Brave or stupid? Albion's attacking style backfires at Aston Villa
Some may call it brave, some may call it entertaining but you can't help feel that the nature of Albion's performance in Wednesday's 4-3 defeat at Villa was destructive writes West Brom blogger Warren Stephens.
An early thunderbolt from Chris Brunt followed by a deflected second from a James Morrison cross and Albion seemed to be cruising at 2-0, the ensuing chaos thereafter probably sent many Baggies into cardiac arrest and left us heading back to the Black Country empty-handed, from another game in which we might feel points were there to be won.
I briefly touched on this a few weeks ago, but I just don't think Albion have the personnel to play such a high line as we have against Villa and Everton. Our back four has virtually no pace and each one of them looks like a duck out of water when asked to defend vast areas of space.
Aston Villa 4 West Brom 3 - match report and pictures
Aston Villa v West Brom - Vote for your Albion Star of the match
Pepe Mel seems to offer some exciting ideas on playing open, attacking and expansive football, but he may find himself reconsidering whether to implement such a profound footballing revolution this early into his reign, as Albion become embroiled in a relegation dogfight.
I don't particularly enjoy being overly-critical of individual players - we're essentially there to support our team not persecute them - but Diego Lugano must be held accountable for at least two, if not partly in another, of Villa's goals. Lugano's certainly not been the model of consistency you would expect from a centre-back, a luxury Albion can ill-afford in our current predicament. His concession of a penalty for wrestling with Benteke when there seemed to little danger to Albion's goal was hugely unnecessary and ultimately decided the game.
Whatever we think of the decision, he shouldn't have been given a decision to make.
Neither Lugano nor his defensive colleagues ever got to grips with Villa's supply line to Christian Benteke. Indeed, I can barely recall Benteke losing an aerial duel all evening. That Villa's attacking strategy seemed entirely dependent on this and the runners either side of his knock-downs, only served to intensify the frustration as a spectator, particularly when a fit Gareth McAuley - arguably our best player for the last season and a half and someone who relishes a physical battle - watched on from the stands.
There is an argument that Albion's downfall was the sum total of a collection of individual errors, but in truth a one-dimensional Villa had enough opportunities to score the goals that they did with Ben Foster coming to Albion's rescue more than once. It certainly felt at times like a throw-back to the Tony Mowbray era at the Hawthorns with so much attacking intent on display from both sides, I personally feel relieved that Gabriel Agbonlahor didn't start the game, a man who relishes a local derby and who possesses the pace to have really exploited Albion's shortage of back-line pace.
Looking forward there is much to ponder, I certainly don't expect there are many fellow Baggies relishing the visit of Liverpool this weekend, particularly if Luis Suarez puts in the sort of performance he did in the reverse fixture.
However after one win in fourteen - a truly awful record - we need to start winning somewhere, and if we're going to remain in this division next season, picking up some points at home is absolutely paramount.
If Albion continue to play in such an open manner as we have in our last two games, you have to think that we need to look at least equally as dangerous going forward, as we do look vulnerable when teams attack our goal. At the moment, I'm not certain we do and in that respect, it's hard not to feel that there is work to be done before Friday's transfer deadline. One of the only positives that may emanate from this defeat is that hopefully Jeremy Peace and Richard Garlick will have taken note of how precarious our situation is.
As all Albion fans know, we traditionally don't spend money in January and Peace may point to the vast sums we threw around at the end of the last transfer window. However, having sold Shane Long for £7m and with Nicolas Anelka potentially ruled out for a significant number of our remaining fixtures, you have to hope we bring in at least one attacking player before the transfer window slams shut, Mel himself alluded to as much in a press conference this week. Jeremy and Richard, it's over to you.
Come on you Baggies.
