Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox analysis on West Brom's big 'first impression' after opening day Blackburn victory

4 months ago

Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox bring you their analysis as Albion kicked off their campaign with a 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers.
Isaac Price's first half goal was the difference for Albion - in a tight game that also saw chances for Aune Heggebo.
Elsewhere, they were hit by a late sending off of Darnell Furlong but it was luft off for the Mason era.

Transcript

00:00Baggies fans, welcome to ExpressAndStart.com. My name is Johnny Durham here with Lewis Cox.

00:12Real football is back. The championship season has begun and for Albion has begun with a victory

00:18as the Ryan Mason era has lift off a 1-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers, courtesy of an Isaac

00:25Price first half goal. Coxie will get through quite a bit in the next five or five to seven

00:32ish minutes. Not eight. Perfect start. They didn't blow Blackburn away, they didn't score

00:41as many as they probably should have done but they showed quality and they also showed a

00:46hell of a lot of determination, grit, dog ear which is arguably as positive and impressive

00:52as what happened at the other end of the field. Definitely, do you know what, it was a big

00:54game today and I don't think Ryan Mason wanted too much to say that before like yesterday at

01:01the presser. I mean it goes without saying the opening day of the season and all that starting

01:05on the right footing and stuff but he underlined there in his post-match press conference, this

01:10was a big game and it's clear isn't it when you're a new head coach coming in, you're starting

01:15at home, you want to foster a kind of belief and togetherness that you can achieve something

01:23because I think we all know, people watching this, that the general expectations this season

01:28have dropped a bit, understandably and rightly so but if you want to try, you don't want to burst

01:35a bubble early of that opening day optimism and all of that so winning on the opening day is really the

01:42only way to do it isn't it, you could draw, you could draw in good style but there's nothing like

01:46that first day win for a new head coach to do it on day one so there's nothing lingering and hanging

01:52over you, you know, clearly there's a lot to do in the window, in the last month of the window,

01:58this is, you know, the Albion squad I think at the start of September will look different to this,

02:01Mason in his first answer to me there said, you know, things will be very different to this in the

02:06in the future, in the near to long term future but points are available now Johnny, you know,

02:11this isn't seven days ago when we're talking about playing a Spanish side, this is, as you say,

02:16the real stuff and it felt real today, you know, there was a great atmosphere in here today wasn't there

02:21and yeah, put that to Ryan Mason, he really felt that and you know, and I don't think,

02:28they were pretty toothless Blackburn, you know, Valerian-ish man's Blackburn but I didn't think

02:32they were a bad side, they're not half decent to me. But Josh Griffiths didn't have a set way

02:36had one second. No, no, no, and you know, let's remember, obviously Albion slipped down to nine

02:40last season, Blackburn finished seventh on the very fringes on the final day of the playoffs so

02:45yeah, they've had a bit of turnaround but I think it was a deserved win for Albion and

02:49Ryan Mason thought that as well, more and better chances, as you say, Blackburn didn't stretch

02:54Josh Griffiths other than one first half save. Good early goal to win it and yeah, I think

03:01everyone will be satisfied leaving here today, I think it's a good start on what was an important day.

03:07There's more, like you say there, first impressions, you know, a small minority of Albion fans will have

03:13seen, you know, friendlies against Blackpool, against Rayo Vallecano, against Lincoln, you know,

03:17we did say that Sammy can't really take much from pre-season results and that's kind of proved to be the

03:21case but what they've showed today is that, you know, yeah, they need more bodies, they need probably three

03:27or four, more signings, you know, Jorby and Hedden could go but they've made a really good impression in

03:33terms of they're going to create, I thought Albion had three, I'd be four really good chances including the goal today.

03:38Yeah, yeah, good as good. You know, they showed that they can create, you know, the new signings have made an impact,

03:43they look solid, you know, even George Campbell coming on in the last five minutes just, he headed everything as well.

03:49It showed kind of their move, Mason is moving in the right direction after a summer of, you know, yeah, the

03:55expectations have lowered. It's a summer of unknown, isn't it? Yeah, a summer of change, a summer of unknown, going into the

04:00unknown but the first impressions for me are, these fans all leave tonight going, not bad, we're going in the right direction.

04:07Mason's big on the squad, he always brings it back round to the group togetherness squad and they're really typified today

04:14with Deke Etape being brought on for the last, what, 10-15, George Campbell as you say, the new boy

04:20being brought on for the last five plus stoppages and actually both of those, a bit of a late flurry from

04:25Blackburn in terms of long throws, dead balls, both of those really key important headed clearances and

04:30Mason loves that, you know, already day one early signs of everyone playing their part and we know like

04:35squad's a little bit light isn't it really in some areas certainly and yet the people from the bench have

04:42come in and made an impact today. I think there have been three new signings so far, two started today

04:47in Hegeber and Nat Phillips and obviously George Campbell who we mentioned from the bench all very

04:52much played their part today. I think we probably agree, I mean you've done the player ratings so

04:56you'll know, for me, Man of the Match was a toss up between Nat Phillips and Isaac Price, the goal

05:01scorer, I'd probably give it to Phillips to be honest and I thought Hegeber, Ana Hegeber leading the line,

05:08as we saw last week against Valacana. Impressive. Tireless, dogged, strong fight, yeah, yeah, you know,

05:16he's not the tallest, you know, I've been in his company, he's probably north of six foot I think, but

05:21wins headers, didn't have a chance for him today but you know assist for the goal, little deft touch from

05:28Furlong's long throw, really clever, Isaac Price to me from a technical perspective, from a midfield and an

05:34attacking perspective, this is nothing new but luck the best player on the pitch really in terms of

05:38his talent and ability and nothing new but he did only arrive in January, you know, we're still

05:43and I think we hope to see him have a break through full season and star for Albion throughout. I think

05:49he looks like a player that Ryan Mason's going to build his front line around. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

05:54and you know, probably without getting it too tactical, we saw sort of the 4-4-1-1,

05:59a one-off Hegeber in Price and it looks like that might be Mason's sort of set go-to, changed to a

06:06back three at the end as David Campbell came on, it was a step forward overall today and a lot of

06:11positives to take. Just on that as well, you mentioned that, yeah, we spotted it to me after

06:15Campbell came on, I went to like a back three, back five, I think Mason as well as a manager,

06:21he's not got a point to prove in the case that he had another job and failed but he's a rookie manager

06:26and I thought today, the way he set Albion up, the way he changed it later on when Albion were

06:31having a bit of a bombardment into the box, you know, just tweaked little things, you know,

06:35Albion fans maybe questioned Jeb Wallace coming on, on the right hand side for Tom Fellows but I

06:41thought Wallace did okay, he seemed to make some really good decisions today, showed that, you know,

06:45we're not going to get carried away, it's the first game, we're not the old victory on the open day

06:47of the season but showed that he's a really astute manager and maybe just why he's so highly rated

06:52and why Albion put so much faith in getting him in. Yeah, he ticked some boxes in that regard,

06:58didn't he? He showed his decision making in game, first real, those decisions in game,

07:03you can't count friendlies, you know, this is when the decisions count, isn't it? And they were

07:09paid off today really, didn't they? Like you say, I think that's a good point. Ryan Mason was delighted,

07:14you know, he's quite, he's a reserved individual, he's quite understated, I think that's probably

07:19an understatement. An understatement, yeah, yeah, easy to say after a drink or two, right?

07:26Not that we've had one, of course. Ryan Mason was asking how he celebrates a win, is it with a

07:32small glass of red? And he took the political diplomatic manner of not answering, you might

07:39be surprised to hear. I won't say that, I got four cans of Stella in the first time. Sounds good.

07:43Yeah, yeah, no, he was quite, quite clear about how he celebrates. He did mention that his family

07:50were here, you know, big day for him. I saw him wave, yeah, yeah. I'd asked him, you know,

07:55how it is for a young, or any manager with regards to family time, you know, he's got kids,

08:01the intensity of the work yesterday, and he didn't really open up too much about that, obviously we're

08:06right at the start of the season, but really important for him today. And it stuck out to me that he said this

08:11was a massive day for the team, the club, him, against tough opposition, I think.

08:17We said it was a kind game on paper, didn't we? And perhaps it was. Blackburn had a bit

08:22of change, looked pretty toothless, didn't they? But Albion defended well, by and large,

08:27and made them that way. And Albion had the quality in the other end that they didn't. So,

08:32yeah, I think we all come away encouraged from today. It's the very start, isn't it?

08:37And next weekend's arguably tougher, isn't it? On the road, newly promoted Wrexham,

08:42you'd expect it to be tougher, I think. But, again, there's, you know, what, three weeks

08:49left of the window or so, just over three weeks? We're going to see a bit of change,

08:53aren't we, I think? Only the news about Carl Bartley yesterday, Gianluca Frobotta,

08:57that's yesterday, two players out the door. Yeah, it's going to be a big one tonight.

09:01Yeah, we probably should mention, shouldn't we, because I don't think we did at the top,

09:04Darnell Furlong being dismissed at the end? I mean, there's a footnote on the day, two yellows.

09:09Yeah, I've wrote it, and I probably will in some more analysis, I think he's trying himself

09:12in the foot. The first one, he kind of probably can't get away with it, he's got to make that

09:16tackle out. Sorry, the second one, the first one was a stupid, yeah. Yeah, I thought the first

09:21was daft, yeah, yeah. He's got a defender going around to cover it, you know, he's holding down,

09:26silly, and it's... No qualms about the second one, personally, that he's sent for,

09:30but the first one, yeah. I mean, fortunately for him, yeah, he wore the armband today. Jed

09:35Wallace, club captain on the bench, Furlong's sort of had the armband in pre-season and did

09:39again today. Whether that makes him officially vice-captain now, Bartley's retired, I don't

09:44really know, Ryan Mason hasn't backed that up, he's given it the, you know, I want sort of every...

09:48Yeah, I don't just want one or two captains, I want a group of them type thing, but I think

09:52Furlong played well overall, and the expectation is he'll serve his one-match ban on Tuesday night

09:58here in the EFL Cup against Derby, so, I mean, let's be honest, that's the best case scenario,

10:02really. Not saying we don't care about Tuesday night at all, but it's a lesser priority than

10:06the league, clearly. I think we'll see a slightly mixed, rotated squad, I suspect. And come North

10:13Wales, across the border in Wrexham next weekend, Furlong will be available, all being well at right

10:18back. So, yeah, I think he, like most, if not all of his teammates, enjoyed a pretty steady

10:23and positive afternoon. Yeah, off the mark with a victory, just the way we like to see

10:29it. Found the score here at the Hawthorne's Albion 1, back to a nil for all the rest of your action,

10:35go to expressandstart.com.

Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox analysis on West Brom's big 'first impression' after opening day Blackburn victory

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