v WBA (a) - 9/8/2025 - The Big Kick-Off!

[Paul Mellelieu]

3 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

Two swedes?

The German sun and lager playing tricks on me.  A Swede and a Belgian.

[wilsdenrover]

1 minute ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

The German sun and lager playing tricks on me.  A Swede and a Belgian.

I’m glad it was you ‘cos I thought it was me 😁

[sharpysharps86]

I can forgive Axel struggling today, only just signed, thrown in at the deep end and it's probably a big change to the Swedish league.

I think today shows that we really need Cantwell to turn up consistently this season, and that RW that comes in needs to be a huge upgrade from Hedges.

Kargbo certainly did more than De Neve and deserves to start against Birmingham. I was really disappointed with Travis and Tronstad. Travis may have had plenty of the ball but he did very little with it. Tronstad just appeared to be way off it.

Defensively I think they were solid enough. Its in attack that clearly they are lacking. If you're going to play Ohashi leading the line then he needs quality around him to offer support.

[USABlue]

The very first game and we are again dealing with a ref with two sets of rules.  So sick of it, clear bias clear.

[Bbrovers2288]

Warning signs already in that we look like we desperately need some attacking threat.

i can’t believe we still have hedges, he is honestly awful. And we need a striker that is a focal point to work around, we just looked lost with no ideas up front. Kept the ball well enough but didn’t do enough with it.

always going to be a hard game but disappointing to lose the first and shows we still need big improvement in certain areas 

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Most of us  highlighted the lack of attacking threat in the squad.  They've had all summer to address it and done fuck all to date.   

We know Yuki can't lead the line.  Needs to play with a partner or not start games. 

Hedges is just a joke. DeNeve  poor - but more involved than Hedges in half a game.

Thought Abeliosu did ok, as did the 2 cb.  

Miller looked ok. 

Axel probably had the worst debut since Oojer.  Hope he turns out as good in the long run. 

 Also, I have no idea what Ismael's game plan is.

[OllieNO]

In other news: Sorba T and L Baker securing Stoke’s victory over Eustace…😵

[WacoRover]

Who scores vs Bradford? 
The outcome might be more interesting than we want. 

[philipl]

McLoughlin, that back post chance apart, pleasantly surprised me. 

Alebiosu looks promising

Kargbo terrified the Baggies until he had to distribute the ball.

Miller a promising cameo and what a throw in.

Everything else, oh dear.

The ref- abysmal 

[Neal]

Positives, I thought Alebiosu & Miller looked useful, that should be the right hand side instead of Ryan fucking Hedges. Miller has some throw on him. 

The imbalance when Kargbo came on was stunning. A left winger committing players and making things happen to the right hand side where Hedges literally offer jack shit. Kargbo's delivery wasn't great but he was in the game at least, making things happen. 

 

Negatives:

I thought Trav & Tronstad were absolutely crap. Didn't control the game enough. If that's the level of performance we're to expect of Travis in his final year then get rid ASAP. 

Henriksson was well off it. It's early days for him of course so not going to be too harsh. 

Centre forwards didn't do enough. 

 

 

Other than that, fairly scrappy game I'm not sure either team deserved to win. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Neal

[sharpysharps86]

1 minute ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Also, I have no idea what Ismael's game plan is.

I think he set the team up to try and contain West Brom at least until the hour mark. As it is they conceded a dodgy scrappy goal and didn't get a clear cut penalty their way. That was the major difference in the game really.

The big concern for me is that even the 1 shot on target was more of a half chance. If that had gone in then it would've been extremely soft from a West Brom point of view.

The fact that they didn't muster anything clear cut in the 2nd half is extremely alarming.

 

[StHelensRover]

4 minutes ago, yellowsubmarine said:

Im glad we lost! This shows how toothless we are up front. Gueye and Ohashi, not even a glimpse of chance they can work together. Gueye's touch and heading is so poor for a center forward. Ohashi cant even hold on the ball. Behind them, no one was creating anything. We can play another 90 with WBA down to 10 men, and we wont score. The result is clear, we need more forwards. 

I'm never glad that we lose, even if we had scored an equaliser it was evident for all to see what absolute toss that performance was

[DE.]

4 minutes ago, sharpysharps86 said:

I can forgive Axel struggling today, only just signed, thrown in at the deep end and it's probably a big change to the Swedish league.

For the majority of our signings it's a big step up from where they were playing. It's why there's no point rushing to praise Gestede for simply getting bodies in. Most of them are cheap gambles we seemed to have little to no competition for. They may do the business for us, but until they do it's fair to be very worried. 

[yankfan]

It will be better with Cantwell in for Axel. Need a serious upgrade on hedges. The fact Miller has to tell him (a 30 year old man)where to go and when to go speaks volumes.  Kargbo was a handful and has to start, though he is a bit undisciplined defending. Deal next week could be an absolute thrashing. 

[aletheia]

6 minutes ago, USABlue said:

So sick of it, clear bias clear.

It's a conspiracy- refs hate us, sky hate us, press hates us -every game...

[jny]

1 shot on target says it all... 

Venkys out!

[rigger]

31 minutes ago, WacoRover said:

Concede 15 min in, lose 1-0 on the road, hopefully, we can find a positive or two. 

We are above Derby.

[rovers11]

In terms of the new signing, I thought:

- The two new RBs looked very good

- McLaughlin had a very composed debut and looked good 

- De Neve looks to have nothing to his game and a pointless signing 

- Henriksson was anonymous. Only the WBA GK touched the ball less according to Sky. He was thrown in at the deep end though and think he'll turn out to be a good signing 

- Tavares had a brief cameo but looks far more mobile than Trav or Tronstand

Desperately need a striker and RW.

[G Somerset Rover]

I thought Hedges and Dolan were a poor pairing at this level but Hedges and De Neve look like taking it to new heights. 

We could have played til Christmas 2026 and not scored.

[yankfan]

3 minutes ago, sharpysharps86 said:

I think he set the team up to try and contain West Brom at least until the hour mark. As it is they conceded a dodgy scrappy goal and didn't get a clear cut penalty their way. That was the major difference in the game really.

The big concern for me is that even the 1 shot on target was more of a half chance. If that had gone in then it would've been extremely soft from a West Brom point of view.

The fact that they didn't muster anything clear cut in the 2nd half is extremely alarming.

 

Honestly there wasn’t a good scoring opportunity the entire game. The penalty would have been an unexpected benefit as it was just work rate. As you say Ohashi’s one chance was a half chance at best. The rest we couldn’t muster anything that looked remotely threatening. No crosses, no free kicks, nothing from long range, nothing in behind, no combinations around their box…literally nothing close to creating a chance. 

[bluebruce]

1 hour ago, Hasta said:

 

Is Travis not holding the goal scorer all the time, even still got a grab of his hand when he puts the ball in the net?

I didn't notice, but why does that even matter if Alebiosu was blatantly fouled before that though? Plus the guy scored so they would hardly have given a penalty.

[StHelensRover]

Dont think people can cling to the "if we got that penalty"...

If Albion hadn't missed two absolutely stinking sitters it would have been 3-1 even if we scored the penalty.. if we had got it.

All the what-ifs aside, we were second best. 1 shot on target in 99 minutes 

Edited 3 hours ago by StHelensRover

[RoversTilliDie]

8 minutes ago, WacoRover said:

Who scores vs Bradford? 
The outcome might be more interesting than we want. 

The way are attack went today, it might be who scores for Bradford.

[yankfan]

2 minutes ago, G Somerset Rover said:

I thought Hedges and Dolan were a poor pairing at this level but Hedges and De Neve look like taking it to new heights. 

We could have played til Christmas 2026 and not scored.

By then we will be in league 1 and still getting played off the pitch 

[RoversTilliDie]

Just now, StHelensRover said:

Dont think people can cling to the "if we got that penalty"...

If Albion hadn't missed two absolutely stinking sitters it would have been 3-1 even if we scored the penalty.. if we had got it 

Didn't look like a penalty from were i saw it, not much contact.