Jase

I questioned the wisdom of starting Werner as the ST against West Brom but given they actually pressed us high up instead of sitting back, there was actually space for us to exploit but we did F all with it. Also, think it's becoming clearer that Tuchel wants mobility, pace, link-up etc from the person leading the line. Giroud doesn't provide that unless he scores. Werner can provide that but that's not his best position. Havertz would have started today, IMO, had he not started all 3 of Germany's games.

West Brom scored 5 goals from an xG of 1.41 today. They had one of those days.

1. If we can't beat West Brom without Kante and Mount, then we are really shit. 2. I don't think they are THAT important till the point we can't win most games without them, especially Mount. Only 2 weeks ago, we were lauding this team a lot for beating Atletico Madrid convincingly and that was without Mount. 3. Even if Kante had been fit today, I don't think he would have started considering we all thought West Brom were gonna just sit back and defend and his lack of passing ability would not have been useful. What transpired is a different story. 4. This match also showed I said several times last summer that we needed another defensive midfielder, a Kante backup. When he's out, we literally have no one that can come in and do what he does because Jorginho and Kovacic are absolutely useless defensively. We literally have not replaced Matic from ages ago!

It feels like the warning signs were already there in the last game against Sheffield United and things just blew up completely today. We were already pretty rubbish even before the red card happened.

Callum Robinson has scored 5 Premier League goals in his career. All 5 have come against us!

IIRC, we have not won any of our early kick offs under Tuchel. Southampton, Leeds and now West Brom.

That's twice now, including that potential PK call earlier. And all this after that Silva red card. The ref is a fucking joke!

7 in both games this season.

I can't tell if Werner was scared to go for himself there or did he make right, unselfish decision to pass to Mount because the keeper closed in on him fast. And at this rate, he's gonna end the season with more assists than goals.

6 goals conceded against West Brom this season...21% of our overall league tally.

The left wing and midfield again...

Are West Brom even defending deep? They have been pressing high up the field, instead of just sitting back and camping in their own 18-yard box, which I think all of us were expecting them to.

Him getting forward as a WB is not a surprise but it's not like he's done anything useful.

What has he done exactly? We had a front 3 of Pulisic, Werner and Ziyech and our attacking plan, certainly before the red card, was all about just crossing balls to Alonso at the far post.

Never mind missing chances, you talked as if we even create lots of chances to begin with. Excluding own goals and penalties, our xG has only been higher than 2 in ONE of the previous 14 games under Tuchel. In fact, our overall xG for the season is only about 2 higher than our goals scored, IIRC.

Jorginho aside, the first half also showed why Alonso is utterly useless defensively when up against someone with pace.

About to get shithoused by Big Sam again.

Got beaten by the simplest of route 1 football. Fucking embarrassing!

Is this happening again!?

Silva should never play against West Brom...ever again.

Yeah. Thought he would start on the left or right instead. Understandable to rest Havertz but think Giroud also didn't play too much during the recent France games.

But I question the wisdom of starting Werner as the central striker in this particular fixture.

Word is that he's not fully fit yet, given his ankle problem.