I was looking at another Albion forum and came across this, the guy that wrote this piece summed it up perfectly for me, and I quote
“"The team showed a lot of discipline in defence, but we did not attack in the level that we needed to attack in order to play better and be the more dominant team. We tried to play the game in the attacking half and we managed to break through a couple of times, but, in general, we couldn’t break their press and they were using our mistakes to create opportunities and goals."


With all due respect Carlos, that's *******s. We didn't try to play the game in the attacking half, we passed it pointlessly in our own half waiting for something to happen.

Your comment about them "using our mistakes" is spot on. Grady's pass was to no one in particular and served no purpose. It wasn't moving the game into their half, it wasn't opening up space for a forward ball, it wasn't giving the intended recipient an opportunity to do either of these, it was just a pointless pass to add to the previous sideways passes that was likely to put him under pressure, with no option other than to pass it pointlessly back to Grady, or back to a defender and back to the keeper and rinse and repeat. Of course there will be mistakes because the pattern gets repetitive, and even dim footballers start to see the next likely pass, and start to close the space down in anticipation. And that's what happened last night.

Had we been playing in their half it would have mattered less possibly. But we gave them nothing to worry about. We played in front of them with all 21 players on the pitch facing our goal. That's why we couldn't "break their press". We were facing the wrong way. A **** up was inevitable.

We had two wingers on the pitch. Why wasn't one camped on the half way line a la Willie Johnson or Clive Clark? A simple out ball to a player in that position immediately puts us in their half and their whole team is now facing the wrong way. I was no fan of Graham Taylor at Watford. But he would leave two players on the half way line when the opposition had a corner to occupy three defenders and give his own defence an out ball. Mick Shannon used to do it for Man City in what was one of the fastest counter attacking sides I have ever seen. Last night we used our wingers as full backs. That's not playing the game in the attacking half Carlos.

As for taking a goal kick and passing it to your left back, who is just outside the six yard box who is immediately closed down, is in my view suicidal.
We don't have the calibre of player to execute that style. We nearly went one down due to this nonsense.

Bomber Brown would have been lucky to get into double figures in goal terms in the modern day. Having found himself with a yard of space on the edge of the area, he would just blast it. In this day and age he would now be expected to find a pass sideways then another out to the wing and another back to the centre and another back to Brown who by this time would have lost all momentum and be closed down. Passes in the opposition area is now a major statistic on SKY. Big deal. I once saw one for Arsenal. Passes in the opposition area 32. Shots on goal 0.

To finish my rant I'll just say that football is not a game of chess. The modern obsessive over-analysis courtesy of people like Alan ****ing Shearer and that dickhead Micah Richards, plus the Spanish obsession with possession at all costs, is stifling creativity and the wonderful spontaneous moments that make the game great to watch. “
Well said fella, spot on