BFTG - Baggies

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Oh the joy of watching a team defending from the front and hunting in packs. Shame it wasn't us

Pele the standout again. That man can mount me any time he wants.
Also thought Yaidom did ok coming back in, and Meite put in a good shift.

Swift and Ejaria can sit on the bench for a bit. And take Puscas with them

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Did their keeper make a single save? Even a lame one? I can't recall one
We're just so insipid in attack with Swift and (especially) Ejaria slowing everything down

[Old Man Andrews]

Did their keeper make a single save? Even a lame one? I can't recall one
We're just so insipid in attack with Swift and (especially) Ejaria slowing everything down

Nope, he was completely redundant. Look at the attendances recently, our supporters know that we create very few chances, even against the lesser sides.

[Jagermesiter1871]

Find it odd you thought Meite was good and Puscas was poor. For me neither were great but had so little service.

Pele was good/ok. Ejaria and Swift awful. Obita, Puscas, Meite ok. Rafael mare first half, fine 2nd. Rest poor to average. Rino made a difference when came on.

[Torbay Royal]

Poor performance and whilst some on Twitter are applauding a gritty performance, be under no illusions, this could and should have been a heavier defeat.

Pele and Raphael were ok.
Ejaria and Swift really need a rest
The defence was ok but too much reliance on trying to play out from the back and because the baggies pressed, we were under pressure far too often and lost the ball on a number of occasions.
Araruna struggled but he's going to take time to adjust to the speed and style of the english game.
Puscas scored a penalty..............and that was it.

We were lucky to go in level at half time and never came out for the second half.

I can't see us getting anything against Wednesday and Leeds so the Wigan is starting to look very important as we look over our shoulders.....

[Bristol Paul]

Poor performance and whilst some on Twitter are applauding a gritty performance, be under no illusions, this could and should have been a heavier defeat.

Pele and Raphael were ok.
Ejaria and Swift really need a rest
The defence was ok but too much reliance on trying to play out from the back and because the baggies pressed, we were under pressure far too often and lost the ball on a number of occasions.
Araruna struggled but he's going to take time to adjust to the speed and style of the english game.
Puscas scored a penalty..............and that was it.

We were lucky to go in level at half time and never came out for the second half.

I can't see us getting anything against Wednesday and Leeds so the Wigan is starting to look very important as we look over our shoulders.....

Can’t understand the continual insistence on playing from the back. Most of the time Morrison had to hoof it as closed down anyway. May as well kick it long in the first place, at least the players can group in the right place to challenge.

Agree with everything you’ve said, unfortunately.

[windermereROYAL]

Bed wetters are out in force tonight, get the next two games out of the way then we start playing teams around us, no danger of relegation.

[leon]

Bed wetters are out in force tonight, get the next two games out of the way then we start playing teams around us, no danger of relegation.

And that’s our measure of success -having just had a prolonged period of good form including one of our best Christmas periods ever?

Really?

[Lower West]

Puts into perspective good championship standard players and mediocre ones. Long long way short of being a team capable of challenging for the top 6. WBA looked very good but weren't really. We made it too easy for them.

[Lower West]

Bed wetters are out in force tonight, get the next two games out of the way then we start playing teams around us, no danger of relegation.

Wigan is going to be an important game possibly.

[EverHopeful]

I find it hard to believe anyone thought we played well........we were outclassed for the majority of the game and probably should have lost by more - cant't be arsed to do player rating apart from these

Ojaria _ love him but needs to do his undoubted skill in the right place _ team is guilty of giving him then ball as they are scared

defence - all of them - pretty crap.

Midfield - so much skill but no enforcer to allow them to do their stuff

attack - feel massively sorry for Puscas - he is not a holding player and the sooner Bowen learns the better - he needs a frontman to play off - sadly we haven't got one at the moment. a waste of £10m at the moment but with service i still believe he will score loads. we have no wingers!!!

very boring game to watch and thank god we have no more for a while

[Gunny Fishcake]

The score flattered us, yes WBA are top of the league and a good side, but we were terrible , as we’ve been for a while recently. Bowen has done a good job but his honeymoon is over. The way we’re playing with no threat up front and fannying about at the back and midfield is getting us absolutely no where apart from drifting back to the quagmire of the bottom third of the table, again. We don’t seem the have the fight or desire to simply have a go at teams. If we’re going to lose at least go down fighting. Thousands of fans are voting with their feet by staying away with attendances getting lower by the week . I’ve not a clue what the future holds.

[Crowbar6753]

Saying we are safe is very dangerous, we have yet to win a game in 2020 and our recent record is poor. Luckily at the moment there are also a few other teams around us with equally poor records.
WBA are a very good team who press high, play with a good tempo and their passing game is effective and accurate, pretty much everything we are not at the moment. Maybe its time to split Ejaria and Swift and go back to basics with a traditional 4-4-2 until Joao is fit again. I prefer the 4-2-3-1 system but we clearly only have one striker able to play this system, and Swift and Ejaria don't seem to be the answer in midfield and clearly continue to slow things down.
So maybe something like this:

Yiadom Moore Morrison Richards

Meite Pele Swift Obita

Puscas Baldock

The emphasis should be to get the ball down the wings with fast, high tempo counter attacks and get the balls into the two strikers, yes we will probably lose the midfield battle, but if we press hard and defend well then who knows!! it really can't be any worse than the miserable football we are getting at the moment.

Get this guy Timbe fit, pace scares the hell out of teams....

[Notts Royal]

The score flattered us, yes WBA are top of the league and a good side, but we were terrible , as we’ve been for a while recently. Bowen has done a good job but his honeymoon is over. The way we’re playing with no threat up front and fannying about at the back and midfield is getting us absolutely no where apart from drifting back to the quagmire of the bottom third of the table, again. We don’t seem the have the fight or desire to simply have a go at teams. If we’re going to lose at least go down fighting. Thousands of fans are voting with their feet by staying away with attendances getting lower by the week . I’ve not a clue what the future holds.

I think the attendances have something to do with the sky red button somewhat - personally I think it’s really damaging for the game (although for exiles it’s a great thing!)
Just had a look at some highlights & Huddersfield & Stoke’s stadiums also looked bare tonight!

[yuomi]

Make no mistake, unless something major changes, this team is long overdue an absolute pasting.

We're *painfully* easy to play against. Unbelievably negative at home and cannot seem to shake this lazy, disjointed and disinterested malaise for 75 out of every 90 minutes.

Every single team we play against currently seems as though they have at least 2 extra players (3 if you count the ref tonight) and it's getting worse.

1,2 or 3 men up front, none of them are going to score with the scraps we're feeding them.

WBA were a long way from great, and we're a long way from safe.

[Lower West]

Get this guy Timbe fit, pace scares the hell out of teams....

Our recruitment policy recently doesn't bode well. Too many punts. Rather than finding the right player to improve the team albeit marginally. Reckon he'll be gone in the summer. Be too lightweight for the Championship.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

I feel we're losing a bit of perspective here.

WBA were extraordinarily effective at closing us down. Every time we had the ball there seemed to be two of theirs surrounding him, and more of theirs surrounding every Reading player trying to make themselves available for a pass, stopping us being able to get any time on the ball. This was reflected in mis-placed passes and side ways passing as West Brom effective close down all options.

And yet we did manage to, if not create a deluge of chances, at least make them work, and work really hard to keep us at bay.

Pelé was the best player for Reading, and quite possible the best player on the park. Meïte was by far the biggest threat for us - pace, power and intent- he works so hard to protect his full back, wins most of his headers, and terrifies defenders running with the ball.

Swift looks tired and in need of some recovery to get back to his best.

If we had beaten a piss-poor Hull side like we should have done, this result wouldn't seem a bad one - we'd accept getting beaten by a very strong and hard working side. As it is, the winless run is making everyone - the players, us and Bowen, increasingly nervous.

[Royal_jimmy]

Another pants display. Tactics were all wrong again. It was clear the plan was to sit back and soak up the pressure then hit on the counter attack. It's why West Brom had so many chances. Can't remember an away team having so many chances yet we continued to play the same tactics. Great set up away and we are hard to beat on the road, but at home we need to be more positive.

Swift and Ejaria are really frustrating me at the moment. Both need to be dropped, they both look tired and could do with a game off. Play Adam and Rino at Sheffield Wednesday alongside Pele.

7 without a win now and it's not looking good. The players look tired which isn't surprising considering how many games we've had. It'll be 16 in 2020 after the Barnsley game. I still can't help but think that opposition sides have worked us out. Bowen needs to change our approach as it's not working.

[Lower West]

I feel we're losing a bit of perspective here.

After 32 league games. We are at the business end of the season. The frailties of the team (/squad) are only too obvious to see. Opposition managers know how to set up against us. A team without confidence is going to keep on struggling.

[royalp-we]

Weird tactics and the team was totally imbalanced.

Meite played RW, Ejaria was LW and both were miles away from Puscas and weren’t providing him any crosses.

Playing Pelé, Swift and Araruna as a fluid middle three also didn’t work tonight, they need defined roles such as Pelé holding in front of defence, but at times he was out on the wing trying to link play or finding himself ip the pitch in front of both Swift and Araruna, what’s that all about?

We tried to pass the ball around a very talented West Brom team and we should have peppered their box with crosses. Those balls in to the box only arrived when Adam finally came on.

It’s been a tough run of fixtures, but we really need to be playing to our attackers strengths. All well and good playing decent skilful football in the middle of the pitch but we need to sort out how we counter and become a threat again in the final third.