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[FA Cup 4th Rnd] West Brom 0-2 Wolves: Verdict Thread

Flipping back to the game briefly.

Odd feeling watching us do what I have witnessed too many times at Molineux in the Cup when were outside of the PL.

Home team will feel they played ok and messed up their best chances whilst the PL team just kept their heads down and picked them off and their quality shone through in the end

Best recent example was when we played Chelsea under Lambert. Had our moments, such as Saville hitting the post but in the end we huffed and puffed and got beat but you walked away thinking "we did ok there" and the Chelsea fans are thinking "that was a bit easy, barely got out of 2nd gear"

It was a really professional job where the players and O'Neil didn't get swept up in the atmosphere, which is so easy to do in derby games. I was very impressed.
 
Preferably I want to never play them again. If there is a next time it won’t be as hostile as I doubt there will be away fans
 
It’s not forty years ago
Does not need to be it's a fucking football derby, you want a nice sedate atmosphere I suggest Football might not be the sport for you.

This is the sort of sterile world we are being forced to live in.

Derby grounds should be Hostile, and noisy.
 
Preferably I want to never play them again. If there is a next time it won’t be as hostile as I doubt there will be away fans
The stuff before the game - Agree
Not wanting the thicko wannabe hard acts - Agree
Stuff after the game - Agree
Atmosphere - Nah, I want that. Loud and shouting at every challenge, bad decision by the ref, fuck up by the opposition & extra loud goal celebrations - BRING IT FUCKING ON.
 
If yesterday was at Molineux each goal would have made the Man Utd quarter final, Man City comeback win and beating Villa in the Championship atmospheres feel like a Sunday Morning Church session. It would have been insane and beyond brilliant.

I get the shit around the game being an utter nightmare but how can you not want that on the atmosphere
 
Does not need to be it's a fucking football derby, you want a nice sedate atmosphere I suggest Football might not be the sport for you.

This is the sort of sterile world we are being forced to live in.

Derby grounds should be Hostile, and noisy.
As I have been going for nearly forty years I would suggest it is the sport for me.
 
Flipping back to the game briefly.

Odd feeling watching us do what I have witnessed too many times at Molineux in the Cup when were outside of the PL.

Home team will feel they played ok and messed up their best chances whilst the PL team just kept their heads down and picked them off and their quality shone through in the end

Best recent example was when we played Chelsea under Lambert. Had our moments, such as Saville hitting the post but in the end we huffed and puffed and got beat but you walked away thinking "we did ok there" and the Chelsea fans are thinking "that was a bit easy, barely got out of 2nd gear"

This is just what I was saying to my Dad during the game. Albion were okay, but we definitely had them at arm's length and never got near our best, goals aside which were both quality. One thing O'Neil managed to instil in the players were a calm, professional approach, we kept the ball well in the first half without really doing much with it, but it nullified their early pressure.

Looking at their squad, there isn't anyone there I'd want here. None of them are good enough for the Premier League. That's not me just showing my gold and black bias, there's a big difference in quality between our squads - shown by the fact we eventually won with relative ease despite not playing anywhere near as well as we're capable of.
 
Seemed to me, we weren't as aggressive in the tackle trying to win the ball back as usual. Maybe a conscious effort not to let the atmosphere get too febrile and affect our decision making?
 
I think the majority of the trouble and bad blood stems from the fact we haven't played them in such a long time. If we were in the same division and played them more regularly I doubt there wouldn't be nearly as much trouble. It's like some of their younger thug element had been waiting their whole lives for that moment.
 
This is just what I was saying to my Dad during the game. Albion were okay, but we definitely had them at arm's length and never got near our best, goals aside which were both quality. One thing O'Neil managed to instil in the players were a calm, professional approach, we kept the ball well in the first half without really doing much with it, but it nullified their early pressure.

Looking at their squad, there isn't anyone there I'd want here. None of them are good enough for the Premier League. That's not me just showing my gold and black bias, there's a big difference in quality between our squads - shown by the fact we eventually won with relative ease despite not playing anywhere near as well as we're capable of.
We kept giving the ball away. We were genuinely crap on the ball. Much better off it.
 
We didn't really create much at all and didn't seem to know how to either. It was two individual pieces of brilliance / luck which got us the win rather than a masterplan.

Albion on the other hand seem to know how to create opportunities, isolating Toti early on for example was clearly a tactic.
 
The atmosphere would have been brilliant, that's what football and other sports are about. Rivalries have been built over generations and getting one over the 'other lot' is always a great feeling.

I've watched plenty of A-League games and that is definitely one thing that is missing , probably due to professional soccer being a relatively new concept and the supporter passion certainly not being as vocal or demonstrative as in mainland Europe.

It's similar in other sports like rugby league (Wigan vs Saints is always a good game as is Balmain vs Parramatta). The difference being there isn't the bullshit violence and faux hatred that seems to go with football.
 
We didn't really create much at all and didn't seem to know how to either. It was two individual pieces of brilliance / luck which got us the win rather than a masterplan.

Albion on the other hand seem to know how to create opportunities, isolating Toti early on for example was clearly a tactic.
Chances for us

Cunha hitting over the bar from 10 or so yards
Bellegarde just wide
Cunha forcing the only real save of the game
Neto goal
Cunha goal

Won't count the wide effort from Cunha as that was shit and would have had a one on one situation if Bartely hadn't gone all WWE on Cunha

Them
Free Header straight at Sa
Free Header straight at Sa
Shot bollocked over the bar from 20 yards out
Header back across goal that Kilman dealt with
Shit shot that Sa fell on (despite Matterface saying he was denied by Sa's finger tips...shut up man)

They had a few pot shots that are hardly chances really and caused a couple of scrambles off a long throw

Pretty even on that front. I think we took something off our game yesterday and of course the old classic of how to get through a very deep defence. A combination of our desire to kill the game when in possession and allowing Albion to get everyone behind the ball killed our attacking game...no surprise our goals came when Albion were out of their normal shape and we could exploit the space they had left.
 
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Chances for us

Cunha hitting over the bar from 10 or so yards
Bellegarde just wide
Cunha forcing the only real save of the game
Neto goal
Cunha goal

Won't count the wide effort from Cunha as that was shit and would have had a one on one situation of Bartely hadn't gone all WWE on Cunha

Them
Free Header straight at Sa
Free Header straight at Sa
Shot bollocked over the bar from 20 yards out
Header back across goal that Kilman dealt with
Shit shot that Sa fell on (despite Matterface saying he was denied by Sa's finger tips...shut up man)

They had a few pot shots that are hardly chances really and caused a couple of scrambles off a long throw

Pretty even on that front. I think we took something off our game yesterday and of course the old classic of how to get through a very deep defence. A combination of our desire to kill the game when in possession and allowing Albion to get everyone behind the ball killed our attacking game...no surprise our goals came when Albion were out of their normal shape and we could exploit the space they had left.
We let Albion get back behind the ball and sat Doyle deep. We then had zero movement up front. Far too slow in possession and had no tempo or attacking shape.

It was the complete opposite of how we played against Spurs, Chelsea, Everton and Brentford.

Doesn't help that Bellegarde can't play as a false 9 and when Cunha did play up front we looked instantly better because he can move off the ball and pull teams out of shape.

We played the way we did against Forest and Burnley. That was shit too.
 
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Chances for us

Cunha hitting over the bar from 10 or so yards
Bellegarde just wide
Cunha forcing the only real save of the game
Neto goal
Cunha goal

Won't count the wide effort from Cunha as that was shit and would have had a one on one situation of Bartely hadn't gone all WWE on Cunha

Them
Free Header straight at Sa
Free Header straight at Sa
Shot bollocked over the bar from 20 yards out
Header back across goal that Kilman dealt with
Shit shot that Sa fell on (despite Matterface saying he was denied by Sa's finger tips...shut up man)

They had a few pot shots that are hardly chances really and caused a couple of scrambles off a long throw

Pretty even on that front. I think we took something off our game yesterday and of course the old classic of how to get through a very deep defence. A combination of our desire to kill the game when in possession and allowing Albion to get everyone behind the ball killed our attacking game...no surprise our goals came when Albion were out of their normal shape and we could exploit the space they had left.

There was the cross to the back post that Cunha almost got on the end of as well.
 
There was the cross to the back post that Cunha almost got on the end of as well.
of course. The ball from Doyle was outstanding
 
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