West Bromwich Albion 0 - Burnley 0

Date:	Thursday 7th November 2024
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
WBA: 5.6	(4-2-3-1) Palmer 6.9, Furlong 6.0, Holgate 6.7, Heggem 7.7, Styles 7.3, Molumby 6.3, Mowatt 5.5 (Racic, 64 5.1), Fellows 5.9 (Dobbin, 64 5.1), Swift 4.4 (Johnston, 64 5.2), Grant 7.1 (Cole, 87 5.3), Maja 5.6 (Diangana, 82 4.9) Unused subs: Wildsmith, Wallace, Diakité, Nelson Manager: Carlos Corberán 4.5
Burnley: 5.9	Trafford, Roberts, Egan-Riley, Estève, Pires, Koleosho (Mejbri, 91), Brownhill, Sarmiento (Laurent, 76), Cullen, Anthony, Flemming Unused subs: Hladky, Rodriguez, Humphreys, Egan, Hountondji, Dodgson, Agyei
Referee:	Tom Nield 6.5
Attendance:	23,443 Home Fans 6.1 Away Fans 5.6

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Ratings submitted so far: 15

Brendan Clegg:

Precious little to report on. Thought it would be tight, ended up that way with 2 teams who don’t score.

I thought the lineup was fair enough, apart from the defence it was the same team who started the season so well.

We worked hard, had moments in the first half where the final decision was poor or a shot was blocked. I thought Fellows on the gallop a couple of times just needed to go outside his man when charging towards the box but he came in and blocked himself off.

I thought Swift had our best chance in the first 10 though… free at the back post he really should’ve hit the target with a volley.

Tippy tappy silliness nearly gifted them a goal but Palmer made a big save.

And then lots of spells of no action, boredom, Burnley having quality but being toothless where it mattered.

Second half was duller, and the only interesting thing was Corberan playing Grant up front for 20 mins with Maja behind him, and then Grady for Maja for about 10. It didn’t yield anything but it was something different and had we made more of breaks or just gambled to shoot, something might have happened.

Burnley hit the post and scored a goal that from the back of the Smethwick looked like an early push on Styles so the ref got it right… just.

Another point that on its own you’d take, but to score so few goals in a league so poor is criminal really. The quality of the league is the biggest plus and gives us some hope that we can finish top 6 again.

Palmer - 7 big big save and good hands
Furlong - 7 reliable, not much on the ball
Holgate - 6 the targeted him in the air but did okay
Heggem - 7 another solid performance
Styles- 7 I thought he gave it everything and battled away well
Mowatt - 6 struggled with their energy and press
Molumby - 6 got about but little influence
Fellows - 6 a bit better, just needs to attack a d go at people
Swift - 5 nearly gifted them one. Ran about just little end product
Grant - 7 set the standards with effort and running
Maja - 6 neat but no service

Johnston- 5 never got it to him fast enough
Racic - 6 did okay
Dobbin - 5 showed some great dribbling but some awful decision-making too
Grady - 6 looked lively but can’t disagree with leaving him out
Cole - on too late

Kev Buckley:

The goals, and shots on target, drought continues

Despite this being another game between a last season top-six side, that's us, and a last season top-flight side in Burnley, this was another painful one to watch, as Albion looked completely devoid of any creativity through the middle and, as a result created few chances to add to our two goals at home this season.

Three changes to the Luton starting XI saw straight swaps of Racic, Wallace and Diangana with Molumby, Swift and Fellows, whilst ex Albion loanee Sarmineto lined up for his fourth side since going back to being loaned out by the other Albion.

Three minutes in and a great cross from Furlong found Swift, unmarked on the corner of the six-yard box but even though he tried to guide the shot with his instep, it still went way over the bar.

Burnley's first effort, some five minutes later saw Palmer jumping one-on-one with an unchallenged attacker as the cross was delivered after a corner, and although Palmer did enough, it was hardly a convincing stop.

Heggem would be required to block a shot after Burnely, looking the more likely side to fashion a chance, got a run in behind a few minutes later.

Swift delivered a fine ball from a free-kick midway through the half but no-one got on the end of it, and then Fellows had a run but simply ran into three defenders and was blocked out, before Sarmiento latched onto an awful pass at the back and advanced at Palmer, only to scuff the shot and see it rebound away off the keeper's legs.

Styles would cut in from the left and get off a shot from 25 yards and central with about ten to go but again, it wasn't on target.

Considering the commentary team had built this one up by saying, ahead of the game, that a fourth-place spot was on offer for the winner, and then witnessed a half in which neither side looked as though they'd be a winner, the comment that 'you feel there will be a goal in the second half" was a bit surprising, and so it proved.

Ten minutes into the second half and Sarmineto scuffed another shot from the central area at the edge of our box, before Burnley hit the post with another scuffed shot after Molumby, anonymous for most of the game, failed to connect with, let alone clear the ball. He would though, get booked after lunging in for a ball that he'd lost control of.

Somewhat strangely though, it was Mowatt who'd be taken off two minutes later, as part of a three-man switch along with Fellows and Swift: those three being replaced, respectively, by Racic, Dobbin and Johnston, with Grant moving inside, although he'd end up wide left and delivering a ball across the six-yard box that no-one else was far up enough to get on the end of.

It's possible that the substitution of Maja with Diangana, with ten to go, actually meant that Grant would leading the line for the last ten, although after just six minutes of his number nine cameo, he was taken off as Cole came on for a four minute one, although it would be Diangana's off-target diving header, from a left-sided cross from centre-back Heggem, that would be the last "action" of the game.

Not clear why we're creating so little of late, although you get the feeling that whichever two, out of Mowatt, Molumby and Racic get a start in front of the back four, they're only there to recieve short passes from the back four and then pass it back, as they're creating next to nothing, plus, as we've seen for a few games now, no matter whether it's Diangana, Wallace or Swift being asked to be the number ten, they're rarely on the ball centrally with anyone moving ahead of them to play it in to space for, or to the feet of.

You can add to those "nothing through the middle" displays the observation that whoever plays out wide will usually end up not taking on the full-back on the outside and then, finding that there's no one inside of them to pass to and so keep the ball upfield, will either have to play it back down the line to their respective full back, so that it can go across the back four all over again, or just run infield, into a mass of defensive bodies, in the hope they get a lucky bounce off a shin and pop out the other side.

Whatever Corberan's current plan is, it's not looking like one that's going to create many, if any, chances, as evidenced by the "one shot on target, at home" statistic from this one.