A selection of West Brom fans took to Twitter to rave over the performance of midfield veteran Wes Hoolahan after he made his first start for the club in the League Cup defeat to Crystal Palace on Tuesday night.
A brace from Andros Townsend, which sandwiched a fierce strike from Patrick Van Aaonholt, ensured that it was the Eagles who triumphed to progress to the next round, with Baggies boss Darren Moore having made 10 changes to his starting XI.
One of those switches was Hoolahan, the 38-year-old joining on a free transfer, and he left the fans impressed on social media despite the result.
This is Futbol has gathered a selection of the supporters’ tweets:
Besides Morrison and Hoolahan there was pretty much no point us even turning up #wba
— Jonathan Pratt (@JonathanPratt_) September 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/ryannwbafc/status/1044678268853637120
Very encouraging signs of link up play between Barry Mozza & Hoolahan in that 1st half. Valuable minutes under their belts as well for all of them.
— Bobby Sond (@bsond2015) September 25, 2018
While Hoolahan and Morrison are amingst our better performers, it is the fact that they are playing together that is making us so toothless. No forwars runs once the ball gets to them. One needs to be pushed deeper to allow for a Burke/Edwards/Leko to come on.
— John Francis (@JohnFrancisBC) September 25, 2018
Halftime: WBA 0 Crystal Palace 1 Early goal from Palace and the better side in the first half. Mozza, Hoolahan and Hegazi looking good and sloppy passing and clearance in the back. #COYB
— West Bromwich USA (@WBAUSA) September 25, 2018
The pick of the bunch so far for Albion tonight are the old boys. Mozza, Barry, Hoolahan and Myhill.
— Dave Neale (@baggiedave70) September 25, 2018
Rate Wes a lot.
— RichardH (@Geordiebaggie) September 25, 2018
Hoolihan actually looks neat and tidy and Mears can’t be worse than nyom
— Jon Weaver (@weavo910) September 25, 2018
Opinion
The former Norwich City man was brought in to bring some quality in depth to the Baggies side and that is exactly what he showed on Tuesday night, the fans appreciating him for the experienced head that he is. Yes, he is not going to be a mainstay in the starting XI, with his fitness levels likely to be lacking as he heads towards 40, but at the same time his vision and technique were clearly on display. He helped to dictate the game at times, with West Brom by no means overran for large sections of the game, and he fashioned a decent chance or two which could not be converted by those ahead of him. He will now likely drop back to the bench for the league matches but at least Moore knows that he has a reasonably decent option to call upon from the bench if the need comes about.