Di Matteo: Luke Moore’s performances have cost him squad place

Saturday 4th September 2010, 12:55PM BST.

Di Matteo: Luke Moore’s performances have cost him squad place

Roberto Di Matteo today insisted Luke Moore’s performances have cost the Albion outcast his place in the 25-man Premier League squad.

Moore will be urged to leave The Hawthorns on loan after being omitted from the compulsory squad and consequently ruled out of Premier League action until January at the earliest.

And head coach Di Matteo stressed that the £3.5m forward’s form last season has left him seventh in the pecking order of forwards at the club.

“Last season he was involved quite a lot and started quite a lot of games,” said Di Matteo.

“At the end of the day I have to look at performances and what he brings to the team. Towards the end of the season he wasn’t involved as much and then I had to make a decision this season.

“The fact we signed Marco Fortune and I have Ishmael Miller, Peter Odemwingie, Roman Bednar, Chris Wood and Simon Cox means I have plenty of choices up there.”

Di Matteo informed Moore in person of his decision and he will now encourage the former Villa man to agree to a loan spell to avoid four months with only cup and reserve football.

“I spoke to Luke a couple of times,” said Di Matteo. “Obviously he wasn’t full of joy about it but I have to make decisions. The fact he can’t play for us until January means it would be better for him if he went out on loan, rather than just training.”

Moore’s prospects at Albion looked bleak from the end of last season, when his lack of form left him out of favour.

But the arrival of Odemwingie and Fortune in the last fortnight left him further marginalised.


  1. 1
    JACK the HAT.

    Moores couldn’t care less attitude has got him where he is now. Luke you’ve had ample
    chances to prove youself, always remember you reap what you sow and only get out what you put in. You can only be angry with yourself. So long.

    ~~~~BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.

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  2. 2
    Cyril Randle

    This topic will raise lots of comment no doubt, but in all honesty, is there anything sadder than huge talent wasted, for what ever reason? Might I suggest Walsall or Derby to resurrect his career. Or Coventry maybe?

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  3. 3
    baggie 88

    i for 1 and so glad that moore didnt make the cut.i hope thats the last we will see of him in an albion shirt.for me,if a player isnt good enough then the least you do is give your all abit like lets say craig beattie or goin a while back quinn.they was lets face it poor but ran there heart out for the course.this is my main problem with moore,hes lazy and seems like he believes everythink should evolve arpund him,like hes the best player or something.im open to debate on the subject but im right…hes a waiste of space…FACT

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  4. 4
    Baggie

    What a shame all that tallent wasted with a player who’s ego has stoped him trying and fighting for his place. I really hope he wakes up and smells the coffee before hes playing carear is over. Just wished we would of sold him instaed we just keep paying he’s wage I bet he’s laughing all the way to the bank.

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  5. 5
    SIR TERRY BAGGIE

    Send him to wolfs they sign strikers that dont score goals,aye boing boing

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  6. 6
    tone the baggie

    deserves to be left out, i wanted him to be a success for us and ive always got behind him but his performances on the pitch are why he is where he is now

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  7. 7
    keefy

    What a shame ‘not’ had so much potentialas a young player, but ive never seen such a lazy player. Possibly the worst player ever to wear our great shirt!

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  8. 8
    Baggiebob

    Luke Moore and his brother were promising youth players at Villa, but neither lived up to expectations. I was surprised when Albion brought him in and feel he has offered us very little. Let’s hope he can rebuild his career somewhere else.

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  9. 9
    Stuart WbafcWaite

    Good luck in future luke think its best for both parties to move on

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  10. 10
    rob williams

    he may not av been happy ,the guy is in a privelaged position playing professional football , so if e aint happy the only person e has to blame is himself. if i performed like him i would be out of a job. stop feeling sorry for yourself

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  11. 11
    baggieinmanc

    Warren
    I tried to reply on the other stream but it ran it’s course.
    To answer your question it’s Eccles, which is both Manchester and Salford for some reason (Manc Address, Salford council). The area is a red stronghold, so in turn there’s not many people who understand football in around here!
    For me, to support a team you have to stick with them through the tough times and if you have never seen your club suffer how can you say you’ve really supported them?
    Anyway I hope that answers your question and gives you an insight as to why I like coming on this site!
    As for LM, I’ve said it before, I’m glad he won’t feature as I think he is a talented footballer.
    What I mean by this is that it seems to me that he shows a lot of promise in training but rarely produces on a match day. Several managers have been sucked into believing they can draw that talent out. This usually ends up in Moore getting the nod above players like Wood and Cox who are probably less impressive in training but have a cutting edge and a hunger in a match situation.
    I think mentally we’ve destroyed him. Maybe before it was laziness but now I think it’s a mental block. I don’t think he could produce the goods for the Baggies even if he wanted to.
    Hopefully he will go on loan to a Championship side and score a shed load of goals for them. It would be ashame if he capitulated at this early stage in his career.
    Best of Luck Luke, I hope your next move is more fruitfull.
    Boing Boing.

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  12. 12
    Bewdley Steve

    A bigger waste of money than when we purchased the wrong Paul Williams from Stockport many years ago. Not interested except in his own ego. When he could not even stop to have his photograph taken with the mascots when selected to play, to me that says a lot about the person. Too big for his own boots. What a great return for 3 million pounds, 5 goals in three seasons. Sorry but for me even LA Galaxy is to near for me to have him play. He wouldn’t get in an under 10 side. Pay him off and bite the bullet Jeremy. We really did our homework on Luke. Enough said.

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  13. 13
    Androo

    Reading the posts on here and the west brom dot cotton dot com site.He wont be missed.lazy couldnt care less attitude while wearing the shirt(that wasnt a claret and blue one) maybe now we can see how good his agent is at getting him a cushtie contract elsewhere to match the one the loser has been on for the past few seasons.

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  14. 14
    RSM

    The first time I saw him play i said he aws lazy…………. I have not been proved wrong

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  15. 15
    Marcus

    Luke Moore has great potential but has never looked interested when playing for Albion. I cant remember him having a half decent game. He always looks lethargic and should never have been seen in a baggies shirt. Very poor.

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  16. 16
    Matt M

    Real Bully,

    I want to defend myself from a comment (a non offensive one I might add) that you made on another thread a couple of few days ago.
    I used to post under the name Long Long Long. I didn’t use this name in disguise, it was the only name I posted under (after my favourite Beatles song)

    Cyril commented some time ago that it would be nice if posters used there real names. I thought it was a good point so that’s the only reason I changed it.

    I believe the reason for our debate was caused by me defending Nick the Greeks opinion, which in turn caused a bit of a gang up from yourself, Warren and jth – similar to the Smilling / Rose debate.

    It was all in good spirit though.

    Report abuse

  17. 17
    Matt M

    Baggie 88 makes a good point.

    I remember Quinn being a very good player with all the skill in the world but he couldn’t seem to find the net.

    The big difference between him and Moore is as 88 pointed out, Quinn did try hard.

    Another good example is Micky Evans.
    As a player I always thought he was over weight but I remember the thunderous applause the guy got when being subbed purely down to commitment and workrate.

    Evans didn’t have a patch on Moore for natural ability but us Albion fans would always back hard work and commitment over a very talented player that doesn’t seem to care less.

    I hope the lad finds a decent club and scores some goals.

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  18. 18
    John Dillinger

    Give me TonY Rees over luke nomoore any day. Not just for the mustache either.

    Report abuse

  19. 19
    Wbaforever

    Proof possitive that spending big money on transfer fees is not always a catalyst for success.

    Moore £3.5M
    Barnett £3.25M
    Valero £4,75M

    Some £11M for relative failures.
    OK, in Man City terms it`s loose change, but for Albion it`s a huge ammount that we are unliklely to recover anywhere near.

    It didn`t work out for these players at the Baggies, but they could prosper elsewhere, indeed in the case of Valero….it has.

    I wish them all well.

    Report abuse

  20. 20
    The Real Bully Hoo.

    16 Matt.
    Apologies, I got the wrong end of the stick (definitely not the first time and almost certainly not the last.) I thought that you were a Wulfie coming clean, your name probably helped confuse my muddled faculties.

    The reason I have such a downer on these ‘Wolf in Striped clothing’ type posts is that on a number of occasions I’ve spent time putting together a post in reply to what I’ve taken to be a genuine Albion fan, only to have Warren or Forever point out that I’ve fallen for the sucker punch.

    This leads to me and I’m sure a few others thinking why bother? And ultimately will ruin the site by leaving it in the hands of the morons.

    Again I apologise to you Wall Heath and anyone else I’ve wrongly accused although I still have my doubts about Baggie Rose. The problem is that Laughing Wolf’s obsession with all things Albion has turned him into a sort of deranged stalker, not unlike the woman in that TV programme last night. Perhaps his first season was when we overhauled their 11 point lead and it’s left mental scars too deep to be erased.

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  21. 21
    The Real Bully Hoo.

    11 BIM.
    Excellent post which includes pretty much everything we know about Luke Moore except one thing. What goes on inside his head. I don’t suppose we will ever find out. I’ve driven myself barmy trying to work him out to the point where I’ve decided that it ain’t worth worrying about any more. Like many before me have said, what a waste of ability.

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  22. 22
    Cyril Randle

    Thomas Edison said, ‘Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration’. The best players know this.

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  23. 23
    Hall Green Baggie

    To be fair, he often seems to start brightly enough – gets involved, maybe has a shot – but after 15-20 minutes he just disappears and it’s like playing with 10 men. I think we’d all have been banging our heads on the desk if he’d made the 25.

    I’d quite like to see him do well out on loan, if he could have a bright start at some lower league outfit it might break whatever cycle he’s stuck in.

    Report abuse

  24. 24
    Warren

    Baggieinmanc

    I wondered because I’ve lived up here for the past 9 years, I’m living in Fallowfield at the moment.

    I’ve met a few other Baggies up here, primarily through the Manchester Supporters Club on Facebook, although nobody seems to do too much in terms of meeting up/going out etc.

    I went to Holland for the Venlo game pre-season and met an Albion fan who lives in Failsworth, he either runs a pub or has something to do with one and says they have all the Albion games on foreign satellite if there are people who can’t make the game. The Black Country Albion coaches also stop there on the way to a lot of the North-West away games.

    I dunno if you knew any of this already or if you’d be interested but I’d be happy to let you know where it is and if anybody is going to watch it.

    Report abuse

  25. 25
    WALL HEATH BAGGIE

    On an earlier board i was somewhat put out about the anti England feeling .
    Yes i know we were awful in South Africa but we should be getting behind the team , it is our national team after all.
    As for the London bias, it should be noted that only 4 of the starting line up on Friday came from London Clubs.

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  26. 26
    Robin Brittain

    WBAFOREVER 19

    It is a gamble when you sign young players although Valero did have top flight experience. It proves why experienced premier league fetch such a premium. It seemed to me that for a major part of most of the matches he played in the game just passed him by. In the recent match against Leyton Orient he was bright for the opening 20 minutes and then faded completely.
    I don’t think it’s deliberate he just seem unable to concentrate on what he’s supposed to be doing. Neither the Villa or the Albion have been able to change him and I think it would be a good thing for Luke if he moved to a club some distance from his roots where he may become more focused on his career.

    Report abuse

  27. 27
    SIR TERRY BAGGIE

    24 i couldent care less if england never won agen,just the same same as i couldent less what happens to luke moore, the only thing i care about is mekin sure that we tek 6 points of the dingles n send um down aye boing boing

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  28. 28
    WALL HEATH BAGGIE

    27 SIR TERRY BAGGIE

    Thank you for your insightful thoughts.As ever you have cut right to the chase, frankly we are not worthy.

    Report abuse

  29. 29
    The Real Bully Hoo.

    25 Wall Heath.

    Not unusual for us to differ but for me it isn’t just about the selection of players. It’s about the rest of the country being frozen out of supporting their country. Why did the National Stadium have to be hidden away in the South East. The outragious cost of this meant selling many seats off for every event to claw some of this overspend back, something it’s only viable to buy if you live locally. But also the reason a lot of fans could miss out on seeing their team in a Cup Final. Most England games are midweek evening games, what chance a working man from another part of the country getting to these.
    As for players, it would have been more London based if Lampard, Terry and possibly a couple of others had been fit.
    Players from our clubs usually have to move to a ‘big’ club to be rcognised, Bryan Robson, Trevor Francis, Gareth Barry to name a few.
    Like you I used to be a dedicated England fan. I’ve had that heritage stolen from me by the FA, big business and the London centric media.

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  30. 30
    WALL HEATH BAGGIE

    REAL BULLY HOO

    Could not really argue against much of that , i used to go to see England regularly but the cost of it now puts it beyond my finances.
    England should play more in the provinces, but the FA made a right mess of building Wembley and need to get back all the money they wasted.
    I will still be cheering them on tonight however, i guess old habits die hard, bit like being a Baggie !!!.

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