Chapter 1: What were Saido Berahino's thoughts on the match against Crystal Palace?
Delighted to say that Saido Berejino is the man of the match and waiting to speak to us now live from the Hawthorns. Congratulations Saido, how much did you enjoy that?
It was good, you know, it was good coming back and getting a win at home that we all deserve. I think we worked really hard and credit to the boys, you know, we put a great shift. Fair play to Crystal Palace, second half, they came at us, but we stood our ground and we hold our own and we got the three points that we needed.
Where do you think that performance came from then, Sido, to find yourselves 3-0 up after 30 minutes after what happened last week?
You know, we all worked hard on the training pitch this week, coming up against Crystal Palace. I thought all the boys stuck together after losing to Reading, we were all disappointed. And it was great to see all of us were at it and we started clicking and we got the goals. So the fans were brilliant, I just hope they enjoyed that.
Saido, Jamie read that. Congratulations. I just want to ask you about your role today and obviously your relationship with Rondon and Sessegnon. It looked like you really enjoyed it and you had some great movements going on today.
Yeah, we've been working hard at the training ground. We haven't clicked as much as we would like to, but today he came off and especially for the first goal, he made a great run and I gave it to him. He didn't get his goal today, but he worked really hard for us.
Son, I look at you, you're 22 years of age. I watch you tonight and I see such a talented young man. And I think, well, why can't you be doing that week in, week out for your team and for your manager? This is the sort of standards you've set now.
You've got to be looking surely to try and find a way of getting into that European Championship squad in the summer as well with the way you're playing tonight.
Yeah, a lot has happened in the past and I'm just looking to put that behind me and focus on finishing the season strong. I put my hand up and I blame myself really for letting my standard drop, but I'm not looking into the past anymore and I'm going to try and do the best for the team and also contribute with the goals.
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Chapter 2: How did West Brom manage to take an early lead against Crystal Palace?
Palace wanted to play the game in the first half at a tempo which... which made it impossible for them to win the game over 90 minutes. And West Brom was having none of that. They were front foot, right in the face of Crystal Palace. And when they got the ball back, they played some great football and made chances.
And in the second half, they started at Crystal Palace, like where we've grown used to watching a good Palace team play in this season with Alan Pardew. It was just too little, too late, I think. But I think over the 90 minutes, you'd have to say West Brom done more than enough in the first half to get the three points.
Great start for them, Jamie. Did that set the tone? Certainly did. From Palace's point of view, poor piece of defender. I mentioned sort of the shape that they lose. Scott Dam initially goes to get the ball off his goalkeeper way and then he says, I actually think, go on, slide it out.
I know Palace aren't really the sort of side that want to play from the back, but once that happens, you have a bit of a major problem because they lose their shape. You can see him there. He ends up being so deep. But take nothing at all away from West Brom. It's a fantastic link-up play. There's the man I thought was brilliant today, Berrejino. and Rondon and Sessegnon. Chris mentioned them.
They were absolutely brilliant all game. The link-up plays great. And I look at that ball and I think, you haven't really got too much options there, have you, Chris? No. It has to be a fantastic pass. But he manages to slide a little ball through there to Rondon, who gets a march on Delaney, hits it really well.
Decent save, but I think Craig Gardiner deserves a lot of credit as well because he follows it up, Chris, doesn't he? He does, yeah.
And, you know, this goal, Craig Gardiner looked first, first on the scene. And West Brom were like that. First 45 minutes, always first, always first. Including on a set piece, which got them two up. Well, yeah. I mean, we highlighted this half-time and, you know, we thought, look, it's not an in-swinger, it's an out-swinger. The wall's in the wrong position.
Palace have got, you know, there's the goal scorer there, Dawson. You know, he has a 10-yard run to attack this ball unopposed. And at that level, you know, you can't accept that. Palace will be disappointed. The defenders, Scott, Dan, will be disappointed. He's probably Palace's best header of the ball.
And Dawson gets a run, and it goes to show you, it doesn't matter how good you are, if you let someone get a run at you, they're going to win.
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Chapter 3: What were the defensive issues faced by Crystal Palace in the first half?
But that pass has got to be something else. It really has. You've got to wait it, fly it, just over Scott Dan's head. It has to be absolute perfection, but it is. Look at that. It just floated in at the right pace. And then it's a wonderful finish as well by Saino Berejina. It really is. What's good about that finish then? Just the way that it comes over his shoulder.
Now, I think this is a young man. I think he's been getting a little bit of extra training and doing a lot of finishing. And you can see that it's really paying off. Because I actually thought today his performance was... Brilliant. We don't see enough of him at times, but every now and again we need a reminder. And you can see there, these are his touches all game. He was absolutely everywhere.
He really was. It started off pretty early. I was actually interested to see. I was looking forward to it. Chris and I were talking about it before the game. Let's see what he's got today. Let's find out a little bit about him because there's been a lot of chat. But that set the tempo for me. Moments like that, winning the ball back, because that's always been the question mark.
Does he want to do the dirty work for his team? He ran more than anybody else today on the whole pitch. More sprints. And I thought he was magnificent. I really did. But he's set a really high standard for himself now, Chris, hasn't he?
Could this be a new role for him, Chris, supporting that striker, which allows him to get into these goalscoring positions as well?
He's proved he can play up top, running in behind, and he can play off the front. He's played wide. And like Jamie says, his work rate today was absolutely fantastic. He worked harder than anybody else on the pitch. As we've seen, he covered more ground. He was in more areas than everybody else on the pitch. And his influence on this three points was, well, that's why he's got man of the match.
He was absolutely first class.
I don't know the boy. I don't know him. I'm looking completely from the outside. I see a 22-year-old with so much ability. God-given ability, the way that he moves with the ball, that low centre of gravity, he can see a pass, he can score a goal. And I think to myself, well, when's the penny going to drop?
When is he going to stop worrying about getting away from football club and doing everything else apart from playing football? Because the rewards will come to him because he has the ability to go right to the top.
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Chapter 4: What changes did Crystal Palace make in the second half to improve their performance?
But if he plays like that, West Brom will get really good money for him and all the rewards will come to him because he's got genuine talent. There's not many players like him. There really isn't.
I totally agree. I think he's exciting. But having talent, God-given talent, it's not enough. You have to have the mentality to go. If you're going to play at the top level, top-level players have got the mentality. Nine times out of ten, they do it. Nine times out of ten. Not here and there. And I think because what turned Billy Newell's head was last summer when there was a bit turned down.
And I think he let that get on top of him and let it affect him. I think he's already come out and said that himself as a kid. I met him last week for the first time. Real nice boy, real nice boy. He's obviously got the talent, and when his mentality is right like it was today, then for me, absolutely, absolutely fantastic player and definitely a player for England in the future, for sure.
Let's have a look at the Palace fight back, because it was a totally different second half.
We'll be expecting this. Balassi comes on, changes the whole... I'm sure Alan Pardew will be kicking himself if he didn't start him. I think as a manager, he probably wouldn't give the players that had such a good result last week at Tottenham another chance. But as soon as Balassi comes on, it changes the whole complexion of the game. He wasn't involved in the first goal. That's just really...
poor defender from a player that I think is as honest as they come in Jonas Olsen. He very rarely, if he makes a mistake, it's just one of those where he just perhaps misjudges it. You can see him here. I think if I just stop it there, just take that back just a little bit, he actually can see, he's looking at his goalkeeper there. He's looking at Foster and he can see, is he coming, is he not?
Because that's probably the area where Conor Wickham just knocks it over his head. But he then, if you keep your eye on Foster, he just takes a couple of steps back just there. then that's the mistake. I tell you what, though, Chris, you said it when it happened, he takes it really well, doesn't he, with his left foot?
He's cool and calm because, you know, it's all happening very, very quickly. He does well there, Connor Wickham, and he's got a lot to do there, you know. All the defenders are getting back on the line and if he snatches that, it probably goes over the bar, but he's really calm and it's a cool finish. A lot to do there. What about his second?
Oh, he had even more to do with the second than what a finish this was.
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Chapter 5: How did Connor Wickham's goals impact the game for Crystal Palace?
Well, I think the big thing, and we've not made a big thing of it, is that we've missed him for half a season.
Him and Solomon together are a handful when they play as well as they have done today, and unfortunately we haven't had it for half a season, so we've missed, as I've said before, if you take Kane out of Tottenham's team, and even Vardy out of Leicester's team, there's a massive gap and a massive hole for those teams, and Sido's as good for us as those two are for their clubs.
I mean, Tony, first half, especially the third goal, I thought it was as good a team goal as you wished to see. How difficult was it second half when you could see the game starting to go away from you?
Well, we've just had a chat with Jonas, a normal chat that I usually have, James, and you can't let things bounce.
First ten minutes, quarter of an hour of the second half was very important to us, and if we could just make sure that we're nice and solid, we thought there'd be more gaps that would open up, and I thought we played really well first half, and we'd have more opportunities and more chances. But it gives them a leg up, and their second goal was a fantastic strike.
and then you're on edge, you know, you are on edge, but fair play to our lads, we've seen it through, and it's a great, great result for us.
And that's 35 points as well now, Tony. People say, well, it's not perhaps been a great season. 35 points for West Brom, I think you're doing pretty well, mate, to be honest.
Well, the last nine games, I think we're sixth in the Premiership, that's the stats, and we haven't lost at our place since Boxing Day, I think we've won three or four and drawn a couple, so we're doing OK, and like I say, if you look at the circumstances, Morrison's missing, he's a top player for us, we've had Brunty out, and it looks like we're going to have him out for a little bit longer, Seidel's not been around, the team in our position needs their best players on the pitch,
The lads have done fantastic to get 35 points and we've still got 11 games to go.
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Chapter 6: What was Tony Pulis's reaction to the match and the team's performance?
Because, you know, we're going to need his quality at some stage, but we never really give him a chance in the game today. So, as I say, really and truly, it could have been either one of them.
blatant penalty they thought they should have had, and it was pretty much the view of both of you as well, but what might have distracted the referee?
Well, we've got it here. I'm going to just highlight, just peeking through there, Joe Ledley. There he is, you can see the beard. He's talking to the referee, he's saying, look, look, he's saying, I'm getting manhandled all the time by Jakob, who's marking him. So I think what he does there, John Moss, he just keeps his eye on that. You can see there, Jakob's got behind him, he's tight.
And you can see, as that ball then comes into the box, his attention is drawn to those two players. Look there, you can almost see it. Can you see him there? He's looking at that. What he should really be looking at is this. We see it here in the second angle. It's not just a penalty, it's not far from an assault. You know, Chris?
Oh, look, I mean, that's the best angle. And Scott, Dan, Alan Pardew's right. The only reason he doesn't head that ball into the back of the net is because of the challenge from Macaulay, and it's an absolute stonewall penalty. No question. But the referee's looking at Joe Ledley, who's saying to him, look, Jakob's manhandling me, he's pulling me down.
And he's looking at that, and he should have been looking at... Moral of the story, don't talk to the referee. Don't talk to me about that.
What about the second one? Is it a possible trip on Balassi?
Well, yeah, and I think the argument would be, well, the ball was getting away from Balassi, but it doesn't matter. The point is, is a foul. Is there contact? Yes. I think it's Fletcher's left leg that he dangles out. Balassi just lets the ball roll. Look, Fletcher's left leg onto Balassi's right leg.
Anywhere else on the pitch is a foul, isn't it?
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