West Bromwich Albion 0 - Sunderland 1

Date:	Saturday 5th April 2025
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
WBA: 4.5	(4-4-2) Wildsmith 2.6, Furlong 5.0, Bartley 5.0, Heggem 6.3 (Diakité, 79 5.3), Styles 5.6, Diangana 4.6 (Fellows, 62 6.0), Molumby 5.0, Mowatt 4.6 (Dike, 62 4.6), Johnston 6.2 (Bany, 70 5.2), Grant 5.1, Armstrong 3.5 (Lankshear, 79 4.5) Unused subs: Griffiths, Swift, Frabotta, Cole Manager: Tony Mowbray 3.3
Sunderland: 5.0
Referee:	Tom Nield 3.5
Attendance:	25,918 Home Fans 5.7 Away Fans 5.9

Submit your ratings for this game by clicking here:

Ratings submitted so far: 23

Brendan Clegg:

Another hard and frustrating one to take… but arguably a bit self-inflicted from the selections.

When I saw the 11 I felt really disappointed that Fellows wasn’t starting. 7 cup finals to go… would any other Albion fan not have him in their first 11 if we by some fluke made the playoffs final? What is going on there?

First half was same old.. bossed a lot of it but quality, final ball and tempo/aggression in their final 3rd were lacking.

I thought Sunderland were not great on the ball but they were quick over 10 yards everywhere, strong and defended really well. They won the majority of 50/50s in the match through that speed or energy.

The goal was just awful. What was the keeper doing? Just hopeless and, it has to be said, many fans would have gone with Griffiths when he came back from loan, and then after previous errors. Against Burnley, Leeds and now Sunderland… teams running away with the league who we have matched or outplayed, he’s cost us points. Griffiths has to come in… and if he’s not good enough or ready then at least we’ll find out for the summer.

We still had chances to equalise, Molumby missing the easiest when he could have let the ball just hit him and go in but headed wide and over.

Second half played out to type really. No changes to begin with when I’d have got Fellows on straight away, an anxious start where we looked out of ideas and Sunderland growing into it.

Eventually changes came and we totally dominated. Fellows gave us width and supply and then we went really gung ho, with Molumby in the middle on his own and pretty much everyone else up front or in advanced positions.

I’m not sure I’d have taken Mikey J off, but I thought all the subs did okay individually.

For all our pressure there were few saves… something like 23 shots but only 3 on target, and Sunderland on the break probably had the best chance of the half which Wildsmith saved.

Most fans are fuming… as am I. We do not pick our best available 11 in every game, Mowbray tinkers in some areas too much and in others persists with things that are not working. We were in the playoffs with an inferior squad, made some great signings and now it’s out of our hands and looks like we’ll miss out.

And yet without defending anyone… we are pretty unlucky. No rub of the green in games for all our dominance, injuries to Maja (who we sorely miss), Semi and now Price. And Armstrong’s form falling off a cliff which is just so hard to believe thinking back to his first game when he finished a nothing chance so expertly to win us the points.

Crucially for Mowbray… it’s just not going to click now doing the same thing. He’s got to change it. I’d go 4-4-2 on Tuesday with Fellows and MJ wide and Dike or Lankshear up with Armstrong or Grant. Molumby and Diakité in the middle… less control in the middle but win those 50/50s to set us away and break quickly.

Wildsmith - 4 Can’t look pass the error. Just awful.
Furlong - 5 good to have him back on one hand but erratic as he was before Corberan, some very wild and pointless ball smashes
Barts - 6 solid enough
Heggem - 7 looked injured for a lot of it but is just a warrior.
Styles - 6 lots of energy and effort. Composure lacking in the final 3rd and needs to watch the wild tackles
Mowatt - 6 Controlled it but slow paced
Molumby - 6 Usual effort. Sunderland matched it…
Grady - 6 Neat enough but does not work on the right because he doesn’t do the power running needed.
Grant - 7 Not sure what to do with him. The fight, running, effort and willingness to shoot are fantastic… he’s just a bit limited
MJ - 7 Always a threat but he should be doing shooting practice in every training session with both feet
Armstrong- 5 Really poor. Quick… but no threat.

Fellows - 6 made things happen
Dike - 6 put himself about and was a threat. Unlucky with header.
Lankshear - 6 Same, had a go.
Bany - 6 Looked intelligent and desperate to get involved
Diakite - 6 hopefully just minutes ahead of a start on Tuesday