Nigel and Craig

[goodlordmurphy]

How many months ago was I screaming that this was the partnership for us, we could have maybe stayed up and not be piddling around in the Championship. Watford are worth a watch nowadays.

Complete breath of fresh air.

[Yarmbaggie]

I agreed with you at the time GLM and I do think we missed a great opportunity with Pearson and Shakespeare, especially as the former had made it known he was interested in the job.

That said was very happy with the Bilic appointment and still am.

Hope you are wrong about Joe Root though as we need a score from him in this innings. Looks very loose to me though and would prefer to see him playing more defensive a the moment rather than looking to get on with it.

[mickd1961]

I agreed with you at the time GLM and I do think we missed a great opportunity with Pearson and Shakespeare, especially as the former had made it known he was interested in the job.

That said was very happy with the Bilic appointment and still am.

Hope you are wrong about Joe Root though as we need a score from him in this innings. Looks very loose to me though and would prefer to see him playing more defensive a the moment rather than looking to get on with it.

Jesus no.......not with the pace Denly is batting at ...........AGAIN!!

Said he’d learned lessons and would speed up.

13 off 75 balls as I write this and Root 12 off 23.

Denly is just too slow.......50 per hundred balls or just below should be the benchmark and even on a slow and difficult pitch 35 per hundred balls. A run every 6 balls is a joke and puts pressure on everyone else.

[Barrera]

Problem is England have lurched from one extreme to the other. We now have three blockers at the top of the order. Ok difficult to get out - but as you say just puts the pressure on the rest as we don’t clock the runs. Looks like we will be facing the second new ball with 150 on the board...

[WBA1955]

Sooner have a cool footballing manager like Bilic whose previous work was at Premier league and International level, than a loose cannon nut case like Pearson. Do you really think that Pearson would work within the framework of our tight penny pinching ways?

[goodlordmurphy]

Sooner have a cool footballing manager like Bilic whose previous work was at Premier league and International level, than a loose cannon nut case like Pearson. Do you really think that Pearson would work within the framework of our tight penny pinching ways?

Well 55 would you call building a Premiership winning side for around £24 million, being nutty or a spendthrift. When West Brom go paying £14 million for a berk like Burke the mega bucks we gave to Lescott and Anelka to name just two. If you watch anything on Pearson now you might have a different opinion. He was interested in coming to baggies I believe.

[Albionmad]

I too think we missed a trick. I like Bilic. He comes across as a decent bloke and his football is easy on the eye. But.... his teams can't defend. That was what did for him at West Ham and we're conceding far too many especially from setpieces.

If we go up will we see a radical change in our playing style? If we give goals away for fun at this level, I shudder to think what it'll be like in an unforgiving premiership.

Pearson seems to have got things right in both penalty areas and I think overall he'd have been a better fit for us.

[goodlordmurphy]

I too think we missed a trick. I like Bilic. He comes across as a decent bloke and his football is easy on the eye. But.... his teams can't defend. That was what did for him at West Ham and we're conceding far too many especially from setpieces.

If we go up will we see a radical change in our playing style? If we give goals away for fun at this level, I shudder to think what it'll be like in an unforgiving premiership.

Pearson seems to have got things right in both penalty areas and I think overall he'd have been a better fit for us.

Precisely AlbionM,

Every so often a great combination comes along complementing each other, I like the way Pearson and Shakespeare are talking to each other all through the matches standing virtually side by side, the way they run their teams made them a shoe in for the job at Albion, Baggies should have swooped for them instead of appointing 'the plank'....'penny wise pound foolish' comes to mind when it comes to the way Albion go for the machinery needed to be a success.

Bilic is doing a great job at the moment, but when push comes to shove he reminds me a lot of Keegan, it gets all too much for him, hope I'm well off target this time.

[9goals2hattricks3pen]

Problem is England have lurched from one extreme to the other. We now have three blockers at the top of the order. Ok difficult to get out - but as you say just puts the pressure on the rest as we don’t clock the runs. Looks like we will be facing the second new ball with 150 on the board...

And 55 off the first 10 overs today. The top 4 scoring slowly wouldn't be much of an issue if they reguarly set a platform for Stokes. Pope, Buttler and Curran to play their shots. Problem is they score slowly and get out. Not helped by the 1 2 and 3 all playing for their places.

[goodlordmurphy]

And 55 off the first 10 overs today. The top 4 scoring slowly wouldn't be much of an issue if they reguarly set a platform for Stokes. Pope, Buttler and Curran to play their shots. Problem is they score slowly and get out. Not helped by the 1 2 and 3 all playing for their places.

The pitch has not been helpful for quick scoring but they made a better fist of it this morning going along at around 4 an over. 111 runs first session today as opposed to about 80 was it? yesterday. South Africa look very worried, have you noticed how the pitch is beginning to play quite low, we could end up having plenty of time to bowl them out twice and win by an innings.