00:00Buggies fans, welcome to the riverside, welcome to expressthestar.com.
00:11My name is Jonny Drury, this is Lewis Cox, the Albion correspondent, after we've just
00:15watched Tony Mowbray's second coming as Albion manager, did not go to plan.
00:20Albion beating 2-0 by Middlesbrough.
00:23Coxy, a few changes, decent spells in certain areas for Albion, but the same old problem,
00:31which you cannot solve like Tony Mowbray said in one training session, but yeah, disappointing
00:36start for him, but positives and much to ponder.
00:40Yeah, front line wasn't it, I mean I don't think Albion played particularly well, well
00:44tonight really, and look that's not on a new head coach, who's come in with one training
00:50session and this is his first game, I think he played relatively tough opposition, clearly
00:55rivals in the table, I don't think Middlesbrough actually played too well to win tonight, you
00:59know two goals from, pot shots really from range, Ben Doak's goal late on to make it
01:052-0 is a classy strike, he's a classy player, but Albion, how many times have we stood on
01:11a video this season and said this kind of thing, but do you remember many clear-cut
01:16chances, because I don't, now I can remember sort of final third moments where you're getting
01:21towards as I say the Borough back line and then it's about, okay what decision do you
01:27make, what pass do you make, what pass is on, you go out wide then, okay, in the winger,
01:33beat his man, get a delivery and who's in the box, at the moment we know about the Josh
01:38Maddish situation, we know about the DK situation and you've got Carlin Grant leading the line
01:43with support from Grady Deangarna, I mean arguably both were at least one of those
01:47sort of playing out of position, you know neither a striker, striker number nine per
01:51se are they, and Tony Mowbray knows this as well as us, he's only watched, he's only been
01:57in the dugout for this tonight, obviously he watched Saturday, he'll have watched many
02:02games of Albion on record this season and stuff, and within one answer to me in the
02:07press conference down there, you were there to listen to it too, he broke down the final
02:12third, so he went straight for that problem area didn't he, the issue with the final third
02:16and he broke it down for us, he spoke about what the forward players can be doing a bit
02:21more, but he wouldn't, he was asked about the transfer window wasn't he, we know Albion
02:29have been in for the striker from Ipswich, Ali Al-Hamadi, and we also know that's broken
02:33down today so it doesn't look like that's on the cards, as was reported earlier which
02:39is a blow if that was a player Albion were trying to get in, but the point is that Tony
02:45was quite strong on, yes the club are working on things and they know, we all know the areas
02:51they need to get in but he sort of said I'm tunnel vision focussed on trying to improve
02:56what I've got at the minute, what I can improve, trying to keep the areas they're strong in,
03:04the back line, the clean sheets, the defensive record, but try and spark something in the
03:10final third with these players here, good attacking footballers that should be able
03:15to score goals at this level but for some reason haven't been able to anywhere near
03:21enough this season, tonight there was next to nothing clear cut was there, I think it's
03:29just symptomatic of, I don't want to use the word culture, but the way Albion have played
03:33this season, but also the personnel available, look there's no sort of natural instinctive
03:39number 9's ready to go and scramble home at the back posters, so nothing against Grant
03:43who's had a wonderful season, Dean Garner is a winger attacking midfielder isn't he
03:48and look it's clear that Albion need to address this in the window, if not in the window which
03:56we all hope, but also it's Mowbray's chief job on the training pitch isn't it?
04:01Yeah of course it is, he said that didn't he, he was the line in there saying with the
04:06attacking players we've got we should be scoring more goals, early on I thought Albion looked
04:13a bit more progressive, they passed forward but they've not slipped back into their old
04:17ways because that's rubbish and what's happened in the past, but the game maybe not passed
04:22them by, they kind of fell off a little bit towards the end, they had that pressure but
04:26just as my final question, we're going to talk a lot more about tonight in the podcast
04:31tomorrow, but he referenced it on Monday yesterday and he referenced it today and without rubbishing
04:38the work that Carlos Corban did, I think it's going to take a little bit of time for these
04:42players to kind of, not evolve, switch mindset, they've been very much drilled into a culture
04:48of almost stopping the opposition, Tony Mowbray wants it the other way round, let's hurt the
04:55opposition, it's going to take a bit of time, and he hinted down there I've had one session
04:58and three days and one game, this is not going to just happen like that, this is a call round
05:03culture of what, two years and a few months, so it's a big job and it's not really, look
05:10it's a good squad for the championship but is it fixable to how Mowbray wants it in one
05:14window or ten days of one window, probably not and by the way a window where it's hard
05:20in January anyway, finances, it will be a better financial situation come the summer,
05:27hopefully players are out of contracts, so yeah it's a tough ask really and it will really
05:33test I'm sure Tony, Mark Venus, others, James Morrison, Damir on the training ground to
05:40just trying to switch, look it's been a little while without Carlos now hasn't it, almost
05:44a month, Christmas, Christmas Eve, and in some of the interim games we saw a bit more
05:48attack minded, a little bit, maybe a bit of being let off the leash but that was the big
05:54message from Mowbray at the unveiling yesterday wasn't it, let off the leash, and I don't
06:00think we saw it that much tonight but again, it's personnel isn't it, right on the forward
06:07line and I'm not meaning to be cruel to anyone but Jed Wallace, John Swift came off the bench
06:12quite early tonight didn't they, 65 minutes, double change straight away, then Devante
06:16Cole had the best part of 15, but talk about Grant not being a natural number 9 striker
06:21and Dean Garner in support of him not being either but then Jed Wallace is the change
06:25for Grant to be the number 9, no no no, and look some of these individuals we're talking
06:30about clearly Dean Garner included, Wallace, Swift, Cole have had struggles over the season
06:36and they haven't affected the side and got goals or assists and yeah it's a fair job
06:42and look a little bit damaging tonight because this is a rival isn't it and Borough while
06:47not being at their best got a fairly comfortable win but look it's such a close margins in
06:52around that 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th isn't it but Albion just can't let themselves be rolled
06:57over in this period while they're trying to seek reinforcements or while they're trying
07:02to get up to speed and Mowbray's way of thinking and training because they can't allow points
07:08to continually slip through their fingers over a period of a couple of weeks because
07:14the table could quickly change couldn't it but look I think we all hope by, there's Portsmouth
07:19at home then Plymouth away isn't there and then the deadline, the Monday after Plymouth
07:23away and Albion clearly need a couple at least reinforcements by that time and we believe
07:28a midfielder to be close in eyes of Price, Northern Ireland international but it's pretty
07:33clear, well it's desperately clear to everyone involved speaking to Middlesbrough journalists
07:38there in the press conference that they're kind of like, are Albion like that, is that
07:42what they're like in the final third and you explain the Madger absence and DK situation
07:48and yeah at the moment this is kind of what the final third has been like but Tony Mowbray's
07:53I suppose big message we should reiterate here or try to reiterate is Albion need the
07:58window and need the reinforcements but let's not try to get absolutely carried away like
08:02the whole season relies on it, I mean perhaps per se it does to a point but Madger will
08:09be back in some time, DK will be back at some point but for now and there will be one that
08:15comes in, there will be, it remains to be seen I suppose who that is and can they settle
08:19and make an impact but Mowbray has to focus on getting some change and some output in
08:25the final third and assist chances and goals out of this crop that he's inherited.
08:30Yep, certainly a job ahead of him, not a star he wanted though, final score here at the
08:35Riverside, Borough 2 Albion 0, all the rest of the reaction you know where to go, expressandstar.com
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