David Kelly

I'm absolutely loving the bitterness of the supporters and management of Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd against the way we've played against them this season. My latest favourite is them complaining about how Tripps was at the ref every foul after a card. How quick they are to forget the decades of this their own teams have subjected referees through, and in much greater numbers than just their captain (who in Trippier's case consistently stopped other players from approaching the ref). The amount of photos you can find online of them doing it is staggering. Arsenal were brought up on a charge for doing this as recently as October ffs. Year after year we have watched as we meekly surrendered when we've went to these clubs and they simply aren't happy that we are now building something and have the resources to prevent their darlings from winning trophies or making the champions league as regularly. Who knows how long this will continue, the Saudi's may pull out/be forced to pull out before they can reach our stated target, but I'm just loving every moment of it as long as it lasts.

I love the "probably only lost 3 or 4 times all season" comment. Trying to disguise the fact that they will be more aware of our record than we are!

There's a fair few of them I've never heard of. And that's not counting the caretakers.

Well I didn't want to step on anyones toes and go that far.

Has anyone mentioned Botman to score tonight?

Aye I'm getting the same when trying to get tickets for my lasses young un.

Bizarre decision to have this series between the World Cup and the Pakistan test series.

I also like the that they say we'll only win anything by buying it. I assume by their definition there hasn't been a trophy win for anyone worth anything since Brian Clough won the league with Derby? After spending a million on Trevor Francis for Forest, I assume that wouldn't pass the test? I really would almost be worth them being bought by Putin and him pumping hundreds of millions in to see them try to justify why he's better than the Saudi's and why it's still ok for them to continue supporting under his reign.

This is the reason why cricket will always be ridiculed by many around the world.

It was an absolute shocker like. Fuck knows what he was thinking when he ran up.

I'm not sure I'd say this was the best of games today. I loved it personally but it was very one sided.

Defensively Lascelles was fine last night, but he's totally at odds with how we want to play out from the back these days and I think he definitely had an impact on the side. But I totally agree that we had to rotate some players last night. Lascelles being captain had to get a game and Targett, Shelvey and Maxi all had to be in for game time. Wood had to play with Wilson being unwell and I think most people were wanting to see Anderson get some game time. We clearly didn't play well but I don't think there's much I would argue with in the side that was put out.

We were poor last night. Very sloppy in posession and the defence seemed a vew yards further back in there starting position which was no doubt due to Lascelles. But you have to expect this when you make so many changes, particularly when players who have barely played all season. It did show that if we do have a few injuries all at once (particularly if Tripper and Bruno are included in them) that will be where we'll not be able to keep up the form that has us in 3rd.

Absolutely pissed it. Was a bit concerned when Hardick smashed that 50 but Butler and Hales were superb. Felt a bit sorry for Salt getting in for the semi and not getting the chance to face a single ball.

He was absolutely fuming when they scored. Which is a great thing to see given we were still 3-1 up at that point in the last minute.

Confirming what the whole world knows about them there.

Just looked at their lineup for last night and I genuinely don't have a clue which ones are first team players.

Gallagher looks like he's lost all belief in what he's saying half way through saying it. It shouldn't have took him that long tbh.

A midfield of Bruno, Joelinton and Willock wasn't really clicking because it meant that Bruno was the deepest lying and wasn't able to influence the attack enough from there. For all of their good work, the two Joe's aren't the most creative passers so we were struggling to break teams down (this was particularly apparent against Bournemouth). Admittedly it's less of an issue when Wilson and ASM are playing but imo it definitely benefits Bruno and the team to have someone else sitting deeper than him. Longstaff is our weakest midfielder but he seems to be the only real option for this at the moment. That would leave a choice between Joelinton and Willock, which Joelinton wins for me unless Willock can add goals back to his game.

Most footballers are thick as fuck and pretty lazy beyond training and playing. So it follows that most pundits are too. They don'tt have the intelligence and don't make the effort to properly study what they are talking about. It's telling that even sky sports are getting podcasters and the like onto shows to talk about their teams more and more. They've discovered these people know a lot more about what they are talking about. Yes they might not have the inside the dressing room knowledge that Robbie Savage and Gabby Agbonlahor have, but they're also not complete cretins who can barely count to the number they used to wear on their backs. They look at stats and watch countless games involving their own teams as well as others. They also see how the game is changing to be much more based on statistics. The regular pundits, even the younger ones, come from an era once removed from this and simply don't get it. I can see a time in the not too distant future that the traditional ex pro pundit is phased out unless they can show themselves to be a lot more on the ball than ones we've had for the last twenty years.

That Athletic article is really good and shows how out of touch he (and tbh West Brom) is with modern football. We first heard with Rafa about the extensive details a manager and his team now go into regarding players (both the ones they have and potential signings) the opposition, training etc etc. And now Howe is doing exactly the same thing. It's just common place now for this to be the managers role. Compare that with Bruce signing his neighbours & employing his family to put out the cones and just hoping that a star player can turn the game for you. There was a time when how he 'works' could probably suffice as a football manager, but that time is 15 years ago or more. The top end of the game has evolved so much in the last decade and he just doesn't seem to see it. The fact that he didn't know how many substitutions he could make though just smacks of laziness. He can't even be bothered to put in the minimum amount of effort required to know what rules have changed from one season to the next. If West Brom's board had anything about them, they should have sacked him on the spot for that gross incompetence.

Don't fear this lot anymore (which is down to both us and them) but you still have to respect them as one of the better teams in the league. I fancy a draw.

When you consider how far backwards as a club Souness took us, for Bruce to be more hated by anyone than him speaks volumes about the bloke.

Murphy is still mostly awful mind. I'd love him to prove me wrong and turn into a player because the lad really wants to do well for us. But he's not got the football brain or the skill to be a decent premier league player. Fortunately having players like Bruno and Wilson around him make him not dog shit. It's when he's playing without those players he looks well below premier league level.

This is exactly right. His ego won't allow him to go any further down the league even if any club had the money to throw away or the desire to employ a dinosaur like him (lower league clubs are more willing to give younger managers a chance anyway). The only hope he has of another job now is some championship club in a desperate situation wanting someone in short term and that is surely incredibly unlikely after his performance with West Brom. I expect to see him stinking up BT Sport's coverage shortly.