West Bromwich Albion 2 - Sheffield United 2

Date:	Sunday 8th December 2024
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
WBA: 6.8	(4-4-2) Palmer 6.1, Furlong 5.8, Bartley 5.5, Heggem 7.2, Styles 7.0 (Holgate, 82 6.0), Fellows 7.8, Molumby 6.5, Mowatt 6.1 (Racic, 73 5.0), Johnston 6.9 (Cole, 87 5.2), Maja 5.8 (Swift, 86 4.6), Grant 7.6 Unused subs: Wildsmith, Wallace, Diakité, Dobbin, Frabotta Manager: Carlos Corberán 5.7
Sheff U: 6.3	Cooper, Burrows, Robinson, Gilchrist, Seriki (Shackleton, 86), Peck, Vinícius Souza, Hamer, O'Hare (Norrington-Davies, 86), Rak-Sayki (Brewster, 57), Campbell (Oné, 57) Unused subs: Davies, McCallum, Davies, Baptiste, Brooks
Scorers:	Heggem (24), Fellows (62); O'Hare (35), Campbell (37)
Referee:	David Webb 4.8
Attendance:	24,930 Home Fans 6.8 Away Fans 6.3

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Ratings submitted so far: 20

Ancient Baggie:

Well it's another point and I could probably just cut and paste my views from the last few times I've contributed on here. Great opening 30mins where we probably should have been 2 or 3 up. Fellows and Johnston both causing problems in wide areas we just needed that final touch. One up and in control then we start trying to play short balls on the edge of our own box and cough up two goals (could easily have been 3). Watching it back I think Palmer could have done a lot better for the first.

We stuck at it got back level and probably should have won it from there but couldn't find a finish for several decent chances. In my opinion our build up is too slow and our default is to go sideways and backwards. I would hazard a guess that Palmer had more touches in general play than Maja. I don't see things changing much and in fairness the bench doesn't look like it's likely to have much of an impact.

Without reinforcements in the New year I think the best we can hope for is to sneak into the playoffs but we are a million miles away from being a Premier League team so patience required. Would be nice to have a bit of a cup run though. COYB

Brendan Clegg:

I thought that was great. I thought we were really good for most of it and if that’s the way we’re going to play the wins are coming - we’d have battered Preston playing like that.

The lineup looked strong and brave - still 4-4-2 with MJ back in, Styles at left back, Molumby recalled and Heggem/Barts at CB.

For the first 30 we were well on top, dominated, played with tempo and aggression and deservedly took the lead when Heggem headed a corner home.

A bizarre 2 minutes saw us concede twice having previously given Sheff Utd nothing, first we got stretched and then a ricochet clearance gave them a 5 yard tap in, the a terrible pass from Heggem allowed them to work it right and cross to go ahead.

For sure, we hadn’t sat back at all and we kept pushing. I felt at HT if we could get one we could win it.

And we had another go after the break. It was more open and Utd had more of it but we earned our luck in equalising through a deflection from Fellows and we had set plays and opportunities to do more.

In the final 10 the subs lowered us a bit but overall we were I thought considerably better than one of the best sides in the league… reminding us the league is there to be attacked this season and there is no team to fear, especially if we can get another striker in the window.

The only thing that let us down was composure in their box. Grant, MJ, Molumby and others had big situations where they made the wrong call

Palmer - 6 solid and reliable
Furlong - 7 in the main good and moved it quickly
Barts - 7 Pretty solid apart from the 2 minutes of chaos
Heggem - 7 marked down for the pass for their 2nd but overall very good
Styles - 7 Impressed again. So comfortable on the ball, gave us balance
Fellows - 7 Constantly threatened and was direct
Mowatt - 7 Outnumbered in there but won the battle
Molumby - 7 Everywhere and aggressive, just needed composure in the box
MJ - 6 lots of good moments but not enough end product
Grant - 7 Quick, strong, suddenly looks like his technique is miles better, but also rash in the box
Maja - 6 A shame none of the chances fell to him, so many classes touches, pressed high

Racic - 6 Did okay but lost it cheaply once or twice
The other subs only got 5 mins so can’t really comment.

Kev Buckley:

Albion find a much better way to draw: but it's still a draw

I think the first fifteen/twenty minutes of this one was as good a display, of what we all know this squad is capable of, injuries or not, as we've seen in a long time: high press right from the off when SheffU had the ball and some slick passing when we did. Couldn't just have been the soaking conditions: could it?

From a corner as early as two minutes in, Furlong ran round to the near post but saw his on-target effort blocked, and before ten had passed, some great work down the left saw the ball returned into the box after a corner, but not quite drop for Bartley, still up there in the aftermath.

As the quarter-hour passed, a great crossfield ball from Furlong found Mowatt, who released Styles, and his cross- cum-shot just eluded Grant.

The pressure finally told on 23, as a second corner in quick succession saw Heggem glancing it into the far side netting.

I'm not even sure that, for once, Albion let up all that much after going ahead, more that the Blades started to up their game and although they found some space in our right back area as 35 passed, Heggem got his foot to the cross ahead of the attacker behind him in the six-yard-box, but only managed to hit Bartley, and the ball dropped off him for the simplest of tap-ins.

If that one was bad luck our part, then a minute later, we made all our own bad luck, with a woefully underhit pass out from the left back area only getting as far as the middle of the park, and once again, SheffU were more than good enough to work into the right back area again, but this time there was no stopping the driven cross that put it on a plate for their striker.

And with five to go first half, we were at it again, Furlong being sold well short and never able to make up ground as the visitors were almost in again but we did get to half-time, two-one down.

The second half had a lot of the same: Fellows looking incredibly direct at times, but with the odd bollocks, from Styles at the back always suggesting that we might gift the Blades a third, although Palmer, at full stretch on one occasion, did his best to keep them out.

Styles, trying to dribble in a Mikey Johnston fashion, got caught in possession upfield ten minutes into the half and so was miles out of position as SheffU advanced into our left back area, only for Grant, of all people, to track back at speed and shoulder-charge the attacker off the ball, and without conceding a foul - great stuff!

It would be Mikey Johnston, doing a reprise of last season's Mikey Johnston, who would come away with the ball from Styles's left back area, drill a ball across the width of the park to Maja, who then fed Fellows on the hour. Once again he went at his man and got off a left foot shot that, although blocked, ballooned up and over the keeper as he back-peddled towards the far post.

I'm not sure that we needed the substitutions but could hear the need to give the starters a rest, and we still managed to create a couple of half chances that, on another day, we'd have at least hit the target from but, on this day we didn't and so another draw it was.

With the approach we had in that first fifteen to twenty, I can't see how, against opposition much worse than the table-topping Blades, we could not have turned six or seven of our draws into wins but, for some reason Corberan only decided to "have a go" against the team at the top. More of the same please, CC.

Given Sheff Utd's recent winning form was only interrupted by a 2-2 draw against Coventry, who we face on Wednesday, it'd be a brave man who'ld bet against yet another draw for us then?