BFTG - Baggies

[Schmeichel the dog]

I’ve supported the club for 47 years and cannot remember a season where we managed to avoid relegation having been in such dire straits at the start of the New Year.
It’s been a brilliant turnaround. Just compare the atmosphere today compared with the likes of QPR, Bolton etc.

Jose Gomes take a bow.

Genuinely can’t praise the job he has done enough. He has been absolutely brilliant. Massive fair play to him.

To see everything today - the atmosphere, the effort on the pitch, the genuine celebrations by the players at the end - this 4 months after the absolute low points of Boro/Swansea at home. Fantastic effort

We rode our luck at times today but would have been hard done by to have lost that. We fully deserved at least a point against the league’s fourth best team and one of it’s worst refs. I don’t mind admitting that I was extremely worried about the Gomes appointment but he really has done incredibly well. Not only in terms of avoiding the drop but giving the club a whole new lease of life. His achievements in a relatively short period of time bring into sharp relief what an absolute basket case of a club we had become under the stewardship of Gourley and Tevreden. However, as intimated by Nigel Howe on BBC Berks, the real work begins in the summer. Not convinced there’ll be much cash about but this last window shows the importance of aiming for quality over quantity......

[leon]

I’ve supported the club for 47 years and cannot remember a season where we managed to avoid relegation having been in such dire straits at the start of the New Year.
It’s been a brilliant turnaround. Just compare the atmosphere today compared with the likes of QPR, Bolton etc.

Jose Gomes take a bow.

Genuinely can’t praise the job he has done enough. He has been absolutely brilliant. Massive fair play to him.

To see everything today - the atmosphere, the effort on the pitch, the genuine celebrations by the players at the end - this 4 months after the absolute low points of Boro/Swansea at home. Fantastic effort

We rode our luck at times today but would have been hard done by to have lost that. We fully deserved at least a point against the league’s fourth best team and one of it’s worst refs. I don’t mind admitting that I was extremely worried about the Gomes appointment but he really has done incredibly well. Not only in terms of avoiding the drop but giving the club a whole new lease of life. His achievements in a relatively short period of time bring into sharp relief what an absolute basket case of a club we had become under the stewardship of Gourley and Tevreden. However, as intimated by Nigel Howe on BBC Berks, the real work begins in the summer. Not convinced there’ll be much cash about but this last window shows the importance of aiming for quality over quantity......

This. Gomes has come in and given the entire club a kick up the arse in the nicest possible way.

leadership is taking people with you not dragging them along.

[3points]

Thought it was very telling to bring on Loader instead of Baldock or McCleary that early in the game. Shows how Gomes is thinking of the future. Also a massive kick in the teeth for Baldock who surely will now be shipped out in the summer.

Increasingly not wanting Oliveira to stay beyond his loan.

Had Yiadom down as MOTM, with Baker a close second. Yiadom just fought for everything, and won most of it. Got forward well, if lacked a bit of quality at times ( as did most of the team in the final third). Barrow was poor today without his mate Meite

[Schmeichel the dog]

BTW.......how pissed was Sir John on BBC Berks post match?

[leon]

Thought it was very telling to bring on Loader instead of Baldock or McCleary that early in the game. Shows how Gomes is thinking of the future. Also a massive kick in the teeth for Baldock who surely will now be shipped out in the summer.

Increasingly not wanting Oliveira to stay beyond his loan.

Had Yiadom down as MOTM, with Baker a close second. Yiadom just fought for everything, and won most of it. Got forward well, if lacked a bit of quality at times ( as did most of the team in the final third). Barrow was poor today without his mate Meite

Oliveira - why not?

[One87One]

Oliveira has been immense for us. It was clear he hadn’t got over the hamstring injury and had only learnt how to manage it for the run in. Some plebs have been suggesting he’s injury prone and it’s ‘another’ injury but it’s clearly the same one. If we can bring him in for around £3m then that is a steal!

[If you still hate Futcher]

Increasingly not wanting Oliveira to stay beyond his loan.

I don't get this view, not singling you out 3points as I've seen a few such comments. IMO he's a must, or someone like him at least, as it's been a breath of fresh air to have a proper striker up top. Yes Meite's in good form at the moment but he's still very raw so we can't guarantee he'll carry on in the same vein next season.

The only issue I see is where it leaves our budget but I doubt we'll get anyone better

[URZZZZ]

First of all - Club 1871 for the first time this season really impressed. One fault I had of Club 1871 was that the atmosphere seemed to be concentrated in a small area, but the atmosphere was great all round the stadium, and I think the numbers really helped

As for the game, the first half wasn't a thriller! One team playing within themselves and the other deeply affected by injuries. Second half became more exciting, West Brom began to bring on their main players and spaces were opening up

8 Baker and Moore
7 Everyone else
6 Barrow
5 Ejaria
4 Loader

Didn't really get the love in for Ejaria, I can't for the life of me understand what his role is or what he's supposed to be doing. Baker on the other hand excelled once again and will hopefully be looking to put one over his ex employers next week

Gomes deserves an enormous amount of credit for what he's done - but in the long run would like us to play more attacking, we do sit back and invite the pressure too much at times

Negatives - Loader was poor once again. Bit disappointed that some of the players only clapped Club1871 after the game, there are four stands you know. McCleary throwing himself to the floor - there may have been contract but it was minimal. The ref was horrendous

[tidus_mi2]

Looking at the West Brom reaction they seem to mention we had some good chances (true) and if our strikers were more clinical we might have won.

Not one of them seems to realise our 2 biggest attacking threats were subbed off in the first 12 minutes.

[Denver Royal]

Yep, really can’t say enough about that result and performance. What they did, on that day, against that team, and to get across the line in such a massive game. (And those 2 players may be out for the season now too, so it was huge). Heads could have dropped, but they didn’t. Very gutsy all around.

[marlowuk]

Great match and a great result for us. I feared the worst when we lost both our main strikers within 10 minutes when we had already started to play rather sloppily. But we tightened up our game and I thought Loader played well as did GMac although both missed chances to score.

Full marks too for the crowd which was magnificent and who sang their hearts out all game. The players responded to that and it led to a most exciting 0 - 0 match. (Certainly not the BBC's 'bore draw'!!)

We would have won, I am sure, had our crossing been more accurate and our finishing more clinical but one can probably say that of most games! It's too difficult to pick out a MotM because I don't think any of or players had a bad game but the main contenders were Martinez, Moore, Miazga and Baker.

[FiNeRaIn]

The good thing about the English system is because we finished so low in the table we get a high draft pick, otherwise the league would just be won by the big guys who spend the most money.

[RoyalBlue]

BTW.......how pissed was Sir John on BBC Berks post match?

If I heard correctly, he brought along the Club's Employee of The Year and when he went to introduce him couldn't remember his surname!

[RoyalBlue]

Oliveira has been immense for us. It was clear he hadn’t got over the hamstring injury and had only learnt how to manage it for the run in. Some plebs have been suggesting he’s injury prone and it’s ‘another’ injury but it’s clearly the same one. If we can bring him in for around £3m then that is a steal!

I didn't hear it myself but apparently Dim Tellor decided to tell everyone that he was worried that there was a potential issue/bust up with Oliveira because rather than mix with his team mates he sat on his kit bag for 20 minutes on his mobile phone. Not sure when this happened. Strikes me that BBC Berks finest still wants the wheels to fall off in some way so that he can remind us all of his view that Clement should have been given more time as he had turned the corner!

[RoyalBlue]

The good thing about the English system is because we finished so low in the table we get a high draft pick, otherwise the league would just be won by the big guys who spend the most money.

Valid point. Dare I contrast this with the US system where Atlanta Utd who won the MLS Cup in 2018 but are bottom of the table this season! They of all teams in MLS could afford to spend an absolute fortune on signing and keeping all of the best players but are not allowed to do so. That approach makes for a far more interesting competition each year.

[Old Man Andrews]

Shocking referee again yesterday. The Championship is full of little Hitlers who get in the way and want to be the star turn so they can get their promotion to the Premier League. A good referee goes through a game going unnoticed which was something yesterdays referee didn't understand.

[Stranded]

Thought it was very telling to bring on Loader instead of Baldock or McCleary that early in the game. Shows how Gomes is thinking of the future. Also a massive kick in the teeth for Baldock who surely will now be shipped out in the summer.

My view on this was that the injury happened so early it would have been too early to introduce Baldock. He's only just back from injury and was clearly on the bench in case we needed something different in the last 30 mins. To bring him on after 5 mins would have almost undoubtedly meant he would have had to have been substituted after 60 or 70 mins, Loader was the obvious choice to bring on being the other striker on the bench.

I thought he did OK - absolutely needs a goal in "mens" football and did have a couple of chances, you could tell from his reaction after he put a header straight at the keeper that he should have done better and if that had been a game against WBA U23s he probably would have done.

[Snowball]

Thought it was very telling to bring on Loader instead of Baldock or McCleary that early in the game. Shows how Gomes is thinking of the future. Also a massive kick in the teeth for Baldock who surely will now be shipped out in the summer.

My view on this was that the injury happened so early it would have been too early to introduce Baldock. He's only just back from injury and was clearly on the bench in case we needed something different in the last 30 mins. To bring him on after 5 mins would have almost undoubtedly meant he would have had to have been substituted after 60 or 70 mins, Loader was the obvious choice to bring on being the other striker on the bench.

I thought he did OK - absolutely needs a goal in "mens" football and did have a couple of chances, you could tell from his reaction after he put a header straight at the keeper that he should have done better and if that had been a game against WBA U23s he probably would have done.

I think he'll come good.

But the bad miss was his free-shot before the header. I was right behind the goal. It was a "can't miss" moment. He had the whole goal to aim at and shot almost straight at the keep and at a good height.

[Stranded]

Oliveira has been immense for us. It was clear he hadn’t got over the hamstring injury and had only learnt how to manage it for the run in. Some plebs have been suggesting he’s injury prone and it’s ‘another’ injury but it’s clearly the same one. If we can bring him in for around £3m then that is a steal!

I didn't hear it myself but apparently Dim Tellor decided to tell everyone that he was worried that there was a potential issue/bust up with Oliveira because rather than mix with his team mates he sat on his kit bag for 20 minutes on his mobile phone. Not sure when this happened. Strikes me that BBC Berks finest still wants the wheels to fall off in some way so that he can remind us all of his view that Clement should have been given more time as he had turned the corner!

The club will know the budget for next season and I would be amazed if Howe and Co would have agreed a fee in there if we didn't feel it was something we could accomodate this summer and still have scope to reshape the squad, probably via sales etc.

I would be surprised if there was a bust up recently as players have been busy bigging up all the loan guys including Oliveria but the one thing Gomes seems to value over anything is a strong team bond/dynamic so if there is any truth in it I'm sure he would take and bust up in to account before deciding if it would cause any issues going forward if NO was brought in on a perm deal.

[Nameless]

Shocking referee again yesterday. The Championship is full of little Hitlers who get in the way and want to be the star turn so they can get their promotion to the Premier League. A good referee goes through a game going unnoticed which was something yesterdays referee didn't understand.

Ironically I thought the ref was doing really well for much of the game. Resisted throwing cards around and was talking to players rather than cautioning them.
He then made a series of bizarre decisions .