Albion went looking at the Hawthorns for a solution to a 23-year-old problem. They found only some familiar questions instead.
How do we stop conceding from set pieces? How do we turn all that football into goals? Most of all, how on earth do we beat Aston Villa?
After the Baggies’ successes in that recent flurry of Black Country contests, the Derby Without A Name saw neighbours Aston Villa end a perfect week by strengthening their grip on this fixture, one they haven’t lost since Carl Valentine popped in a winning goal in the year of Live Aid.
Sadly for Albion, all the charitable donations this time came from their own defenders.
Two flimsy moments from central duo Leon Barnett and Jonas Olsson, in the space of 90 seconds, saw Villa score the goals which would win them the game.
This left Albion’s back-line as red faced as the poor ballboy, who would later slip on his backside when retrieving the ball in front of the Smethwick End.
That at least amused the home fans but not much else did, as John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor became the beneficiaries of Albion’s brittle resistance.
John Carew scored with a header direct from Ashley Young’s free-kick, before unleashing sufficient chaos to give his partner the chance to add the second.
James Morrison, who provided some compensation for Albion with a fine display, pulled one back, helped by a fumble from Brad Friedel.
Villa then needed their experienced American keeper to redeem himself, with a splendid reflex save to deny substitute Kim Do-Heon a second.
While Albion could claim to have just about done enough to earn a point, let us not kid ourselves. This was a Villa team playing its third game in six days, covering 1,500 miles in the zig-zag from London to Bulgaria and then their neighbours own backyard, and picking off a third successive win.
They did so while watching the masterful Carew plant two more efforts on to the right-hand post of his old team mate Scott Carson at the start of the second half, before closing the game out with a measure of comfort their tired legs appreciated.
Villa’s superiority needs a context of course. They are eons ahead of Albion in terms of Premier League experience and the strength in depth of quality resources, in which case this result should not be considered any great surprise.
Mowbray’s assertion afterwards that the only difference between the teams came in the goals should have included the rider that that is the difference which really matters.
In both penalty areas, Villa were overwhelmingly more convincing.
Albion’s problems were aggravated before a ball had been kicked. They desperately needed Abdoulaye Meite’s added physical presence to counteract the power of Carew, but the former Bolton defender suffered an ankle injury in the warm up and was replaced at the last minute by Barnett.
It’s no easy thing to be demoted and then hurriedly re-instated. The manager’s original selection would have picked at Barnett’s confidence and concentration.
As a result, it meant a defensive graduate from little Luton Town was the most uncomfortable figure on the derby stage.
But it wasn’t Curtis Davies, the former Albion captain making his first return to the Hawthorns whose every touch was booed, albeit with declining intensity, and who delivered a faultless performance for Villa.
Poor Barnett, whom some judges including David Pleat believe will go on to be even better than Davies, was given a torrid time whether trying to handle Carew, the game’s most significant figure, or keep up with the dashes of Agbonlahor.
With this added ingredient of uncertainty in the mix, as much as Albion made a positive start and continued their now familiarly stylish route towards goal, the sense of trouble brewing soon settled on an atmosphere splendidly rousing but never vicious.
Villa’s first two set-pieces, to which they were largely restricted in the opening 20 minutes, could easily have brought goals and their third in the 27th minute was one dance with the devil too many for Albion.
Ashley Young, who measures his delivery with astonishing precision, clipped over a straightforward cross which Carew headed beyond Carson with ridiculous ease, from a position in between Barnett and Olsson.
Worse was to follow in the 29th minute when Young cut out the middle men - as Villa often did in a notable contrast to their opponents - and launched a counter-attack which had Carew intimidating Barnett into an under-hit clearance.
It fell into the path of Agbonlahor, who at last had space and a fair wind to introduce Olsson to the sharpness and pace of Premier League strikers.
Despite an untidy touch or two, Agbonlahor set up his angle and drilled a terrific finish wide of the faultless Carson.
By then it was shaping up to be a cruel, cruel afternoon for Albion who had already seen their matchwinner from the previous week, Chris Brunt, limp away with a sore hamstring taking with him the unique angles of his glorious left foot.
So let us give them due credit for an excellent finish to the half, fuelled by Morrison and Robert Koren, which saw Friedel spill the latter’s shot into the path of the former for a 33rd minute reply.
Had Friedel not been in much better form dealing with the Kim header at the end of a Morrison cross just before the break, perhaps this derby could have taken a different course.
The truth is Albion could never quite muster enough to warrant a greater comeback, despite switching to a two-man spearhead of Luke Moore and Ishmael Miller just before the hour.
There was just the fragment of an opening for Moore, denied by Gareth Barry, but the closing half hour of this game left Albion fans nursing the nagging feeling that has been with them since midnight on August 31 about an under-powered strike force.
For Villa, one defeat in their first 10 games during which they have advanced in the UEFA Cup, is an exciting supporting argument for O’Neill making yet more yardage towards the only clubs which can now claim clear daylight between them.
As immensely powerful as they are, maybe the elite cartel are at last beginning to sense something from the heart of our region which could disturb their tedious domination.
That is a development we should all - yes Baggies, Wolfs and even Bluenoses - welcome.
63 Comments
Another nail in the steptoes coffin, well done Villa. Its great to be a Wolves fan we are TOP of the league. SOTA
Get used to it Tescos,you just can’t cut the Premiership mustard.Thank your lucky stars Villa had just returned from Bulgaria midweek,otherwise you’d have been slaughtered.
Oh,by the way WOLVES JUST KEEP ON WINNING.
All of our problems that we all know about were evident in yesterday’s match:
1. Lack of organisation in defence. Yesterday it was Barnett who was the chief culprit (and nobody could argue that he was very poor)but it doesn’t seem to matter who plays in the heart of the defence, the problem is still the same, which in my mind means that the issue is the coaching and not the individual players.
2. Lack of quality in depth up front. I thought Bednar played pretty well again but it isn’t unreasonable to try a change for the last half hour when you’re behind. The problem is that we don’t have any backup - Miller only has one trick up his sleeve & Moore, I’m afraid, is just a very poor signing (luckily TM doesn’t make many of those).
3. Lack of pace. All of the ex-pros will tell you that pace is the big thing that frightens defenders at any level….and we aint got any. Good, well-organised Premiership defences will simply sit back and watch us play pretty football all day to no effect in front of them. We need to get in behind defences and we haven’t got anyone quick enough to do it.
Despite all of that, I still think we have enough to beat a good few of the teams in the League. It’s just frustrating because if we could sort out these other problems, we could genuinely be comfortably in the top half of the table.
Sunday was the poorest we have played all season. The game was extremly ‘bitty’ with too many silly fouls which broke up the play. Although having said that Villa were there for the talking. I though Carew was excellent and caused us too many problems.I dont know what others think but I was bemused by the substitutions. When Brunt went off injured I would have bought moore on and go two up front. Bednar was causing them the most trouble and holding the ball up well, which Miller simply does not do. If you notice hes second touch is always a tackle, the fans were getting frustrated and I am worried they could quickly turn on Miller. On another note we were one nill down with ten mins to go and people were streaming out the ground - disgraceful. I note that the Smethwick were there in full till the end though.
One word for you the Hoff, deluded!! Enjoy your last slot on match of the day while it lasts……….PLAYING IN STYLE THE MERLIN WAY OOOOOOO YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!
What people shouldn’t forget is that Villa are a top 6 side and they should expect to beat us, especially with the squad they have. TM has built a squad which he feels will do more than enough and we have to accept that.
The next three games will be key to our season and we have to look at getting at least 6 points from those matches if we want to compete.
I don’t think we should start criticising the tactics of TM until the next three games have been played.
One last point. It would be interesting to put Bednar and Moore up front together in one of the next few games and see how they get on. I think it would work, although only having the 4 in midfield may shock us.
Does anyone else think that Valero is a ready made replacement for Greening??
The dingles are here again.Make the most of it now,come the end of the season i think we will see your tears again as you fall away.baggies will stay up and you will stay down.oh yes the last laugh.
personally mowbray is too soft coming out with statements like its just another football match is stupid will he say that every week when your bottom of the prem your defence is the worst in the league i really think your going down
Does anyone else think that playing Greening advanced of the other 2 central midfielders just doesn’t work ?
We need him on the ball more and he doesn’t see it enough playing in that position.It didn’t work against West Ham and it didn’t work yesterday.
To me Koren , Valero , Kim and Greening to some extent are much of a muchness - great on the ball , not so good off it.
I dont get you lot this season. Last year you were the best team in the league playing all out attacking football and this season Mowbray is too scared of conceding goals and being happy you haven’t been battered.
A comfortable and predicable win for the Villa. I have to give some credit to the Baggies’ fans in the Smethwich as they made a fair amount of noise throughout, but then it is a big game………….. for them, not that big gor us!!
Disappointing and worrying.We were playing against a very poor Villa team with the opportunity to get three vital points and we failed in two main areas DEFENCE ? ATTACK ?
We have neither.TM failed to strengthen a poor attack when KP left us and Barnett is a liability.I maintain we wasted our money on Luke Moore and it may be too late before we are able to do anything about it.Pretty football with no end product and a defence you could drive a bus through means only one thing.And to cap it all the dingles look like passing us by.
What an awful weekend.
You were useless like boys against men..lol
would get a lick of paint on that goal post too as it saved you from losing 5 …losers…lol
Where is terryLOSERdonk…lol
Another poor performance I’m afraid. This is what happens when we buy defender after defender after defender in the window (none of whom can defend properly), and don’t replace our top scorer.
We pass the ball around lovely, until we get to 25yds from goal, then we run out of ideas. We never really troubled their goal.
Ironically, all our best attacking play came when we were 4-5-1. Miller and Moore especially are out of their depth.
Mowbray has to sort it out quickly or he will be on his bike. He has spent a lot of money in the summer, and I believe that if we are where we are now come the end of Jan, we could be saying so long to him
Anyone else find Millar to be an absolute donkey? As soon as Bednar came off we had nothing up front.
we will be ok,still only 1 point behind man u and 8 points of the top,ohhhhhhhhhhhh its great in the prem,top 6 finish still looking good,aye boing boing donk sshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
whoever thinks vile are going to break in the top 4 best see a doctor,hoof hoof hoof hoof aye boing boing donk
Same old same old. No wonder they call us “Boing boing”. We just keep bouncing up and down like a bloomin yo-yo.
Does anyone know what as happened to Happybaggie ?
I would like to know his thoughts now things aren’t so rosy.
I will never question the ability of TM and what he as done for us but some of his signinigs are starting to look a little suspect and no one seems to be waxing lyrical about him now.
Let’s not all get carried away, I agree that Bednar is our best striker, and when he went off, we didn’t offer any threat up front, personally, I though TM would have stuck Miller on the left and Moore on the right, keeping Bednar up front for a 4-3-3 in the last 1/2 hour. When we went to 4-4-2 we stopped threatening their goal.
Barnett had a bad game, but it was his first bad game this season, maybe he’s not up to the prem, but we can’t judge this on 1 bad display.
10 - have to disagree about Koren, his work off the ball is excellent.
15 - saying TM will be on his bike if he doesn’t sort it out soon is just crazy, stability is the key to success and it’s been a long time since we’ve had any - chopping and changing managers is not the answer, let’s alll back TM, not start a campaign.
M O’Neill obviously did his homework on us, we can’t defend high balls into the box well, I bet he breathed a huge sigh of relief when Carew was declared fit, they pumped high balls into him all afternoon and benefitted.
Oh and P.S for anyone who watched on Sky - should somebody have told biaised co-commentator Dion Dublin that Albion were playing as well!
Well done villa.. All I can say to West Brom is “Carew are ya, Carew are Ya, Carew are Ya” Come on the wolves!!!
i have to admit a struggle is certianly on the cards however i felt villa were average and were not much better than everton or west ham middlesbrough will be tough but im confident
ONE TONY MOWBURY THERES ONLY ONE TONY MOWBURY ONE TONY MOWBURY THERES ONLY ONE TONY MOWBURY,WE R ALBION AND WE R IN THE PREM AYE BOING BOING DONK SSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
22.Tim nice but Dim
That reminds me - Did anyone see Soccer Am 2 weeks ago when the wolves fans were on ?
Helen Chamberlain introduced them and said
” Come on then give us one of your songs ”
to which they started singing…..
” Who are you , Who are you , Who are you ”
Unintentional comedy at it’s best….
Observations from yesterday’s game:
1) Barnett and Olsson could not cope with Carew’s strength and the pace of Agbonlahor’s pace. We were exposed on numerous occasions at the back and Carew could have had a hat-trick. It’s an obvious and glaring difference from the forwards we faced last season
2) In the first half we looked good going forward and our 5 man midfield dominated Villa for large periods of the first half
3) Once we went 4-4-2 in the second half we created nothing because Miller and Moore gave us nothing and we lost our advantage in midfield
4) Miller and Moore were awful and are nowhere near Premiership quality
5) It hurts me to say it but Villa should finish top 5 and could be a threat to some of the big boys.
Much to think about but again, I think our football at times in the first half was fantastic and will cause weaker teams in the division a lot of problems. Two big games on the horizon.
Phillips. Gera. Mistake.
Re 25
That reminds me did you see Leon Barnett yesterday.
Unintentional comedy at it’s best.
Up until the two quick goals we were doing ok, but there was no way back once villa got in front. We need to sort the defensive mistakes out, you can’t give premiership strikers the freedom we allowed & expect to get results. We also need to create more chances & find someone who will put them away otherwise we will continue to struggle. I am disappointed that we have brought in numerous midfield players & defenders but have not found any replacements for the two attacking players who left. To beat the better teams in this league we needed to find players who would take on the mantle of superkev & zoltan, we haven’t & this is why we are struggling at the moment. I still think we can stay up because even with our current weaknesses we will beat a fair number of teams but I think it will be a close run thing!.
Dan gleebits, Baggies fan ?….I think not.
Ultimately the result should not be surprise, given Villa`s pedigee, they are not in the UEFA cup for nothing.
We gave them some problems in the first half,
but after the substitutions of Bednar and Valero we lost our shape and consequently our way.
One thing that i have noticed, and is rather disconcerting, is that in our 3 home games we have conceded two goals on each occasion, the two goals have been conceded in very quick succession…….heads down ?……..lost concentration ?
not sure the reason, but a quick remedy is needed.
27,phillips is banging um in for blues aint he,they both gone lets forget it,aye boing boing donk
TM never had any intention of signing another forward because he knew that 4-5-1 was going to be our main formation.
Seem to remember Wolves could hardly get the ball off us when we played them…so if they think for a minute they could cut the mustard with the likes of Craddock & Edwards etc etc etc then as usual they are having delusions of adequacy AGAIN……
28.
Get your own punchline…..if you can think of one..
Re 34
Sorry to plagiarize your work but it just seemed so fitting.
I do apologize for any offence, but it was comedy defending at it’s best, and i also thought it was unintentional.
Hence unintentional comedy at it’s best.
Yes where are you Happy Baggie. I told you this time last year Miller was too one footed to cut it in the Prem and you disagreed. Listen to your own fans now. Not as smart as you think you are. Thats why you’re always happy. LOL.
So far we’ve lost to the teams that finished 3rd, 5th and 6th last season, drawn with Bolton and beaten West Ham. If we’re thinking about finishing 13th-16th, that seems like the right form to me.
Give it a few more defeats and all the steptoes will be calling for tm’s head, loving it in style the Wolves way. SOTA
WBA forever
I am a baggies fan, and have been going for nearly 40 years. What I put is my opinion, I thought we were poor. We couldn’t cope with power and pace from their strikers, and we couldn’t break their defence down. I think we will see many more repeats of yesterday before the season is out.
Royley, I didn’t say I wanted Mowbray out, merely that I believe that if results don’t pick up soon that JP maight start to contemplate it, given the amount TM has spent
38. wolves1877. Nice to hear from a complete & utter prat again. I hope that your lot make it into the premiership next season, it will be 6 points for us guaranteed FACT!.
35.
I bet you are fun to be around………not.
In the final analysis Villa had a bit too much for us. Barnett had a mare but I don’t think it was a free kick for their first goal and for the second Olsson got acriss but did not make a challenge.
In my opinion we lost it when TM took off Bednar. Once Moore and Miller came on they broke down more Albion attacks than the Villa did!!!!!.
Still its gone lets move on.On another theme I hear that we are being called the Yo Yo’s by the ornage mob. Does that make them the Yo’s as they have not as yet yo’ed. I hope they go up the prem will be easy for Craddock, Iwelumo etc.
I don’t think.
Sadly Bob i fear our paths will never cross.
But you sound like a real fun guy.
With an uncanny eye for spotting unintentional humour.
Keep up the good work.
At this level mistakes are punished by top quality strikers and that was the case yesterday.Barnett is still inexperienced at this level and inconsistency should be expected.Although cant see many goals from our strikers i think our midfield will provide enough hence T.Ms tactics.
43.
You are so correct Jackie that our paths will never cross…..It’s not that often I frequent weight watchers.
29; I agree we was doing well until they scored however, Barnett was not in the starting 11 as Meite tweaked his calf, he would have been better suited to Carew. We ceratinly missed Brunt after he came off injured, both of which upset our play. Our defending was a joke for the 2 goals. Should Barnett have tried to cut out Gabby when he lost control or go back in his position for 2nd goal? even had 2 chances to be goal side of Carew, goal 1. Friedel made a great save after we pulled one back, should have been 2-2 HT. 2nd Half was scrappy apart from Carew hitting the post twice. Moore and Miller (Micky and Minny mouse)no cutting edge after Bednar went off. Either way a disappointing day when it was the best chance of beating Villa. By the way it is 23 years without beating them only we have not played them for about 19 of those years!
That’s where your going wrong then Bob.
You should frequent it a little more. I’m sure there’s some unintentional humour there just waiting to be discovered.
And let’s face it Bob, you de man.
looks like a fine romance between super bob and Jackie?
Watch this space.
jackie gallagher id love our paths to cross thought your comments were explicitly funny
come on you villa boys (and wolves)
ISN’T IT GREAT TALKING ABOUT THE PREMIERSHIP YOU DINGLES!!!SHAME YOUR NOT IN IT!!!
DINGLES KEEP GOING ON ABOUT BEING TOP OF THE LEAGUE AND SCORING GAOLS FOR FUN..AND TO BE FAIR YOU ARE, SO WELL DONE.!
THE THING THAT YOU ARE FORGETTING IS THAT ALBION HAVE ALLREADY BEEN THEIR AND DONE THAT!
BOING BOING!!LEAVING THE JEALOUS DINGLES BEHIND…AGAIN!!!
47.
Are you sure you’re not Boo Weekley ?
50..
Yes and you will be trying it again next year in the Pop league..
Loving it…lolllllllllll
Re 45
According to Curtis Davis Bob it’s you lot that Boo Weekly.
Or was that unintentional humour on your part.
See Bob you got me at it now.
52….YOU ARE OVIOUSLY A DINGLE SO PLEASE STOP!!
HAVE YOU NOTICED HOW “WOLVES.WOLVES..” HAS GONE ELSEWHERE SINCE YOU ARRIVED??? OR DID YOU JUST HAVE ENUF OF SUPPORTING RUBBISH SO SWITCHED TO A REMIERSHIP SIDE INSTEAD?
BOING BOING…LEAVING THE JEALOUS DINGLES BEHIND….AGAIN!!
premiership side******
Is “Jackie” a girl’s name or is that the name of the magazine you used to buy from the newsagent?
“whom some judges including David Pleat” Huh? Since when has he = good judge?
Bad luck stripeys, great win for the Villa. I think my telly must be on the blink because after twenty minutes the boggies end became muted.
Carew are ya, Carew are ya
Villa’s best 11 would expect to beat a weakened Albion 11 but we gave it a go and came off second best.No disgrace there.Well at least we know how it feels to come second best in derby games,hey dingles?
Re 56
Seems you have’nt researched your name as if you had the question you asked would be answered.
I met our Jackie at weight watchers and liked the name so much i decided to take it as my own, did’nt i Bob.
38.
Sorry to disappoint you pal but us Albion fans ain’t like your lot! You’re so fickle it’s borderline embarrassing! I’m sure MM must be the modern version of Jekyll and Hyde…one minute he’s Muppet the next he’s Magic!
Too many lazy people. Where are the goals coming from? 8 of the 19 premiership teams have scored the same or worse. Worst defence? 12 of the 19 premiership teams have conceded the same or worse. Despite so many new faces in defence needing time to gel. And 3 of our first 5 games were against top 6 sides. Too many of you just accept Lawro Wolf lies as though they were fact. Some of the slatings here of players and whole areas of the team are unjustifiable madness. Mark my words we will pick up twice as many or more points in our next 5 games as we did in our first 5 games and many of you will have time to repent going into print at your leisure.
No 1 you are top of the second division and still a lot of games to go REMEMBER WATFORD