West Bromwich Albion 0 - Newcastle United 0

Date:	Sunday 7th March 2021
Competition:	Premier League
WBA: 6.0	(4-1-4-1) Johnstone 6.5, Furlong 6.2, O'Shea 6.5, Bartley 6.8, Townsend 7.3, Yokuslu 7.8, Pereira 5.0, Gallagher 7.1, Maitland-Niles 6.0, Phillips 6.6 (Grant, 83 4.4), Diagne 5.7 (Robson-Kanu, 84 5.1) Unused subs: Button, Ajayi, Robinson, Livermore, Sawyers, Peltier, Snodgrass Manager: Sam Allardyce 5.3
Newcastle: 5.2	(4-3-1-2) Dubravka, Krafth, Lascelles, Clark, Dummett, Hendrick (Gayle, 57), Shelvey, Willock, Hayden, Joelinton, Fraser (Carroll, 93) Unused subs: Darlow, Ritchie, Lewis, Fernández, Manquillo, Murphy, Longstaff
Referee:	Martin Atkinson (West Yorkshire) 6.5
Attendance:	0 Home Fans 9.0

Steve Fereday:

We were proper shit.

No blame against Chairman, The Board, The Manager.

The players are proper shit. They never played school football. Just proper shit.

Laters.

Brendan Clegg:

Well that pretty much confirmed our return to the second tier although sadly that’s been the reality since early January and before the loans came in and made us competitive.

I’ve seen a few groans but we weren’t that bad given the circumstances.

I’ve no problem with Allardyce going with the same 11 again and I think with an extra day in between games we might have sneaked it.

We started a bit slow and looked like a side who needed to run the lactic acid and stiffness out of our legs - we probably got away with not conceding after 15 minutes.

But beyond that, once we settled we were the better team, the team who looked like they could win it and we created enough just about to - Phillips with the best of them - but there were other moments or situations where the tired legs and tired minds couldn’t find that quality needed. I don’t think any player could be found wanting for effort.

Being a tiny bit critical I thought there were great opportunities from 20 yards where it was worth a shot but, I think under the Allardyce statical instructions, we overplayed.

I also think given the importance of the match Allardyce for his subs wrong and too late - I’d have got Robinson on alongside Mbaye for the last 20 and rolled the dice a bit more. I’ve really not seen anything from Grant to justify minutes but in any case the changes were too late to have a impact.

Surely there will be a conversation this week about the manager staying. Only a fool would ignore his record and I’m willing to take another season of this in order to get promoted with a team better prepared for survival and the end goal of a change of ownership to get Lai and Dowling out. We need that commitment from him otherwise he should just move on now and allow the planning for next season to begin.

SJ - 6 Did okay but has there ever been a worse goal-kicker in the last 10 minutes of games when we’re chasing?
Furlong - 7 Gave everything and it must’ve hurt to keep getting forward. Quality lacking but great effort.
O’Shea - 7 Looked the most leggy of everyone in the opening 15 but he managed to get going and was solid thereafter.
Bartley - 8 Immense and allowing him to build from the basics has made him look confident too.
Townsend - 8 Didn’t put a foot wrong and another who must’ve played through the pain to keep going. Some decent crosses deserved better.
Yokusulu - 8 Has no right to win some of the tackles he does and uses his frame expertly. Can play a bit.
Pereira - 6 Will get stick but he was everywhere. It’s not come off enough but the reality is another year at this level and he’ll be a diamond. We might get away with keeping him next season so not all is lost.
Gallagher - 8 A machine. Quality not always there but outran everyone else and tried to will us over the line.
AMN - 6 A couple of brilliant moments when he put the burners on but some tired passes.
Phillips - 7 Ran hard, looked after the ball, defended and created. His power is a great foil for Townsend and unlucky to be subbed.
Diagne - 6 A lot of good work but not managing to finish chances. Maybe a full preseason would’ve been enough and all-round had improved us but maybe Robinson would get a better goal return, especially with our midfield so much better.

HRK - 6 Win free kicks but one header he couldn’t get near was begging for a finish.
Grant - 5 Offered little.