[Albion] Carlos Baleba SINGS a 5-year deal

[Ooh it’s a corner]

Eventually I see Gilmour and Baleba as the preferred defensive mid pairing.

Bart

Veltman
Van Hecke
Dunk
Pervis

Gilmour
Baleba

March
Pedro
Mitoma

Ferguson

Everyone available, that would be my starting 11.

Great team but Pascal is a certainty when fit

 

[Husty]

Wasn't completely anonymous today as he got an assist with a love little flick into Mitoma's path for his first goal.

Dahoud just looks like the second coming of Davy Propper. Who himself was the second coming of Robert Codner. That doesn't fill me with great joy. There will be some occasional lovely stuff though.

Baleba, now there's potential all wrapped up in the body of some kind of giant puppy, all bounding around with enthusiasm, legs everywhere and he's going to be some beast when all grown up.

Honestly I remember propped being much more involved in our matches. They really just seem to pass Dahoud by

 

[dwayne]

Way off the pace today. Gonna take a fair few games to get up to scratch. Worried about the centre of midfield at the moment.

 

[Sheebo]

Thought he did alright. Igor was better than Thurs too. Not reading too much into tonight for any players - especially ones who haven’t played regularly - must be so hard.

 

[Mustafa II]

Way off the pace today. Gonna take a fair few games to get up to scratch. Worried about the centre of midfield at the moment.

I know it's your opinion, but you're wrong.

For a 19 year old making his starting debut against a decent enough Premier League team, he showed he's up to it.

Give him 5-10 matches to learn more about what it's alI about, I think he's gonna be absolute quality.

 

[dwayne]

I know it's your opinion, but you're wrong.

For a 19 year old making his starting debut against a decent enough Premier League team, he showed he's up to it.

Give him 5-10 matches to learn more about what it's alI about, I think he's gonna be absolute quality.

Not doubting he will come good. But gave it away time and time again today.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Thought he did alright. Igor was better than Thurs too. Not reading too much into tonight for any players - especially ones who haven’t played regularly - must be so hard.

Yeah I thought Baleba did ok in what was his first start for us. Raw and made some mistakes tonight but he is a force. I thought Igor was decent and Dahoud had his best game so far for us tonight. Plus Pedro, although should have scored, was a constant threat and is such an exciting talent.

Overall I thought it was a good night for the newbies, better than for the old guard.

 

[TottonSeagull]

I know it's your opinion, but you're wrong.

For a 19 year old making his starting debut against a decent enough Premier League team, he showed he's up to it.

Give him 5-10 matches to learn more about what it's alI about, I think he's gonna be absolute quality.

No he isn’t wrong. He was way off the pace tonight. He will be fine but very early days for him!

 

[RandyWanger]

Way off the pace today. Gonna take a fair few games to get up to scratch. Worried about the centre of midfield at the moment.

first part no. Second I agree.

 

[Hugo Rune]

I think the players will deliver on Saturday now which is of course, a lot more important.

If we are to challenge Liverpool or Citeh for top spot next month, we must beat the brummies.

 

[The Wookiee]

I too thought he did well - got forward and thought he was better placed to take the shot on goal before Fati shot and Sanchez saved - was the £115 million Caicedo any better for Chelsea

 

[Zeus]

Yeah I thought Baleba did ok in what was his first start for us. Raw and made some mistakes tonight but he is a force. I thought Igor was decent and Dahoud had his best game so far for us tonight. Plus Pedro, although should have scored, was a constant threat and is such an exciting talent.

Overall I thought it was a good night for the newbies, better than for the old guard.

Thought Dahoud was awful. Zero movement and gave it away a lot. Baleba was very raw and also gave it away tons.

 

[The Fits]

That was a really good test for him against two very good DMs. Looks raw and was definitely nervous and clumsy but it was an important run out for him.
He will be an incredible player.

 

[London Irish]

I thought he had another strong game, we controlled the midfield. MD was ok too. We’re all a bit glum after an underserved loss but I’m liking our depth in midfield at the moment

 

[dazzer6666]

Eventually I see Gilmour and Baleba as the preferred defensive mid pairing.

Bart

Veltman
Van Hecke
Dunk
Pervis

Gilmour
Baleba

March
Pedro
Mitoma

Ferguson

Everyone available, that would be my starting 11.

But…….Groß…….?

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Way off the pace today. Gonna take a fair few games to get up to scratch. Worried about the centre of midfield at the moment.

A little harsh IMO.

He was almost playing on his own last night in midfield such was the level of support offered by others.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Yeah I thought Baleba did ok in what was his first start for us. Raw and made some mistakes tonight but he is a force. I thought Igor was decent and Dahoud had his best game so far for us tonight. Plus Pedro, although should have scored, was a constant threat and is such an exciting talent.

Overall I thought it was a good night for the newbies, better than for the old guard.

Thought Dahoud was poor, otherwise agree.

Dahoud made very few angles, and when we looked for an outlet he was missing. Looked a lot better when he went off.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Thought Dahoud was poor, otherwise agree.

Dahoud made very few angles, and when we looked for an outlet he was missing. Looked a lot better when he went off.

@Bakero has some interesting stats on Dahoud so far and his contribution with the ball, which is reassuring, I do think it’s what he doesn’t do/hasn’t done which is more the issue for me.

Still RdZ has highlighted he is still picking up the system, so hopefully some improvement to come.

 

[Napper]

He lost the ball a fair bit and his control at times questionable but put himself about . Think he will be alright . Looked a walking red card at one stage

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Way off the pace today. Gonna take a fair few games to get up to scratch. Worried about the centre of midfield at the moment.

Stop it now He's a 19 year old in his first start in English football. If people didn't realise its gonna take him a fair few games to get up to scratch BEFORE this match then I worry for the state of football discussion on this site....

If you want our centre midfield to be as good as last years, then i guess you should worry a bit. That's a very high bar to clear. In some ways I've been pleasantly surprised about how we've copied with the loss of Caicedo and Mac, but the key for me is the player who connects the midfield to the attackers, the Lallana role if you will. Fati did it well first half, we missed him second half.