JORDĀO'S JOTTINGS
MASTERMIND
BIRMINGHAM CITY 1
WEST BROMWICH ALBION 1
EFL CHAMPIONSHIP
Fri 14th September Kick off 19:45
The theme for tonight's game was going to be a rather strained and tenuous link. It was all about road signs, I'd got it all worked out, puns, cliches, play on words..... all sorts, for example, Birmingham's pitch has always had an "Adverse Camber", The wind sock sign would have been employed if Dwight Gayle was running riot, of course if we'd lost it would've been "Keep right on to the end of the road, then turn left, stop at the lights, third left, across the roundabout and then follow the signs to the Hawthorns"
But, after witnessing the so called "Passing" game, I immediately thought of "Mastermind", the black chair, Magnus Magnusson (I know I'm going back a bit), but it was a chosen subject of ninety minutes, not two.
Magnus "Good evening and welcome to mastermind, the four contestants tonight are"
Kyle Bartley "My name's Kyle Bartley, I'm a centre half and my chosen subject is passing"
Ahmed Hegazi "I'm Ahmed and my chosen subject is passing"
Chris Brunt " Hi, I'm Chris and I'm supposed to be a central midfielder, my specialist subject is passing"
Magnus "But first can Dwight Gayle please take the chair" "Dwight, your 90 minutes start now" "What was your aim for tonight?"
Dwight "To make runs into space and score goals"
Magnus "Correct" "And what didn't your midfielders do?"
Dwight "Pass"
Magnus "Correct" "The defenders instead of clearing their lines decided to do what?"
Dwight "Pass"
Magnus "Correct" "In the last few minutes Harvey Barnes hit the bar, what"
Beeep, beep beep, beep!!!
Magnus "I've started so I'll finish!", "What did you successfully do in order for him to have the chance?"
Dwight "Pass"
Magnus "Correct" "And at the end of that round Dwight you never got any chances."
The other three stay firmly in their seats, twiddling thumbs and looking sheepish.
Magnus "So that's the end of the game, the others made no passes"
In truth, the game was entertaining, in as much that it was an eye rubbing experience. How can a team who played with such skill and pace, energy and inventiveness against Stoke and QPR look so ordinary when pitted against a side who were industrious, but obviously limited in their capabilities? We were awful, plain and simple, apart from Phillips and Barnes who still carried a threat even after it was obvious Birmingham had a "kick lumps out of them two" policy from the first minute.
If our "Chosen Subject" of passing was bad, then the "General knowledge" section was dreadful, with some players not knowing what colour kit they were playing in. Birmingham scored through the Baggies losing comfortable possession in the wrong area, then allowing the Blues time and acres of space to basically do what they want. Another piece of suicidal passing gave the opposition chance to make it 2-0, but for the second time this season, young Sam Johnstone saved the resultant penalty, after a few minutes of near Kamikaze defending. I'm certainly no prophet, or top class coach, but, I warned in the pre match notes that Birmingham would press our defence and be a threat out wide. They did both, because our midfield two are being overrun or just outfought on occasion. We are where we are because our firepower can salvage and even snatch victory or at least a point in the blink of an eye. Matty Phillips did just that, with individual persistence and quality to wrestle back the match when it looked like we'd go into the break losing. On the balance of play Birmingham, (if they had our strikers) would've been out of sight.
Ht 1-1
The stats stated that the Baggies enjoyed 63% possession, it certainly didn't feel like it. The second half didn't match the first in pace or energy and with Birmingham not showing much creativity it offered the Baggies chance to dictate the play. But, once again the decision making and execution of pass was inept. Hegazi and Bartley continued to try and give Blues a clear scoring opportunity, luckily their strikers were either too shocked to be allowed in on goal so easy, or more likely they're just not up to much.
On this showing the Baggies have a lot of work to do to even reach the play offs, even then it'd be a rabid optimist who'd think we'd survive in the premier league. Barnes hit the bar late on, as Albion finished the stronger, though it would have been extremely harsh on Birmingham if it had gone in.
Verdict.
Some of our players are really struggling with the system and the playing philosophy being asked of them. The playing out from the back is all well and good against sides who set up to sit back and hit on the break, but against high tempo in your face opposition we look very, very average and at times embarrassing. We could and possibly should have been hammered tonight.
There's no honeymoon period in this division, there's certainly no respect for ex premier league teams, it's blood and thunder football and some of our players tonight were found very wanting. Such is the nature of this league the Baggies will most likely tear Bristol City apart on Tuesday, but to most observers tonight, we might need to have a new "Chosen Subject" and bring in one or two new contestants.
