Wba

[StensonRam]

Buchanan at fault, strange sub that

[Andy_Faber]

Doesn't help the ref being a baggies fan either

Not sure that matters we're so clueless.

[eddy779h34]

Buchanan at fault, strange sub that

However he showed more forward movement than the forward Whittaker

Just don't see any point in playing him , he looks scared to death

[StensonRam]

Agree wrong sub completely

[ramAnag]

Doesn't help the ref being a baggies fan either

Worst officials I’ve seen...but that’s not why we’re losing. Men against boys...might it now be the youngest eleven we’ve ever put out?

Must appeal that red card...surely.

[Andy_Faber]

However he showed more forward movement than the forward Whittaker

Just don't see any point in playing him , he looks scared to death

I don't think any of the youngsters are up to much, Sibley included

[ramAnag]

I don't think any of the youngsters are up to much, Sibley included

Not tonight, Andy. Think only Clark and Evans (and Holmes for twenty minutes) emerged with much credit.

[mistaram]

[QUOTE=ramAnag;39527663]Not tonight, Andy. Think only Clark and Evans (and Holmes for twenty minutes) emerged with much credit.[/QUOT

RA your right Clark and Evans only ones who came out with any credit possibly Rooney . Possession for the sake of it again If we are to play this way then I fail to see why people say Martin is crucial You need channel runners to play the way he wants to Its easy for the opposition they only have Martin to mark and moves come to an end I thought Cocu gave they game up when he subbed Rooney should told him exactly what he thought Funny but Rooney looked as fit as we've seen him . Bogle doing my head in at the moment not only can't he defend he's doing nothing going forward No way was that a red card that the linesman must have been shouting red card to the ref in his ear He was a really poor ref all night imo

[MadAmster]

Let me start by saying the better side won, no doubt about it.

We weren't in it. Missing experienced players like Wisdom, Lawrence, Waghorn, Bielik and the now departed (Derby not life) Huddlestone the squad was full of kids and we finished the game with EIGHT Academy graduates on the park. That was about the only bright spark of the evening.

We had 59% possession but only 4 shots. None on target. They managed 18 and 7.

They pressed when we had the ball we didn't.

We gave them time on the ball, they gave us nowt. Constantly under pressure and rushed into mistakes.

Hamer - Can't fault him. Not a faultless performance but he didn't cause us problems
Bogle - Off his game. Where's his speed gone? The crosses? Why did he fail to get back at speed on 4 or 5 occasions. Ball control was less good than usual. The foul for his yellow was unnecessary
Evans - All too often played into trouble by teammates. Played well
Clarke - see Evans
Forsyth - One of our better players, not quite as good as the 2 centre halves
Bird - Another who was all too often put into difficult situations by a teammate but he still had a decent game
Shinnie - 4 mistakes in the first 4 minutes and it went downhill from there. I'd have subbed him when he got carded
Holmes - off the pace from the off and I suspect he had the hamstring issue before the game.
Rooney - did a lot good but way too many errors for the 3rd game on the spin
Sibley - Found it hard to get into the game out right. Personally I'd have had him on the left and Holmes on the right. Could have had a yellow for one involvement when the ball was off the park. His red was probably justified because there was a forward motion before he pulled his foot upwards and out of the leglock it was in. Opponents will continue to do this as they know he is likely to do the wrong thing
Martin - Not his best game but he was isolated quite a lot and rarely got any decent ball.

The ref was, IMO, most definitely a homer. No real issue with Whittaker's yellow as he made a meal of it and that's a yellow. However, early doors 2nd half, he made minimal contact with one of their players who fell over, totally unnecessarily, and all he got was the free kick. This was typical of his decisions. They knock us over and nothing. We look at them too hard and we get carded. I hope Cocu asks the ref, politely, if he would look at the video of the Sibley red. He might just change his mind.

IMO, if we had VAR tonight, their goal may well have been ruled out for offside. Shoulder beyond the last defender.

The one decision that really went in our favour was the Clarke push in the 2nd half. Many a ref would have given the penalty.

As for promotion or the playoffs, still possible but improbable, just as it was 5 games ago. It's certainly no longer in our own hands.

[ramAnag]

Do you still get ‘homers’ when there isn’t a crowd, MA? I just thought he was a dreadful card happy idiot who had no control over what wasn’t even an ill tempered match.

As for the sending off...I can see, on about the fourth showing, how it could have looked as if Sibley moved his foot towards his balls...but the WBA player was trapping his foot and even he only feigned (imo) injury to his knee...not any higher.

Some might blame the youngsters tonight, and they did appear to be out of their depth, but imo they’ve been let down by senior teammates recently. Lawrence and Waghorn...total stupidity, Martin...just mardy tonight, Shinnie...stupid unnecessary yellow had to be taken off before he picked up another, and I’m sorry but...Huddleston...has picked up a very decent wage for being unavailable for a lot of this season and then jumps ship asap when he might have been able to provide a bit of what he owes us in what was always going to be a tough run in.