***wba v city official match thread***

[budfox]

Some more interesting games between top teams this weekend. We play Southampton and Arse play Everton and rags vs Geordies. So six of top nine play each other.

...or just five of the top eight.

[branny]

Villa's away kit is awful.

[MilnersJaw]

Last time I looked it was 0-2 with 5 mins left. i nearly shit the bed when I saw the final score at 2-3.

saw their last goal though, the old argie is shit.

[Ted Hughes]

Garcia did fuck all wrong. If we had been playing a top side, they would have sorted us out by half time. We played for 20 mins.

If Vinny hadn't played, we would have lost. Fucking tragic defending & not just by Demichelis. Zabba produced some proper shite on & off the ball.

[Wonderwall]

What a bitch of a journey that was. 3 hours to get there and 1 hr 15 mins to get back. Missed the first 17 mins and kuns goal. Was a good atmosphere but pellers must stop resting all the jewels In the crown so long from the end. We were almost embarrassed and it gave west brom the lift they needed. Every time the subs board was held up and number 10 was not on it, they grew in confidence. Truly shocking from dzeko tonight. And the Awful clearance from garcia started the move for their first as well. 2 players that need a kicking. Dzekos body language at the end was like he has just seen his family shot in front of him. He lost the will to live.

[Twobob]

What a bitch of a journey that was. 3 hours to get there and 1 hr 15 mins to get back. Missed the first 17 mins and kuns goal. Was a good atmosphere but pellers must stop resting all the jewels In the crown so long from the end. We were almost embarrassed and it gave west brom the lift they needed. Every time the subs board was held up and number 10 was not on it, they grew in confidence. Truly shocking from dzeko tonight. And the Awful clearance from garcia started the move for their first as well. 2 players that need a kicking. Dzekos body language at the end was like he has just seen his family shot in front of him. He lost the will to live.

Did we, by any chance, turn shit when you got there? ;-)

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Weird game wasn't it.We were superb for maybe 30 minutes and I can't fully work out whether we switched off or the baggies started to press higher and stop us having the ball so easily.Probably more us switching off I think.

Same as the 2nd half went on but at least we were still a real threat and they were getting nowhere.I was a tad concerned when Anichebe came on as we don't tend to deal well with bullies like him.Vinnie could handle him and maybe Joleon but definitely not Nasti and clearly not Demechelis..He really is suspect around the edge of the box isn't he.

I don't have great problems with the substitutions but if you are going to take off the key attacking threats then the team shape should be very different and I would expect to see a much better shield in front of the back 4.Not with us though as we seemed to have players all over the place and nobody actually in good position to get close to the ball.

We just got very sloppy.Misplacing passes,losing challenges and eventually throwing away 2 goals. But it's a great win and done with some style really.The same at Southampton would be very very nice.

I watched the City game on a stream and didn't know the other scores so watching MotD and the scum losing was pure quality

[Ajardine]

What a bitch of a journey that was. 3 hours to get there and 1 hr 15 mins to get back. Missed the first 17 mins and kuns goal. Was a good atmosphere but pellers must stop resting all the jewels In the crown so long from the end. We were almost embarrassed and it gave west brom the lift they needed. Every time the subs board was held up and number 10 was not on it, they grew in confidence. Truly shocking from dzeko tonight. And the Awful clearance from garcia started the move for their first as well. 2 players that need a kicking. Dzekos body language at the end was like he has just seen his family shot in front of him. He lost the will to live.

Took me 3 hours from the other side of Birmingam and 1.5 to get back! Where did you come from?
Dzeko was utter shite, didn't try, didn't seem bothered and lost the ball every time he got it. He has to go, I'd rather have a kid on that would run after the ball, want the ball at their feet and work for the side.

[Ted Hughes]

Really don't get the Dzeko hate tonight.

Saw him cover back on numerous occasions, put a great pass through for our first goal & was responsible for the best defensive header of the night. Great bit of crucial defending. Linked up ok with Serge when Serge saw fit to pass to him. No complaints at all from me.

Should have scored but so should others.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

Really don't get the Dzeko hate tonight. Saw him cover back on numerous occasions, put a great pass through for our first goal & was responsible for the best defensive header of the night. Great bit of crucial defending. Linked up ok with Serge when Serge saw fit to pass to him. No complaints at all from me. Should have scored but so should others.

He did a few times, my issue is he seems to do it when he's unlikely to get near, but one late on I remember him losing it under bugger all pressure and the guy who took it was two feet away as Dzeko gave the body language signal for fuck it.

I don't think he was horrible today either, I just understand how he pisses people off.

[Ted Hughes]

Really don't get the Dzeko hate tonight. Saw him cover back on numerous occasions, put a great pass through for our first goal & was responsible for the best defensive header of the night. Great bit of crucial defending. Linked up ok with Serge when Serge saw fit to pass to him. No complaints at all from me. Should have scored but so should others.

He did a few times, my issue is he seems to do it when he's unlikely to get near, but one late on I remember him losing it under bugger all pressure and the guy who took it was two feet away as Dzeko gave the body language signal for fuck it.

I don't think he was horrible today either, I just understand how he pisses people off.

Yeah I remember that & it wasn't the best, but I think he was just basically fucked.

He's not used to giving 100% in a game (more like 50) & imo he pretty much did give it all he's got tonight, so I don't begrudge him a breather.

Edit: just to add, I don't think Aguero likes playing with him. I could be wrong, but if I'm right, he won't be around next season.

[ant london]

I'm hoping he won't be around after Christmas to be honest with you. Moaning half arsed fuckpiece. I don't like him and I want him gone.

[branny]

It's not a hatred of Dzeko. He had a decent first half. Second half when we were under the cosh a bit, the ball was played up to him a couple of times and he ended up losing it. I just think Neggers would have held it up better.

[aaron bond]

Dzeko played well at times in the first half, but he lost the ball, or miscontrolled it still too often.

Then he had an awful second half - looked disinterested, half hearted challenges, and regularly losing the ball.

I understand his goalscoring record is generally good wherever he's played in his career, but players such as Aguero and Negredo clearly demonstrate that you can score plenty of goals AND work hard for the team. The 2 don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Dzeko is clearly unhappy here - he wants to be the main striker, and he never has, and never will be, with us. From City's perspective, we want him to deliver more but he's either unwilling or incapable of doing so. It would probably in everyone's best interests to move him on, although with Jovetic always injured, and the (relatively untested) Guidetti as our only other striker, I'd probably wait until the summer before doing so.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

Yeah I remember that & it wasn't the best, but I think he was just basically fucked. He's not used to giving 100% in a game (more like 50) & imo he pretty much did give it all he's got tonight, so I don't begrudge him a breather. Edit: just to add, I don't think Aguero likes playing with him. I could be wrong, but if I'm right, he won't be around next season.

Yeah, also I guess you could argue Dzeko unselfishly contributed to aguero's goal and Aguero was a bit of a knob not to put it on a plate for him 10 mins later.

Was a decent performance for my money, but he owes us a few slightly above decent performances off all the whining and sulking last two seasons.

[Im_Spartacus]

the earlier was fishing from me all the way. the only thing I'd give to him is that he's familiar with the style of play Pellegrini wants to play but even so I can't understand why he wasn't picked. and as for the passing, today, again, misplaced passes from Demi while I watched Lescott like a hawk on Sunday and he was brilliant on the ball that day.
if I could ask one question from Pellegrini that would deffo be "why don't you rate Lescott?"

Fair enough, my irony meter was in confusion...........find it odd that consecutive managers have taken the same view of Lescott though, that tells me there is some issue, or Lescott has just been unlucky to be sidelined by the manager's own pick

[phips]

just got to watch this...


1. Navas is too inconsistent and drifts out of matches too much. he basically did nothing today, whereas he was great vs Spurs. And his writhing around on the ground was shameful.

2. Marty is yet to convince me. he still makes rash decisions but hasnt cost us yet. his positioning for WBA's 2nd was poor though. nice to see he can play center-left alongside Vinny

3. Vinny looked good. I was especially happy to see him able to lead a break from the back and charge forward to try and get on the end of a cross.

4. Panti still looks good. Hasnt done anything wrong. Cant be blamed for either of the goals...no idea why Kolarov was clearing across the face of goal.

5. Dzeko continues to look AWFUL and the Sergio-Edin partnership doesnt work.

6. For all the worry about Foy he had a good game. If anything, the calls and non-calls were in OUR favor. he didnt fall for Long's dive either.

[Im_Spartacus]

6. For all the worry about Foy he had a good game. If anything, the calls and non-calls were in OUR favor. he didnt fall for Long's dive either.

If I was a baggies fan, I would be furious with Foy's performance. He let some really strong tackling/pushing go for us all through the game, and the penalty incident, was, well, it was a penalty with any other referee however you choose to look at it.

Very odd performance from the ref, not that I'm complaining for once

[Pretty Boy Lee]

If I was a baggies fan, I would be furious with Foy's performance. He let some really strong tackling/pushing go for us all through the game, and the penalty incident, was, well, it was a penalty with any other referee however you choose to look at it. Very odd performance from the ref, not that I'm complaining for once

I thought it was an outrageous dive, replays didn't change my mind.

[Wonderwall]

Really don't get the Dzeko hate tonight.

Saw him cover back on numerous occasions, put a great pass through for our first goal & was responsible for the best defensive header of the night. Great bit of crucial defending. Linked up ok with Serge when Serge saw fit to pass to him. No complaints at all from me.

Should have scored but so should others.

For me it was dzekos decision making, it was awful, turning into trouble and losing possession on many occasions when we were in a dangerous position. If this was the dzeko that played at the beginning of the season, he would have had a crack at goal a few times last night.