Barnsley 3 - West Bromwich Albion 1

Dave Watkin:

Baggies bomb again at Barnsley

Albion were completely outplayed by lowly Barnsley at Oakwell, as our dreadful record at the ground continues.

There were two changes to the team. Chris Brunt returned from injury at the expense of Gonzalo Jara and with Luke Moore unfit, Chris Wood was recalled.

Albion had an early warning of Barnsley?s attacking intent, when a right wing run and cross was almost forced home by an onrushing forward. They didn?t take head and the Tykes took the lead, in the 14th minute, from a similar move. This time the cross was pulled back, two home players failed to make clean contact with acrobatic kicks, but when the ball ran on to Hammill, he side-stepped a statuesque defender and nicked the ball past Carson. It was almost all Barnsley, with only a miskick by Bednar in response. In the 31st minute, yet another right wing move led to the second goal. Macken got in front of Zuiverloon to head a Hume cross goalwards and despite a desperate dive by Scott Carson, to try and paw the ball away, it appeared to have crossed the line. The referee though, had already awarded a penalty for a push by the Albion defender and Hume stepped up to confidently fire home. Things could have been worse for the Baggies in a half which Barnsley dominated. We did nearly grab a lifeline, with almost the last kick of added time, when Graham Dorrans hit a spectacular twenty yard shot, which on-loan keeper Bialkowski rose to tip over.

Our only complaint in the first period could be against some fierce tackling, which led to the half time substitution of an injured Mulumbu by Gonzalo Jara. He set up an early opportunity for Roman Bednar but his fine drive was saved, at full stretch, by the keeper. Barnsley?s Shotton was involved at both ends; having a header cleared by Mattock, then being on hand to block a similar effort from Bednar. Albion were having most of the play, but there was no cutting edge and some of the passing was slipshod. The third goal in the 80th minute summed up our day. We gave the ball away, Hammill hit a penetrating centre, but surely Martis could have done better with his interception, than deflect the ball into his own net. Many of the visiting fans reacted by leaving and missed our 88th minute consolation goal. Spotting the goalkeeper slightly out of position, Chris Brunt hit a swerving drive from over thirty yards which left him comprehensively beaten. It was a goal worthy of winning any game, but there?s no way we deserved to take anything, after an appalling performance.

When evaluating a game one must take into consideration the quality of the opposition. That?s why our win on Teesside was so brilliant, given that we were playing our closest challengers at the top-of-the-table. In contrast, at Oakwell, we were against a side occupying one of the relegation slots, who had lost 5-2 in their previous game, yet we made them look world beaters. They did work hard and harried us all over the pitch, but that?s a tactic we?re going to come up against repeatedly throughout the season.

It?s hard to find a single plus point, unless it?s the performance of Gonzalo Jara, exhibiting his versatility, by occupying a third different position in as many games. I came away determined not to award a man-of-the-match, then thought maybe Darren Moore, who received a standing ovation from the Baggies fans, should be selected. I?ve relented and picked Chris Brunt, solely for performing one action perfectly.

STATISTICS

It's now over sixty-two years since the Baggies won at Oakwell! Our record in the 17 games since Saturday 30th August 1947, when Dave Walsh scored in a 1-0 win, is eight draws and nine defeats! In fact since winning on four of our first six visits, we have been victorious just twice in 25 league matches and 1 cup tie, spread over exactly one hundred years! That confirms Oakwell as the ?accursed? venue for Albion fans.

No other club against whom we?ve played more than a handful of times; can claim an unbeaten home record stretching back as far. We?ve failed to win in our last 20 league matches and 2 cup ties against Liverpool at Anfield, but that run only goes back forty-two years, to a 1-0 victory, on Saturday 22nd April 1967. We?ve not beaten Southampton in 17 league and 2 cup matches in forty years, or Stoke City in 17 league games over twenty-seven years, but in both those cases two grounds are involved.

ALBION FORMRATE: DISMAL

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: CHRIS BRUNT

Albion remain second, three points behind Newcastle United, but a win would have taken us back to the top. Extraordinarily, we haven?t lost much ground in the promotion race, not one of the top eight going into this round of matches won, with our closest rivals, Preston and Middlesbrough, losing at home.

Neil R:

I've just got back from Barnsley. I don't normally send a match report to the list, win or lose, and I don't intend to tonight. Instead I thought I'd put the performance into context by giving those who weren't there something to compare it with. Here goes: Halifax. Woking. Ipswich FA Cup replay 1970. Two of those performances resulted in the manager being sacked; this was such a performance.

I'm a big fan of both Dorrans and Koren but RoKo has had a poor season so far and on tonight's showing both would be candidates for my all time worst Albion team, that's how bad it was/they were. Shocking. And if Zuiverloon is a full back then so am I. The only reason I'm not including Cox with those three is that he wasn't on for the first 45 minutes but he looks less and less like a professional footballer, never mind a Championship player, every time he takes the field. None of them were above criticism tonight; those who deserve a little less than the others were Carson, Mattock, Olsson and Jara.

Barnsley are p**s poor yet if we played them or Stoke every week we'd be in the Conference in no time.

Seething.

possetflyer:

Why can everyone beat Barnsley but Baggies get walloped? Do we have the wrong manager, because definately somethings wrong.

6 points lost in last 2 games against supposedley lower opposition. We need some fight and it doesnt look like Di Matteo's got it. Another season of heartbreak - Even if we somehowe get propmoted we dont have a squad to stay up there, nor it seems the money. Yet Stoke and Hull managed it at least 1 season more than we have. After 50 odd years of heartbreak surely I deserve some steady success? Yes I've gone through promotion, cup winnings (and been there)but am I to continually to be disappointed? Can we not have regular premiership football or must I accept second best (championship)?

Martyn Jones:

I think I have posted twice in the last five years preferring to lurk rather than contribute. However last nights abysmal performance needs a response. People will quite rightly criticise individual players for abject performances, but how can a teams playing style fall apart so quickly? What has happened to our football philosophy? Seeing the ball being hoofed aimlessly up field was a hammer blow to our attempts to restore a more traditional style of Baggies play. Yes we needed to adapt the Mowbray formula and add a toughness to it, but basically the philosophy was the way I want my team to play. Last nights match reverted to the all the things I don't want to see from my team. Players were not doing the basics, the control and passing of the ball were dreadful. Movement was slow and ponderous and the team seemed unaware of any game plan.

Has the new regime tried to make too many changes too quickly? Why are players so obviously out of position and form being continuously picked? I have deliberately not mentioned individual players names, it would be too easy to point fingers, but we see the same mistakes week in week out from the same people. Last night you really had to be there to witness a collective shambles,we need leadership on and off the field and quickly. It seems on our last two performances the team really thought they could just turn up and do a Boro.

We have a young manager who is learning his profession. I hope he is brave enough to stand up and tell the players what he thinks of them and make changes, then convince the real boss to open his wallet for loan signings.

The last time I felt this angry was coming away from Halifax in the cup a few years ago, after all the good work at the Albion in recent years I don't want to see a regression to the bad old days. Here endeth the rant!!!