West Bromwich Albion 0 - Bristol City 2

Brendan Clegg:

Reality check there. It’s a nightmare getting near the Hawthorns for midweek games and I pretty much abandoned the car in Smethwick and walked a couple of miles to make kickoff.

Without dwelling too much on it, I thought it was a marginal game that we didn’t deserve to lose. We hit the woodwork twice, missed a sitter and had enough corners and crosses but lacked quality again.

If there was any doubt, the major thing we learned is that 2 games in quick succession is too much for our dads army of Livermore, Phillips, Pieters and Kelly. They all struggled.

We looked certain to score and in no trouble for the first 15 minutes (apart from a real let off in minute 1), then Bristol used their formation to keep the ball away from us without really threatening.

But we conceded a cheap goal - Phillips doing too much before losing the ball and then some powder puff defending let them score.

The turning point of the game was probably the Phillips miss- left footed from about 12 yards with only the keeper to beat after a good cut back. If that goes in it’s a different game, and then they went up the other end and flashed a goal in from a half chance.

I thought Molumby for Livermore at HT was the right call to give us more energy but as a caretaker boss, 2-0 down with nothing to lose, I thought Beale threw the game away by taking Diagana off so early, rather than giving it 20 minutes with 2 centre backs instead of 3 and either 4-4-2 or 4-3–3/4-5-1.

In general I felt the 3-4-3 we started with had the same problems Ismael encountered just with different personnel; Diagana and Wallace were so narrow that at times they were 10 yards from each other and we had no out ball or width. It might be solid at 0-0 but concede first and it becomes totally ineffective.

So it was pretty much a write-off 2nd half with little cohesion as we moved Wallace and TGH all over the place before TGH came off despite being our best player.

Cleary will benefit from the minutes but he looks a fair way off as he did on Saturday - the development between 18 and 20 is huge and ultimately he weakened us. Beale was probably too ideological about giving him minutes.

Still a big job to do but I wouldn’t be surprised if we went and beat Millwall.

• Palmer - 6 Some ropey moments but no chance with the goals and little else to do.
• Kelly - 6 A bit shakey and leggy
• O’Shea - 6 Didn’t do enough but generally okay defensively
• Pieters - 6 - Also did okay but just that percentage off it.
• Phillips - 5 Couldn’t get out of 2nd gear, if he even has a 3rd anymore
• Livermore - 5 Booking was harsh but couldn’t influence or get about.
• TGH - 7 At times felt he was carrying us. Odd he was moved about so much.
• Townsend - 6 Did create a few things but has few options in this system.
• Wallace - 6 Worked hard but way too narrow to be effective.
• BTA - 6 Strong in spells but little support. Starting to need a goal.
• Grady - 5 Also too narrow and got those important touches wrong.

• Molumby - 6 Did okay but no threat.
• Rogic - 6 Marginally better than previous appearances.
• Cleary - 5 energy and enthusiasm but not quite ready.
• Swift - Too little time.

Mark Koppel:

Yes the more fundamental problem with the Club remains the Ownership, which is not going to get resolved quickly.

But I think the very negative impact Steve 'The Dinosaur' Bruce had on the Team, over his disastrous 8 months, is going to take more than one game, and an Interim Manager, to resolve.

For example, how on earth did 'The Dinosaur' actually make players like Swift and Yokoslu into bad players when they never have been for all the other Teams in their careers?

Tonight I thought we started quite brightly, pressed them, and put them on the back foot. But again the lack of a Goalscorer was an issue, and in the end we didn't have one shot on target all game.

Player Ratings :

• Palmer 5.5 - Didn't look so comfortable tonight. A couple of kicks went astray and nearly gifting them a goal with a comical chip to their Centre Forward.
• O'Shea 5 - Still nowhere near his pre-injury best. His passing looks shaky.
• Kelly 6 - Reads the game well, some good timely tackles, and cannot remember any mistakes.
• Pieters 6 - As per Kelly although some of clearances were just hoofs out of play.
• Townsend 4.4 - A long way off his premier league form. His crosses were pretty ineffective and aimless.
• Phillips 4 - When was the last time he played 2 good games in succession?
• Joke Livermore 2 - Cannot pass the ball forward or quickly to save his life. Massive mistake by him for their first goal. Ran back and simply needed to clear it. Somehow lets the ball through his legs he has little control over, and straight to their goalscorer. And very lucky to not get a red for a studs up lunge into the opponents leg.
• TGH 6.5 - Started like he finished on Saturday. Bags of energy but that ran out, especially when asked to play out-of-position.
• Wallace 5 - Tries hard but his crosses were also aimless.
• Grady 5 - Ironically the only player who improved under Bruce, now seems to have gone off the boil again.
• Thomas-Asante 6 - Feel for him as he, like Grant, now has to deal with aerial punts to him. Did well with his header against the post that might have just changed the game if it went in.

Subs-

• Swift - Need to get him back into the starting line up. He is a good player ruined by Bruce.
• Cleary - Quite a handful for defenders. Would be better to see him through the middle.
• Mulumby - A much, much better option than Joke Livermore.
• Rogic - At the moment, I think Steve Bruce is fitter than him.