Sunderland 0 West Brom 0: Lewis Cox & Jonny Drury analysis

Express & Star

1 year ago

Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox give their take on Albion's draw at Sunderland.

Transcript

00:00Buggies fans, welcome to Express and Star.com. My name is Jonny Drury. I'm here with Lewis

00:12Cox. Well, I'm not here with Lewis Cox, but 200 and so 200 odd miles away. He's at the

00:17state of my life after having a drawn for the eighth time in nine games under very different

00:22circumstances. A defensive crisis, a back to the wall display. Vintage Carlos Corberan

00:31springs to mind.

00:32Jonny, I mean, to be honest, they could have done with you here. You'd have, you know,

00:38you were next in line for that centre half. I'm telling you.

00:41Great flair made more.

00:42Honestly, you were, you were, you were within, you know, you're close. You keep, keep pushing

00:46for Preston Saturday. You're not far off. Yeah, no, no. But I would say, I mean, just

00:53going through the more quickly in my head, as you say, eight for nine, that's the ninth

00:57league draw of the season. I'll been have drawn the most in the championship this season.

01:01Obviously, as you say, I'll put high flying Sunderland tonight for my money. That's the

01:05best draw of the season, if you get what I mean. And look, anyone that's watched that

01:09tonight, be it fans that have travelled up here, not sure how many travelled actually,

01:13but those that watched on the telly, look, we know, I know Corban knows because he just

01:18told me in there Sunderland deserve to win tonight. Created obviously way more, you know,

01:23it was, it was a box to the wall. It was rear guard action. I've been, did have a couple

01:28of chances, but look, Sunderland deserved it. But you just have to look at the context.

01:31I think for tonight, don't you? Sunderland, obviously a very good side. I haven't lost

01:37there this season. I've scored in every game here this season until tonight. And the big

01:40line obviously is the availability. I've been out at the back, hence our jesting about

01:46your, you playing in defence, Johnny. Basically everyone keeps dropping out and even the midfielders

01:51that we're going to drop into the back line drop out and you really fear the worst, don't

01:56you? But credit Albion, credit Corban. They, look, they, they came in with a plan tonight.

02:02They changed the system. If you ignore that sound in the background there, they changed

02:06the system back five wing back. Something that I haven't done for a long time. Carlos

02:10tells me racket, she's playing in defence for the first time in his life. You know,

02:13all that sort of resilient, rigid stuff and credit to them. They became the first side

02:19to stop Sunderland scoring here tonight. And it was some effort. I think, look on another

02:23day, Sunderland that had Nick Twan, don't get me wrong, but I've been a defended superbly

02:27that a number of super performances, you know, Kyle Bartley's had to come in play 45 the

02:33first half when he wasn't ready to, because the key said dropped out in the warmup. As

02:36I say, racket just then had to come on playing a totally alien position. I just thought it

02:41was a really, really hard work, you know, really hard yards, proper effort tonight,

02:47proper battle. Some of the blocks, I mean, Mo it's goal saving block was sensational.

02:51Second off. It's a really valued point, isn't it? I'll be on the coach on the way back down

02:56the M one now and they'll be weary after that, but they'll really a Costco run and any players

03:02and stuff will really welcome that point, I think. And I think most Albion fans that

03:05watch that, they'll be watching this. We'll, we'll agree in the context of the situation,

03:10the defence and leader, the threadbare options. It's an excellent point, I think.

03:16Just playing devil's advocate, was there a few times where Albion maybe could have got

03:21at Sunderland a little bit more? They had two big chances in the game, one at the start

03:25and one at the end, sort of dovetail the performance, but could they have maybe attacked a little

03:30bit more? Or was it a case of tonight getting the job done? Get a point, you know?

03:35Yeah, no, I think it was the latter. But I do think that within that plan, there's a

03:40let's you, you know, let's use the counter attack and let's break where we can. But one

03:45of Albion's best attacking outlets, we saw it on Saturday, didn't we? In Tom Fellows

03:48had to play wing back tonight, had to do a job and did a job defensively. That didn't

03:53mean he couldn't try to be effective going forward. And when Albion had the ball at times,

03:58Fellows was right up there on the last line. So, you know, can they use counter attacks

04:02when there's a possibility? Can they break at pace? And I thought, you know, a shout

04:06out to Carlin Grant because he led the line in that, didn't he? He was superb, I thought.

04:10Fellows had his moments. Madger against his former club had one moment, really, didn't

04:15he? He mentioned those two chances, Johnny. Josh Madgers was very early and unusually

04:20for him, sort of off balance, skewed it wide, didn't he? The kind of chance he's been taking

04:24this season from an excellent Fellows cross from the counter attack. That was the real

04:28blueprint, wasn't it? That the blueprint was followed tonight to a tee. But if that moment

04:32had gone in and if Albion had nicked it 1-0 and kept a clean sheet, that was an absolute

04:36dream, wasn't it? That would have been Corbran's absolute dream situation. And then the late

04:42chance was sub Lewis Dobbin. He was one who surprisingly came on at halftime. Corbran

04:45decided it wasn't a game for Johnson. He wasn't doing well. I'd agree with that. Dobbin came

04:49on and was pretty quiet, really. And that moment later on fell for him. Again, another

04:54good counter. Sunderland pushing bodies forward. And they're the moments that, look, Sunderland

04:59could have scored on another day, but Madger could have buried it on another day. Dobbin's

05:03effort was a bit weak, wasn't it? And tame late on. Let's be honest, I thought it was

05:07cleared off the line by Ballard. Obviously, Dan Ballard, the Panto villain here. But actually,

05:11it was going wide anyway from Dobbin, wasn't it? So quite poor. But I think, and I know

05:17you've watched it on Skype tonight, Johnny, and a lot of Albion fans would have. And I

05:20saw the same in the stadium, really. Some of the gripe, I think most would accept a

05:26great point here, but I think some of the gripe, just how Albion struggled to look after

05:29the ball, really. Struggled to, I don't know, knit five, six, seven, eight passes together

05:36and really build attacks. Be a bit more accurate with your passing and your touching. Try and

05:43build some play more. It was very much, look, let's try to smash and grab, rely on the counter

05:47attack. And it nearly, it nearly worked, but there were only, there weren't enough occasions.

05:52I would say only a handful of occasions, if that, where Albion really looked for a minute

05:56or two, like they were in control of possession, if you see what I mean. So I think fans want

05:59to see a bit more of that, don't they? A bit more quality with the ball, accuracy, composure

06:05and creativity. But look, the main story tonight is, is the rear guard, how it's been absolutely

06:10wow, decimated, hasn't it? There's barely any bodies left there. They're sellotape,

06:17they're walking wounded, no furlong tonight for the first time in, under Corbrandt suspended,

06:22but full credit for them, I would say, locking Sunderland out tonight, because that's no

06:26mean feat. Topside, I think they are. And they were restricted to very few chances,

06:31I think, really, Sunderland. And like I say, a welcome point, Johnny, to enjoy. We don't

06:37want to be talking and reflecting on many more draws, do we? We just don't. Albion have

06:40been really good away from home this season. They've got the division's best away record.

06:45Of all nine draws this season, maybe the first one, actually, at home to Leeds, but of all

06:49of the nine draws, I think this is, I would say, the most valuable.

Sunderland 0 West Brom 0: Lewis Cox & Jonny Drury analysis

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended