I’m a fairly new Albion supporter having only been attending games since the Mowbray era, but today’s game seemed to sum up my experiences of following the Albion over the last three years. It’s never dull, there is always entertainment and hope, and more often than not you end up disappointed. I guess I’m well on the way to learning what it’s really like to be a Baggie.
WBA lined up with one change from the last game at Fulham, with Morrison coming in for Thomas. Morrison’s inclusion brought a number of grumbles from sections of the Albion support, but within four minutes he went a long way to silencing his doubters, for a while at least. The shortest man on the pitch snuck in front of his marker to meet a Chris Brunt cross and nod in at the near post. I overheard a fan say that he was probably trying harder as his family would be in the crowd. Harsh maybe, but the definition of a ‘rare headed goal’ had put WBA 1-0 up in no time.
Just over a minute later things got even better for the Baggies though. An attempted block tackle in midfield somewhat fortuitously fell into the path of Shane Long and the Irishman showed strength and composure to finish past Minolet. The reaction of the two Baggies fans who arrived with Sunderland kicking off 2-0 down summed it up..... ‘I don’t BELIEVE it!’. WBA 2-0 up in five minutes on the hottest October day ever recorded. I couldn’t believe it either.
Being 2-0 up brings confidence and WBA were showing some neat interplay in midfield and only a couple of good saves from Minolet kept Albion from going further ahead.
But as is usually the way with the Baggies the good times couldn’t last. As happened too often in the last 85 minutes of the game, WBA’s passing through midfield would break down and Sunderland’s pace on the wings from Sessignon and El-Mohammady caused all kind of problems for Albion’s full-backs.
The warning came on 20 minutes when Seb Larsson had a goal ruled out for offside but Sunderland were back in the game three minutes later when Bendtner scored his first goal of the season, taking a lucky deflection off McAuley on the way. Only seven minutes later Sunderland were level when their two wingers combined for the equaliser. Nicky Shorey was worryingly beaten in the air by El-Mohammady at the far post but it was an emphatic header.
For the rest of the half it looked like Sunderland who would be the most likely to score a third goal and only a good save from Foster right at the end of the half kept WBA level at the break.
After the break
As entertaining and eventful as the first half was, the second half was huge disappointment, particularly as Albion barely created a chance of note during the whole 45 minutes. If a team was going to grab a winner it looked far more likely to be Sunderland and only a good save from Foster from another El-Mohammady header kept the game level.
Sunderland were lucky to keep 11 men on the pitch when an already-booked Cattermole clattered into Steven Reid. Cattermole was substituted immediately afterwards to prevent a potential red card and the game petered out into a draw that both teams looked happy with. Roy Hodgson seems to show very little intent to win the game in the second half with his substitutions. Scharner came on for Mulumbu for a straight swap after 73 minutes and Thomas replaced Dorrans in the dying minutes of the game, but it was too late for JT to make any kind of impact.
So the game finished 2-2 and the Baggies picked up a point that maybe many fans would have taken before the game started. Not being able to win after being 2-0 up is frustrating though, as is not building further on an AMAZING start.
It was a strange performance from Albion though with far more negatives than positives. The biggest worry at the moment seems to be the lack of spark in Peter Odemwingie. Nothing he tried came off today and playing alongside a grafter such as Shane Long leads to negative comparisons for the Nigerian. Hodgson though did not agree with the crowd’s belief that Odemwingie should be substituted, even with Tchoyi and Cox on the bench.
The midfield four that played – Brunt, Mulumbu, Dorrans, Morrison – are all good footballers who were involved in some neat interplay at times today but the lack of quality for the final ball into the strikers was hugely apparent. Brunt’s cross for the Morrison goal was the only ball of any quality in 90 minutes of play. A lack of pace from the midfield four also caused problems for WBA by them struggling to support the attack when coming forward and being exposed by Sunderland’s pace when their passing broke down.
What also doesn’t help is the way the team was set up today relies on the full backs to provide the attacking width, something which Shorey and Reid struggled with all afternoon. Shorey had a poor game and was exposed time after time against El-Mohammady.
Any positives to take? Foster made some good saves and could do nothing about the two Sunderland goals. Shane Long should also be praised for his effort and taking his goal well, but the partnership between him and Odemwingie still has much to prove.
I bore my friends with my theories of ‘comparative points’ from the same games in the previous season. WBA are already 5 points down on the corresponding fixtures of last season and these points have to be made up somewhere if the team are going to survive / move on. Let’s hope they can make two of those ‘comparative points’ up at the next home game against Wolves.
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