Coventry City 2 - West Bromwich Albion 0

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Brendan Clegg:

A bit fraudulent of me to be posting thoughts as, while the game was going on I had no signal and was on a rain and windswept Giant’s Causeway (or just Causeway if you are Gareth McAuley) but I just felt compelled to share a few words after the utterly desperate result.

I told myself I’d have an afternoon totally away from it but I found myself at the Bushmills Distillery at 2.30pm looking at the team and wincing a bit.

Same 11, not terrible, but as per my last report I had big concerns about Mowatt’s legs in a 2 and Coventry do have midfield runners. We needed Diakite on there for sure and possibly even a switch to a midfield 5 to start with… away from home where not losing was, on balance, still more important than not winning.

And then as I made the drive up to the coast my signal disappeared…

Nostalgic Albion fans will remember what it used to be like when you weren’t at a game, checking Ceefax or listening out for the WM goal alert. I have so many memories I still cherish of being in the car or somewhere with my late Dad and hearing it go off… and it was always bloody Walsall, wasn’t it?! I remember going absolutely mental lunatic when we scored that third goal against Exeter to come back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 as I sat in a car park behind Broad Street in Brum having spent the Saturday with my Dad fiddling about with these new computers as an 11 year old.

This experience has been replaced by smart phones, the internet, crappy contended-by-hundreds National Trust free internet style moments where you find yourself fully clued in at half time with the score, clips of the goal and the Albion Twitter hive mind which, whilst obviously prone to extreme views, actually paints a reasonable and balanced picture when scanned.

We’d been crap. Overrun in midfield and, as has been the case for 5 years, when leaders were needed this squad is found wanting. I was utterly drenched from head to toe from the Causeway stomping, and I felt so enraged by the defending for the first goal by Furlong, Mowatt and Heggem (although where was Bartley given it was right side CB) that my temperature rose and steam started to rise from my furrowed brow. I was nearly dry as I skulked back out into the elements, hoping that Mowbray would get Diakite on for someone in order to get hold of the game and give us some legs and power.

By the time I next got signal it was 15 minutes to go and as I doom-scrolled the full horrid picture played out in reverse chronological order like the ending of an episode of Columbo.

We’re 2-0 down and hopeless with ten men because Styles (who has got lucky already this season and was due one) like many in the squad has no discipline, and Swift (what the hell is he doing on the pitch) has gifted them a goal through laziness, arrogance and a genuine lack of a left foot which makes him do all those pointless rabonas, and he was on the pitch because in the biggest game of our season 1-0 down at half time Tony Mowbray had entrusted the perennial lightweight failures of Swift and Diangana to rescue us.

It’s all there and… just one more thing… these subs at the expense of a target man who would give us something to play off, with no like-for-like replacement, and a midfielder who can actually run and has the potential to be the best in the division.

It was doomed to failure and the fact that it was actually Swift for the second, his Albion career absolutely distilled into a moment so poetically, would have been cosmically beautiful had it not been so painful.

The guy who fell asleep during a team meeting and should have been sacked/banished forever like any other employee would have. He should be sent on his holidays now… never to return.

I put my phone back into airplane mode so as to get time to decompress, knowing there would be no fightback or recovery and began the hour or so drive back to the airport with plenty of time to stew things over.

It’s so painful to see Tony Mowbray screw this up so badly but he has. Even with our injuries, this squad with the right organisation and discipline is top 3 or 4 in the league and capable of beating any team. That’s not to say they are any good… it’s the worst league ever which is no better demonstrated than us still being in contention by this point given our number of wins this season. A team which has a couple of players with EPL experience and a few who might be good enough to make it as squad players at that level should have coasted it from the position Mowbray inherited and the gifts of the transfer window.

He doesn’t know his best team, reverts back to the weak-minded, weak-spirted and no-fight players who aren’t going to be here and has put faith in clearly the big personalities who want to play in systems that make them look good or give them an easy ride.

The discipline is appalling and has probably cost us 7 or 8 points in 15 games. That comes from the head coach - and I come back to the language he used about their ‘inner child’ being released. What a naive and stupid statement that looks like now, but it’s certainly how they are playing so how can he criticise them.

There are and have been other baffling comments, endless tinkering, strange subs and negligent team selections. What’s most frustrating is the Championship and especially this Championship is really quite basic if you have one of the better squads; At home you have to go for it and put teams under pressure, get crosses and shots off quickly. Most teams will concede. Away you need to be low risk, have some height and presence about you and have legs all over the pitch. You will get chances against most teams and if you defend well you’ll get points and wins. Both home and away… you’ve got to fight, run hard and compete. That’s it. Our interim coaches got it I think and, with a much inferior squad, achieved better results and performances.

We simply haven’t done this under Tony Mowbray and from here with genuine sadness I can’t see how he can recover it, perform and be part of the rebuild. We’ve gone too far backwards and the worst feeling is, I don’t trust him to do it.

I don’t know if we can afford it. I don’t know if he needs more time out to find that ruthlessness and harsh side that is needed. I don’t know who I’d replace him with, although Steve Cooper was always my preferred choice if we could make it happen.

I do know it needs to be the end for him here.

It’s just over a week before I run the Stratford Marathon for Black Country Women’s Aid. The support from baggies the world over has been amazing. You can still sponsor me here:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/brendan-clegg-2

Eddie Billington:

As usual a great post from Brendan. I'm thinking this team does not want to get promoted. No fight, no will to win... so frustrating. I agree with the need for new management and more young aggressive players with at least enthusiasm.

I've been a supporter since I watched them bring the FA cup home in 1954 and I despair at our current state.