster. Sessignon is just a drama queen that threatens but doesn't deliver. Morrison was crap. Not one shot in the first half. I can't remember seeing an Albion player beat a Hull player. I'm sorry but I would rather have seen them lose today having played football. Onlly credit to Dwoning is the substitutions but tbh my two sons (7 and 11) saw that before half time. Tempo far too slow.

This lot needs a bloody good shake up and good luck to the poor sod who inherits them because he will have his work cut out. What is all this crap about the best squad we've had since Big Ron? If you believe that then you probably believe we'll stay up!! From what I saw today only Foster, Jones, McCauley, Mulumbu and Long deserve to start. Left back is a real issue now but I would have to give Popov a run. I would also play Dawson or Lugano next to McCauley and I would put Yacob back in and give Dorrans a run - yes Dorrans, at least he can hit a ball properly from 25 yards. Vydra and Berahino deserve more time on the pitch and Berahino must be played down the middle. My god why can't the powers that be see that?????!!!!!!! Gera dserves a few games too. I've had enough and I'm going to bed after driving a 280 mile round trip to watch that crap.

Jenny Hall:

Well, we didn't lose - although we tried very hard. Was a little concerned when Downing said he had spoken to Clarke & discussed the game with him - explains a bit why nothing changed.

I am tired of criticising individual players. I don't believe the comments that Brunt, Morrison etc have had their day, all transfers were rubbish etc. What I do think is that the players have no idea what they are trying to achieve. The big hoof to Long just did not work and just made him look like an idiot. Chris Brunt has taken every corner in the last few games & all were rubbish. Why? When you look at the team, players don't play to their strengths & seem to have no knowledge of their nearest team mate and certainly what they are going to do next.

Why is our passing so poor - except in the area between the middle of our half and the half way line - side to side, or little triangles - 4 or 5 Jonathan Greenings- drives me nuts!

The first shot on target, by Berahino, was on 54 minutes - I know cos I looked. Why? We did beat Manu etc, so we haven't become bad players overnight. Please Jeremy can we have a creative coach SOON and please not a journeyman or has been & never was.

One bright spot - best chant of the day from the Hull supporters - we know who we are - City of Culture - we know who we are. Priceless.

Paul Collins:

Mulumbu and Olsson just appeared disinterested today and the French contingent Sess, Anelka and Alfie are not contributing too much either. Mulumbu has hinted that there are offers and that he could leave next month, so be it and he can take all of the above with him. Playing as they are they are not going to get us up this league.

Good to get Foster back and together with Billy J, Reid, GMac, Berahino, Vydra, Long and hopefully a revitalised Dawson and Dorrans the nucleus is there. The appointment of accountant/lawyer Garlick as 'Sporting Director' did not seem right at the time and certainly his work to date has been unimpressive.

Baggyjon:

Pundits have recently come out of the woodwork to state that last seasons eighth position was an overachievement.

It was not at the time. That squad with Lukaku was good enough to finish eighth. In fact it could be argued that had Hodgson stayed, with his organisational abilities, we might have finished higher.

Having said that eighth position would not be maintained without a replacement for Lukaku and the gentle easing out of those players who had reached their sell by date like Brunt, Morrison, Reid, Ridgewell etc in order to strengthen the midfield and fullback areas with pace and quality. First mistake not to act.

The appointment of a Head Coach, albeit an impressive coaching CV, without any previous managerial experience. Second mistake.

The loss of Dan Ashworth.

The decision to employ Anelka which was probably Clarkes idea and the biggest single reason for his dismissal. Third mistake.

The effect of Anelka's high wages on the rest of what was a tight squad clearly evident by the body language in recent games.

The panic employment of new 'blood' clearly no better than some of our already over the top players.

It seems that for the first time in probably the last 10 years the club has lost its way from Chairman downwards and if we manage to stay up this season we shall surely go down next without an injection of quality which comes expensive and therefore out of our reach.

Didcot Baggie:

That was a truly dire performance from a team that has clearly lost its way. OK so we didn't lose. OK so we have an interim manager. But none of the seasoned pros on the pitch took any responsibility - most looked disinterested and lacked an ounce of creativity or footballing intelligence. Plus points: Billy Jones and the return of Ben Foster. Negative points every other player who started. Even Mulumbu was dire. Brunt and Sinclair especially poor. I'm glad Vydra scored but his positional play was poor - reminded me, dare I say it - or Rosenberg. Not a good omen. Let's hope I'm wrong.

A firm progressive manager can get the best out of this lot I'm sure - we're not doomed, but the clock is ticking.

Merry Christmas to all Baggies Fans!