Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox analyse West Brom's narrow defeat at home to Sunderland.
Albion had the big chances of the game, but an error from Joe Wildsmith gifted the Black Cats the victory.
The boys discuss the display, the blank in front of goal yet again and whether Albion can get in the top six after dropping out of the play-off spots.
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00:00Baggies fans welcome to Expressionstyle.com, my name is Jonny Deree, I'm here with Albion
00:12correspondent Lewis Cox after deja vu, same old story, rinse and repeat. That could be
00:18the goalkeeping errors, that could be the final third of the field. Albion, again, wasting
00:24chances, dominating in terms of possession, not putting the ball in the back of the net
00:29and then the goalkeeper goes and drops one in. At the other end, Coxie will start on
00:33that point, it's a bad error, Wildsmith seems to have held his hands up to Tony Mowbray,
00:36spoken about that, kind of hinted that he may change it next week but, you know, costly
00:41now, arguably cost three points at Burnley and it's cost Albion certainly a point here
00:48today. Yeah, I mean, first of all, I think before we get into our opinions about it,
00:52I don't, we've just come out of Tony Mowbray's presser on the way in, I know you were listening
00:56obviously, as I was asking, among other reporters, but I didn't get the vibe from his answer
01:01that he's going to make the change. Obviously, it's a game on Tuesday night, as we know at
01:05Bristol, so he'd be right. I think if he wasn't going to make the change, he would have backed
01:08him 100% and he didn't back him 100%. Yeah, he said, he basically said, we've been here
01:13before, haven't we? And then said, obviously, how he is in training, which is a little bit
01:16of what he said at Burnley, to be honest, and then gave that whole, which is something
01:21he's explained before, look, if a keeper gets dropped after a mistake and the other
01:25keeper comes in and then makes a mistake, where does it leave you type thing? And look,
01:28I understand that, but obviously, as the mistakes happen, obviously, this is a big high profile
01:34one off the back of a Burnley high profile one last month. Obviously, the heat cranks
01:38up and up and up and up and is for Wildsmith, it feels like a boiling point now, doesn't
01:42it? Certainly with the supporters and the Wildsmiths, as you say, offered an apology
01:46there. It's a huge decision for Mowbray, really, it feels. And it'll be interesting down in
01:53Bristol, won't it, on Tuesday night as to what he does. Obviously, Bristol is where
01:57Josh Griffiths had a good half of the season, didn't he? Obviously, Rovers rather than City,
02:03and he'll be pushing and knocking on the door, surely, won't he? Look, it's Mowbray's
02:08call as head coach, isn't it? It is, but it's a horrible error today, isn't it? It's a horrible
02:13error in the 35th minute of the game that has decided the game, unfortunately. Shouldn't
02:18have, really, because, again, Albion with a better team at 21 shots compared to seven
02:23and their visitors. But, you know, we'll get into rinse and repeat, won't we, about
02:28the final third? Well, this video should really be two and a half minutes long because, you
02:32know, it's not because Cockney loves talking, but it won't be that long. But it should be
02:36because the only real story today is the Wildsmith error, which we just talked about, and the
02:40fact that Albion, yet again, time and time and time again this season, you know, you
02:44can set that team up however you want, but if you create... I would have three clear-cut
02:49chances, three really good clear-cut chances, Daniel. One off the line, granted, but two
02:53other chances with headers, you know, had that many chances... 21 shots.
02:58I've seen supporters, and I've just kind of not bit back at supporters, but said, look,
03:01Albion played well today. The fact that they've lost the game is a goal, compared to having
03:04stuck the ball in the back of the net. But you can blame the manager all you want, but
03:09when the players step on that field and they're not able to convert those chances into goals,
03:13you know... Tony Mowbray's just sat in there and been passionate, you know,
03:19almost passionately defended himself after his side have put in a pretty good display
03:22against a very good Sunderland team, you know, but ultimately... I wrote a story yesterday,
03:27Albion players have got to step, they've got to take responsibility, they've got to grab
03:29games by the scruff of the neck, and today they probably did it more than they did against
03:32Norwich, because they had clearer chances, you know, and really good spells of domination.
03:37Mikey Johnson got in about nine times down the left-hand side in the first half, and
03:40none of them came to anything. No, we had something to say about that, didn't we?
03:42None of them came to anything, and, you know, you've paid £3 million to bring Johnson back
03:46to the club, for him to replicate what he did last season. He's not going to do it over
03:49a full season, but you expect him to do it more than he kind of has done, and at the
03:53end of the day, if Albion... this is a defence of Joe Wildsmith, but if Albion don't come
03:58up, it's not going to be Wildsmith's error today, or Burnley, it's going to be the fact
04:00that in these games... you just told me a stat... 40 goals in 46 games.
04:05Yeah, 48 in 40.
04:07Sorry, 48 in 40.
04:09Not much better than what you said.
04:10But, an awful statistic, because on the left-hand side, there are seven at the table, and they
04:16can't finish a good dinner. Albion can't at the moment, they have to.
04:20Or a bad one.
04:20Yeah, or a bad one, but that's the story. They're not playing bad football. The performances
04:24we're seeing, compared to what we've seen in... I'm not going to say under Corbijn,
04:28because under Corbijn they were a different kind of side, but there's been times in the
04:34last three or four years where we've seen Albion 2 put garbage displays in and lose
04:37games. But there's been a bigger reaction at the moment, even though they're playing
04:42well and not scoring. And so I can understand Mowbray's frustration in there, in terms of
04:46the questions he's maybe fielding, or certain angles of the supporters. But the bottom line
04:54is, Albion are creating chances, they're just not putting it in there.
04:56Yeah, it's one I feel like we could debate until the cows come home. A couple of quick
04:59ones, before I forget the points I've been waiting to make. I thought Albion were better
05:03today than last week. Comfortably, I think Mowbray alluded to that, against the better
05:10side. Albion, a caveat, have been pretty horrible away all season, hasn't it? Your point about
05:17players stepping up, which I don't mind, I kind of agree, generally. But there'll be
05:23people watching it, and just to play devil's advocate, people will say, well, Mowbray time
05:28again has given Joe Wildsmith. Again, I don't want to turn it on, but Wildsmith's not stepped
05:33up there. He had a decision to make, Mowbray, or Matt Colcan decision. I think, if he admits,
05:38he made the wrong one in the initial first place. But in terms of players stepping up,
05:43I'm talking more about the players in the top end of the field, not taking these chances
05:47that Albion have created. Anyone who watched that game today and said Sunderland are a
05:50better team than Albion, I don't know what game they were watching. But at the end of
05:54the day, Sunderland have scored. Yeah, they've had a massive, massive help in, I want to say
05:58hand, but there was no hand involved, in winning the game. But the performances are there.
06:03Individuals kind of need to grab games by the scruff of the neck. Like a bit of Burnley,
06:08when John Swift did it, and that's a debate in itself, because he hasn't done it enough
06:12over the course of his Albion career. But that's, do you know what, it's going to bring
06:16me on to another point, that Albion have dropped out of the playoffs today. I don't think we've
06:20seen enough to warrant a real strong feeling of Albion will overturn it and have it back
06:25in the playoffs. You know, they're only two points off, there will be twists and turns,
06:28but I don't think there's the maybe character to overturn it now.
06:35Got to score goals, to win games, and do it away from home. One away win since September.
06:40They've probably got to win three games away from home now, probably, I would say.
06:43Well, there aren't that many aways left, are there? Only three left.
06:48I think they've got to win two of them. They've got to do something. I just don't think,
06:51I think on the balance of everything we've seen and the evidence of games this season,
06:55I'm not going to say Albion's race is rotten, because that would be stupid,
06:58there's six games to go. For me, it's 60-40, they don't get in the playoffs.
07:02We said it before the game, didn't we, because there was a game last night that
07:05Borough won and they went up a run and Albion dropped a seventh out of it.
07:08I felt, for everyone involved, and I don't just mean the players, but it's changed today.
07:14It went inconsistent all season, all season, no backs-to-backs, however we said it every week,
07:18haven't we? But never really been punished, stayed fifth for six. Rivals have finally,
07:24you know, they dropped out to seventh last night, so they've been punished,
07:26and today they're going to drop to eighth. So, you know, they've fallen short today,
07:31defeat, been punished. So now, you're looking at it from below, aren't you, that it's now Albion
07:38have to win, win, win consistently, or try to win, chase, to get back in. And there haven't been
07:43enough consistent wins all season, have they? 13 league wins, I think. Well, they're chasing that,
07:47you know, chasing might. Yeah, and they've got hard games. Whether the pressure of being in the
07:51playoff spots all season is a factor, I don't quite think it is, but maybe they might be better
07:56chasing now. Yeah, well, we'll find out, I guess. But one, I think, of Mowbray's main takes from
08:03there of this game, and he made the point, didn't he, when he was saying, and we just said it was
08:08better than last week, he said, rightly so, and I agree, look, we got behind them to the byline,
08:13to the crossing point, loads did they, loads. And he's right, they did, didn't they? But certainly,
08:19I think, in the middle bit of the game, until the end of the second half, and he alluded to it,
08:24the final moment, the end product, the cross, the blocked shot, the shanked shot, the cross that
08:31falls to a red and white shirt, I mean, yeah, Sunderland defended alright, didn't they, pretty
08:34well, but that composure and conviction in the final third is so bad. I said to a press box
08:41colleague near the end of the game, whatever the word is for the opposite of conviction,
08:46that's what's going on in this side. Yeah, 12 goal, Madger hasn't kicked a ball under Mowbray
08:52since the start of Jan, top scorer, and the next best still have six. And by the way, one of them's
08:57Grant and one of them's Mowat, and six is good for Mowat. And how many attackers are in this squad?
09:03Allegedly, maybe that's harsh, but good attackers for this level.
09:09We don't have the answers anymore. Albium will have the answers on Tuesday night.
09:16Huge challenge, big game, we've got a bit of injury news to bring before that as well, won't
09:22we, you know, later today or tomorrow. And it's just, it's been a tough day, hasn't it? But
09:30as for points, we've made elements of a better team today, good performance, but as countless
09:36have pointed out online in our social medias, it doesn't mean anything, does it? And that's,
09:44you know, Mowbray's telling us in there that, you know, the squad have got to believe we've
09:49made improvements with the way we're playing. And of course a manager and head coach has to
09:53say that because, you know, for them, performances and improvements lead to good results, don't they?
09:57But it's not happening yet. Certainly not, another disappointing day, rinse and repeat,
10:01deja vu, just read what we wrote, maybe this week. No, don't do that. No, don't do that,
10:05some good stuff to come. Final score, Albi Nilsson 1-1, all the rest of your action express at start.com