Baggie Blues

West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Wolves

So the first ever Premier League Black Country Derby didn't disappoint when it comes to passion and drama. While the quality was sometimes lacking, both sides more than made up for it with 110% commitment to the cause. This game had almost everything. Top saves, near misses, a wonder goal, crunching challenges, shocking misses, and of course the devastating (from the Old Gold viewpoint) late goal.

I think it's right to start off with the positives. For the first 45 minutes, we were all over our Black Country 'neighbours' (using the term loosely as Walsall are technically more our neighbours than Albion). We gave them no real time to properly settle in possession, and limited them to often shooting from distance in a vain attempt to trouble Wayne Hennessey. We passed the ball well - as shown by the first half statistic showing us to have around 55% of the play. Although we didn't create any clear-cut chances (as shown by the fact we had only 1 shot on target throughout the whole match - O'Hara's goal), we caused the Baggies plenty of problems. A particular thorn in West Brom's side being a somewhat rejuvenated Matt Jarvis, who gave Jara a torrid time; taking him on and beating him countless times.

I was delighted that Jamie O'Hara was able to cap an excellent first-half performance with a beautiful strike. Throught the half he'd pushed Albion back time and time again, exploiting the obvious void left by the injured Youssouf Mulumbu. When his chance came, he took it with aplomb. An apparently pre-worked routine (which later turned out to be spontaneous) between Milijas, Henry and O'Hara finished with the on-loan midfielder curling a first-time strike into the very corner of Myhill's net from about 20-25 yards out. It was a fabulous effort and one which had a small corner of The Hawthorns chanting O'Hara's name for the rest of the match.

Much credit too must go to the defenders for their display in the 2nd half. A sensational block from George Elokobi to deny Peter Odemwingie an almost certain goal the stand-out defensive moment of the match. Praise must also go to Ronald Zubar (yet again) for some strong tackling as Albion pushed for an equaliser, aswell as Wayne Hennessey for once again making a string of important saves to preserve our 1-0 lead. And credit must also go to the much maligned Karl Henry. The Ashmore Park midfielder showing the sort of passion and drive almost all fans in Gold and Black would have done if given the chance.

But yet again, the same old issues show their ugly faces. Question marks over Mick's tactics/substitutions. And more cruelly, Lady Luck just wasn't wearing a Wolves shirt. Once more, we're sat wondering how different it would've been if Olsson's interception had trickled just inside the near-post, rather than just outside of it. What would have happened if Matt Jarvis had shown the just tiniest bit more composure and placed the ball past Boaz Myhill into the back of the net. What would have happened had Stephen Ward closed James Morrison down just that little bit faster. And crucially, what would have happened had the ball not rebounded off of Hennessey's foot and fallen into the path of Vela.

So many issues of luck there. But we must also look at what led to it. For the first half, we were on top with 4-5-1; the extra man in midfield allowing us to keep the ball better and put greater pressure on the Albion midfielders. By taking off Milijas and replacing him with Ebanks-Blake, Mick elected to go 4-4-2 in a bid to attack Albion more... it didn't pay off. Instead what it did is leave us completely open and allow West Brom the chance to push us further back. Replacing Foley with Stephen Ward (who I'm personally getting rather sick of seeing in every match) simply disrupted the balance of the team at a key period of the match. I cannot comment on the Craddock change too much as he didn't really have enough time to impact the defending. But yet again we as fans are left looking at the decisions and questioning what on earth the Manager was thinking. I watched the game with a friend of mine and their parents and constantly my friend's Dad was crying out for 4-4-2. All I could think was how badly that system would damage us. Of course, he got his wish and we went 4-4-2 and I personally believe it was that which lost us what could be 2 key points come the end of May.

But we cannot dwell on the negatives. It's too late in the season for that. We need to just use all our energy backing the team and (agree with him or not - personally not at the moment) the Manager too. We're all in this together and we'll need that attitude to pull us through the rest of this season.

Oh, and the small matter of turning the Baggies over when they come for the return leg at Molineux on May 8th.

It's Wolverhampton against the world until 6pm on Sunday May 22nd.
Are YOU up for the fight?