Blackburn Rovers 1 - West Bromwich Albion 1

Date:	Saturday 11th July 2020
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
Blackburn: 5.0	Walton, Nyambe (Bennett, 61), Rankin-Costello, Lenihan, Adarabioyo, Johnson (Gallagher, 61), Travis, Downing (Davenport, 75), Graham, Samuel (Rothwell, 61), Armstrong (Holtby, 60) Unused subs: Leutwiler, Mulgrew, Buckley, Carter
WBA: 5.7	Johnstone 6.8, O'Shea 6.6, Ajayi 5.7, Bartley 4.3, Townsend 5.9, Sawyers 5.2, Livermore 5.4 (Harper, 69 3.0), Grosicki 6.9 (Diangana, 60 5.1), Pereira 7.3, Krovinovic 5.7 (Robinson, 80 3.8), Austin 6.0 (Robson-Kanu, 60 3.3) Unused subs: Bond, Furlong, Phillips, Brunt, Hegazi Manager: Slaven Bilic 4.1
Scorers:	Rothwell (63); Krovinovic (41)
Referee:	Jarred Gillett 4.8
Attendance:	0

Brendan Clegg:

An opportunity lost and we’ve helped put pressure on ourselves - as is the Albion way.

The starting lineup was sound enough and the only complaint from a dominant first half was that the game should’ve been out of sight. I thought we were great other than being wasteful in the final third with our choices, with Krovi being a bit too safe for me.

When we did get chances - really good chances - we spurned them before Krovi finished a sitter although I was slightly surprised he didn’t control it and pass it backwards. As we pressed for a second we blew really good chances - Austin, Livermore and Grosicki not doing enough.

After half time we still looked okay but from a bit of nothing play I think Bartley got done out wide too easily and both Krovi and Sawyers totally switched off tracking back - their mutual runners battling over who should get a cut back tap in.

I can’t precisely remember the order of things but in the half but Krovi missed a total sitter, hitting the post of an open goal and Grady airshot a tap in.

After that though we fell to pieces - with Livermore on a yellow and withdrawn after their goal, Harper looked a bit lost and Sawyers looked totally gassed. We stopped passing through them and went hit and hope, and Blackburn had free runners with every attack, SJ coming to the rescue near the end from a one v one break.

Not a complete disaster but Brentford look like winning every game. We can’t afford to lose against Fulham and even a draw opens the door further. Very little margin for error now whereas I think a win today would’ve seen us there psychologically. We now look over our shoulder instead of up at Leeds.

On we go.

SJ - 7 Enormous save to keep us in it means I can forgive some diabolical kicking and cross flapping.
O’Shea - 7 Another fully committed performance. Tried to get forward.
Semi - 6 Was decent enough and hit some amazing passes but left exposed in the last 30.
Bartley - 6 Generally solid but one lapse and one time when he ran into trouble.
Townsend - 6 Great when we had the ball, got a bit sloppy as the game went on.
Livermore - 6 Was having a great game all over the place but the yellow neutered him and he had to come off. If we’d been ahead I suspect Brunty would’ve got the nod.
Sawyers - 6 Totally in control and classy first half, he had a beast of a final 30.
Krovi - 6 Mixed bag. Has some big blind spots when playing and had to score a second but linked it well at times.
Pereira - 7 At times unplayable in the first half, they resorted to cheap fouls and he descended into dives when we were in great positions.
Austin - 6 Really worked hard especially once we went ahead but he had to take one of the chances.
Grosicki - 6 Really frustrating but so dangerous too. Missed his direct threat when he went off.

Harper - 5 Didn’t do enough and left us wide open too often.
HRK - 6 Put it on a plate for Diagana but we didn’t play into his feet at all.
Diagana - 6 Too wild, erratic and wasteful.
Robinson- 5 Looked short of sharpness.

Mark Koppel:

I did fear when Hegazi was sent off against Hull that we would suffer the consequences subsequently. And we have.

The reason being that Bartley was his replacement.

I'm sorry but over two years now he has been very mistake prone, keeps getting rightly dropped, and only gets back in through other's injuries/suspensions.

We got away with it against Derby as they were so poor and he had hardly anything to do.

Today he let his attacker get round him so, so easily, leading to the very damaging equaliser.

Losing JRod and Gayle, to be only replaced by the inferior Zahore and Austin, also really exposed us today as chance after chance went begging.

I fear its the play-offs now, in which there are no guarantees of success as we all know.

If we don't go up this year we lose the last parachute money, and with a no show/no money Owner, who knows how long that means in the wilderness again.

Player Ratings:

Johnstone 7 - Two great saves that prevented a loss. Poor kicking stopped him getting a higher rating.
O'Shea 8 - Another really solid performance. Tough as old boots and if his crossing can be improved he will be even better.
Ajayi 6 - Some of his passes were a little inaccurate today but his athleticism has to be admired that helps him win back the ball.
Townsend 6- Ok in the main, no mistakes. But didn't get forward as much today as normal.
Bartley 2 - Say no more. Please see above.
Livermore 5 - Thought he played well against Derby but offered little today and got himself a silly booking.Correct decision to be hooked.
Sawyers 6- Started brightly but faded as the game went on. Didn't create anything.
Krov 6.5 - Began quietly but grew into the game and took his goal well. Probably should have scored again.
Periera 8 - Some great passing again and how he kept his cool, and how Travis did not get sent off, is beyond me.
Grosicki 7 - Looked dangerous, and the obvious outlet, for us. Not sure he should have been subbed off.
Austin 5 - The best striker we have but not his day today. Do we really have to always take him off on 58 minutes each game regardless ?

Subs:

Robinson 4 - There are reasons Sheff Utd don't want him. One reason could be his complete lack of pace.
Harper 5 - Did not do much when on. Really poor cross at the end summed it up.
HRK 4 - When in the Premier League he was officially measured as the 500th slowest player out of 500 registered players. That was the issue again today as he couldn't do much with a couple of through balls.
Grady 5 - He is a very skillful player but forget his shooting boots this afternoon.