West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Watford Fc - 08/08/2022

You're right. Doing something constructive with that hour I spent watching Reids Quina highlights at Barnsley could have changed my life.

 

Like he did that time at Everton when he had a chance to salvage a point in injury time? Smacked it firmly and decisively and it didn’t go in!

Everyone can miss a penalty, or have one saved, of course but that doesn’t make it any less annoying that Sarr did the tap dancing run up and weak side foot straight to the keeper. At the risk of sounding like an old fuddy duddy, when did the stuttering run up or silly leg antics come into penalty taking? I suppose the Panenka in 1976 was unconventional.

 

Ah. I thought you were suggesting that you watched all of the Barnsley televised matches just to keep tabs on Quina.

 

Backheeled Panenka probably.

 

No, just Reids highlights, and only Quina and Cukur as though they might feature in the future.

 

JP does graft, but he is not a constant menace, as another midfielder would be. It is not part of his skill set. We should not be relying on forwards to fill the hole in midfield. If we play two up front, by all means they should press and hassle defenders, but we need them there to create and frighten defenders when they are on the ball. People often categorise midfielders as defensive, attack minded, good tackler, link player, box to box, can score etc. There are players out there who can fit into more than one of these categories, but we do not seem to have made any effort to secure them. I like Cleverly, but he is just not up to the task anymore. Kayembe is just not an inspirational player and prone to miss passes. Not their fault, it is just part of their limitations. It was pitiful to put the onus on the two of them to stop the incessant attacks from West Brom. We simply will not get away with that in most other games.

There must be a plan that we have not yet heard about, with midfield reinforcements lined up, once we sell one or both of Dennis or Sarr.

 

We’re not good enough on the ball at the back to play out from defence. So they mostly hit it long.

If we do manage to pass the ball out of defence, our midfielders aren’t good enough on the ball to receive it, turn, and progesss the ball forward. Louza might help, but if he’s paired with Clev or Kayembe, we’re still going to be very one dimensional in possession.

So again, we go long.

Our attackers aren’t good at winning the ball in the air, and holding it up.

So it comes right back at us. Again, and again.

If we do manage to win the ball higher up, our wingbacks and midfielders are so far behind play, we rely exclusively on moments of magic from the 3 forward players we do have.

Without defenders and a midfield who are at the very least, competent on the ball, we’re not going to be able to play the way RE wants us to play.

If we can’t progress the ball, or at the very least maintain possession higher up the field, we’ll never be able to implement a successful press. The gaps between the lines are just too big.

Basically, RE isn’t going to be able to implement his game plan without at least one proper ball playing defender, and a couple of new options in the middle who can play on the turn and get up the pitch. A mobile front 3 is fine if we’re able to move the ball up the pitch in possession. If we can’t do that basic thing, we’re done for.

 

I'd take Cleverly and Kayembe out against Burnley and put Asprilla and Gosling in.

But I suspect Edwards will bring Gosling in for Kayembe...or maybe Dennis.

 

Very lucky to come away with a point, great goal by Sarr obviously but we were woeful. Kayembe and Clevs were being overrun in the centre of the park yet we didnt really do anything about it until the 60th minute it seems. Dennis was just a passenger too, cant wait until he leaves, we need team players.

 

Whilst I agree Bachman’s shot stopping was excellent last night and he actually came off of his line a couple of times I think he still seems to struggle with his distribution.

 

Wouldn’t be against that. As limited as he is, Gosling is more mobile than Cleverley and I think he’s a better organizer/referee sh1thouser on the pitch.

RE may think it’s too soon for Asprilla, but on a limited sample size, he looks like the only midfielder we currently have available capable of moving the ball forward, whether at his feet or passing through the lines.

It’s all well and good having the best front 3 this league has ever seen, but if they are reduced to feeding on scraps from aimless punts forward, they are completely wasted. Moments of magic will get us out of jail sometimes, but it’s not a reliable plan for success.

We’re supposed to be building something, hit and hope isn’t sustainable.

 

That assist from Cathcart though!

 

Probably wasnt the first thing on his mind as he hoof headed that clear " oooh I might get an assist from this"

 

Summing up this thread, we're sh1t, and we know we are.

 

Swallowed the thesaurus again bunny?!

 

Yet he’s played the deep lying role virtually most of his career so far. Good one.

 

Needs a much better understanding of it then. Guess that's why he's played so few first team games.
You're seriously suggesting that Quina is the man to provide the defensive cover for the centre of our defence ?

 

More so than Cleverley or Kayembe, yes!

At least he will show for the ball and be willing to try and start something progressive from the back!

Needs to improve his decision making, agreed, however, a far more likeable player than Kayembe and Cleverley.

 

Quina bizarrely made the 2nd most tackles per game of any Barnsley player last season. Can't picture that in my head

 

Blimey. Wow. Maybe that's why they were relegated, but it seems @Bubble has a valid claim then !

 

Although I don't agree with forgoing our midfield, I do get Edwards wanting to maximise the attack we have while he can. Once one of Sarr or Dennis (Or both) leaves then we'll see a more solid central midfield 3 again like Soton away. That will also then feed into opportunities for Asprilla for example to take a spot for his own. Would rather he took the more pragmatic approach of Pedro and Dennis / Sarr in a 3-5-2 and bring the other on later against tired legs.

First half we were incredibly fortunate to be level and second half was always a case of stemming the bleeding from that. Gaspar looked comfortable when he came on which is promising. He doesn't really deviate from 3 atb but there is some limited tactical flexibility being displayed.

 

Joint 10th in the Championship!

 

Clevs and Kayambe getting pelters and probably quite rightly but for me the blame rests firmly at Edwards door.
You only have to look at the line ups to know we would struggle in midfield but to do nothing about it for as long as he did was criminal. We have 5 subs so no excuses.
30 mins in I would have had Cathcart and Sema off with Gaspar on at right back, switch Kamara to the left and get Gosling in midfield.
Instead we did nothing should have lost by 2 or 3
Fair play to Bachman who proved a few doubters wrong.

 

It's interesting comparing our midfields radars this season (don't read too much into it though - obviously it's only been 2 games!) so far compared to last season + then looking at Quina



Kayembe is doing exactly what he did last season (this season in red, last season in blue) - but is performing worse than he did in the PL - this could be down to sample size or he could be a victim in our new system



Cleverley has unsurprisingly seen a bit of an uptake in his defensive numbers but is basically non existent in progressing the ball (as is Kayembe). So what's the answer?



Louza looks the most balanced (the above is obviously last seasons stats) and I'd hope that we'd see an increase in some of these numbers playing in an easier league in which we're likely to dominate more games than we did playing in the PL.



Quina played most of his games for Barnsley on the wing, but when we convert his stats to those of a central midfielder they look relatively encouraging - Good defensive work and a good amount of dribbles. Expected assists are higher (although could be down to playing on the wing) than any of our other CMs bar Cleverleys - and you'd expect those to take a dip as the sample size increases. If he were played more central I think there'd be a slight increase in the xGBuildup and Deep Progressions stats which *might* be the answer to our problems, but I wouldn't put him in a midfield pairing.

Personally I think a switch to 3-5-2 would suit us much better as it'll give us an extra player in the middle of the park (but probably needs one of Sarr/Dennis to leave in order for it to happen as can't see RE dropping either of them). Which combination of CMs would be best is up for debate but I think Kayembe/Louza in front of the defence with Quina as a #10 gives us a lot of balance. JP has been dropping back into that zone a lot as well, and could be another good solution intsead of Quina with Dennis/Manaj or Dennis/Bayo up top to help relieve some of his attacking duties could also be an interesting choice to try.

 

It's about time Eddie Howe benefitted us!

 

Who, Quina?

He certainly hasn’t.

 

Well done those of you on here who made this article. Nath seems to have even been quoted by this rag. ‘Miracle’

If we can just keep this negativity up consistently, I think we can have a good season of forum members being quoted by numerous local publications. We go again against Burnley.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sp...s/west-brom-miracle-provokes-furious-24712715

 

Finally famous in the Birmingham Mail. You can all call me wfcpenthouse from now on.

 

I can see that he gets injured. Not get’s (there’s (there is) really no need to make English more difficult than it already is).

Also: Cleverley.

 

And this why I don't get TBD not featuring at all so far. I mean, the club released training videos showing him working (And actually doing quite well) on that role of receiving the ball, turning, driving and breaking the line at pace. I'm not saying he's the anwser but he seems to have had a decent preseason and Edwards has spoken highly of him - yet he's been dropped. Even Quina has got on the bench ahead of him. Likewise Hungbo who again seemed to feature promonantly in preseason and appeared to be getting groomed for that right side role is now no where to be seen

 

YES! I MADE IT, MA!

 

I'm no great fan of TDB and have been a long time cautioner of random, utterly unearned faith placed in him to be a saviour for us - that being said, my totally amateur brain finds it very difficult to wrap itself around how he has been judged so much less worthy of a starting place, or even time on the pitch, than both Cleverley and Kayembe, that he can't even make the bench. I watched him at the Southampton game, and, again, whilst he set nothing on fire, he at least could keep up with the play, if nothing else.

 

What was it you were saying about people needing to get out more?