West Bromwich Albion v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[rutski]

I would be interested to know your counter argument as I was directly in line with the incident in lower trinity when the scottish twat did it

dont forget on this i am totally on alex cropleys side, i wasnt there, never seen the incident so i only have a judgement of what i have been told.
my dad has a drink with ally robertson(well knows who he is and exchanges slight pleasantries) everynow and the. robertson is in the wollaston area quite often with bob taylor. robertson says that he went in for the tackle but it was actually allistair brown who made the contact and did the damage,
can someone give an alternate view as if he is bullshitting i will go and berate the wanker! please

[villan from luton]

I meant Ally Brown, not the centre half Robertson. The wanker is widely known as being the culprit

[rutski]

I meant Ally Brown, not the centre half Robertson. The wanker is widely known as being the culprit

did both players go in for the ball? why was there confusion who did the deed?

[villan from luton]

I have always been of the opinion that Ally Brown was the culprit. Robertson was a hard hard man, but he wasnt a player who would do a cowards challenge like Brown did. It was sickening hearing the crunch, obvious it was a bad injury. I have never heard anyone say they thought Robertson was to blame tbh

[dave.woodhall]

It was Brown without a doubt. A disgraceful assault and he never even had the grace to contact Alex afterwards. Some things never change.

[eamonn]

The equaliser was a pisser. If Benteke slipped or let Olsson out-muscle him surely to fcuk we've learnt by now to leave the big man up front as the outball as he's as useful as a waterproof teabag when defending set-pieces. If it was a foul by Olsson I hate the twat even more. It was his dive that got Herd sent off and a penalty at the VP game last season.

For the first goal, Westwood was skinned far too easily for the cross that led to Lukaku's lay-off back for Brunt. An example of the clear lack of physical presence in our squad compared to most of our rivals.

Also, I thought Vlaar handled Lukaku pretty well compared to Clark who I was sure was going to give away a penalty through shirt-pulling. I would have made sure Vlaar stuck to Lukaku as much as possible. Concrete had the power and nous to get the the better of him but it was usually Clarke who was left dealing with Lukaku and as with all of the youngsters bar Benteke, they are found wanting in physical duels.

[rutski]

I have always been of the opinion that Ally Brown was the culprit. Robertson was a hard hard man, but he wasnt a player who would do a cowards challenge like Brown did. It was sickening hearing the crunch, obvious it was a bad injury. I have never heard anyone say they thought Robertson was to blame tbh

thats what i find confusing, he said he had taken the blame for many years, i wondered wether the 2 players went in on cropley and one did the damage, or was robertson no where near?

[villan from luton]

I dont recall him being near, maybe he took stick as fans got confused with the two of them cos of their forenames, not sure. Ally Brown was the culprit for sure, and didnt even get sent off, yet Villa went down to ten men cos only one sub in tose days and had already been used. Beat the barstards 3-0 though

[rutski]

thanks for clearing it all up, maybe wont be harsh on him when i get to meet him.

[PeterWithesShin]

It's always been Brown who was guilty. I was at the match although I was only very young so don't remember seeing the tackle but I for some reason remember the noise of it. My dad brought me up to hate Ally Brown after that.

[Flamingo Lane]

Robertson was nowhere near the incident.

[damon loves JT]

Their best season in donkeys' years, our worst season in donkeys' years, and they still celebrate getting a draw against us at home.

I know who comes out of that looking small time.

[LeeB]

Their best season in donkeys' years, our worst season in donkeys' years, and they still celebrate getting a draw against us at home.

I know who comes out of that looking small time.

They couldn't win their cup final and their season's over in January.

[damon loves JT]

This is as good as it gets for them. And still I wouldn't swap.

[achilles]

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.

It seems that everybody except the management team can see the bleeding obvious!