After taking so much enjoyment out of Villa’s unfortunate predicament this season I was actually dreading yesterday afternoon. I had a horrible feeling all my jibes would come back to haunt me.
Before kick off I would’ve definitely taken a draw. At the full time whistle I was relieved we still had a point.
Make no mistake about it, Albion were awful. Absolutely atrocious. It was easily our worst performance of the season – and possibly our poorest display in the Premier League.
The Baggies had zero attacking threat and no creativity. There was no quality in the side and you could easily have been watching a League Two side. Thankfully Villa were not much better.
In a game where chances were at a premium, it was the visitors who enjoyed the better of the opportunities. Ayew looked Villa’s most attacking threat and tested Foster with a 20 yard drive in the first half.
The winger was involved in a dubious penalty decision before the break. Jonas Olsson made a clumsy challenge and was fortunate to see his lunge go unpunished.
At the other end, there was nothing to write home about. McClean lacked any sort of quality on the left and Villa were happy to double up on Sessegnon to snuff out his threat.
There was nothing through the middle with Gardner looking completely lost in an advanced roll. Albion were that poor that you would struggle to see which side were 10 points from Premier League safety.
After the break
Albion’s disjointed performance continued after the break. Pulis’ historic tactics of lumping the ball forward and bypassing the midfield played into Villa’s hands. Where the game was calling out for somebody to grab it by the scruff of the neck, the players were too busy lumping forward aimless balls.
Pulis through on Anichebe and Berahino after the hour mark – but neither could influence the flow of the game. Berahino ducked out of challenges and lost the ball time and again. He wasn’t the only one.
In the few times Albion got the ball out wide the end product was either weak or misplaced.
As the game wore on it looked as if Villa were going to snatch the victory. The visitors went close with a header before Gestede limped off and so to did Villa’s chances of a victory.
On Reflection
Both sets of players were booed off at full time. It really was that bad. What was worst than Albion’s performance was Tony Pulis’ post match comments.
The Baggies boss tried to mask over his archaic tactics by insisting that Albion fans should be happy that we have taken four points out of six against our rivals. That would be worth shouting about had we not had to endure such turgid rubbish for 90 minutes.
The isn’t the first time we have had to watch such dross either. Pulis made out that because the visitors had spent 84 million pound in the summer that they are somewhat above us as a club.
He’s forgetting that he had an England international in goal. A bloke that has won the Premier League title three times at left back. Two international central defenders.
Albion’s captain has won the Champions League and the Club World Cup once. He’s got six Premier League titles and the same amount of medals for the Community Shield. The other midfielders all have international honours and up front we had the leading scorer in Russia last term.
This by no means least is a team that is lacking any sort of capability or credentials.
Yet it his Pulis tactics which are dragging the club and the side down. The club would like us to believe that we are overachieving. But look at the players we’ve got and put out yesterday. Is this a side that is unable to muster a single shot on target against the worst side in the division? Let alone a local derby!
Pulis must think we’re mugs for trying to mask over such an pathetic performance. The football Albion are playing simply isn’t ‘our’ way. Something has to change.
Come on you Baggies.