Dobbie or not Dobbie? That is one of the questions (From The Argus)

The team appears to be ''As you like it''

If Lopez is now being referred to as "David", perhaps the team sheet should read:-

Tomasz, "Frank", Gordon, Adam, Wayne, Liam, Andrea, Andrew, David or Will, Ashley or Stephen, Craig!!!

It might get a bit confusing if a team had 6 John's and 5 Freds though.

Very witty headline by the Argus today!

My main question is:- GOALS today..Dobbie or not Dobbie?

Vince really is obsessed with everyone conforming to his view of how people should be addressed or referred to.

Do you have an issue calling Vicente Rodríguez Guillén, Vicente?

If my luck is anything to go by, todays game will be either a 0-0 draw or a 0-1 defeat.

I had to miss 2 games this season. The ones I was "lucky" enough to see were:-

Cardiff 0-0
Birmingham 0-1
Ipswich 1-1

I had to wait nearly 5 hours for my first Albion goal of this season.

If Gus doesn't play Dobbie, CMS and Will from the start, then I guess we'll be struggling to score yet again.
Why do we have to be so negative from the word go, and only bring on the "impact" players when it is still 0-0 or we are 0-1 down. By then it is often too late, as the opposition has grown in
confidence, and has the measure of us.
I can't believe it that in 18 months we haven't brought in a "finisher" in the mould of a "Beckford" "Blackstock" or "Boothroyd". They have been available, but it seems we are "cheap-skates" in the transfer market when it comes to strikers (CMS being the exception).
Having said that, if we had brought one of them, it probably would have been at the expense of Dobbie or CMS, because Gus seems incapable of playing more than one striker at a time, until the last (desperate) 20 minutes.

Much as I love Gus and his philosophies and I think he has done an incredible job here, he has too often been safety conscious at home, which has encouraged the opposition to play higher up the pitch, (or when they do sit back like Birmingham they know we don't have too much attacking "muscle"). It's very hard to breakdown a packed defence when you don't have a physical presence up front.

In Div 1 we were successful because we often had Murray, Wood, Barnes and Bennett as well as Noone all playing attacking roles.

My forecast today is a 1-1 draw, but I don't hold out much hope of seeing more than one Albion goal today if Gus doesn't play CMS, Dobbie and Buckley from the off.

Simon Mew wrote:
Vince really is obsessed with everyone conforming to his view of how people should be addressed or referred to. Do you have an issue calling Vicente Rodríguez Guillén, Vicente?

No Mew, I don't!

Vince wrote:
If my luck is anything to go by, todays game will be either a 0-0 draw or a 0-1 defeat.

I had to miss 2 games this season. The ones I was "lucky" enough to see were:-

Cardiff 0-0
Birmingham 0-1
Ipswich 1-1

I had to wait nearly 5 hours for my first Albion goal of this season.

If Gus doesn't play Dobbie, CMS and Will from the start, then I guess we'll be struggling to score yet again.
Why do we have to be so negative from the word go, and only bring on the "impact" players when it is still 0-0 or we are 0-1 down. By then it is often too late, as the opposition has grown in
confidence, and has the measure of us.
I can't believe it that in 18 months we haven't brought in a "finisher" in the mould of a "Beckford" "Blackstock" or "Boothroyd". They have been available, but it seems we are "cheap-skates" in the transfer market when it comes to strikers (CMS being the exception).
Having said that, if we had brought one of them, it probably would have been at the expense of Dobbie or CMS, because Gus seems incapable of playing more than one striker at a time, until the last (desperate) 20 minutes.

Much as I love Gus and his philosophies and I think he has done an incredible job here, he has too often been safety conscious at home, which has encouraged the opposition to play higher up the pitch, (or when they do sit back like Birmingham they know we don't have too much attacking "muscle"). It's very hard to breakdown a packed defence when you don't have a physical presence up front.

In Div 1 we were successful because we often had Murray, Wood, Barnes and Bennett as well as Noone all playing attacking roles.

My forecast today is a 1-1 draw, but I don't hold out much hope of seeing more than one Albion goal today if Gus doesn't play CMS, Dobbie and Buckley from the off.

I do like a nice optimistic post before a Saturday match.

Three things:

1) For anyone unclear, it's pronounced Dav-id rather than Dayvid.

2) Stephen Dobbie's name has been pronounced to sound like "lobby" or "Bobby" so far in his career but there now appears to be a motion towards saying it to rhyme with dough bee....something to do with the Scottish way of saying it...can any of our Scottish number enlighten us? Ballantrrae? (Our announcer is sayin dough bee now.)

3) The Argus: "In his predicted team line-up in The Argus today, chief sports reporter Andy Naylor leaves open the possibility of either man starting.".....

So in other words he's completely guessing like the rest of us!

Alfie T wrote:

Vince wrote: If my luck is anything to go by, todays game will be either a 0-0 draw or a 0-1 defeat. I had to miss 2 games this season. The ones I was "lucky" enough to see were:- Cardiff 0-0 Birmingham 0-1 Ipswich 1-1 I had to wait nearly 5 hours for my first Albion goal of this season. If Gus doesn't play Dobbie, CMS and Will from the start, then I guess we'll be struggling to score yet again. Why do we have to be so negative from the word go, and only bring on the "impact" players when it is still 0-0 or we are 0-1 down. By then it is often too late, as the opposition has grown in confidence, and has the measure of us. I can't believe it that in 18 months we haven't brought in a "finisher" in the mould of a "Beckford" "Blackstock" or "Boothroyd". They have been available, but it seems we are "cheap-skates" in the transfer market when it comes to strikers (CMS being the exception). Having said that, if we had brought one of them, it probably would have been at the expense of Dobbie or CMS, because Gus seems incapable of playing more than one striker at a time, until the last (desperate) 20 minutes. Much as I love Gus and his philosophies and I think he has done an incredible job here, he has too often been safety conscious at home, which has encouraged the opposition to play higher up the pitch, (or when they do sit back like Birmingham they know we don't have too much attacking "muscle"). It's very hard to breakdown a packed defence when you don't have a physical presence up front. In Div 1 we were successful because we often had Murray, Wood, Barnes and Bennett as well as Noone all playing attacking roles. My forecast today is a 1-1 draw, but I don't hold out much hope of seeing more than one Albion goal today if Gus doesn't play CMS, Dobbie and Buckley from the off.

I do like a nice optimistic post before a Saturday match.

The beauty of being cautious is that I can be very pleasantly surprised by a 3-0 win!

Alfie T wrote:

Vince wrote:
If my luck is anything to go by, todays game will be either a 0-0 draw or a 0-1 defeat.

I had to miss 2 games this season. The ones I was "lucky" enough to see were:-

Cardiff 0-0
Birmingham 0-1
Ipswich 1-1

I had to wait nearly 5 hours for my first Albion goal of this season.

If Gus doesn't play Dobbie, CMS and Will from the start, then I guess we'll be struggling to score yet again.
Why do we have to be so negative from the word go, and only bring on the "impact" players when it is still 0-0 or we are 0-1 down. By then it is often too late, as the opposition has grown in
confidence, and has the measure of us.
I can't believe it that in 18 months we haven't brought in a "finisher" in the mould of a "Beckford" "Blackstock" or "Boothroyd". They have been available, but it seems we are "cheap-skates" in the transfer market when it comes to strikers (CMS being the exception).
Having said that, if we had brought one of them, it probably would have been at the expense of Dobbie or CMS, because Gus seems incapable of playing more than one striker at a time, until the last (desperate) 20 minutes.

Much as I love Gus and his philosophies and I think he has done an incredible job here, he has too often been safety conscious at home, which has encouraged the opposition to play higher up the pitch, (or when they do sit back like Birmingham they know we don't have too much attacking "muscle"). It's very hard to breakdown a packed defence when you don't have a physical presence up front.

In Div 1 we were successful because we often had Murray, Wood, Barnes and Bennett as well as Noone all playing attacking roles.

My forecast today is a 1-1 draw, but I don't hold out much hope of seeing more than one Albion goal today if Gus doesn't play CMS, Dobbie and Buckley from the off.

I do like a nice optimistic post before a Saturday match.

I was just thinking the same thing Alfie T.UTA

DOBBIE NO NO NO NO NO THANKS

tug509 wrote:

Alfie T wrote:

Vince wrote: If my luck is anything to go by, todays game will be either a 0-0 draw or a 0-1 defeat. I had to miss 2 games this season. The ones I was "lucky" enough to see were:- Cardiff 0-0 Birmingham 0-1 Ipswich 1-1 I had to wait nearly 5 hours for my first Albion goal of this season. If Gus doesn't play Dobbie, CMS and Will from the start, then I guess we'll be struggling to score yet again. Why do we have to be so negative from the word go, and only bring on the "impact" players when it is still 0-0 or we are 0-1 down. By then it is often too late, as the opposition has grown in confidence, and has the measure of us. I can't believe it that in 18 months we haven't brought in a "finisher" in the mould of a "Beckford" "Blackstock" or "Boothroyd". They have been available, but it seems we are "cheap-skates" in the transfer market when it comes to strikers (CMS being the exception). Having said that, if we had brought one of them, it probably would have been at the expense of Dobbie or CMS, because Gus seems incapable of playing more than one striker at a time, until the last (desperate) 20 minutes. Much as I love Gus and his philosophies and I think he has done an incredible job here, he has too often been safety conscious at home, which has encouraged the opposition to play higher up the pitch, (or when they do sit back like Birmingham they know we don't have too much attacking "muscle"). It's very hard to breakdown a packed defence when you don't have a physical presence up front. In Div 1 we were successful because we often had Murray, Wood, Barnes and Bennett as well as Noone all playing attacking roles. My forecast today is a 1-1 draw, but I don't hold out much hope of seeing more than one Albion goal today if Gus doesn't play CMS, Dobbie and Buckley from the off.

I do like a nice optimistic post before a Saturday match.

I was just thinking the same thing Alfie T.UTA

My forecast of 0-0 or 0-1 was unfortunately correct. I have now seen well over 6 hours of football and just one scrambled goal from Will Buckley. (Won 0 - drawn 2 - lost 2 )Goals: for 1 against 3

Despite having no width today, we played well at a high tempo from the off today, but were undone by a lucky deflection after 21 mins.

Having said that we didn't have a striker with the class to put the ball in the net. CMS was unlucky, but should have made sure he didn't put his shot straight at the keeper. Barnes should have steered his header from point blank into the corner. Hammond should have scored with a header, but got underneath the ball (when are players going to learn how to rise above the ball to head it?)
3 shouts for a penalty (one in the first half when Hammond? was pushed as he headed for the net, which sent the ball over the bar, 2 after the break, one a handball which prevented the ball going in and 2 defenders who flattened CMS from behind) but this ref missed most of the fouls and pushes today.

The Albion are crying out for a clinical finisher to get on the end of the numerous crosses we put in. I'm sure Glenn Murray would have scored today if he had been playing for us.

With 69% possession, the result should have been 2-1 or 3-1 to us, but the game is about putting the ball in the net, not numerous crosses with no end result.

If Gus wants us to play like Spain, we need to frighten our opposition in the last 40 yards with pace, movement, and width, and gamble in the box a little bit more - think we're a little bit one dimensional up front