West Bromwich Albion 1 - Bournemouth 2

oshawabaggie:

It should be clear by now that the strategy that works on the road is not working at home. We had about 25 percent possession and zero shots on goal in the first half. McLean's loony challenge didn't help of course, but even that incident was born out of frustration. We simply let Bournemouth swarm all over us. When we decided, out of necessity, to push forward we put them under quite a bit of pressure, but why do we have to wait until we are down before we take an attacking stance?

Sess was not great, but at least he can put his foot on the ball and steady things. Otherwise it's just hoof it out and wait for it to come straight back.

The penalty was just outside the box, but to be honest, we didn't really deserve anything from that game, even though we battled hard in the second half.

The four centre half approach might work on the road, but Pulis needs to come up with something else at home. Of course we can always go out and get Jose Mourinho or LVG. But on second thoughts...

Merry Xmas.

Mark Koppel:

A few initial thoughts from yesterday's game after I have now calmed down:

1. Bournemouth came with a plan to dive as much as possible if the physical West Brom came anyway near them.
2. Mike Dean fell for most of these antics.
3. Rondon and McClean have let the club down.
4. Their suspension does actually give Tony Pulis a chance to replace them with the more effective Berahino and Sessegnon.

• Myhill 5 - In the wrong position all together for their first goal and, just like at the start of the season, feet too slow to get there.
• Brunt 6 - Poor passing first half but started to look more dangerous second half when pushed up.
• Dawson 5 - His distribution was back to his worst standard again and big miss with the header at 1-1.
• McAuley 7 - Solid and great goal.
• Olsson 7 - Normally the one who losses his head in this situation but outdone yesterday by 2 bigger loonies.
• Evans 6 - Actually thought he struggled a bit when switched to left back second half. I would still have him in the centre though ongoing ahead of Yacob.
• McClean 3 - An accident waiting to happen. The challenge he completely over reacted to wasn't even that bad. Who is the "Idiot" this week?
• Morrison 6 - Really surprised to see him go off at half time, unless injured, instead of the favoured Gardner.
• Fletcher 6 - Quiet game overall, sending off did not give him the same opportunity to push up the field.
• Rondon 2 - The £12million striker fails yet again to score. This week yes he took the ball down well on his chest for his one shot. But yet again his hit was straight at the keeper and at a saveable height. If you watch nearly all his other efforts this season, both headers and shots, they are nearly always at a nice height for keepers and not directed into the corners. Dare I say unlike England's best young striker we have on the bench!
• Gardner 5 - Good corner for the goal but I'm still struggling to see what he brings to the team.

Subs-

• Saido 6 - Pulis gives just 5 mins, ridiculous.
• Sess 7 - Breath of fresh air when he came on.
• Lambert 7 - Held the ball up well and his presence did cause Bournemouth more problems than when we had 11 players on the pitch.

Brendan Clegg:

A really depressing afternoon.

I thought Pulis got it wrong from the off - at home against a promoted side and he chose not to go with Sess or McManaman and opt for Gardner again. This meant that even before the sending off our possession was woeful, we had no out ball, we didn't have the requisite pace to press high and therefore surrendered territory.

Who knows - this may have worked. We may have bored them to death and won another game by a single set-piece goal when 11 versus 11. It was pretty desperate anyway with a chronic lack of width or creativity on the right.

McClean's retaliation was probably the most stupid I have ever seen from a player in an Albion shirt - given the half a pitch he had to run to do it. But worse, it was a selfish and arrogant act, done purely for revenge and for his own ego. He got away with one against Spurs and you'd think a sensible manager would have come down hard on him for it. He was fouled prior but there is no excuse. I'd rather McManaman is given a 10 game run before we see McClean again but I doubt that'll happen.

From then on the players on the pitch did their best - it didn't drastically change the way we played and maybe Pulis even relished it but the substitutions from TP were strange in my opinion.

I think Sess should start every game but with 10 men I'd have gone with McManaman because of his work ethic and outright pace to get us out - and for Gardner or even Fletcher. I can't believe Morrison was taken off, illness or not.

Evans had also been our best midfielder in the first half, showing quick feet, awareness and vision whereas Fletcher was having a stinker - unable to even enforce his tactical nous on things due to Bournemouth's quick passing and width. Moving him to left back weakened us further.

McManaman again didn't get a look-in, Saido was criminally under-used and Lambert's introduction was at the expense of our only player who can cross a decent ball in open play.

The first goal we conceded was very poor - Evans didn't do enough, Fletcher and Gardner were AWOL in the block hole and Myhill was beaten way way too easily.

I don't think we can have any complaints about the pen - if you are too stupid to stop fouling someone in the box having fouled them outside the box (having let them breeze past you too easily) you deserve everything you get.

Rondon's red mist was also stupid and was the icing on the cake.

Last time Pulis persisted with this approach he was surely a game away from the sack - hopefully he'll be forced into a moderately more adventurous approach in the next couple of home games and we might be entertained.

• Myhill - 5 Poor for first goal, not much else.
• Dawson - 6 Defensively Ok but poor on the ball and even worse when under pressure and a man down.
• McAuley - 7 Solid again.
• Olsson - 7 As Mcauley, continued his good form.
• Brunt - 6 Fairly reliable.
• Evans - 7 in midfield, 5 for left back but still showed his quality
• Fletcher - 5 really struggled.
• Gardner - 6 Anonymous first half, slightly better 2nd but not the best option we had available.
• McClean - 0 Wasn't having a great game before his moment of selfish stupidity.
• Morrison - 6 Caught between a number of positions but surely if we are down to 10 men he is number 1 in your midfield?
• Rondon - 4 To be honest, I thought as against Liverpool he was brilliant in fighting, chasing down, working their back 4 often from a completely isolated starting point, but we need goals. He's not really getting the service and I don't think others would do much better but Saido has that other quality of offering little and then winning you a game from a half chance. Would have been a 7 but for the sending off.

• Sess - 7 Probably our best player when he came on.
• Lambert - 6 Did his best. Let's remember he wasn't a cheap buy - I still think Anichibe is no worse in the cameo role and possibly more effective.
• Saido - Pointless marking him.

Does anyone else wish Pulis would just come out and say why he isn't starting or giving at least 20 minutes a game for McManaman or Saido? Be honest, if you were Peace would you trust him with any money in January?

Pete Cottrell:

It is quite possible that yesterday's first half was the worst I have seen since a 1 - 1 draw with Torquay United in 1992, which makes me shudder just to recall the game. If I remember rightly, Justin Fashanu was sent off in the last minute for a head butt. Perhaps that is where Rondón got the idea from? A Bournemouth supporter on the station platform, hearing a couple of us discussing the match, asked how we can stand watching that sort of stuff every week. He has a valid point. If Pulis can't apply positive tactics against a team like Bournemouth after having a good run of results, then he should manage something which is boring by its very nature - such as Sumo Wrestling or 100km walking - instead of turning an exciting game such as football into a complete drudge. When he brought Lambert on and played with two strikers (even though they were both rubbish) and with Sessegnon running at the Cherries' defence they looked for a while as though they could pull it off, despite being down to 10 men, and even managed to equalise. So why couldn't he do that from the start? I can see a lot of season ticket holders failing to renew next season.

As regards individual performances, McAuley and Olsson were, well, OK and all of the rest were crap - except Sessegnon who was like a breath of fresh air and despite only playing one half was my MoM. The Fenian is a bloody liability - he got away with it against Spurs for an equally nasty challenge only 2 weeks ago, but was deservedly dismissed today. I'd give him six months sewing mailbags to cool him down. And I hate to say it again, but Lambert's inability to control the ball is getting worse than just an embarrassment - he gave the ball away just outside the penalty area which led to their second goal. God help us if he plays up front on his own while Rondón is seeing out his suspension.

Sarky Parky:

I think the remark from the Bournemouth supporter was spot on. Of course some of us don't watch "this dross" every week and have effectively withdrawn our active support - and believe me after 65 years this is no easy decision.

I am tired of us being the least attractive team in the top flight - and the least attractive since god knows when. And I'm sick of the idea that if we try to "play football" against the top, rich clubs they will tear us apart. Well Watford played football and tore LIVERPOOL apart! Norwich played football and won at Old Trafford, Palace won at Stoke and of course Bournemouth deservedly won at the Hawthorns and, more revealingly, had seventy-four per cent possession. None of these clubs are as big as Albion and they don't necessarily have better players. What they do have without exception is managers who believe that success is built on an enterprising approach to the game and that football should be an entertainment. None of them would dream of playing four centre-halves. Albion strikers have been conspicuously unsuccessful this season but how many would cope as manfully as Rondon has, continually and willingly chasing lost causes and with no support from a defensively-minded midfield. Two seasons ago and even last season we had one of the brightest young strikers in the country. Now he's warming the bench. I know Saido's attitude hasn't been all it should be but he had the chance to go to Spurs, a team where his attacking qualities would be exploited and developed. I'm sure he can see his value and his career withering away with the Pulls method.

Tony Pulis is a throwback to an earlier era. He has many values but sadly none of them translate to his attitude on the pitch. He is dragging Albion back into football's stone age and we are much better than that. We are not in relegation trouble - yet! - and therefore I can't see Peace making a change. But sooner or later he must act, if only for the reputation of the club.

Baggyjon:

I was going to wax lyrical but the above comments have said it all.

Having been a supporter since 1953, my father and grandfather before me, I have experienced the ecstasy, frustration and disappointment in equal measure. The moral dilemna appears to centre around the sole ambition of the chairman to keep the club in the Premier league by whatever means. If that means playing ultra negative football to grind out results with a manager whose credentials include never being relegated but with a win ratio in 900 games of 37% then so be it.

Do I, with Albion in my DNA, suffer it week in week out or do I protest by not renewing next season in the hope that things will improve in years to come? In the managers favour is the fact that the squad he inherited lacked pace and quality and he has done a remarkable job, so far, in keeping us out of the bottom 3. A triumph of organisation and experience over flair and quality. However the reliance on a back 4 whose average age rivals that of Noah will cause massive future problems if not addressed now.

The lack of opportunity afforded to young England players like George Thorne and the inability to spot up and coming talent with quality and pace and even play them when available like Leicester, Watford, Bournemouth and Palace do not bode well for the future. Will Nabi, Leko and Tyler Roberts go the way of Izzie Brown?

Do I trust Pulis to spend wisely if the riches predicted for next season come to fruition if we manage to stay up? Probably not.

But as I say the club is in my DNA.

north bayite:

sad to say i watched yet again live from canada, i'm glad i'm not at the hawthorns every week. saying that i was in uk and did watch the arsenal game. i feel sorry for you all who have to watch that week in week out. i know times have moved on but i long for the atkinson era the cunninghams, regis, willie johnston etc. why oh why are we afraid to be offensive at home, we have flare players, we have two full backs right/left not playing who love to get forward and don't get a look in. how can you expect rondon to score goals, he gets no service, and the odd chance. if hodgson is let go after the summer bring him back if not let's get moyes or dare i say it mourinho the perfect one. i'm sorry it's depressing to watch, he's pulis, has had two transfer windows, didn't get a full back in either, i did like fletcher and evans but they're not flare players are they, bring back mulumbu, i can't even bare to watch on tv any more its just soooooooooo depressing. boing boing