West Bromwich Albion 2 - Leicester City 0

Dave Watkin:

Albion were patient in their home match against Leicester City and were rewarded with two late goals and a flattering scoreline. However, there's no doubt in my mind that we deserved to win, as we were unlucky not to have scored from at least one of four good strikes earlier in the game. Although City can take some credit for a competitive performance I don't believe they had a single significant shot on goal.

The first half was dull. The Baggies took too long over their build-up and consequently failed to excite. After the break we improved and earned the three points.

Darren Carter had possibly his best game for the team; his passing, shooting and determined tackling earned him a well deserved man-of-the-match award. He's now set a standard which he must aim to reproduce on a regular basis. The defence, including Pascal Zuberbuhler, were sound although they weren't under a lot of pressure. Young Paul McShane can be pleased with his performance. In the midfield, as well as Carter, Nigel Quashie worked hard but too often Jonathan Greening wandered inside meaning we had no width down the right. Once he was introduced, Jason Koumas showed glimpses of his vision and passing ability. After his past behaviour he should consider himself fortunate to receive such a good reception from the fans. If he's willing to show the right attitude in future, it can only be good news for Albion and for the lad himself. Kevin Phillips and Nathan Ellington were the pick of the three strikers on show.

We can probably expect the majority of visitors to the Hawthorns to make life difficult for us by defending in depth. That means we're likely to experience more games like today we struggle to overcome an inferior side. Team and fans need to be patient if things don't go right early on, if we hope to pick up the points we need for promotion.

TEAM NEWS

Bryan Robson made five changes to the starting line-up. Martin Albrechtsen and league debutant Paul McShane replaced the injured Steve Watson and Curtis Davies in defence. In midfield, Ronnie Wallwork was recalled instead of Richard Chaplow and Darren Carter made his first league start of the season at the expense of Zoltan Gera. Kevin Phillips made his full debut in attack in preference to Nathan Ellington. Jason Koumas was given a place on the bench.

HIGHLIGHTS

The first half was eminently forgettable, but it was Albion who had the two best attempts on goal. Early on we were awarded a free kick twenty yards out and Darren Carter struck a beautifully curling shot which rebounded to safety off the inside of the right hand post. Then as half time approached a right wing corner from Jonathan Greening was met perfectly by John Hartson, but his firm on-target header was tipped away by the keeper.

The Baggies had been very one paced before the break, but afterwards they increased the tempo and succeeded in putting the visitors under some pressure. Just after the hour mark Darren Carter was desperately unlucky when his well struck shot from twenty-five yards left the keeper stranded but struck the crossbar.

For once Albion had some fire power on the bench and with twenty minutes remaining Jason Koumas was brought on for Greening and Nathan Ellington replaced the tiring Hartson. Five minutes later Nigel Quashie played a well judged through ball to Kevin Phillips, who raced through to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but his low shot from just inside the penalty area was saved.

Just when it appeared that time was running out Albion struck in bizarre fashion. A pinpoint crossfield ball from Paul Robinson was brought down expertly by Nigel Quashie on his chest. He cut past his marker on the right and had the strength to hold off a tackle and pull back a good deep cross to the edge of the six yard box. Kenton wasn't under any immediate pressure, but he headed the ball back into his own goal, to give Albion an 83rd minute lead.

The Baggies faithful had barely finished cheering when in the 86th minute they had another reason to celebrate. Phillips was twisting past Kisnorbo deep in the penalty area when he was brought down. The referee pointed to the spot and Kevin Phillips grabbed the ball and coolly slotted the penalty home.

Richard Chaplow was introduced for Quashie and we comfortably survived four minutes of added-on time.

ALBION FORMRATE: FAIR

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: DARREN CARTER

Brendan Clegg:

Usually I leave it to think about the game before posting my thoughts but I'm doing it with the game fresh in memory for this.

I thought we were better than at Sunderland today and largely controlled possession but were still pretty poor. Leicester were worse, very dull and the fact they hadn't been beaten for a while before today is indicative of the quality of this league.

We won the game purely through luck, a quite bizarre own goal and a penalty that I thought was pretty harsh on the Foxes, Phillips trying to walk the ball in and seemingly stumbling over the ball.

The negatives for me were Greening, once again doing his very best to play centre midfield or behind the full back when the game was crying out for width, Hartson who looks less fit with each game and gave away a foul every time the ball went near him (and the ref was always right) and our general creativity which I thought was poor.

Positives? The back 4 looked pretty solid most of the time, although I was disappointed with Albechtson who wasn't great and didn't get around the back of their defence like he can. I wouldn't say that was entirely his fault... Greening went walkabout so much he barely had the option of a ball down the line for a one-two or someone on that side to draw players out and give him space to exploit. The other positive was Carter, I'm not a fan at all but he hit the woodwork twice, kept it simple and stuck to his task as a wide midfielder well, something Greening should take note of.

My marks:

• Zubi: 5, Not a lot to do, held things well but made some ludicrous decisions on his throws out often putting us back under pressure.
• Alby: 5, Not a great game but offered little support by Greening. At least his gallops forward rewarded us with throw ins 30 or 40 yards up the pitch from where he received the ball.
• McShane: 6, Good solid game, defended well but likes to either hoof or lay it back to the 'keeper.
• Perry: 7, As McShane but better use of the ball at times.
• Robinson: 6, Typical Robbo performance but didn't get forward much.
• Greening: 4, Very out of form, poor set plays, plays wherever he likes (ruins our fluidity), needs to be dropped (preferably for Gera next game). Not as good as he thinks he is.
• Quashie: 6, Decent all round. Solid performance. Someone on the radio back said he was booed when taken off? Not by anyone near me but sad if true.
• Wallwork: 5, Went about his job. Nothing outstanding.
• Carter: 7, Played well and deserves his place next game. Still looks sluggish to me though.
• Phillips: 6, Did okay, missed a couple of chances but good pen. Intelligent running.
• Hartson: 4, Won the odd flick on but gave away far too many fouls. Hardly mobile and a bit of a worry. Probably okay for away games but I'd drop him at home.

Subs:

• Koumas: 6, Did okay. Eased into it but will need to earn the right before I sing his name again.
• Ellington: 6, Better but needs to finish matches.
• Chaplow: 5, Not on long but a couple of decent moments.

On the radio on the way back Robson said he was pleased with the way we passed the ball, was disappointed with the fans and thinks we're blessed with the best set piece players in the league with Greening & Carter.

1. I recall there being a lot of hoof 'till the subs came on.
2. We in the Smethwick sang "Oh When The Stripes" solidly for 15 minutes in the second half when the game was dull.
3. Greening? Set pieces? Every corner is the same, float to the near post. Are you on crack?

Very lucky today & must improve. Straightjacket for Robson?

Dave:

Two goals in the last 10 mins, one an own goal, against lowly Leics. Not Premiership stuff, whose going to put some inspiration into this squad of cast-offs before its too late? %p Not the current wet fish floundering out of their depth.

Funky Fudge:

Someone answer me this - how am I supposed to feel tonight - happy or annoyed? Happy with the 3 points or annoyed at another poor performance?

I took a friend today who knows nothing about football. She doesn't even bother watching the world cup when England are playing. She probably doesn't even know there is an offside rule, let alone be able to explain it. Anyway, 2 quotes from her pretty much summed up WBA FC at the moment:

40 minutes in: "The trouble is, when they get the ball, they give it away really quickly"

43 minutes in: If I was the keeper I would give the ball to that player over there (out wide right) on his own (immediately afterwards Zubi hoofed the ball down the middle into a scrum of players for Leicester to win).

My point? If a complete novice with no knowledge of the game can make those 2 statements within their first 45 minutes of live football ever, how come someone involved with the first team cannot see the same thing?

Anyway, there was one surprise today - some booing a few minutes into the second half. Whilst I didn't boo, I suspect the first half performance deserved the booing it received, but I can't remember a time when the fans have booed during the game like that.

Onto the game - too many lumps up field for it to come straight back. Lack of initiative on the pitch - summed up by a free kick about 10 yards or so outside the area which was crying out for someone to cross it into the danger zone, and which we passed sideways, and again etc etc until the ball went backwards.

Greening really needs to learn positional sense - I lost count of the number of times that he not only came inside, but was popping up almost in Carters territory. This meant that we couldn't use Alby's pace down the left - if he pushed forward, there was nobody available to overlap, and nobody to sit in behind the overlap as cover because Greening wasn't there.

Hartson: fat, slow, unfit and gave away almost as many fouls as he had touches. I would drop him for the next game.

Carter was probably the pick of the bunch today - occasionally cocking it up, but worked hard, some good runs and crosses etc. Unlucky with the woodwork (twice?)

McShane worried me at times, seemingly backing off players when he should have stayed tight. Davies does seem to have noticeably more quality with balls out of defence.

Alby - good to see a bit of pace back in the team, but we wasted his inclusion due to Greening going awol - see above.

Phillips worked well, but should have done better with a one-on-one chance he had.

Kev Buckley:

The fact that Darren Carter's wholly deserved MoM performance was awarded for the sterling work he did down the middle of the park, rather than anything in the nominal left wing role he had lined up in, once again served to highlight just how little creativity there is in our current first-choice centre-mid pairing and with Greening's having to move to his seemingly least-favoured right-hand side to accomodate Carter's inclusion evincing little by way of "get past the full-back and cross it" action on that side either, it would not be to hard to suggest that Albion were actually lined up in a Brazilian 4222, albeit without the Brazilian width, flair, inventiveness, silky samba skills or positional interchange. I suppose spectators can at least be grateful that at least we had Albrechtsen doing the impression of some Cafu-esque roaming at pace down the right-hand flank, and not Watson, whilst it is left as an exercise for the reader to compare and contrast the attacking merits of Roberto Carlos and Paul Robinson.

To claim that the introduction of Ellington and Koumas, like-for-like swaps, well positionally anyway, for Greening and Harston turned the game would no doubt be greeted with hoots of derision from those who decry creativity, love a battler and would have pointed to yet another "unbeaten" match to add to the tally had it stayed 0-0, and in all fairness they'd be well within their rights to hoot too, though both Koumas and The Duke looked up for it, certainly upped the pace a bit and must be in contention for starting roles though Koumas down the middle instead of Quashie is probably a bit too much to ask for right now. When you realise that the other two subs were Chaplow and Gera then you have to ask if there was a); a better subs bench in the division that day and b); why have such players looked so poor as to be on it in the first place?

I think we can take it for granted that Hartson's biggest strength, other than being big and strong of course, is his heading, though even "Fat Taff" would have struggled to better the far post bullet-header OG that finally broke this dreariest of deadlocks, but can someone explain to me why, when the man on the ball has a clear path to the big man, the instinct that's no doubt been coached into (or not coached out of ?) players is to ping it at him in the air rather than simply pass it into his feet on the deck and retain possesion?

With Albion one-up and a huge wave of relief rolling around the stands instead of the occasional boo of frustration breaking the uninspired-by-events-on-the-pitch calm, Phillips, who had earliar that half, following a piece of "excepton that pretty much proves the rule" through-ball passing from Quashie, wasted the sort of one-on-one chance that would have seen terrace and mailing-list demands for former strikers to be shipped out, seemed to have dallied too long when cutting in from the left only to be tripped from behind and convert the spot kick himself - not so much a case of "never mind the quality, feel the width" as one of "never mind the quality, just be happy you've got anything at all and besides, they aren't wearing them wide this season"!

At 2-0 up, even Carter, who had twice hit the woodwork at 0-0, the post from a dead ball first half and the bar from, where else, a pretty central position in open play second half, started a bit of Brazilian show-boating - and if that doesn't send you home with a smile on your face then nothing will.

donnybaggieboy:

Another 3 points but yet another unconvincing performance. We saw today two very poor teams produce very little in the way of entertainment. First half the only incidents of note Carter hitting the woodwork with a great free kick and a superb save from Hartsons close range header. Things could only improve in the second half, they did but only slightly, Greening seems to be getting worse with every game going walkabout on several occassions, at least twice Hartson headed down to the wing where Greening should have been, only to find him on the other side of the pitch. Mcshane did ok but a concern is how easy he was knocked off the ball and the space he gave the leicester forwards, against a decent team we would have been punished.

The game did liven up a bit with the introduction of Ellington for the virtually non existent Hartson and Koumas for the even more non existent Greening. A plus point for me was the performance of Carter, i am not a big fan of Darren but today i thought he was the only one trying. Koumas did ok and also ellington i thought did more in 20 minutes than hartson did in 70.

On 83 minutes a great cross from quashie was headed home beautifully by their defender a great own goal!! then a couple of minutes later Phillips was brought down for a penalty which he cooly tucked away.

i came away from the ground yesterday rather bemused as to how we got 3 points this looked like a classic 0-0 from the off. Its good to see Koumas back good to see Carter have a good game the worry for me is up front lets hope Ellington starts showing the form he is capable of showing because Hartson looks so unfit and we are not playing to his strengths ie getting the ball out wide and delivering high quality balls to him.

Overall another lacklustre performance we need to improve quickly or i feel it won't be long before we will be found out. MOM darren carter.

Asbourne Exile:

My only comment on the game would be, sure we were average at best, but with the squad we have let's be patient. Phillips is a great buy as is Perry; the return of Koumas and with Ellington looking up for it at last we have the squad to go up and go up and go up playing entertaining football.

If Robson cannot get the most exciting squad on the pitch and motivate then he is not the man. He has a track record of getting Boro up and he knows the style of play we all want to see but will he deliver? The next few games ahead of Wolves and Blues will be key. Bar Preston we should be looking to win and win in style with the most fluent 11 we can put out. ie No Hartson, no Ronnie.

Let's call judgement then

Keep the faith.

Julian:

Did anyone else hear Robbo's after match report on WM saying that the fans would have to get used to Albion mixing up the play and that we weren't going to just put in long balls to the front men like others in the division.

Was he watching the same game as me.....I reckon he's a complete dillusional myself...... the whole of the first half last Saturday, all we did was pump long balls to Hartson who was looking to head on for Phillips. We did the same when Ellington came on.

Saying that, I do feel that when the own goal came last Saturday we had started to play some football and were starting to move forward from midfield. I know some were moaning but I was happy with the last twenty minutes, and for a change we got better in the second half. Lets hope our midfield get the message and start looking and moving forward for the rest of the season.

Although more likely is that the midfield will be back to the normal at Preston...... get the ball, turn and go sideways or backwards because there is no-one to pass. Lets hope not.