The Diary

06 December 2007: That 'Mugging' Inflicted By Coventry: Aftermath, And Prognosis.

It?s now been about 24 hours since the ref, in what can only be described as an ?act of mercy?, blew ?time? on our game, and I emerged from The Hawthorns, spitting enough magma to bury Krakatoa, crater and all ? but at least there are some Baggie people out there blessed with sufficient sense of humour to get me grinning again. So many thanks to Michael Walters, for the hilarious attachment he sent. Nothing whatsoever to do with football, but everything to do with some good, honest-to-God wiping-of-tears-from-the-eyes, and frantic holding-of-aching-sides-type guffaws.

As it didn?t seem right that I should keep this one to myself, given that there?s a whole lot more of you really desperate for something to cheer you up, I?m going to let everyone else into my little secret. What you have to do first is get ?HOLIDAY GREETINGS COURTESY OF RAIL EUROPE? on your screens.

Google should find it for you, but if you do have trouble, mail me, and I?ll supply the actual email address (me being the horrid technophobe I am, I haven?t got the faintest idea how to set up the direct link, sorry!), and when you?ve got it, scroll down a long way, and it?ll then tell you what to do to get up the images that had all my cats wondering what the hell was the matter with me! Enjoy! And, once more, many thanks to Michael for supplying the link!

But back to Baggie reality, and in this particular case, with a bloody great ?bang on the head? for supporters everywhere. Am I overreacting, pray, to what would have been regarded as just a ?bad day at the office? in times of yore? It all depends upon how you see the current crop, I suppose: my viewpoint is that ever since Mogga took over at the helm, the emphasis has very much been on attractive entertaining football, goals grabbed by the fistful, and much improved standards all round. What I found so exasperating, last night, was the fact we really are capable of much, much better, especially when pitched against the likes of the Sky Blues.

Just minutes before the first one went in, we?d had the mandatory warning shot tear close across our bows, and should have taken heed right there and then. They?d stated quite openly, well before kick-off, that they intended to play us at our own game, by going at us, making our defence work for a living, for a change, and putting us under pressure generally.

Our response to the danger? Letting them swarm all over us, right from the start, and our defence becoming criminally catatonic when they did. The player designated to mark Mifsud when he scored their second should hand in his striped shirt immediately, if only because of the huge embarrassment factor involved. In many ways, what happened last night has its parallel in what US intelligence did ? or rather didn?t do - before the 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, the 66th anniversary of which will fall tomorrow. The moral of both stories? Never, EVER, underestimate the potential of the opposition to thoroughly banjo you, and right when you least expect it! As for the other contributors to this almighty mess, we can certainly do without the following:

a) Defenders who make a complete and utter pig?s backside of dealing with a simple ball, thereby allowing an opposing player nip in as quick as Larry, and lob the keeper successfully. That?s the sort of ghastly defensive gaffe you expect from sides propping up the table, not one operating at our level. Last night, there was clearly doubt as to whether the person responsible, Cesar, should have been in the side at all, his inclusion only confirmed after passing a late fitness test. And what about Kiely?s role in the shambles? I?m not quite sure what he was trying to do, leaving himself so exposed in the first place.

b) A certain other defender ? OK, if we?re going to be frank and fearless, Paul Robinson, but whatever you do, don?t give him my address! ? whose awful tackle on the aforementioned Mifsud effectively cost us the game. What on earth he was thinking of, doing that when he was already on one daft self-inflicted booking, leaves me totally speechless with incomprehension, not to mention blind rage.

He?s not a rookie, for goodness sake, but an experienced pro, and, more to the point, one whose talents are being sought by (desperate?) Premiership sides, if what today?s media says is correct. Wigan, Bolton: are you REALLY sure this guy could be your metaphorical ?knight in shining armour?? Or is this merely wishful thinking on the part of Robbo?s agent, who, it will be remembered, was particularly proactive on his client?s behalf before the start of the current season.

c) Leon Barnett. As regular readers will be aware, this guy has troubled me considerably over the course of recent months. I had considered him a complete and utter liability, at one stage. Having said that, I had thought he?d finally got all the silliness out of his system, of late, but the ?flavour lingers longer?, it would seem. It was trying to over-elaborate, when a little direct action in the John Wile mould would have sufficed perfectly well, thank you very much, that got us into the knicker-twisting bother that led to them gleefully taking the lead in the first place. Poor Jared Hodgkiss, the innocent party in all this, strived both manfully and commendably to belt the ball off the line, but couldn?t stop the inevitable in its tracks, poor kid.

d) The major supporting role Dean Kiely played in this godawful debacle. I?m not just referring to the first goal, it?s more about what else he did, besides. Or, more to the point, SHOULDN?T have done. His kicking, for starters: truly shocking, some of it. It does go some way towards supplying others guilty of schoolboy gaffes with ample grounds for pleas of mitigating circumstances to be taken into account. We charitable regulars might well see such custodial eccentricity as something that comprises part and parcel of his normal game (and, to be fair, it hasn?t damaged us too greatly, over the course of the current season), but it still simply ain?t good enough. John Osborne, he most certainly isn?t.

Yesterday evening, when put under a bit of pressure by Coventry, he was at it again. And he could have really compounded the damage when he was yellow carded for what was, in my view, sheer stupidity on his part. Had he walked ? and a good many whistlers would have waved a red card for handling outside the box ? we?d have been dropped right in it. Or considerably more ?in it? than we were at the time.

Mogga, diplomatic as ever, has elected not to publicly ?name and shame? those whose errors, both defensive and disciplinary, allowed Coventry to make complete monkeys out of us, which is a lot more than a few other managers I could name would have done. He simply commented ?Some poor decisions cost us tonight ? there were too many individual mistakes? We certainly know who the guilty parties were.

Instead, he held what he termed: ?A good 15-minute chat in the dressing-room, afterwards?. Given the relative mildness of his motivational methods, and deceptively-casual but quietly-devastating ?lick, not bite?, style of post-match critique, I?m willing to bet that there were more than a few squirming bums left sitting on those benches, after that softly-delivered post-match spiel.

Think back to schooldays, and teachers you both liked and respected quietly informing you of the error of your ways, gently telling you, in so many words, you?ve been a complete and utter prat. And you being left feeling considerably more chastened, afterwards, than would have been the case had the teacher concerned simply bawled you out? That?s Mogga, in a nutshell.

And he did try to keep things further in proportion by pointing out that the very fact we got the two-goal deficit back, in the second half, was ample proof we had what it takes to see us at that end of the table. And it was our first home defeat this season, after all said and done. ??..We now move onto the next game. There is still a long way to go?.? That may well be the case, and it might just be an excess of paranoia on my part, but I?m still left harbouring serious concerns about our ability to just pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down, then carry on as if nothing had ever happened.

Mind you, our leader doesn?t entirely emerge from last night with reputation unsullied and pristine. Last night, I couldn?t quite get a handle on why it was Zoltan Gera was so ineffective doing a job he normally does in his sleep. With benefit of hindsight, admittedly, I now realise why: being told to play out of position doesn?t help one little bit! And, again in hindsight, the same went for Tex.

Inevitably, what happened last night will exert a profound influence on the outcome of the Leicester game. Bostian Cesar and his imminent suspension we knew about already. But there?s worse. My immediate surmise, last night, that Robbo?s suspension wouldn?t kick in for another seven days, was incorrect. We WILL be deprived of his services at the Walkers Stadium, next Saturday. Mind you, Leicester Tigers are playing at home that very same day. With tackling as awful as last night?s, perhaps he could do a bit of moonlighting with them instead.

And that, my friends, makes me wonder just who can provide the necessary cover for our club captain. Under normal circumstances, the problem would have solved itself. Alby and Clem can both play in that position, but they?re both out of it, long-term injuries. I?m now seriously wondering whether young Jared will find himself an innocent chucked among the lions.

If so, and he screws up badly, do remember to place your collective judgmental thumbs in an upright position. I most certainly wouldn?t want to see another Scott Darton situation (Baggies of my vintage and older will certainly know what I?m blathering on about: those who aren?t, suffice it to say it wasn?t our finest supporting hour, by any means!) in the making.

I can extract one small crumb of comfort from the current situation: the form of the other promotion contenders around us has also been somewhat capricious, of late. Watford had a really rotten spell before finally getting back to winning ways, last night. Hell, when we went there recently, they were made to look a very poor, tactically-limited side indeed. Charlton, the Dingles, Bristol City: they?ve all caught a crab or three over the course of the past few weeks. And in equally-surprising circumstances, too. As long as everyone carries on in that vein, the damage inflicted will stay minimal, but once emergent front-runners start to leave the chasing pack behind, then we have to make bloody sure we?re capable of staying with them.

I am becoming seriously alarmed by the sudden resurrection of Stoke City?s fortunes. Last night, they won 3-0 at Sheffield United, who had been putting together a pretty good set of results under former Albion manager Bryan Robson, and were hardly to be considered patsies because of it. Tony Pulis?s bunch of serial assaulters and batterers are now fifth, two behind us, and one behind the Dingles and Charlton. Much worse, we?re due to visit the Britannia Stadium in less than a fortnight?s time. They stomped all over us when they came to the Hawthorns: bearing in mind what happened last night, could we be ripe for yet another mauling there?

And Finally?. One good bit of news to emerge from the Shrine tonight, though: Albion 2 Shrewsbury 0, which is nice, but not spectacular, you might think. What is revelatory, though, is the name of one of the scorers, a certain Mister Beattie! Any chance he could repeat the feat at a higher level, now he?s rediscovered the manifold delights of tasting opposing side blood?

Incidentally, up until yesterday afternoon, we were certainly going to see that reserves bash, but after last night?s abysmal showing, much of our enthusiasm to attend leaked into a nearby ditch, or something. We badly need a good League result to counteract the morale-sapping effect of what happened last night. Let?s just hope our chaps will play well on the rebound at Leicester, eh? After last night, they sure as hell owe us one.

 - Glynis Wright

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