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Arsenal 1 - West Bromwich Albion 0
Summary:A somewhat makeshift Albion side succumbed to a defeat at the Emirates, but nonetheless ended the weekend with next season's Premiership status all but mathematically assured. Injuries to Billy Jones, Steven Reid and Liam Ridgewell meant that their back four consisted of three centre halves and a midfielder as Chris Brunt was played at left back, while the midfield was more conventional with James Morrison and Youssouf Mulumbu in the centre. The only goal of the game came from Olivier Giround when he got ahead of Craig Dawson to nod home Santi Cazorla's corner in just the fourteenth minute, though it wasn't helped by Mulumbu's token gesture at defending the near post. Albion were pretty much second best for most of the game despite Arsenal having nothing of real note to play for, their Champion's League place having already been confirmed. Albion ended the weekend three points ahead of Norwich with a goal difference nineteen better, and relegation confirmed for Fulham and Cardiff, so barring two massive defeats against Sunderland and Stoke and one huge win for Norwich against Arsenal, they will finish outside the bottom three. Paul Gainham:We huffed and puffed but seldom did we blow on Scezny's door. Yet again the utter predictability of games like this bloody frustrates me - Sunderland have shown that with some real fight and guile you can come to places like this an get something. After a pretty dull 1H we came back possession wise in the 2H but still did not have enough smarts to open up a relatively weak Arsenal back line IMO. So now we are again reliant on others and hopefully Chelsea will put us out of out misery today and take at least a point against Norwich. One positive today, the support from the ~3000 Albion fans was excellent, totally out sung the 'Highbury Library' They are the worst fans in the PL by far IMO. Player marks
Mark Koppel:Lets face it, we have gone seriously backwards this season and without a change of policy at the top we will be in even more relegation trouble next year. Because our Chairman has refused to invest sufficiently in building the squad, we are now in catch up mode,and have to buy 2 years worth of players in only one transfer window to avoid relegation. Today only helped to demonstrate what player investment is required which includes:
The most worrying aspect is that Jeremy Peace cannot change, doesn't want to change, and won't change. Player Ratings Today:
Subs:
Pepe 7 - I think Pepe should stay and be given the opportunity to rebuild the Squad so damaged by under-investment.He could build something new and exciting. I fear Peace will sack him rather than back him,and then bring in an even more inexperienced, cheap option Didcot Baggie:Not much to report from a game that seemed end of season for both clubs - Dawson was a makeshift right-back and struggled but I won't be as harsh on him as other correspondents - he was up against one of the best attacks in the league. Foster had a great game and I have no worries if he gets called upon for England in Brazil - in fact I hope he gets his chance. The rest of the team had a go but with no real outlets up front. We need a premiership class striker otherwise we will be lucky to find three teams worse than us next season. Full credit to the Albion fans who were in excellent party mode. The support for Pepe Mel was good to see, but I still wonder if he is the man for us. Nice guy and doing his best but reminds me of Martin Jol at Fulham - and we have seen how that ended. My last game of the season and thankfully barring a catastrophe we are safe. So I can miss the Stoke game and not worry. This has been a miserable season with little to get excited about. But keep the faith Baggies fans - we're the best fans in the league and will always be proud to be Baggies no matter what the club does. Boing Boing! |
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