West Bromwich Albion 2 - Sunderland 2

Date: Saturday 16th August 2014 
Competition: Barclays Premier League
WBA:
6.1
(4-2-3-1) Foster 6.2, Wisdom 5.5, Dawson 5.1, Olsson 6.4, Pocognoli 7.5, Mulumbu 6.6, Gardner 7.5 (Yacob, 84 5.1), Dorrans 7.0 (Sessegnon, 84 5.7), Berahino 7.0, Brunt 6.3 (Baird, 76 5.4), Anichebe 6.4
Unused subs: Myhill, Ideye, Davidson, O'Neil
Manager: Alan Irvine 5.4
Sunderland:
6.1
Scorers: Berahino (42 pen, 74)
Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) 4.0
Attendance: 25,468   Home Fans 6.1   Away Fans 6.6

Paul Gainham:

To me this was a classic glass half full / half empty type game that will truly divide opinion amongst those that watched it.

On the half full side, at times we played some good possession football, we adopted a 4-5-1 formation which I think overall suits us best, a couple of the new guys, Gardner and Pocognoli made impressive debuts AND we did come back well from being a goal down

On the half empty side, some of the old failings persist, having got ourselves back into a lead, we failed to hold on to it, the substitutions when they came were way too late and mostly negative and the atmosphere in the ground was flat. For an opening game we were out sung and out ?noised? by the Sunderland fans.

First half although we did not really trouble the Mackems keeper until a rasping drive from Gardner on ~40 mins, we actually dominated the possession and looked comfortable, some nice moves, good interplay but just lacking that final ball / touch. Their first goal was simply the result of poor defending from a free kick, we managed to half clear the ball to Cattermole who fired a pretty unstoppable shot in from outside the box.

Have to say at times today our defending looked abject, particularly from free kicks and balls into the box, too many times players were left unmarked ? against better opposition we would have paid a higher penalty ? this is an area we need to improve quickly.

Our penalty was ?soft? but as ever you take them when they arrive as we will be on the end of some of those this season as well.

Going in at HT, 1-1 against an average Sunderland side who will be lower half of the table as well and playing pretty well, things looked pretty good for the 2H

Second half Sunderland picked up the momentum and gradually we started falling back and allowing them to dominate. Against this we scored a really nicely worked goal after a parried shot from Dorrans, Gardner followed up and put a lovely ball in for Berahino to slide in and finish. 2-1 up.

It was around this period you saw the difference between the two managers and why, if this is a sign of Irvine?s style, we will struggle.

Sunderland were on top, Poyet saw that, saw that we were on the back foot and made attacking substitutions to put us under more pressure. You could see we were struggling, Poyet saw it and yet Irivine did not react to it, the time to react was on about 60 mins and yet nothing. Of course we went on to score and take a 2-1 lead but that was mostly against the run of play. We are at home, against an average Sunderland team who are putting us under pressure so what does he do? Waits until the ~78th minute to bring Bair on for Brunt and then on the ~85th minute brings Yacob and Sessegnon on for Gardner and Dorrans. Two out of the 3 subs were defensive and of course what happens next, we concede.

Alas it?s an example of the kind of late, defensive substitutions that Clarke used to make and we end up with a poor result IMO at home against an average Sunderland side.

Player marks

  • Foster 6 Could not do much with the goals, distribution woeful at times
  • Wisdom 6 Maybe we could have used him better down the wing.
  • Olsson 7 A decent showing but never looks fully comfortable with Dawson alongside him
  • Dawson 5 He worries me every time he gets the ball. Should not be playing at this level, period.
  • Pocognoli 8 Really promising debut, touch was suspect initially but his defensive display and balls into the box were impressive
  • Berahino 6 Two goals ? great but oh so many poor passes, poor touch etc.
  • Mulumbu 5 Weakest link in midfield today
  • Gardner 8 All that was good came through him, tired in the 2H but still set up our second with a great flighted ball
  • Dorrans 7 Kept trying to make things happen, did not always come off but looked threatening at times
  • Brunt 7 He can take corners, I saw at least 4 from him today that were excellent.
  • Anichebe 6 Played his usual big lump game to good effect but missed an absolute sitter second half. Not the answer in the long run.
  • Coach 6 An OK start in many ways, but the late, negative substitutions concern me ? somebody tell him we simply cannot hold on to leads.

John Owen:

We failed to win because by the 65th minute Dorrans, Brunt and Gardner were shattered and our midfield became dysfunctional. Sunderland had far too much space and this put too much pressure on a very fragile defence. Fresh legs then may have prevented Sunderland getting on top.

I was disappointed that Ses didn't start as without him we don't have the creativity to open up defences, despite good performances from Dorrans and Gardner.

Brendan Clegg:

We were better than I thought we would be.

As anyone who was there will testify, we were not just bad at defending set plays, we looked terrified of them and it doesn't matter how well you play, if you are weak there you will always struggle. I just hope it was a personnel issue and not a coaching issue. We could have conceded 3 or 4 from set plays yet in open play we were not so bad.

We probably should have won and in the late goal turning a victory to a draw means we carry on from where we left off last year.

First half we bossed it. 2nd half we tired, they got on top and Irvine left it too late to make the substitutions and then made the wrong ones at the wrong times. Dorrans and Gardner were our best players, playing high tempo and full of running and switching them to Baird and Yacob when we were a goal up and not really under threat was an over cautious, perhaps even na?ve mistake that cost us - especially changing them, at the same time. 30 seconds without shape or understanding was all it took for them to equalise. I hope he learns from it.

To be positive, we've picked up a point with quite a weakened team - surely Brown, Sess, G-Mac, Lescott and Gamboa will come into this side, plus at least another forward and/or winger we can get in. Mozza also an option. That's half a side.

  • Foster - 6 Hardly had a touch yet picked the ball out of the net twice.
  • Wisdom - 6 Better on the ball than I thought, caught out of position a couple of times and looks a bit leggy when we are stretched but promising.
  • Dawson - 5 Did Ok but made a couple of rash decisions following his man into no man's land rather than holding his position and we never look safe when he plays.
  • Olsson - 7 Pretty good, very few pointless punts, brave and commanding.
  • Pocognoli - 7 A little bit erratic to begin with but got better. He's quick and flies into tackles. Think a tall and more aggressive Billy Jones with better albeit more direct delivery. Promising again.
  • Mulumbu - 6 Did quite well especially first half.
  • Gardner - 8 I didn't think he was as good as that. Full of running and tigerish like I knew he would be but far more composed and patient on the ball than I've seen when he played against us. Hope he keeps it up. Tenacity and effort led to both goals. Best midfielder on the pitch.
  • Dorrans - 7 Not far behind Gardner. They made Rodwell look ordinary. If anything, guilty of playing the pass too soon but ran his socks off and not afraid to get stuck in.
  • Brunt - 6 Did OK and helped Pocognoli early on. I just wish he'd stay wide and play to his own strengths. Place in the team looks vulnerable but good effort.
  • Saido - 7 Took both goals well but I was more impressed with his whole game, especially first half. Strong, tricky, good move and a threat even though he was starting from wide. Disappeared a bit 2nd half when it was obvious AI needed to change it sooner and made forgivable errors but looks to have made progress on last Spring.
  • Anichibe - 6 What he did he did well but it was very limited. Never a pen.

Subs

  • Sess - never got going
  • Baird - looked composed if slow.
  • Yacob - not on long enough.

I hate Tony Pulis more than anyone in football but offering him a million pounds to come and coach us on how to defend set plays would be money well spent.

Pete Cottrell:

Better than I expected, but definitely two points dropped in what (had it been played in April) would be termed a six-pointer. One to file alongside last season's matches against Villa, Cardiff, Spurs (to name but three) as an example of snatching a draw from the jaws of victory.

Just like last season, they found chances hard to come by owing to a lack of imagination, but at least we had some entertainment in terms of two long range efforts from Pocognoli and one from Gardner (they clearly haven't yet picked up on the Albion's style of trying to walk the ball into the net and losing it on the edge of the penalty area) and even one from Brunt. And just like last season the defence have the ability to suspend animation for crucial seconds, oblivious of the fact that the opponents are carrying on playing - both Sunderland goals and their disallowed one were examples of this. Even so, I think that the Albion would still have lasted the course but for an insane set of substitutions from Irvine (the only decision he had to make, for God's sake!) which while a long way from proving that he is as poor as we feared, does nothing to disprove the belief either. Can you think of anyone else who, having seemingly got the opposition where he wants them for once, with only 10 minutes to go, thinks: "I know. Let's totally reorganise the mid-field by replacing three of them and give Sunderland a chance for a last fling before we have reorganised ourselves." W*nker.

Overall ratings? 6 for everyone, perhaps 6+ for Brunt, Gardner, Pocognoli and Berahino (for his well-taken second goal), and 6- for the slightly hesitant Dawson and Wisdom. MoM a toss-up between Pocognoli and Gardner.

It's going to be a long hard winter, followed by an impossible spring as we face Liverpool, ManUre, Newcastle, Chelsea and Arsenal just when we need to be picking up points for safety.