From My Seat: WBA (A)

(1) Central defence. Absolutely shocking today, that 1st goal ought to be shown to all aspiring 12- or 13-year-old defenders about how not to defend – Hibbo caught out, Jags (well, marooned), Distin wrong-sided (again). Why oh why is Johnny not starting? I know he makes gaffs now and then, but to state the blind bleedingly fucking obvious, so do the chumps at the back today, and at least Johnny can play the ball out of defence.

(2) Goalie, from the sublime to the ridiculous. Howard drives me nuts, goalies cannot afford a 50% success ratio, he was like a straggling gormless tit for the 2nd goal (but, by the way, the baggie was only allowed to shoot for the (great) save for the corner coz Distin backed off and then put his leg in the air like a pert ballerina when the Baggie shot). I seriously don't know what to do. We have no better option. We need a top-drawer alternative, Brummy boy or whoever, has to be a #1 priority for the next window.

(3) The service for Mirallas when he came on was piss poor. His first touch and movement was just the injection we needed and should have led to a goal. But the next 30 mins? Baines, listen, you don't need to run past Mirallas with the ball all the time, he is perfectly capable of doing these things for himself. Pass it LB, okay?

(4) Neville. Fuck me, he should never ever ever ever never ever ever never ever play in centre-mid for us ever again. I can't take any more of it: his gormless wandering like the proverbial headless chicken, his neat and tidy little passes that get us fucking nowhere, his ballooning balls (so to speak) that end up in a throw-in for our smiling opponents.

(5) Right-back. Something has to happen here, because neither Neville or Hibbert are good enough all round. Both bring something to this position, but neither is a complete right back. Answer? Fuck knows. Moyes seems happy and clearly disagrees with me and he, after all, is the expert. Work on Coleman's clear defensive lack of nous? Possibly. Can Garbutt play right side? With the goalie, right-back, I feel, is our major sore point now that we have left-back cover.

(6) I'm sorry, time to call time on Osman. How on earth peeps thought he had a good game today is beyond me (one thing I disagree about you with KB, but I also note that others have said the same thing, so did I miss something?), and I don't base this on a single game, but handful of seasons where admittedly there have been some very good things but not enough, too lightweight, maddening.

(7) Time to call time on the biggest lumbering load of arrogant shite that I have seen at The Old Lady over the last decade or so, Victor fucking Anichebe., Ship him. There is now no need to have this shameful championship player on our bench any longer. Sell the camel to Stoke in January, the mutants and living dead there will welcome him with open flesh dripping arms.

(8) With the smart window dealing we no longer need to have Osman starting, Neville in centre-mid, or Anichebe sitting like a right good proper Prem player on our bench. Nice work Davey, nice work. Shrewd dealing, professional and proper scouting and dealing. Well done fella.

(9) Reasons to be cheerful (part-1). No matter what happened to today in baggie-land (fuck Smethwick is one shitbag of a dump) this squad is still very promising and for the first time in years, with the right sort of managerial decision-making and wheeling and dealing, there is creativity and flare nearly everywhere.

(10) Reasons to be cheerful (part-2). A few spots are changing on Davey's leopard skin. Yes, Pete Barry, today was at times a little uncomfortably like last October, but no need to jerk knees and the hammering words after the final whistle were well, quite frankly, silly. Two weeks worth of work for all concerned and then we will again play the next May 8th placed barcodes off the park.

If Davey does not make the most of the raw materials he has in his hands now, I will be the first to jump down his throat. But tell me, I doubt that there is not a single ToffeeWebber who would not have settled on Aug-19 for six points our of nine.

We will be fine, methinks, but let's wait and see, and if need be, criticize if the time comes. That first sub was worrying for me, but at least he got Kevin on at 60 and that mightn't well have happened in last year's bleak early winter.

A nice string of winnable games ahead of us. I think that we will be in the top four come say October-1.

COYB

The reality is that West Brom are a very good team, and have an incredible home run going. We cant win every game, and our players are not United/City/Chelsea quality. But, if Fellaini had taken his chance, maybe we would be joint top currently. However, 6 points from United at home and two tricky away games, is pretty great going. Now we've got a good run, and need to try and be in the top four/five by the end of October.

Still, he made an early sub with the new boy and if @fro's shot had gone in it might have been a different story.

Quo for short.

Saying that, too many had off games and only Osman and Mirallas produced the goods.

The energy shown in our first two fixtures was sadly lacking.

Maybe Moyes being missing on transfer duty for a couple of days meant we werent prepared well enough but whatever it was our running off the ball and hold up play was poor.

I also noted we reverted to too many long balls surrendering possession.

Thanks for the report, a very dissapointing day at the office. It has got to be said that the manager is cautious by nature and the changes that were made when Gibson came off demonstrate same. Neville is either playing right back or he is not on the team. The problem on the right side of mid field still exists and for all the negative comment on this site Coleman gives the side balance and much needed energy when he plays there.

2 weeks off, get everyone healthy again, new lads bedded in (And Moyes in full attendance at training). Start a new streak of well-played games.

Last few weeks have been good ones for us. Can't have everything.

COYB!