Complacency or dog tired for Albion?
Tuesday 23rd February 2010, 9:10AM GMT.
Albion blogger Jarrod Hill wonders if it’s all catching up with the Baggies as another game comes thick and fast in the FA Cup replay against Reading.
The headline is my own inquest into what happened on Sunday afternoon.
Half-time and everything looked rosy, we had controlled the game, gone 1-0 up and with the home side looking low on confidence they were there for the taking. But, whatever both managers told their players at half-time, Gary Johnson’s men certainly looked the better for it.
We came out and played arguably our worse 45 minutes of football all season. Chris Brunt played quite well in the first half, but in the second couldn’t complete a single pass and wasn’t alone.
Many reckon we looked tired and when a team plays that badly you do look for excuses or reasons, but my question is this, were we tired or did too many of the players come out for the second-half thinking the game was already won?
Again the referee had a poor game with two key decisions going against us, firstly there was the rugby tackle on Roman Bednar which received nothing.
That was topped by completely missing a blatant handball which provided the chance for their equaliser. In truth we didn’t deserve anything from the game, but again we had a ref who gave us nothing but a handful of yellow cards.
Players who I thought played well were goalkeeper Scott Carson again, Gabriel Tamas, Youssouf Mulumbu and Graham Dorrans in the first-half. Dorrans in particular faded after the break and at times Mulumbu looked to be carrying the whole of the midfield.
Frank Nouble and Robert Koren had stinkers so should have been replaced sooner, but even their poor performances were over shadowed by the roasting Joe Mattock received. The young left-back has many positive points to his game but lacks one vital ingredient to succeed in the game – pace.
My worry is his age, at his tender years this is probably the quickest he is ever going to be and the fact is he is way too slow. He has struggled with Championship football this season and if we are to gain promotion he would not be good enough. I know that sounds harsh on a player so young, but it’s my honest opinion.
The fact is we have a problem with both full back positions, as Mattock looks out of his depth and Gianni Zuiverloon’s form is inconsistent. Add this to the fact we have no cover at right-back and you can understand head coach Roberto Di Matteo biting his finger nails and praying that Zuiverloon and Cech stay fit for the rest of the season.
That is unless our new loan signing Ben Watson can cover either position. The Wigan Athletic player is a shoe-in to replace the competiveness that both Gonzalo Jara and Mulumbu bring to the midfield and a player I rated highly a couple of seasons ago.
His knowledge of this division from his time at Crystal Palace and on loan at QPR earlier this season will hopefully help him to hit the ground running.
If our second-half performance on Sunday was down to fatigue, I would suggest resting a few players for tomorrow night’s FA Cup replay.
But Dorrans has become such an important part of our team you could see on Sunday that when he didn’t play well the whole team suffered. Maybe the lad needs a rest, but I have a feeling he isn’t the type of player to want one, so RDM has an important decision to make.
Let’s not forget he has to face a Robbie Savage-inspired Derby County midfield on Saturday and the majority of fans are placing the league game much higher than our cup game in priority.
One very encouraging bit of news yesterday was the news that both Giles Barnes and James Morrison came through a behind the doors friendly against Wrexham unscathed. Their performances were bright as an experienced Albion team ran out 6-1 winners.
Morrison managed to complete an hour of the game in his bid to gain match fitness, so lets hope we see him and Barnes in the first-team sooner rather than later.
I know I haven’t done this for a while, but I am going to pick my team for tomorrow night’s replay.
If I was RDM I would not only be thinking about resting players who need it, but also the build up of bookings the team is accumulating.
Here goes, firstly I would go with a 4-4-2 for a number of reasons. Reading are probably expecting us to go with five in midfield and will be set up accordingly, the change in formation will also allow us to rest Dorrans and play an extra striker.
Albion – Kiely, Zuiverloon, Meite, Tamas, Mattock, Nouble, Koren, Mulumbu, Slory, Wood, Cox.
It would also leave us with a pretty strong bench containing Carson, Luke Moore, Jonas Olsson, Bednar, George Thorne, Brunt and Dorrans.
The alternative would be to name all youth and reserve players on the bench and give the lads above the night off completely, but the truth is I still want us to progress in the cup, just not at the detriment of our league form.
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Bomber, totally agree with your points.
Mattock mate, just awful Sunday, felt gutted after the game but our second half performance did not warrnat anything from the game.
Regarding tomorrow night, agree with the team but Nouble can’t play because he is cup-tied!.
I would give Luke Moore the game out wide, he did very well on the wing in the closing stages at Cardiff.
Cech back Saturday too, that is a bonus becuse you can’t afford Joe to be playing their against Lee Croft, he has alot of pace too. The problem is, you dont need to be lightning to get past Mattock, hes just sooo slowwww
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I dont think it was complacency or fatigue- just a serious lack of quality.
Olsson was bossed by Iwelooo dingle player, whatever his name is. Mattock was very much out of hid depth, he needs to stay out of nightclubs and work on his game. Dorrans went missing in the 2nd half and Bednar looked slow and unfit.
Lets hope we can scrape up for the sake of the Premiership money but have we got a better squad than Pompey? No. Alot of money needed to invest.
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Thomas the Shadrag.
I’m guessing it’s John Thomas.
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LW in yet another disguise?
Dont you ever get bored with this game?
If not then I sincerley apologise, it is just when you say our squad lacks quality you are wrong. Maybe for the Prem but not for the Championship.
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Our squad does lack quality. We got beat by a very poor Bristol side on Sunday that were there for the taking. If we had strength in depth we would of beat them convincingly. I hope we can beat Reading and keep a cup-run going for confidence.
Just because you do not agree with my opinion it doesnt mean im a wolves fan, perhaps a bit of realism from you will help.
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Our squad may lack many things but quality is not one of them. The fact you sound like a Wolves fan meant you were awarded the prestigous title of being named an LW alias.
I apologise if you are indeed not LW and a Baggie fan, but I cannot agree that our squad lacks quality. We may lack a choice of fit players, but quality? I suppose it is all relative, but we are in the Championship and the truth is we have one of the strongest squads. Including quality!!
I agree certain positions need strengthening like the recent blogs have suggested, but players such as Dorrans, Jara, Olsson, Tamas, JT, Mulumbu, and Morrison are too good for this division, that means we have quality, we just need to keep them all fit.
Oh and Thomas me and big Pete will be in the Sportsman tomorrow night about 5.30pm (we are easy to spot) please come along and join us and we can discuss it further and you can prove to us your a Baggie!!
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We do lack quality and depth. It’s alright to say we have championship quality but look at wolves last season. They won the Championship last season and one of their regular performers has gone out on loan and scored against us. He isn’t premiership quality but he is a good championship player and we couldn’t cope with him. So how much quality do we have throughout the squad? As has already been stated if Dorrans doesn’t perform we as a team don’t perform. He is certainly good enough for the real league but there isn’t too much around him. Brunt is ok but there’s too much deadwood in the squad like Moore.
I just fear that we have brought in the guy from wigan to see if he could be Dorrans’ replacement if the number of games we have had to play catches up with us and we fail to return to the big time. If we don’t go up Dorrans will be gone to the Villa.
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Hi Jarrod. Well I guess the number of games has been high in recent weeks, but we have surely been aware of how frail the full backs are. Cech is better than Mattock, and temprarily why not give Tamas a run at Right Back with Meite partnering Ollson. The 4 – 5 – 1 has worked well and with Watson added it should work.Some say Barnes and Morrison are ready for substitute places in the first team.
I dont go with your team I would try to use the FA Cup game to try out a new back four formation ready for Derby. Watch out for Derby/and Savage… he may target Tamas or Watson to try to get them Red Carded.. this would be a disaster
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The truth is we dont have options until the walking wounded are back.Playing so many games in such a short space of time would not have been an issue if rotation was possible but it hasnt been.Thomas(hot head)got himself sent off again,hes talented but is no use if hes suspended,Cech injured,Miller injured again,Meite was injured,Jara is now out completely and Bednar is not comletely fit and thats just for starters.My guess is things would have been easier if we had a full complement and may make the difference between winning the championship and scrapping for 2nd and 3rd.
Just a thought, is it me or is Nouble just postionally naive?(yes I know hes only 18, but we took the loan)it all seemed a bit too much for him, he didnt look as if he was part of the team,he didnt provide any cover for Mattock and god knows he neeeded it…and Mattock was then skinned every time.anyway I could go on but it is just one game
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Jarrod.
Once again an interesting piece, full of things we agree on and some we don’t.
Brunt and Dorrans. I’d give them both Wednesday night off and tell them to stay at home and watch the football with their feet up.
My wife said ‘what happened to them’ on Sunday. I said ‘too many tired players.’ She said ‘I thought they were supposed to be fit.’
This sums up what a lot of people don’t understand. Tiredness in professional footballers is in the head rather than just the legs. Chris Brunt as you said was giving simple passes away. The reason for this is the pressure of too many games. Playing at this level in front of thousands of people and being expected to perform to a high standard is nothing like Sunday morning parks football.
I thought Mulumbu was immense and took them on on his own for most of the game. No coincidence that he had a few games rest when Jara took his place.
Joe Mattock. I said to someone yesterday that we had a fullback called Paddy Mulligan in Johnny Giles team. He was at the end of his career and looked as if he was running through mud in wellingtons. Despite this he rarely got took to the cleaners by speedy young wingers because he had nous. Mattock has a lot to learn. He also has the worry of the court case. Added to that Chris Brunt doesn’t give much cover to his fullback but Nouble made Brunt look like a pitbull by comparison. He won’t get faster and he’ll never be an Ashley Cole but I wish people would give him a fair crack of the whip.
Likewise Zoovy. He’s learning and one thing we can’t fault is his attitude and workrate.
I’m not as forgiving as you with Nouble. I’d have him on the bench on Wednesday and get a kid from the reserves in. I’d then tell Nouble to watch and learn about desire and hard work.
I also posted yesterday about the two major refereeing decisions. If you watch a replay, the ref couldn’t have been better placed to see the hand ball. Unbelievable.
I haven’t changed my mind about the Cup. I’ll be there tomorrow but I’ll have severe misgivings if we go through to play the Villa. To me this would be a major, major distraction to the more important promotion issue. I don’t want to go through the play offs again.
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Hi RBH,
I agree re Zoovy, he has many aspects to his game that will stand him in good stead in years to come and i hope i am wrong re Mattock, time will reveal all. I am no boo boy and call things as i see them, the continued discussion regarding tiredness to blame for Sundays second half no show is still one that confuses me. I do believe that tiredness had an effect on certain players, but i also maintain that it is too easy for us to simply brush off the performation and say we were tired, either physically or mentally. Many of the players have been through this division before, and as far as i am aware we have to play the same amount of league games as everybody else.
If certain players were too tired to play then it would have shown up on their fitness testing during training. If they havent got the mental toughness or fitness to play through the season then we will not get promoted. As someone a great deal more intelligent than me once said, ” if we are fragile of the mind, our bodies will follow”.
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Jarrod.
I never suggested you were a boo boy and never would.
On the tiredness thing, as I said, the mental side won’t show in training because the match pressure isn’t there. We are in a run of playing more games than our opponents due to the cup run and the postponed games. In days gone by when squads were smaller, players played more games but everyone was in the same boat which cancelled things out. I don’t think it affects defenders or strikers as badly because they don’t have the same constant involvement that midfielders do, hence Brunt and Dorrans having such poor games by their own standards.
I don’t know who said that quote but I bet he wasn’t playing three games a week consistently.
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I was referring to the blood tests they now have in training to decipher fitness levels.
As for match pressure and the mental fragility or fatigue, if that really is the problem then what i am saying is that we really do have a big problem if that is the case.But i dont think it is.
As for Brunt, i would question if he has been tired since December?
Lol.
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Another great man once said `can we do it` YES WE CAN aye boing boing
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Play the Loon forward,he looks like he has an eye for goal,bring in Samuells at full back.
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Santa, i honestly think you may have something there! Zuvvy has never impressed me at all from a defensive point but you can see he clearly has talent, he’s a good footballer thats not yet found his natural position IMO. I know many have suggested playing him in a wide midfield position, but i reckon he could convert to a striker. His finishing is good (even clinical) he has pace to burn and a decent 1st touch. He also makes intelligent runs, but theres no way you could play him as a lone striker. Remember Paul Warhurst anyone?
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Once again, right on the button mate. Fatique…..maybe, but all the championship clubs are the same, thought they had won the game, possibly, but this team has a spirit that has been missing for a few seasons. I think id put it down to just one of those games, other teams around us will have them too, we just have to make the game in hand matter now. I must admit i would rest as many players as possible for the reading game, but i doubt RDM will go down that path. We have to hope that the rollicking they had after the forest game works again for the final push. and there is the small matter of villa at home, thats if they beat palace and dont have one eye on the final.
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In total agreement with Jarrod’s take on Sunday’s game though I would add a few extra factors.
Firstly, the players appear to adopt a plan B when the unexpected happens – not for the first time this season – and run around like Corporal Jones from Dad’s Army. Aimless long balls and questionable passing enter their game as they panic or look for short-cuts.
Secondly, the leadership isn’t there when it gets tough; some simply disappear others become frustrated and give away silly fouls. Lastly, some looked tired, but I did feel a degree of complacency crept in and the tireness meant they weren’t able to shake out of it. Sorry, doubting Thomas the Baggie, I disagree with you apart from the Mattock comment.
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…and i’ll add another factor, we scored 1st for once! We should’ve given Bristol a goal start! ;-)
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I`d like to know what Joe Mattocks good points
are because he cant tackle,pass,or head but I
suppose he can score the odd goal every 60
games,Albion just to have accept we brought a
very bad player and a waste of 2M.
Against Bristol City you could see the players
who were tired OLSSON,DORRANS,BRUNT,and BEDNAR
the players who are not good enough SLORY,COX,
MATTOCK and the players who couldnt give
a monkys NOUBLE,and KOREN.
Thomas the Baggie:
When every Albion player is fit and available
I`d say our squad is far better than Porstmouth`s or any other team outside the top
four,a midfeild of BRUNT/DORRANS/MULUMBU/
BARNES/MORRISON would be awsome in the Prem.
My Albion 11 for FA cup:
CARSON
ZUIVERLOON MEITE TAMAS MATTOCK
BRUNT COX MULUMBU KOREN MOORE
WOOD.
My Albion 11 for Derby County game:
CARSON
ZUIVERLOON TAMAS OLSSON CECH
BRUNT DORRANS MULUMBU WATSON THOMAS
BEDNAR.
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Mattocks good points,he only lives round the corner aye boing boing
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We have a selection problem for tomorrow of similar dilemma to Mar’in O’Neill of Villa for Sunday. (I couldn’t resist leaving out the glottal ‘t’ as they even do it on WM Sport now). There’s a very old trick we could have pulled on Sunday after half time. We were 1-0 up, OK. Second half we knew they would have had bums kicked and come at us. We could, maybe should, have played 10 in defence for say 20 minutes. Wind the opposition down and frustrate with just one sub with fresh legs up front prepared to chase every punt upfield. It was quite common years ago and worked too. Cox would have been my choice for this role as he has a good engine. Hindsight? Yeah, and we’re all good at that. Boring? That too. But far less ground to cover for tired legs. Psychologically a good trick too.
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I have been saying for long enough now that we are hitting the crucial part of the season and we need experience.The Bristol game was a perfect example with Mattock getting a real roasting but getting no cover or help from Nouble who was just bone idle.With Albion attacking for most of the first half, he did not touch the ball until the 18th minute.Lets hope Watson who has good experience of this league can be of more use than some of the recent signings.
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spot on jarrod, i think certain players need dropping or resting, brunt had a poor game hasnt been the same since we were beat by forest and he feels sorry for himself u can see it in every peformance of late, mattock is the biggest £1million flop ive ever seen rather av dwaine samuels at left back who can cover left and right back berths, good 2 see mozza and barnes getting closer 2 fitness sooner the better were so desperate, my 11 for 2moz wud be, carson,samuels,zuiverloon,meite,tamas,slory, dorrans,mulumbu,cox,moore,wood, hope we can turn it round now as there is not long left in the season
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Thanks John, Brunt seems to be the only untouchable in our squad, and by that i mean no matter how poor his form is he gets his shirt.
The problem is Brunt is a fantastically gifted player, but how long do you wait for his form to return?
I must admit i havent seen much of Samuels, whats he like?
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wba bomber. samuels is a young left and right back watched him at shrewsbury away in pre season and is miles better than mattock,
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Good blogg, and it looks like everyones pretty much agreed about the players’ shortcomings – would have had to be blind not to be. Just not sure on the whole ‘tired’ thing. Everyone plays the same number of games in the CCC, and the cup runs only put in one extra game over most others to this point so it shouldn’t have kicked in yet. I think its more of a leadership thing. When things don’t go right, no one gets a grip on the game. I think they came out second half just assuming we’d win. Good signing in Ben Watson. Would like to see 4-2-3-1 with Watson and Mulumbu controlling the midle, giving the Dorrans, Thomas and Brunt (Hopefully Morrison/Barnes soon) the platform to play from, and also able to offer some wing cover as needed. I’d like to see us progress on Wednesday, can’t understand people not wanting to play Villa for a place in the semi, and by the time that game comes round we should have several injuries cleared, so all back fresh.
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City were poor first half but they didnt look
tired second period their goals were scrappy
but we didnt over trouble their keeper did we.
If i were boss Id field a weakened side Wednesday giving a start to Woods and Barnes Cox and Slorry who reminds me of Lloyd Dyer who is only just showing his potential methinks we will have to wait before hes match fit to see his worth. I am sure when? we
have a fully fit squad the Bristol game will be forgotten. We have suffered injuries to valued players maybe Forest and Toon have theirs to come. Villa have been most fortunate
to remain injury free with such a small squad.
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the only thing we lacked on Sunday was not quality it was DESIRE to win a football game, we believed that by scoring one goal, bristol would roll over and allow us to run the game out and we could pick up an easy three points. We need to learn to kill off teams and we need a nasty streak to put our feet in where it hurts and to boss teams. If you look at newcastles team they have nolan and smith in midfield as you know that if they need to put in a tackle or need to get stuck in and get dirty then thats what you are going to get, we need another Mcinnes or andy johnson style player some one to add that bit of steel, hopefully ben watson can fill this role. watching Sundays game i was sick and tired of most of our team backing off too far without ever challenging or putting any tackles in. we need to find the mental strength to overcome teams like Bristol because if we don’t we are going to start to slip up, starting on saturday, you know if you don’t get stuck in against Mr Savage then he will boss the midfield and then we have no ideas how to combat the tactics where teams stop us playing, as again sunday showed. as for tomorrow i would play Cox and wood upfront, Koren, mulumbu thomas and brunt in the middle, the loon, meite, tamas and Cech at the back and Kiely in Goal, have dorrans, Bednar, olsson, carson and some of the young kids on the bench, (thorne,samuels).
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I agree about some steel in midfield BUT i think our players are a litle bit scared of these bias refs, it appears if we put in a hard tackle we get booked or sent off, Elliot would have been sent off on Sun if he had blue & white on, i also recall him backhanding an Albion head, ask Thomas what happens when he taps someones face.
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Great news Morrison and Cech both in squad for tomorra,lets hope things are starting to look up,aye boing boing
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Great news about Morrison and Cech been available for FA cup game with Reading,
I`d change my team to:
CARSON
ZUIVERLOON MEITE TAMAS MATTOCK
BRUNT MULUMBU KOREN CECH
MOORE WOOD.
Roberto Di Matteo should try going back to
the same sort of team which started the season
against Newcastle.
Albion need Chris Brunt in the team for his
height and vocal abilitys.
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You’re not going to like this guys, but there are some Wolves supporters who hope you keep it together and get automatic promotion this season.
Wolves survival in the Premiership is another issue, but the first result we look for in the Championship is the Baggies.
NO ONE here in there right mind wants Swansea, Cardiff, Notts Forest, Leicester etc getting auto promotion, Newcastle, we don’t mind, except for that t..t who still owns them.
Our family are loooong term football supporters, 2 are Wolves fanatics (me included), 5 are Boing, boing fanatics, 1 Villa and 1 Port Vale – he’s on medication right now.
But I miss the Wolves/WBA games, even though the Baggies, in recent history, come out on top.
Yes, I am one of those who shout “We hate Albion, we hate Albion” but hate?? It’s just a chant! Hate? Not really.
So, come on you b…….s, keep it together, get the auto promo slot and we will stay in the premiership waiting for you.
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I always sing i hate the wolves to,the reason is cuz i do,and yam guin down,so get back on ya own page aye boing boing
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terry the steptoe we hate you so get over it, by the way are you “never again” who is some idiot who talks complete drivel and it’s so obviously a steptoe posting it and to be fair terry we know you’ve done it before and it’s so your style, how sad you are.
wba the Midlands SHAME
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Ive done it before n i,ll do it agen, ive done it before n i,ll do it agen,the steptoe never really did catch on did it,say steptoe to anyone they think your talking bout old bbc programme,say dingle to anyone they reply WOLFS right away,WBA pride of the midlands aye boing boing
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No pancic needed it is just one game and we were unbeaten in 13 in all competitions prior to this defeat.
Mattock is good enough at this level to cope with the majority of wingers, he is young and will learn. we will need a new left back for the prem unless cech stays as given a run of games i believe he is good enough for prem. mattock will need time as everton have done with gosling you bring them in slowly to learn there trade.
I don’t have no doubt that we will get promoted as we have enough quality to beat everyone we have left to play.
In other news we have 1 further long term loan signing left. Nouble is the likely candidate to extend his loan but i’ve heard rumours of another player coming in and nouble being aloud to go back after his month is up.
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MMMMMMMM,mattock got showed up on sunday,he would be a lafin stock in the prem against the likes of gerrad,you can say he has this court case pending so i will give him a chance,good sighning in watson ,there are some who aint up for the fight in this team ,we are slowly getting the injured players back at the right time,ya have valied points jarrod me personaly i would rest as many as legaly possible and either go beat redding and have yet another game to play or loose it get the injured players fit and get up in the prem,can anyone tell me what has luke moore got that he aint been shipped out on loan?would do him good hen we can prove that he realy is crap and should go to notts county
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Hiya Bomber.
Any chance of a blogg entitled “Football sucks” ???
I’ve just heard that Pompy, after years of trading whilst insolvent – costing honest clubs (like us) our place in the prem (and cup final) by luring players with wages and fees that they couldn’t pay – are now going into administration, losing 9 points this season when they are already down and will start next season in the CCC on level points with everyone else – PLUS they get their parachute payments !!
This has really hacked me off and highlights everything that stinks in the modern game.
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Football should have a ceiling of say £5,000,000
worth of debt and no more. If you can’t afford
dont buy.
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Although not playing well what is hard to take is just seconds away from a meeting with
our old enemy Everyone will be gutted Jeremy
more so but lets be honest we were never going
to beat Villa our main aim is promotion the cup run has brought injuries etc Lets hope last nights misery will not affect confidence.
RDM must freshen up the side for Derby with
plenty of changes in should come Watson JT
Mozza Olssen Czech and Nouble at CF yes get him more involved oh can anyone who can relace Zylerphone nice lad but making too many mistakes Mighty he certainly aint get rid. Hes not fit to lace Wile Kennedys boots.
When i was first taken to see Albion we had a
Beckenboyer type Jack Vernon .
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