Baggies must kill off opposition

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The draw with Tottenham on Saturday would have been viewed differently at 5pm as opposed to had it been offered prior to the 3:07pm kick-off. Naturally.

3-3? It sounds like a thriller, and it would have been for the neutral. Until you realise, of course, from an Albion perspective, the sequence in which the goals went in: especially the final one.

For the second consecutive Hawthorns encounter, Baggies fans left the stadium suffering stoppage time heartbreak, the more disappointed side following a 3-3 stalemate. Mats Moller Daehli, Christian Eriksen… these Scandinavians, eh?

Quite simply, Albion have to learn to kill opposition off, and fast. Going 3-0 up before half time, regardless of the fact that the team they’re playing are chasing Europe, and not seeing the game out, is sinful.

Yes, Spurs defensively were appalling, but the Baggies started like a house on fire, a trait we’ve recently become accustomed to. Vydra worked tirelessly, as did Sessegnon behind him, closing Tottenham’s defenders down and chasing long balls, one of which resulted in the latter’s goal.

The visitors’ way back into the game was extremely unfortunate, mind you. Jonas Olsson probably couldn’t believe his luck when his efforts to block Kyle Naughton’s low cross only succeeded in helping the ball over Ben Foster’s head.

We barely got out of our own half in the second period, as to be expected. Vydra was shattered and rightly substituted, but I was slightly confused by Pepe Mel’s decision to send on Saido Berahino. With the ball repeatedly coming back at us for the whole half, I’m pretty convinced Victor Anichebe’s aerial and physical presence would’ve been better suited.

Ultimately, it was a case of deja vu. The ball should have been dealt with (there were enough striped shirts in and around the box) but instead Foster found himself picking the ball out of his net once again in the 93rd minute.

Without Yaya Toure and most likely David Silva and Sergio Aguero on Easter Monday, we might just have a chance of repeating what Sunderland managed to achieve at Manchester City last night, barring any goalkeeping calamities.

It was certainly a quiet Saturday in the Premier League, but it was great to see Liverpool pay a fitting tribute to the 96 with a superb victory over title rivals City. I think we can now expect to see Steven Gerrard lift the Premier League trophy on May 11; I don’t really know anyone who deserves it more.

Boing Boing!

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