Lewis Cox and Jonny Drury analyse West Brom's win over Portsmouth

1 year ago

Lewis Cox and Jonny Drury give their take on Albion's win over Portsmouth.
Albion got off to a blistering start at Fratton Park as Josh Maja put them ahead in less than a minute.
Both sides had chances, with Maja having a header hooked off the line before Alex Mowatt fired home a superb second after the restart.
And late on he curled in a free kick to cap off a superb afternoon.

Transcript

00:00Baggies fans, welcome to ExpressAndStar.com. My name is Jonny Drew, I'm here with Lewis

00:12Cox after Albion have won for the fourth time this season in five games. Three wins on the

00:16road and for the first time in a very, very, very, very, very long time, we can say West

00:21Warwick-Albion are top of the league. Coxie, what a day and what a start.

00:27Yeah, away fans certainly said that, didn't they? From about 54 seconds in, the magic

00:32was off. That was all it took, wasn't it? Thoroughly convincing and professional today

00:39for me, a great win. This was never as easy as anybody may have thought it might have

00:44been, newly promoted. Yes, they haven't won yet, they're pompy, but a few good draws.

00:49This place was always going to be banged up for it. The atmosphere, first off, was electric,

00:52wasn't it? But obviously the early goal was key. Portsmouth replied really well, didn't

00:56they? But Albion stood firm, went on to secure what is a brilliant clean sheet here today,

01:01first on the road this season. Obviously, Alex Mowat's grabbed the headlines in style,

01:07hasn't he? With two screamers, one into each top corner from range, what a player, what

01:14a day for Albion. We've done five of these in the league now, haven't we, this season?

01:19Well, not together because we've missed a game each, but that's fine. Already after

01:25five games, and I'm not just saying this because I've gone top and it might be easy to say,

01:29but to me, I think I said it after perhaps the Swansea game last time, which just before

01:35the break, feels like something's brewing to me this season. The squad, Corbijn had

01:41at his disposal today, unchanged 11 again to start with for five games to start the

01:45season. That's got to be rare, hasn't it? That just doesn't happen and is a sign for

01:49the momentum and confidence that's flowing. But the opportunity then had to bring on Grady,

01:54Jed Wallace, obviously Mikey Johnson. He looked lively, didn't he? Rakic in midfield

01:58when he came on, looks a top little player. Not little, he's not little. There's nothing

02:02little about Rakic. He is massive. He certainly wouldn't fit in this shot, would he? It shows

02:09what's to come, doesn't it? They're flooded with options and chatting with Carlos and

02:13Mowat after the game there, Mowat said something about, look, there'll be bumps in the road

02:17at some point, we've got to ride it out, stay consistent. So far, they're just looking

02:22a really good place for me. It just feels different to last season in a good way.

02:25Yeah, it's hard to sort of pick players out but it's just, like you say, it's that,

02:28I've talked to the fans about an hour or so ago and it's just that optimism that at times

02:33today, looking at another side of the performance at times today, obviously there's players

02:38that came off the bench, the depth, but even though Albion's goals were superb today,

02:44there's just that, they're solid at the back almost. There was those hairy moments in the

02:49first half, I was tearing my hair out, where Albion have played themselves into trouble,

02:53but apart from that, they're a bit of a barrage of pressure, but there's that as well that

02:58probably goes a little bit unnoticed. They had a good defensive record last season in

03:03terms of goals conceded but they seem to be even tighter this time and more potent going

03:07forward. Yeah, they defended really well. The first half when Portsmouth came on strong,

03:12I can think of moments when Furlong, Ejai, Bartley, the three of them were superb blocks

03:18and clearances. The moments you spoke of were, obviously it happened twice in a minute

03:24when Palmer played it out, once to Molumby, once to Mowat, and Pompey's press caught them.

03:29One lit to a chance and they happened back to back and everyone watching it,

03:32ourselves included, are tearing our hair out. But, while the players have to take a level

03:38of responsibility, that is the message from Corwin, they are told to do that. They're not

03:43told to give it away, obviously, and the midfielders have to be aware and Palmer has to pick the right

03:46pass, but that's what they're coached and trained to do in the week. That's the patterns of play

03:53led to a superb 31-pass goal last time against Swansea. That old cliche of risk-reward,

04:01if you're playing out from that, even City give chances away, don't they? It's going to happen.

04:05Obviously, not ideal to be doing it twice in a minute here and they got away with it, really,

04:10at 1-0 in the first half. But, that aside, you're right, the defence to a man. Maybe Hegham left

04:17back today slightly below the other three. He had some lively customers to deal with, but still did

04:21fine, more than fine. I asked Carlos just then, he name-checked Kyle Bartley, unprompted actually,

04:28without being asked and I just said, I think Bartley's been phenomenal this season, building

04:32on where he left off. A joy back in the team from the cold, really, done almost equally as well and

04:38we know all about how good he's been, don't we, for a long time. It was his quick thinking with

04:42the throw right at the start of the game, in the first minute, that set Fellowes away. Yet another

04:47top Fellowes assist. I think that's four. Top assist maker. Unplayable. And a major top scorer,

04:53five and five. Unplayable. Albin, it's been absolutely terrific today. A fourth win in

04:58five games, three on the trot. I don't think we thought this was possible. Daring to dream.

05:02At the start of the summer, potentially daring to dream. We'll talk more about that on the podcast,

05:06which we're going to be recording on the way back from Fratton Park this evening. I know your

05:09baggage fans have got your questions in, so we're going to answer those and talk a lot about it

05:12today and look ahead to next week. We love taking one on the road, don't we? We do, we do. Albin,

05:15baggage broadcast on the road today. But from here at Fratton Park, an unbelievably

05:20superb away day for Albin. 3-0 against Portsmouth, top of the league.

05:23For all the rest of your reaction, you know where to go, expressandstar.com.

Lewis Cox and Jonny Drury analyse West Brom's win over Portsmouth

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