Albion 0 Crystal Palace 1 – Verdict
Saturday 26th September 2009, 5:15PM BST.
Albion’s unbeaten start to the Championship season was ended by Crystal Palace’s Alassane N’Diaye at the Hawthorns.
The Baggies were well below their best and a poor match was settled by N’Diaye’s scruffy goal on 63 minutes.
Defeat meant Albion fell one game short of matching the club record of nine unbeaten matches at the start of a League season.
Albion had the better chances before half-time, but the opening 45 minutes were desperately flat.
Shelton Martis had a shot deflected over the bar from a set-piece and Gonzalo Jara combined well on a couple of occasions with Gianni Zuiverloon on the right flank to create chances.
The best fell to Luke Moore, who received a cross from Zuiverloon and lifted his shot over the bar when he should have hit the target.
Jara also had a chance of his own when he darted into the box to meet a Zuiverloon pass, but his shot was too close to Julian Speroni in the Palace goal.
Moore had another excellent chance just before the hour mark when Albion broke with purpose.
Zuiverloon raced down the right and Moore controlled the Dutchman’s cross excellently 10 yards out before connecting well with a low shot, but Speroni made an excellent save.
And the Eagles took the lead just five minutes later when Martis failed to deal with a high, hanging ball in his own area.
The defender was over-powered by N’Diaye, who wrestled his way clear before poking the ball past goalkeeper Scott Carson.
Albion continued to labour and their best chance to equalise came with three minutes left, when substitute Rueben Reid sent a free header wide from Joe Mattock’s cross.
Business Awards
Book a Business Awards table
Join our celebrations of the region's best in business on Thursday March 22 - book your table now
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Express & Star and Shropshire Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases
OUR NEW APP
Get the new E&S app
Download the Express & Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
expressandstar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
A bitter & twisted report.
Report abuse
Cam on Palace.
Cam on yoo Eagles…………..
Report abuse
Terrible.
get rid of martis and mattock.
make olsson captain.
why play a defender as a right midfielder (on about jara)????
we need a striker who can turn and take on players, we dont seem to have that anymore. There goes another game our strikers have not had a shot. get kamara back in!!!!
nice pretty football in our half again. passin from a goal kick is sunday league stuff, you do this if your keeper cant kick up the pitch
Report abuse
1.Bitter and twisted,how? We were not up to it and we lost, end of.
Report abuse
Our bubble burst big time, Di Matteo was a rubbish appointment no experience watch us free fall now!
Report abuse
No way in my view No.1. We showed a lack of cutting edge, timing and were frequently second to the ball. This I put entirely down to last Tuesday night playing with ten men for 55 minutes. Palace were robust to the point of dangerous at times and I thought I saw a handball by the man who scored, but we were poor. There’s no escaping that. It was quite the most boring game I’ve seen in a long time.
Report abuse
we have gone from the best performance for a long time to the worst performance for a long time inside a week,
very poor match
lack of effort,and creativity, and they kept messing around with the ball at the back like they didnt want the win.
also i think we realy miss miller with his strength and pace up front and morrison in midfield. and also i think we need a big stroing CB as martis makes to many errors
we should be ok when IF we get a fully fit squad
need the win at barnsley
come on you baggies!!!
Report abuse
I think he has had his chance and i think that its useless to continue playing HIM up front … yes I’m talking about LAZY, CLUELESS, LUKE MOORE!
For Christ sake get a decent striker you ALBION! Cox is hopeless – he cant score, Reid – well he’s in the same category … waste of money, the only striker capable of scoring is Injured and Bednar is OK but not prolific. Sooooo what are you waiting for???? get a bloody goal getter a Kevin Phillips from somewhere!
Report abuse
just a bad day at the office,bounce back tuesday night,aye boing boing
Report abuse
cant believe it lost 2 matches in a wik,i know how dingle fans feel all the time now,aye boing boing roll along tuesday
Report abuse
Calm down, calm down! We were always gonna lose a match eventually, and it nearly always is a game you don’t expect. A below par performance, we needed width but with Morrison, Thomas AND Brunt not available it was difficult options wise for RDM to fill the void(s) out wide. Had we lost at boro last week 1-0, then smashed 5 past Palace in this match, we’d all be well pleased but we’d still have the same points tally yet it was better to take all the points off boro (a direct promotion rival). Can’t understand all the negativety as we are are still 2nd in the league in a great position. Baggieboy you are an idiot. You be better off down the custard bowl mate where your negativety would fit right in and offer you the chance to boo your heart out all day long!
Report abuse
Dont forget we had a few out with injuries, moores got to get his shootin boots on, but early days yet, if were still around the top at x-mas we will be fine
Report abuse
For Christ’s sake some fans are real muppets. Palace did a job on us and took the points. We have lost a game, that’s all. Yes, it’s disappointing but take it on the chin and move on to the next game.
Report abuse
Come on, we were never going to beat Arsenal with ten men, and yesterday, ok it was not our finest hour, but really ,COME ON, if some one had offered this start at the beginning of the season we would have snatched their hand off, you didn’t really think we would go all season unbeaten, did you? a defeat was going to come sooner or latter, plus, as I have said for weeks we have been winning while not playing particularly well, and, without strikers (or as good as !!). So, come on, heads up, and stay positive, so far so good.
In RDM we trust.
Report abuse
Plain and simple Neil Warnock was tacticly very good and the ref lost the plot second half, we will bounce back tuesday and all the pesamists wil realise we are the best team in the leaugue and only going one way, as for strikers when cox finds the net they will come flooding in. We lost 2 in 12 games honestly how can ppl be so negative!!
Report abuse
lets face it our strikers are just not up to it penny pinching peace again
Report abuse
Yes, it’s sad to lose BUT last week we beat Middlesboro 5 – 0 away!!! One loss does not make us bad. Roll on Tuesday with another big victory! Of course it will be the mifielders who score :)
Report abuse
11. I’m the idiot? get over yourself must be awfull for them off the back of winning the league easy and playing in the prem!!!! See what you’ve got to say when we’re nowhere near come March! Morrison and Brunt not available? They wont be available at all come Jan transfer Window and Thomas wasn’t good enough to get a contract at Pompey or Wolves we only signed him cos he was free!!
Report abuse
bad result yes lack of cutting edge yes
luke moore is an idiot yes
but reiben reid is young and he had a worse game against rotherham mattock is better than robinson as he is not looking to get sent off any waking moment and this result is not too bad we can show we can beat the likes of boro and give newcastle a good game maybe this is the kick up the backside we need for promotion
Report abuse
got some news guys.
MILLER – out for 5 months
MORRISON – out 4 along time, his heel is infected
Report abuse
I still think the Palace game was lost at the Emirates Stadium, not at The Hawthorns. What is bugging most people is how boring Warnock’s teams are. They just about deserved the win on the day, but can anyone remember anything about the game? I can’t, except the feeling that this was NOT football, just a war of attrition. Let’s hope we can put out a full team tomorrow. Joey16. Boring mate!
Report abuse
Right firstly Crystal Palace deserved the win on Saturday, they broke quickly and looked more dangerous throughout the game, we had no balance in the team with the injuries/suspensions and it showed.
We are going to get games like this and we are not going to win every game this season, however any complacency that may of set in after our tremendous start will now of been kicked well into touch, now we have a game on Tuesday which could show how we can bounce back against a setback, too many people above this post are losing their perspective after just one defeat.
One question for everyone on here, would any of you snatched someone’s hand off if you were offered just one defeat in your first 9 league games? Damn sure I would of.
Roll on Tuesday!!
Report abuse
Baggieboy, what planet are you on? i’m curious
Report abuse
We lost fair and square to a team expecting a thrashing. Their left winger was superb. Ndiaye was excellent, all over the pitch, sign him up!
We were lacking guile and our tactics didnt work. Koren again, again, again not in the game. Reid (free header), Cox very average so far. Malumbo had a poorer game. Jara who, I thought he was meant to be a defender, not tall enough to be a full back. They pressed us for 90 mins and richly deserved their win. No entertainment again. Kevin Philips scored a very good goal, by the way. Pathetic dispay by WBA.
Report abuse
looks like shadrags back,aye boing boing bless him xxx
Report abuse
My blood is boiling. Not at Saturday’s performance, which wasn’t good but at the spineless, knee jerk brigade on here that were shouting the odds last week but are more than happy this week to be back in there true colours this week.
I thought I’d logged on the Wolves page by mistake. Two people have put their fingers on the problem. Cyril’s point about the Arsenal game is one that hadn’t occured to me but is spot on. Boy from the Real BC is right about our lack of any width on Saturday. I’d add Cech to the three he mentioned and this is hardly the Manager’s fault but made it very difficult to stretch a team with little ambition beyond breaking with a couple of very quick and talented young forwards.
11 BftRBC.
I can understand you’re motives in calling Baggieboy an idiot for what he wrote but I suspect this may be a Wulfie using BB’s monicker to stir it up. I would have thought the same of some of the others except that they seem to be the usual fickle suspects.
20.
Don’t know where you got your info from. I spoke to James Morrison before Staurday’s game and he said he should be back in training in a couple of weeks.
Simon Cox is a young man who has stepped up a league and hasn’t had a run in the team. Give the lad a chance. The same with Reuben Reid, they’ve been bought on potential.
PS Anyone know the time. Is it five to two yet?
Report abuse
Boys sooner or later you lose a game or two and it’s always the anti-football side that do it to you. So far you a clearly the best side in that dvision, you’ve got a manager who in my opinion was a great appointment, much like (Martinez at Swansea) he will grow with the club and wants to play good football and will attract players. Regardless of whether players leave or not financially you are in a position to strengthen in Jan regardless of what happens to push on and win the league.
Report abuse
I agree with most of what Cyril wrote. The team looked 2nd best and it was a boring game. No one controlled the midfield and we rarely got the 2nd ball. Sack RDM; only a muppet would draw such a stupid conclusion!
Warnock ‘did a job’ on us; he ‘played the ref’ by having Mattocks and Bednar (news stories) as ‘targets’ in the hope they’d react. The Ref didn’t have a clue and missed the obvious use of the arm by N’Diaye to control the ball.
We lost a game, and lessons will be learnt.
Report abuse
YES IT WAS AN AWFULL GAME THEY HAPPEN WHAT WE MISSED WAS GREENING THIS GAME WAS MADE FOR HIM
YES WE WILL COME BACK BIT ITS GOING TO BE A ROLLERCOASTER ILL BE BACK FOR THE NEXT GAME BOING BOING !!
Report abuse
I cant believe Teixeira didnt get a chance, he
played well at Arsenal so should of started,
just hope RDM was saving him for Tuesday.
Roman Bednar and Luke Moore can not play together
as they dont seem to read each others game,
our best strike partnership are Wood and Moore,
NEWCASTLE and IPSWICH games home games showed
that.
My Albion 11 for Barnsley:
Carson,Jara,Martis,Olsson,Mattock,
Teixiera,Mulumbu,Koren,Dorrans,Wood,Bednar.
Albion best 11:
Carson,Jara,Martis,Olsson,Cech,
Brunt,Mulumbu,Dorrans,Thomas,Wood,Moore.
Albion best 11:
Report abuse
Of course we are all disappointed and it was a terrible match but we will have to get used to teams trying to shut up shop and hit us on the break knowing that we are usually the better footballing side. I made my concerns known on Jarrod`s blog last week, the squad is too “thin”. We had our only 19 fit “first teamers” out on Saturday. It looks like Tex is out of favour as on Saturday he was behind first Jara, then Zuiverloon (both defenders) and then Reid in the pecking order for a position on the right. Many other squad players lack experience, Cox and Wood. Compare this to our last promotion season when Gera Brunt and Pele regularly found themselves on the bench. The strength of a club is on the bench and whereas last time I was always confident that we had enough strength in depth to cope with injuries and suspensions I am not so sure this time.
Report abuse
Bitterly disappointed to lose the game. We got mugged by Warnock. Frustrating but we’ve had a good start and need stay focused. There were mitigating circumstances like the lack of flair players due to injury, the long Tuesday night at Arsenal and the referee who wasted so much time in the second half with his fussy officiating. He was weak. Hopefully Di Matteo will learn from the experience and we can be better prepared next time.
Report abuse
Bad day at the office, we missed the natural width that Brunt, Thomas, Cech or Mozza can offer us and it showed.
Let’s get a plan C together for when things like this happen again, and learn from this defeat.
Onwards and upwards my fellow Baggies!! Let’s go 10 unbeaten now and I’m sure we’ll all be a lot happier again.
Report abuse
We have in Brunt, Thomas and Morrison, three wingers or midfielders, depending on your age, who would get in many of the Prem sides. All three were missing Saturday. Cech has also suddenly become international class under RdiM. Show me a side, any side you like, who could have FOUR of their best players removed,
knacker themselves out against one of the country’s TOP sides such as Arsenal and then try to compete with the petrol tank empty. I had already said I was concerned before the match, especially it being Colin’s team we were playing. What was difficult to swallow was the quality of football played. IT WAS BORING! We have had cream on our strawberries for 3 seasons. Excitement, goals galore, both ends. Compare that with watching the dross just witnessed. Yes, we also did miss Jonno on Saturday and he was sitting on a bench for 80 minutes at Fulham. But our kids Dorrans and Mulumbu will have learned for the future.
Report abuse
26. RBH,
Yeah mate i twigged he was a dingle from the off! (dunno how!) I loaded my original post to get a response somewhat along the lines of what he came back with, set the trap and the fool walked right into it. If you can desipher the poor grammer, he’s going on about “them winning the league easy” trouble with stirring dingles is you can spot them a mile off. As i said, he’s an idiot. An idiot and a Dingle and a very thick one at that!
Report abuse
18. Baggieboy = Dingleboy
Yeah you are the idiot pal if you really think any of us believe that you aren’t in fact a doghead in disguise. God bless shadrag though, he does try doesn’t he?
Report abuse
If I was Shadrag, I’d be more concerned about a heavy defeat to Sunderland where they looked out of their depth, rather that one solitary defeat for the Albion.
Report abuse
dont you think texiera with is skill to unlock defences and create chances should be playing
Report abuse
35 BftRBC.
I posted that for two reasons. I think there is a genuine supporter that posts as Baggieboy, so Shadrag is obviously learning from his mistakes (he hasn’t forgotten to change his name for a while now.) The other reason I put it in was to emphasise that it wasn’t much worse than what some of our own so called supporters were posting.
Report abuse
18. Baggieboy
Yes you are an idiot which is putting it mildly I can’t print what I would like to say about your pathetic posts, perhaps the clue lies in your name Baggie BOY a 6 year old, or a Dingle I would presume.
C’mon the Baggies!!!!
Report abuse
I reckon you’ll still go up in an automatic spot. Either you or newcastle for champions, but both teams are miles better than the rest of the championship.
Report abuse