Quite enjoyed that actually...

[Mike Hunt]

22 minutes ago, owls79 said:

Spot on. Bilic also saying we were there toughest apposition this season.

We had them on the back foot in the second half , the crowd were restless and if Fletcher hadn’t missed an open goal would have got something from the game 

I personally think Monk is doing really well with what he has inherited 

[Animis]

3 minutes ago, smhouston said:

Just had WBA fans saying we're best team they've played this season too

 

Maybe not as bad as what our fans think after all?

 

With the cash we've spent, I think the bare minimum the fans could expect is that we compete with the top teams. 

 

The problem is, whilst we look ok, particularly in possession, we offer little threat and struggle to defend for 90 mins. 

 

Hopefully we can get enough points off the also-rans this season to give us a cushion for any point deduction.

 

We can get to the end of the season unscathed and start the mass clear-out and allow Monk to re-build for next season, with hopefully a combative midfield and effective strikers to compliment the nucleus of a decent center half pairing.

[Lord Snooty]

 

Thought that was a decent display to be honest.

 Complete balls up at the end, but I thought we were on top at that stage as we had been in the opening stages. 

 

Best I've seen from Harris for a few weeks.

Could and should have come away with a point minimum. 

 

[oldishowl]

4 minutes ago, Lord Snooty said:

 

Thought that was a decent display to be honest.

 Complete balls up at the end, but I thought we were on top at that stage as we had been in the opening stages. 

 

Best I've seen from Harris for a few weeks.

Could and should have come away with a point minimum. 

 

It was an intriguing sub when he took Harris off.

Murphy had just had an horrendous 10 mins and I presumed Reach was coming on for him .

But Murphy did ok on the left 

[Lord Snooty]

4 minutes ago, oldishowl said:

It was an intriguing sub when he took Harris off.

Murphy had just had an horrendous 10 mins and I presumed Reach was coming on for him .

But Murphy did ok on the left 

 

I was a bit surprised.  But he's paid to make those changes and as you say Murphy did ok. I thought he'd done initially because he intended to put a left footer in Reach on the left. 

 

Still. I thought we were worth something from the game. 

One almighty balls up at the end and it was out of the window.

Monk was going apoplectic on the touchline.

[Buxtongent]

Why don't we forget and forgive Bruce. He had a chance to manage his boyhood club who were a Premiership side with money to spend.

As for Monk, how many of the players he has at his beck and call are his choices?

Also don't forget that it is not unusual for clubs to have a 'bad run' at sometime in the season.

[Buckwheat]

2 hours ago, owls79 said:

Spot on. Bilic also saying we were there toughest apposition this season.

Yep, but I'd rather have been not the toughest like Barnsley, Charlton and Reading who took points away from them at The Hawthorns.

[WalthamOwl]

Says it all that after such an easy start to the season as soon as we start playing the better teams in the league we start to struggle to pick up wins. Monk isn’t helping with his selections and subs imo

[alanharper]

16 hours ago, dewsburyowl58 said:

You thought the ref favoured us , really  ? Blimey first half he was shocking imo 

 

That free kick he gave against Harris for getting pushed for about 20 yards was such a bad decision it was actually funny. 

[Blatter]

The last two games have indeed been better to watch, but spoiled by silly defensive, and dare I say on here, goalkeeping errors.

 

We have been more attack minded even with only Fletcher up front. I believe the reason for this is the return of Kieran Lee to something like his old form. Our goals in the last two games have been the result of him ghosting into the penalty area.

 

How to stop those errors though? My thoughts (with tin hat at the ready).

1. Give Dawson a run of games.

2. Bring Tom Lees back to central defence.

3. Iorfa to right back, he deserves to keep the shirt.

4. Luongo into central midfield.
Much as I like Hutchinson he is really an extra defender than a midfielder leaving gaps higher upfield.

 

I may be falling into the old trap of thinking our best players aren’t in the team, but I don’t think Monk is more than a couple of tweaks from getting his set up right.
West Brom are the best of this division and we really should not have lost that game. I have a couple of avid WBA pals who reckon we were the best they’ve come up against this season.

[striker]

I can see the work we've been doing on the training pitch, our tempo is higher, we're now showing some nice crisp one touch passing going forward, rather than looking laboured  and consistently creating chances.

 

Lots of work to do, but were getting a reasonably consistent level of performance, required commitment and barring individual errors, could be right up there. 

 

We're improving and think we'll get stronger as the season progresses.

 

Many may disagree  but for me if we remain competitive, keep attacking and creating chances, while staying in touch with the top 6, think we're on target. Anywhere in the top 6 or higher would be overarching IMO, all things considered....although certainly not beyond us.

[hangonrose]

14 hours ago, hugeowl said:

Utd were ina bigger mess than us and McCabe has been there a long time 

They got a good manager gave him some time and it changed .

I think we can do he same with Monk given time .

Sensible point and I agree.  GM has good realistic attitude, and young enough to bed in and make it work.

[dewsburyowl58]

18 minutes ago, alanharper said:

 

That free kick he gave against Harris for getting pushed for about 20 yards was such a bad decision it was actually funny. 

I’m quite calm but that ref had me practically foaming at the mouth in the first half !!!! . Think it didn’t help that I so wanted us to beat them and shut them up , they came across a bit smug to me 

[oldishowl]

21 minutes ago, alanharper said:

 

That free kick he gave against Harris for getting pushed for about 20 yards was such a bad decision it was actually funny. 

Absolutely laughable decision.

The thing that stands out in this league now is somehow the linesmen are even worse than the refs.

That incident was right in front of a linesman who gave nothing leaving the ref to give a diabolical decision from 40 yds away 

[legendaryswan]

40 minutes ago, alanharper said:

 

That free kick he gave against Harris for getting pushed for about 20 yards was such a bad decision it was actually funny. 

That was nutz,was the ref saying it was something to do with the advantage hed played?

Funny bit was Bannan proper roasting Murphy about not going for his through ball for a good 30 seconds and two minutes later they lined up together to take a free kick,half expected Bazza to crack him round his lugoil.

Monk needs to find the right formation now everyones fit and wel pose more threat infront of goal,he does that and we could haul ourselves back into the frame again

Edited November 24, 2019 by legendaryswan

[casbahowl]

1 hour ago, WalthamOwl said:

Says it all that after such an easy start to the season as soon as we start playing the better teams in the league we start to struggle to pick up wins. Monk isn’t helping with his selections and subs imo

Give it a rest ffs

[Emerson Thome]

I agree that we played a decent game for the most part - we've now played West Brom and Leeds and there's certainly nothing to be scared of in this division. But we have to start turning these hard luck stories into points.

[Owls Loyal]

A great post by Blatter imo when he said:

 

How to stop those errors though? My thoughts (with tin hat at the ready).

1. Give Dawson a run of games.

2. Bring Tom Lees back to central defence.

3. Iorfa to right back, he deserves to keep the shirt.

4. Luongo into central midfield.

 

Can I add that I would have Murphy as an impact sub and give FF a start.

 

Murphy messed up two golden opportunities in their penalty area yesterday whn it was 1-1.

[gurujuan]

4 hours ago, Animis said:

 

With the cash we've spent, I think the bare minimum the fans could expect is that we compete with the top teams. 

 

The problem is, whilst we look ok, particularly in possession, we offer little threat and struggle to defend for 90 mins. 

 

Hopefully we can get enough points off the also-rans this season to give us a cushion for any point deduction.

 

We can get to the end of the season unscathed and start the mass clear-out and allow Monk to re-build for next season, with hopefully a combative midfield and effective strikers to compliment the nucleus of a decent center half pairing.

Undoubtably we have spaffed too much on a bunch of cr@p, but actually not very much on the eleven that started. This is the problem, we had a core group, and added some fine signings in that first year. As we all know, post Wembley, we probably only needed 2 or 3 players, but some 30 players later, and millions spent, we are no better off We did not need to spend that sort of money, or have that ridiculous turnover of players In fact, as now, back then, 3 strategic loan signings would have sufficed

[asteener1867]

Its just "bits" that are wrong, we can compete with most, its just the minor ricketts..well, they aren't minor I suppose when it costs you points..Its frustrating little frayed edges to whats a decent piece o cloth.

The times these errors come at are vital, closing minutes, the crowd gets edgy because of it, the players get edgy because of it, and it becomes some sorta self fulfilling prophecy.

It needs a decent win, or a 1-0 where we actually hold out for a bit.