00:00Baggies fans welcome to Expressionstyle.com, my name is Jonny Deree, I'm here with Albion
00:12correspondent Lewis Cox after deja vu, same old story, rinse and repeat. That could be
00:18the goalkeeping errors, that could be the final third of the field. Albion, again, wasting
00:24chances, dominating in terms of possession, not putting the ball in the back of the net
00:29and then the goalkeeper goes and drops one in. At the other end, Coxie will start on
00:33that point, it's a bad error, Wildsmith seems to have held his hands up to Tony Mowbray,
00:36spoken about that, kind of hinted that he may change it next week but, you know, costly
00:41now, arguably cost three points at Burnley and it's cost Albion certainly a point here
00:48today. Yeah, I mean, first of all, I think before we get into our opinions about it,
00:52I don't, we've just come out of Tony Mowbray's presser on the way in, I know you were listening
00:56obviously, as I was asking, among other reporters, but I didn't get the vibe from his answer
01:01that he's going to make the change. Obviously, it's a game on Tuesday night, as we know at
01:05Bristol, so he'd be right. I think if he wasn't going to make the change, he would have backed
01:08him 100% and he didn't back him 100%. Yeah, he said, he basically said, we've been here
01:13before, haven't we? And then said, obviously, how he is in training, which is a little bit
01:16of what he said at Burnley, to be honest, and then gave that whole, which is something
01:21he's explained before, look, if a keeper gets dropped after a mistake and the other
01:25keeper comes in and then makes a mistake, where does it leave you type thing? And look,
01:28I understand that, but obviously, as the mistakes happen, obviously, this is a big high profile
01:34one off the back of a Burnley high profile one last month. Obviously, the heat cranks
01:38up and up and up and up and is for Wildsmith, it feels like a boiling point now, doesn't
01:42it? Certainly with the supporters and the Wildsmiths, as you say, offered an apology
01:46there. It's a huge decision for Mowbray, really, it feels. And it'll be interesting down in
01:53Bristol, won't it, on Tuesday night as to what he does. Obviously, Bristol is where
01:57Josh Griffiths had a good half of the season, didn't he? Obviously, Rovers rather than City,
02:03and he'll be pushing and knocking on the door, surely, won't he? Look, it's Mowbray's
02:08call as head coach, isn't it? It is, but it's a horrible error today, isn't it? It's a horrible
02:13error in the 35th minute of the game that has decided the game, unfortunately. Shouldn't
02:18have, really, because, again, Albion with a better team at 21 shots compared to seven
02:23and their visitors. But, you know, we'll get into rinse and repeat, won't we, about
02:28the final third? Well, this video should really be two and a half minutes long because, you
02:32know, it's not because Cockney loves talking, but it won't be that long. But it should be
02:36because the only real story today is the Wildsmith error, which we just talked about, and the
02:40fact that Albion, yet again, time and time and time again this season, you know, you
02:44can set that team up however you want, but if you create... I would have three clear-cut
02:49chances, three really good clear-cut chances, Daniel. One off the line, granted, but two
02:53other chances with headers, you know, had that many chances... 21 shots.
02:58I've seen supporters, and I've just kind of not bit back at supporters, but said, look,
03:01Albion played well today. The fact that they've lost the game is a goal, compared to having
03:04stuck the ball in the back of the net. But you can blame the manager all you want, but
03:09when the players step on that field and they're not able to convert those chances into goals,
03:13you know... Tony Mowbray's just sat in there and been passionate, you know,
03:19almost passionately defended himself after his side have put in a pretty good display
03:22against a very good Sunderland team, you know, but ultimately... I wrote a story yesterday,
03:27Albion players have got to step, they've got to take responsibility, they've got to grab
03:29games by the scruff of the neck, and today they probably did it more than they did against
03:32Norwich, because they had clearer chances, you know, and really good spells of domination.
03:37Mikey Johnson got in about nine times down the left-hand side in the first half, and
03:40none of them came to anything. No, we had something to say about that, didn't we?
03:42None of them came to anything, and, you know, you've paid £3 million to bring Johnson back
03:46to the club, for him to replicate what he did last season. He's not going to do it over
03:49a full season, but you expect him to do it more than he kind of has done, and at the
03:53end of the day, if Albion... this is a defence of Joe Wildsmith, but if Albion don't come
03:58up, it's not going to be Wildsmith's error today, or Burnley, it's going to be the fact
04:00that in these games... you just told me a stat... 40 goals in 46 games.
04:05Yeah, 48 in 40.
04:07Sorry, 48 in 40.
04:09Not much better than what you said.
04:10But, an awful statistic, because on the left-hand side, there are seven at the table, and they
04:16can't finish a good dinner. Albion can't at the moment, they have to.
04:20Or a bad one.
04:20Yeah, or a bad one, but that's the story. They're not playing bad football. The performances
04:24we're seeing, compared to what we've seen in... I'm not going to say under Corbijn,
04:28because under Corbijn they were a different kind of side, but there's been times in the
04:34last three or four years where we've seen Albion 2 put garbage displays in and lose
04:37games. But there's been a bigger reaction at the moment, even though they're playing
04:42well and not scoring. And so I can understand Mowbray's frustration in there, in terms of
04:46the questions he's maybe fielding, or certain angles of the supporters. But the bottom line
04:54is, Albion are creating chances, they're just not putting it in there.
04:56Yeah, it's one I feel like we could debate until the cows come home. A couple of quick
04:59ones, before I forget the points I've been waiting to make. I thought Albion were better
05:03today than last week. Comfortably, I think Mowbray alluded to that, against the better
05:10side. Albion, a caveat, have been pretty horrible away all season, hasn't it? Your point about
05:17players stepping up, which I don't mind, I kind of agree, generally. But there'll be
05:23people watching it, and just to play devil's advocate, people will say, well, Mowbray time
05:28again has given Joe Wildsmith. Again, I don't want to turn it on, but Wildsmith's not stepped
05:33up there. He had a decision to make, Mowbray, or Matt Colcan decision. I think, if he admits,
05:38he made the wrong one in the initial first place. But in terms of players stepping up,
05:43I'm talking more about the players in the top end of the field, not taking these chances
05:47that Albion have created. Anyone who watched that game today and said Sunderland are a
05:50better team than Albion, I don't know what game they were watching. But at the end of
05:54the day, Sunderland have scored. Yeah, they've had a massive, massive help in, I want to say
05:58hand, but there was no hand involved, in winning the game. But the performances are there.
06:03Individuals kind of need to grab games by the scruff of the neck. Like a bit of Burnley,
06:08when John Swift did it, and that's a debate in itself, because he hasn't done it enough
06:12over the course of his Albion career. But that's, do you know what, it's going to bring
06:16me on to another point, that Albion have dropped out of the playoffs today. I don't think we've
06:20seen enough to warrant a real strong feeling of Albion will overturn it and have it back
06:25in the playoffs. You know, they're only two points off, there will be twists and turns,
06:28but I don't think there's the maybe character to overturn it now.
06:35Got to score goals, to win games, and do it away from home. One away win since September.
06:40They've probably got to win three games away from home now, probably, I would say.
06:43Well, there aren't that many aways left, are there? Only three left.
06:48I think they've got to win two of them. They've got to do something. I just don't think,
06:51I think on the balance of everything we've seen and the evidence of games this season,
06:55I'm not going to say Albion's race is rotten, because that would be stupid,
06:58there's six games to go. For me, it's 60-40, they don't get in the playoffs.
07:02We said it before the game, didn't we, because there was a game last night that
07:05Borough won and they went up a run and Albion dropped a seventh out of it.
07:08I felt, for everyone involved, and I don't just mean the players, but it's changed today.
07:14It went inconsistent all season, all season, no backs-to-backs, however we said it every week,
07:18haven't we? But never really been punished, stayed fifth for six. Rivals have finally,
07:24you know, they dropped out to seventh last night, so they've been punished,
07:26and today they're going to drop to eighth. So, you know, they've fallen short today,
07:31defeat, been punished. So now, you're looking at it from below, aren't you, that it's now Albion
07:38have to win, win, win consistently, or try to win, chase, to get back in. And there haven't been
07:43enough consistent wins all season, have they? 13 league wins, I think. Well, they're chasing that,
07:47you know, chasing might. Yeah, and they've got hard games. Whether the pressure of being in the
07:51playoff spots all season is a factor, I don't quite think it is, but maybe they might be better
07:56chasing now. Yeah, well, we'll find out, I guess. But one, I think, of Mowbray's main takes from
08:03there of this game, and he made the point, didn't he, when he was saying, and we just said it was
08:08better than last week, he said, rightly so, and I agree, look, we got behind them to the byline,
08:13to the crossing point, loads did they, loads. And he's right, they did, didn't they? But certainly,
08:19I think, in the middle bit of the game, until the end of the second half, and he alluded to it,
08:24the final moment, the end product, the cross, the blocked shot, the shanked shot, the cross that
08:31falls to a red and white shirt, I mean, yeah, Sunderland defended alright, didn't they, pretty
08:34well, but that composure and conviction in the final third is so bad. I said to a press box
08:41colleague near the end of the game, whatever the word is for the opposite of conviction,
08:46that's what's going on in this side. Yeah, 12 goal, Madger hasn't kicked a ball under Mowbray
08:52since the start of Jan, top scorer, and the next best still have six. And by the way, one of them's
08:57Grant and one of them's Mowat, and six is good for Mowat. And how many attackers are in this squad?
09:03Allegedly, maybe that's harsh, but good attackers for this level.
09:09We don't have the answers anymore. Albium will have the answers on Tuesday night.
09:16Huge challenge, big game, we've got a bit of injury news to bring before that as well, won't
09:22we, you know, later today or tomorrow. And it's just, it's been a tough day, hasn't it? But
09:30as for points, we've made elements of a better team today, good performance, but as countless
09:36have pointed out online in our social medias, it doesn't mean anything, does it? And that's,
09:44you know, Mowbray's telling us in there that, you know, the squad have got to believe we've
09:49made improvements with the way we're playing. And of course a manager and head coach has to
09:53say that because, you know, for them, performances and improvements lead to good results, don't they?
09:57But it's not happening yet. Certainly not, another disappointing day, rinse and repeat,
10:01deja vu, just read what we wrote, maybe this week. No, don't do that. No, don't do that,
10:05some good stuff to come. Final score, Albi Nilsson 1-1, all the rest of your action express at start.com
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