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Saints At West Bromwich Albion The Verdict
Sunday, 13th Sep 2015 11:09

Yes another clean sheet from Saints but little inventiveness going forward as Saints dominated the game to remain unbeaten on the road.

The statistics say a lot about this game, Saints had 65% possession, restricted the home side to just 4 shots with only 1 on target and looked comfortable throughout yes they had few moments of note in the West Brom penalty area despite 14 attempts on goal.

The high point though was Virgil Van Dijk, he looked the part in every department, his reading of the game was excellent, he could take the ball and move it forward and he had the height in the air, despite the fact that West Brom caused us little problems all afternoon, when it looked like they could Van Dijk was there.

But going forward we just could not create anything of note Ronald Koeman opted to put Wanyama straight back in at the expense of Romeu and there was that feeling that in doing that we lost a little in going forward in the way that Romeu can move the ball forward a little faster,

Saints tactics are simple in many respects, they rely on getting the ball out quickly to the wide men, in this case Tadic and Rodriguez and this was not happening enough, when it did neither seemed able to create anything of note.

The introduction of Mane late on sparked a little more opportunities but it was a case of too little too late and leaving Mane on the bench seemed a strange decision.

On the plus side we seem to have sorted ourselves out at the back, another clean sheet gives us a lot to build on and the good news is that we have the firepower to start scoring goals, we just need to start to use them a little more.

This was a case of two points dropped but it was also a case of a point that keeps us solidly in the middle of the table and when we can click we are in the position to surge forward.

It was good to see Rickie Lambert again, however it was sad to seem him struggling and it was no surprise that it was him who made way shortly after the break for Berahino.

Perhaps the difference between now and a year ago is that although Koeman has a bigger and better squad, he also has injuries to what will be key players in Clasie and Bertrand, the problem is with a bigger squad you have more options and getting the formation right is a tricky proposition, perhaps at West Brom we got it slightly wrong in that we did not take the game too them as much as we should have.

That is not completely the managers fault, in fairness he could have expected more from several players in the side at the Hawthorns, Jay Rodriguez is still struggling to find his form, Koeman hoped tht starting him might help, I think that J Rod needs to find his feet off the bench a little more at the moment, although with the inexperienced Targett at left back he might have felt that Rodriguez offered the best option to get back and cover him, this is no reflection on Targett, but the reality is that if we had had Bertrand we could have taken the game to West Brom a little more and due to his pace, he would not have needed cover so much.

In the centre of midfield everyone hoped that James Ward Prowse would repeat his performance from last week, he needs to start to take a game like this by the scruff of the neck and create openings, sadly he didn't

But a point is a point and its one more than we got last season

Photo: Action Images



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davepid added 12:09 - Sep 13
Fair summary . It exorcised the memory of the horrid game there last season.
I would like us hitting some of those halfway line free kicks long into the area for our tall boys . What we do now is too slow with the end product rarely resulting in any shots,let alone any on target.
1

SaintPaulVW added 12:50 - Sep 13
A point away at WBA and another clean sheet with injuries to key players. I count that as progress but agree more needed.
1

ExiledSupporter added 14:17 - Sep 13
Agree with you about Ward-Prowse, too often he flatters to deceive, just whipping in good deadball crosses isn't enough. Also feel that Davis is perhaps a little too limited for our ambitions (though a good squad man) either he or JWP will have to make way for Classie and I would also start Romeu ahead of Davis.
3

BoondockSaint added 14:39 - Sep 13
If we can't "unlock" (sorry to use the trite pundit word) West Brom, what chance do we have against really good teams? Oh, well, at least it's another point towards 40.

More worries: With Chelski losing and ManU having no replacement for Rooney, I assume they will both come in with heat for Vic and Mane in the next widow.

1

SaintBrock added 18:16 - Sep 13
Don't worry they are not for sale. Mind you if Mane plays the way he did yesterday?
-1

VancouverSaint added 18:43 - Sep 13
Our defences are starting to look pretty good. VVD is looking like a brilliant signing easily replacing Toby already. When Classie returns we should be more creative. Agree with comments above that Romeu should start. Problem is the same as we ended last year...we don't score enough. Unlike the defence we are not waiting for a players to come back who are injured, we need another striker. In the January window we have to buy Charlie Austin and replace Ramirez with CA on the roster. Let Gaston go. Austin has 5 goals already and by January QPR will not be a promotion contender. It will be interesting to see next weekend how we deal with ManUre. I think we will have our second win of the season.
2

welhamdowed added 20:38 - Sep 13
Shocking game, at one stage I thought it was a game of who can give the ball away the most. When I see Davis, VW and JWP on the same pitch I feel it's a bit too negative from Ron. I'm still waiting for JWP to kick on and become the player we hoped he would be. With Oriol and Classie to come into the side I do fear he might be restricted to the bench. Still a point and clean sheet so best we forget that game and move on.
1

SingaporeSaint added 01:49 - Sep 14
Agree with most comments here. For me this was 2 points given up against a far inferior side. We need to show more desire and intent to win. We missed Romeu's passing and JWP was not the player last week as was too far forward again.

Why J Rod on the left and Tadic on the right? Surely you switch them round. Not sure why we take Juanmi and Long every week to warm the bench. If we need a goal then put them on. Long at his old club was a logical selection.

Just like watford - we went for a 0 0 and got one. I think we need to aim to beat bottom 5 sides. Are we being limited by our manager's ambition?

Van diyk looked good though and yes was better than last season...
3

FrankSaint added 09:51 - Sep 14
There appears to be a consensus today. It is worth noting that WBA have had the most clean sheets of any team in the Premier League since Pulis took over. So this was like a home game when the opposition park the bus and try and hit us on the break. We will get more of this treatment now that we are established contenders for a top six place.
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