West Bromwich Albion 0 - Tottenham Hotspur 3

oshawabaggie:

Well if TP had any doubt about the gulf separating us from the top teams that doubt will have been dispelled today. We were completely outplayed in the first 25 minutes, but came to life after that and created some great chances, all to no avail. All three goals were poor from Albion's perspective. They appeared not to have done their homework on Erickson and Foster looked poorly positioned for the free kick. Kane made Wisdom look like a statue and Foster appeared taken by surprise with the second. And to borrow a Mick Mcarthy comment, that was never a penalty as long as I have a hole in my bum. Lescott had his back to the ball and it hit him on the side - a shite decision by a poor ref. Perhaps in a hundred years the league will catch up with other sports and institute video replays for key decisions, like penalties. Not that it would have made a difference to this result, but goal difference might count at end of the season.

This was not a great game in which to judge McManaman. He had a couple of decent dribbles and put in a couple of crosses, but otherwise didn't have much impact. With Wisdom and Lescott as fullbacks, there is zero chance of them overlapping on attack. Dawson hardly put a foot (or head) wrong and deserves to stay in the team. Mozza looked lively until he tired. Yacob and GMac looked solid. Brunt put in a decent shift, but his passing is still poor. Big Vic and SB worked hard. You couldn't fault the effort today, but the quality just isn't there against better teams. That really makes the games against the Burnley's of this world even more critical.

Mark Koppel:

Perhaps Pulis is not the Messiah, he is just a naughty boy!

Our Defence was appalling today, especially Wisdom, AGAIN. The warning signs were there after one minute when Spurs sprayed a pass over to Erickson on the left wing totally unmarked by Wisdom who was closer to McAuley than the Spurs wide player. A mistake he has been making all season. Although Wisdom was the worse player today, he wasn't the only one out of sorts. As I said last week, Lescott is not a Left Back, and Dawson is not good enough at this level.

Only 2 days to go and Pulis needs 2 Full Backs, a stronger central midfielder, and a striker. Without these additions we could very well go down. That will not be his fault. It is the fault of two absolutely terrible summer recruitment campaigns. We signed 10 players in the summer, and only started with 2 of them today, and they were the 2 useless full backs!

Player ratings today:

• Foster 5 - Tipped one over the bar second half, but didn't save anything else. Will have to watch on MOTD but looked like he was positioned badly for the first goal and second goal went through him. Contrasting performance to their Keeper. Also took ages over every goal kick despite the fact we were losing.
• Wisdom 2 - Smashed the ball at Morrison instead of clearing it simply that led to the second goal. In fact both the first 2 goals came from his area. Massive cheers when he got subbed as 95% of West Brom fans know his lad is a calamity.
• McAuley 6 - The least worse of a bad defence today.
• Lescott 3 - Sorry Tony but he looked out of position last week against a Championship Team. How the hell was he not going to be exposed against a top Premier League Team at Left Back?
• Dawson 4 - Looked nervous all day. Gave the ball away for the third goal when not under pressure.
• Yacob 6 - Probably put more challenges in than anyone but not quick enough in a 4 man midfield in the PL. As a result gave away a free kick for the first goal and got booked for a second late challenge in the second half.
• Brunt 5 - Tried, put in a few good crosses in the second half, and didn't give the ball away as much as the last 3 games. But still too slow for the PL.
• Morrison 5 - Did at least try and close them done first half. Great shot that was superbly saved. Ran out of steam second half and was subbed.
• Sick Vic 6 - Held the ball up well at times and even ran at their defence once or twice. But didn't ever look like scoring today.
• Berahino 7 - Has to feed off scraps today but once again looked the most likely to score and would have done with a little more luck.
• New Lad 6 - Looks promising and positive. TC obviously rates him and that is why he started.

Subs:

• Brown 'No' Ideye 3 - New hair cut but still a Flop. Has got a number 9 on his shirt. I think that is the amount of £millions we will have to lose to get rid of him.
• Dorans 3 - Did he touch the ball?
• Gardner 6 - Put in a couple of crosses from the right. Playing him wide right and having no right back looked a better option than playing Wisdom at all.

Talyllyn Baggie:

Today I took my brother, who gave up on football during the commercialisation of the last few years and my uncle, who has followed the Albion since the mid 1950s. When he was an apprentice at Tangeys, they had a cricket team which was bolstered by reinforcements such as Bobby Robson & Ray Barlow. It was a trip down memory lane for him, especially when reminiscing about Tony Brown at the statue.

What is the point, you ask?

Well, my uncle watched the Albion when they could mix it with the best and on a level playing field, come off well.

My brother gave up when it got predictable, which it was today.

Regular season ticket holders around me are now seriously considering not renewing, as am I.

A part of me hopes we do go down, so the football could be a bit more fun. When you play a team that has spent £100m or so, you know before you turn up, there is no point.

The best team won today, no question, but if we had £100m & bought a load of expensive mercenaries in, would it ruin the feel of the club?

Over to you.

Brendan Clegg:

Here's how I saw it, and judging by the comments of others despite the odd disagreement about individuals there is and has been a broad consensus about where we continue to go wrong. Sure we're not professional coaches but we've watched these players over the years, we have an idea who's up to it and who isn't and generally I think we also get it right when it comes to rating the newbies.

I think today the defeat and margin lies squarely at the feet of Pulis. Teams selection, formation, tactics. All wrong.

Starting with team selection, and I really don't think Pulis is picking the best side with what we have, whether that is good enough or not -

Would any other team in the bottom 8 with a centre back the calibre of Lescott play him out of position? Do me a favour. What's worse for most of us is we saw Lescott lost last week in this role, and we've also seen over this season how important he is in the middle. Joke decision. If Irvine had done this there'd have been boos ringing out at kick-off.

Dawson has proven he just hasn't got it. I maintain if Irvine had dropped him sooner we'd be 5 points better off and he cost the third goal today, harsh as it was, not Lescott. Why change a reliable centre back pairing?

What has Poc done? How can he not be getting a kick? He is an international full back for a top 10 world team with plenty of caps. He might need instructions to put the handbreak on a bit but he's no mug. We've seen enough to know he is decent. Better than Ridgewell and we finished 8th with him there. Is Pulis being deliberately pig-headed about him? Why?

Brunt - how does he get picked every week. It is beyond a joke. Nothing personal but he is way off the pace every week and a hindrance. When was the last time he had game where you thought - he's on fire today. 2010?

How can Sess not get in this team, especially at home? It's well and good making noises about wanting fast wingers but when Pulis walked into the club he had Verela and Sess on either wing and we should have won at QPR and West Ham. It looks like we'll end the window weaker in this respect than we started it. McManaman looks promising, but is he better than Varela or Sess? Can we find wingers better than McManaman, Varela or Sess in this window? Very unlikely.

Wisdom. I think he's had great games and poor games but on balance is better than mad (and always injured) Billy Jones - had a beast today yet Gamboa not even on the bench. I maintain Gamboa might not be a world beater but has shown enough when he's come on to at least be on the bench and given a chance in cup games even if he isn't the answer.

Formation. It is a huge ask to expect inferior players to play a 4-4-2 against top 6 sides in the EPL, especially when those sides play a 5 in the middle. We kept giving the ball away and couldn't get near them for long periods because Spurs always had a spare man and often that spare man was a player the quality of Erikson or Dembele. The 2nd goal was an example of this. Instead we had Saido playing in no mans land for large periods. Why not match them up with Gardner, Dorrans or even Sess playing in a 5? If you have quick wingers you can still break and attacks. Most sides play this way now.

Tactics - an extension of the above points really. The whole football world knows Pochettino plays one way - high press, high tempo. It's no coincidence that our defenders and midfielders confronted by quick pressure and a man under struggled to get out and keep the ball - and you need players like Sess to carry the ball and break the first line. We again go with a primitive 4-4-2 that even Hodgson gave up on towards the end of his reign.

Positives? Individually a few players did well despite the system and approach dooming them to failure from the off. We created chances. Some of the football was better after we went 2 down. Great goalkeeping/ a lack of clinical finishing prevented us from scoring a couple.

I didn't think we were that far away under AI - just a bit of tweaking and tightening up was needed. Pulis has wiped the slate and started again. It's hugely risky and I think he's overplaying the quality card. I'd believe him more if he picked what I recognise to be our best side, or even near it. We look the worst side in the league right now. Genuinely that hasn't been the case before.

Don't get me wrong, I'll take results any way they come and back him until the end of the season but there are warning signs flashing all over the place. Let's hope we do miracle business in the next 2 days.

• Fozzy - 6 Should've stopped the first. Gave him a wobble.
• Wisdom - 5 Don't forget he is a centre back! Struggled today, poor decisions, lack of options, put under pressure.
• GMac - 6 Our best defender.
• Dawson - 5 95% of his game was decent but the usual clangers were there and cost us again.
• Lescott - 5 Not his fault but looked desperate at times.
• McManaman - 6 Showed quick feet a few times but quickly learned about our criminal lack of support options and got crowded out. Stayed wide though which is a big plus.
• Mozza - 7 Showed huge energy and pace again and offered us someone who could carry the ball, but outnumbered too often.
• Yacob - 6 Made some good tackles but again struggled with the spare man.
• Brunt - 4 Dear or dear. Hit and hope nonsense, no pace, poor decision making. How long will it go on?
• Vic - 7 When we got it near to him his play was pretty good and he is getting fitter by the game. Probably the only player to improve under Pulis and I'm his biggest critic.
• Berahino - 7 Out of position again but a few magic moments of creativity form nothing. Looked a threat.

• Gardner - 5 Did Ok I guess?
• Ideye - 4 Will kick himself for not getting that tap-in at the death when he wasn't alert enough. (I say kick himself, he'll probably miss) Really hoped it would happen for him. Never going to.
• Dorrans - And the point was?

SARNIA BAGGIE:

I have been reading this site for along time & final had to respond to a lot of the c**p posted.

I have supported the Baggies since 1944 (age 7).

Trained at the Hawthorns under W.G. Richardson.

Completed my F.A. coaching course & played in semi-pro in England until I was 39 & continued playing in Canada until I was 49 so I did pick up a little bit along the way.

Why do most comments (not all) pick on individuals & then proceed to pick on the ones they don't like for every minor mistake.

Lets make the analysis a little more positive - and make it sound like you have actually played the game!

Bobby Hope:

I'll be brief. Midfield totally overrun - huge gaps in the middle of the park. Shouldn't have played Macmanaman. Do we think TP warned everyone about committing a foul anywhere 10 yards outside the box? If so what was Yacob doing?? Impetuous. I'm afraid TP got it wrong today and Spurs said yes we'll take you on from the start and they did. High tempo, real intent and lots of skill. TP's 'stay up' formula is one dimensional and if we do avoid relegation it will be for the same reason's as last season.

p.s. How does my mate Dozza get 3.3 when he came on in the 88th minute? Nonsense.

Derby Bernie:

Shame on you

A two goal deficit after a poor start meant that we would need the breaks to go our way in order to get something out of the game. By the end we had created enough clear chances to have taken a point or three. However, their goalie was in inspired form and the bounce of the ball (and refereeing decisions) did not go our way. That happens sometimes.

It was shameful to hear a number of fans (nowhere near 95% and mainly from the Brummie End) taking out their disappointment on Andre Wisdom (one of our younger players), by cheering his substitution. The lad is only 21 and doing us a favour by choosing to spend a loan year at the Hawthorns. He had a great season at Derby last year - probably because his efforts were appreciated by their supporters. He's learning his trade and needs to be encouraged - not humiliated.