After results had gone for the Baggies yesterday, Albion’s first victory at Ewood Park in more than 20 years ago would’ve put some breathing space between us and the three ‘Ws” in the relegation zone.
Boaz Myhill kept his place between the sticks with Jonas Olsson replacing Graham Dorrans in the only change to the side which thrillingly beat Blackpool last weekend. Paul Scharner would play in his preferred midfield position alongside Youssouf Mulumbu after Olsson’s return.
First half
Albion started the game in the best possible fashion with Peter Odemwingie unlucky not to open the scoring inside the first minute. James Morrison chased down a loose ball in the midfield and the striker ran on to the ball before firing a volley towards goal. Paul Robinson dived to his right before palming the ball around the post.
The visitors were showing the kind of early season form which had shown us pick up points at The Emirates and Old Trafford. Paul Scharner and Youssouf Mulumbu shielded the back-four nicely with Albion looking threatening on the counter attack.
Jerome Thomas, who had the beating of his full back all afternoon, turned inside Michael Salgado before crossing towards the near post. Paul Scharner reached the cross before the on-rushing Robinson and played the ball back to Thomas. The winger fired the ball towards goalwards between the legs of the on rushing keeper, but agonisingly for Albion it rolled across the goal and out for a corner – another player in the six yard box would’ve had a tap-in.
Rovers replied with a sustained spell of pressure on the Albion goal and Boaz Myhill had to be at his best to keep Martin Olsson’s effort out. The keeper, who didn’t see the ball until late, did well to get his legs in the way of the shot.
From the resulting corner, Myhill had to be alert again to save another shot after he superbly palmed away Christopher Samba’s effort for another corner.
Albion looked as if they had weathered the storm and would go into the break on level terms. But just as against Fulham they conceded moments before the half time whistle through a defensive error. David Dunn shrugged off Youssouf Mulumbu too easy and crossed from the right. Gabriel Tamas, under pressure from Roque Santa Cruz, mistimed his jump and horribly headed his clearance towards goal and over the outstretched hand of Boaz Myhill. Once again Albion had gifted the opposition the most simplest of goals.
After the break
I hoped to see some sort of response after going a goal down minutes before half time. What I watched wasn’t what I had hoped for. Junior Hoilett picked up the ball 30 yards from goal. Paul Scharner and Gonzalo Jara were nowhere to be seen with Gabriel Tamas equally ineffective as he failed to stop the winger dropping his shoulder before flashing a rasping 20 yard effort past Myhill.
Ninety seconds into the second half and the game was over.
The goal seemed to knock the wind out of Albion’s sails as again we passed the ball nicely until the final third but either lacked bodies in the box or needlessly gave the ball away.
Jerome Thomas – who was easily Albion’s best player on the day – picked up the ball on the left and jinked inside before firing a shot which looked to be heading into the bottom corner. But Paul Robinson again came to Rovers’ rescue when he dived to his left to make the save.
Myhill made another good save before Thomas again stung the hands of Robinson. The winger picked up the ball from James Morrison and again left Salgado corkscrewing into the turf. Robinson dashed out and smothered Thomas’ left footed ‘dink’ at the second attempt.
Then came another shocking decision Albion has been on the wrong end of this season. Weeks after Gary Neville committed assault on Graham Dorrans, Peter Odemwingie was clearly caught inside the area from behind by Martin Olsson. Everybody in the ground knew it was a penalty, even Andy Gray FFS shouted “penalty” on SKY TV! But for some unknown reason Mark Clattenburg gave a free kick a yard OUTSIDE the area! I’m not sure why Albion’s players and coaching staff accepted the decision without so much fuss either. Could you imagine Manure and Sir Alex accepting something as blatant as that? We need to start standing up for ourselves in this division. Di Matteo needs to be more commanding on the touchline. Shout and swear at the fourth official if he has to. Point the finger at the referee. Standing there with his hands in his pockets helps nobody.
Unfortunately for Albion the game petered out with a number of familiar shortcomings again coming back to rear their ugly heads.
On reflection
We desperately need to bring in another striker and revert back to 4-4-2. James Morrison was totally shocking today as the most advanced midfielder. If we need to play somebody high up the field to support Peter Odemwingie then surely it has to be Cox? Too many Albion players again failed to show their true quality. Only Myhill and Olsson played well at the back; Scharner looked lost at times in midfield and should’ve been replaced instead of Mulumbu; Brunt and Morrison were equally ineffective. Morrison has been out of form for weeks and needs to be dropped. He gives the ball away too often, is too ‘lightweight’, can’t head the ball, can’t tackle and doesn’t offer a goal threat. After that performance I’m starting to wonder what he does offer. Odemwingie was isolated up front and lost interest. Something has to change.
We need new faces in the squad and fast. When the going gets tough Odemwingie gets going. I like Peter but he doesn’t battle, doesn’t hold the ball up and lets his head drop too quickly. He needs support for a start. Playing Morrison thirty yards behind him isn’t working. The ball is coming back too quickly. Playing another striker up there would give him more chance of getting on the ball in dangerous areas and us more chance of keeping possession. We’ve also got this habit of shooting ourselves in the foot. We have to keep our concentration from the first minute to the last. It’s no good arguing about poor decisions if we don’t help ourselves by giving ourselves a chance first.
COME ON YOU BAGGIES!