West Bromwich Albion v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Greg N'Ash]

Charles is a real talent, a real, real talent,” said Lambert, who was forced to shuffle the team around when Nathan Baker and Fabian Delph limped off at the start of each half.

“He goes past people as if they’re not there at times. I would like to see him shoot because he has the ability to do it. In the first-half he was excellent.

“I took him off. He wasn’t injured. He’s back from a long lay-off so you have to watch him. We have games coming up. We have to protect him. We lost Fabian to an injury and Nathan too.”

A mistake imo, lost all impetus with this and invited pressure.

Well i think we were on the back foot before he went off, but even so if he'd had stayed on and picked up an bad injury we'd be even more stetched for bodies. Difficult decision and i'm guessing lambert has a better idea  of how fit he is

[Rudy Can't Fail]

From what I could see Olson had completely free header for the second we conceded.

He wrestled Benteke to the ground before finding himself in acres of space. I'm sure if it had been the other way round, the ref would have given them a penalty as he gave us next to nothing tonight.

[dave.woodhall]

As an aside, was reading an article from Bradford's ticket office and saw this:


“And since we beat Villa 3-1, I’ve had around 100 calls from West Brom fans saying they’ll give them the run-around in the league game at the weekend, as well as offering advice!"

SAD TWATS!

Fair play to the little lads for doing well but Bradford aren't half showing themselves up.

[Mortimer's Bear]

For what it's worth Weimann and Benteke would be my first choice forward line.

It's worth very little given it's a statement of the bleedin obvious! For what it's worth, I wouldn't have Bannan in the country never mind in the squad

In the context of the discussion I was having at the time it was my way of saying I still rate Benteke highly.

[UK Redsox]

Nice to see Sid mingling with the masses in the away end before the game

[Matt Collins]

I have had it with that lot, Lambert's subs cost us the game.

what two players coming off due to injury and one having been out for weeks coming off to avoid injury? What would you have done differently?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Ah, yeah. That was the worst thing about Bannan coming on, his corners. Floaty and overhit.

Apart from his corners he hardly touched the ball. Very disappointing performance but then the midfield didn't really exist.

[LeeB]

Charles is a real talent, a real, real talent,” said Lambert, who was forced to shuffle the team around when Nathan Baker and Fabian Delph limped off at the start of each half.

“He goes past people as if they’re not there at times. I would like to see him shoot because he has the ability to do it. In the first-half he was excellent.

“I took him off. He wasn’t injured. He’s back from a long lay-off so you have to watch him. We have games coming up. We have to protect him. We lost Fabian to an injury and Nathan too.”

A mistake imo, lost all impetus with this and invited pressure.

Well i think we were on the back foot before he went off, but even so if he'd had stayed on and picked up an bad injury we'd be even more stetched for bodies. Difficult decision and i'm guessing lambert has a better idea  of how fit he is

Good point greg.

[Clampy]

So our fans join in their minute's applause before the game and then they mock the 19th minute.... just proves who has the class - as bad a s Small Time Small Heath.... Albion - that is why you will never be a great club - shame.

At the end of the day, their fans are just fucking stupid. They think that by clapping they're applauding a Villa player, rather than a footballer who has cancer.

[Nastylee]

Can't see how gabby could be any fitter given they've missed similar amounts of football. All hypothetical now anyway.

[Matt Collins]

I still feel positive overall, because we've been so bad recently. That first half performance was the best I've seen us in ages. Frankly, I can think of few occasions we looked that good under MON (or at least in the latter half of his reign).

Guzan - 8, though a mistake for the goal

Vlaar 7 - good to have him back. Certainly compared to Herd playing there.
Clark 6 - ok, but I think he's gonna give away a penalty soon

Lowton - 6 good on the ball, struggled a bit at centre back
Lichaj - 6. Did ok. Fundamentally not good enough though
Bennet - 7. That's more like it. He's got good quick feet and more bravery and determination today.

Westwood - 7. Competed well. Very high quality distribution as usual
Delph 8. I think that's the best I've seen him play. I thought he was excellent. Dynamic. 94% pass completion. Combative. Really hope he's not out long

N'Zogbia 9. Definitely the best he's played for us. I thought he was like a man possessed. More of that please Charles. I think he's going to be absolutely key for us for the remainder of the season.

Gabby 8. Back to his best first half.
Benteke 8. Completely unplayable at times

Overall, I was left feeling that if only we had a fairly bog standard, experienced, physically strong set of centre backs and midfield we'd be absolutely fine.

Surely to goodness some combination of Benteke, Weimann, CNZ, Bent and Gabby should see us score enough goals. Playing to their potential, there isn't a team in the bottom half that has that level of quality.

But Bannan and Holman were big let downs today. A bit worried about who on earth plays there v Bradford if Delph is out (and Westwood cup tied). I wonder if we'll get the lad from Charlton. I think he scored a bit of a wonder goal today.

[Clampy]

I thought the N'Zogbia sub was right personally but he made it far far too early. Around the 75-80 minute mark would have been better.

Delph was great until he went off and that's when the game seemed to start to slip away from us. What we needed was an experienced holding midfielder to come on in his place, not Bannan. Thought we were great first half though and i hope that gives us confidence going into the next few games. We really did play some good stuff.

[glasses]

So our fans join in their minute's applause before the game and then they mock the 19th minute.... just proves who has the class - as bad a s Small Time Small Heath.... Albion - that is why you will never be a great club - shame.

Watching the TV, I couldn't hear our fans applauding over their lot booing. Booing a tribute to a very sick man, like you say, after our fans had joined in with their minutes applause. Petty, spiteful, bitter ******. So gutted we didn't beat them.

[TonyD]

By the way Gabby was great.   

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

From what I could see Olson had completely free header for the second we conceded.

He wrestled Benteke to the ground before finding himself in acres of space. I'm sure if it had been the other way round, the ref would have given them a penalty as he gave us next to nothing tonight.

Much as I suspected. Olson completely wrapped his arms round Benteke at another corner. Lukaku was pulling two players' shirts at one of their corners in the 1st half. If I can see it from the stand why can't the officials? Players don't even seem to disguise it!It's obvious!
I can only assume there is some kind of secret directive to refs to ignore shirt-tugging, pulling and pushing at corners because it's a bit contentious.
F***in cowards!!! And lets the cheats - especially Olson - get away with cheating game after game.