West Brom notebook: Desire, substitutes and a lack of depth

It will be a tough few days for boss James Morrison as he tries to wrap his head around what went wrong at Molineux on a day losing 1-0 flattered the Baggies.

Ways to lose a derby

Albion’s performance on Sunday was a no-show and lacked any sort of ingredients supporters expect in a match against arch-rivals.

Fans can take a lack of quality if enough heart, spirit and fight is given. Neither was on display at Molineux.

Head coach Morrison knows the feeling of this fixture more than most and the manner of his side’s display will irk.

Only goalkeeper Max O’Leary left with any real credit - which says plenty about the one-sided nature. Callum Styles and Ousmane Diakite did OK, at a stretch. Attacking talents Isaac Price and Jimmy-Jay Morgan were shackled.

Morrison was keen for a fast start. It felt like Albion’s best hope was to start well, profit and make Molineux a cauldron of nerves. But it was anything but. Albion were tentative from the get-go and everything snowballed.

The talk pre-match was Albion, through their management staff, ‘getting’ the local pride aspect of the fixture more than their hosts. On this occasion, it was the other way around.

Late changes?

Morrison’s starting line-up did not surprise many. Most would have kept Styles on the right and Conor Townsend and left-back and selected Harry Whitwell on the right of midfield.

There is a clamour to see more of midfield recruit Toby Collyer, and I’ve no doubt that will come after the international break. For this type of fixture, though, the Diakite and Jayson Molumby pairing was no surprise.

No Collyer until the 84th minute was a surprise, however. The Baggies actually saw more of the ball in the final half hour - Wolves potentially allowed that - and perhaps Collyer would have been useful?

The earlier changes of Barney Stewart and Rabby Nzingoula for the struggling Aune Heggebo and ineffectual Harry Whitwell toiled for little joy.

It would be reactive to say Morrison is too late with changes, and he has not been this season, but Collyer stood out here. So too did the decision to leave Styles on the right, with Townsend struggling the other side.

Depth up to speed

Some of Albion’s exciting young talented from different leagues or overseas have caught the eye in the early weeks of the season.

Others have not. One in the latter category is Spanish weekend Kareem Tunde, signed from Levante.

Tunde only turned 21 last month and only entered senior football last season but he has looked well off the pace so far. Morrison only gave the winger 10 minutes, granted, in his fourth Albion cameo, but Tunde looked devoid of pace and short of confidence.

He may need time, others too. But the Baggies need to see a return. Striker Stewart is in a similar category and has played in nine games this season without showing much more than a willingness to run.

New right-back Brayann Pereira will hope to make his mark after that poor Derby red card on the return to action.

Welcome break ... or not?

You could look at it either way, but I suspect Morrison would be desperate to play another match as soon as possible to get over this one.

That will not happen until three Saturdays’ time, where Birmingham City visit The Hawthorns and a huge improvement will be expected, both in the home dugout and the stands.

It is not the type of performance or result to stew over for three weeks.

On the flip side, the start to the season has been challenging for Morrison’s side. While the head coach has been happy making changes to his starting line-up, there is an aforementioned lack of seasoned quality or experience at this level.

Couple that with a busy schedule of midweek fixtures and lengthy away days and it becomes a testing start. But this is the Championship.

Albion will hopefully be better for the breather. It is not much of a break for the 10 away on international duty, though!