West Bromwich Albion 1 - Derby County 3

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Ratings submitted so far: 20

oshawabaggie:

For Albion management, having botched the hiring of a Corberan replacement, Mowbray no doubt seemed like a reasonable alternative. A fan favourite during his first stint at the club, and returning to the game after a serious illness, it would have been a nice story to see him get us into the playoffs, at least. But it's been apparent for a while that the Mowbray magic has gone. Fans can see he has struggled.

Over the last decade or so, Albion have hired too many 'has beens' (I don't need to list them). Corberan was not ideal perhaps, but he had energy and a plan. We need to get younger on and off the pitch.

Albion need a major rebuild and, sadly, Mowbray is not the man to do it.

Ancient Baggie:

Probably inevitable that Mowbray would be moved on after recent performances and results but there's a number of senior pros at the club that need to take a good hard look at themselves. Personally I think until Furlong, Bartley, Holgate and Swift are moved on we are never going to improve.

Shocking performance today, players have just downed tools, even more frustrating when all the other sides looking at the playoffs lost.

Anyway I wish TM all the best for the future and I wouldn't mind betting he'll have success again somewhere else.

As for our future I just hope we appoint someone with a long term plan in place and have the courage and patience to see it through however I'm not overly confident.

COYB

Brendan Clegg:

A sad day all round. Mowbray gone and a brutal but correct decision. It made sense to give it a go and the signing of Armstrong on loan showed that our owners were looking to win the playoffs, not just make them. We’ve fallen massively short.

On paper I thought the starting lineup looked okay… you could argue for others in a few positions but it looked balanced enough and I felt if we were up for the fight a Eustace team has, we could win.

In the opening few minutes we were okay but it quickly became apparent the Grady was playing the Mowatt role rather than as a 10 up near Lankshear.

What did this mean for most of the half? Lots of touches in areas that can’t hurt teams, lots of being in the way of Price and Diakite who then had no forward passes on, loads of defenders carrying the ball to the halfway line and then passing it 5 yards to him and going nowhere…

Still we looked fine and Derby looked dreadful but they scored from their first corner. It looked like a clear foul on Furlong to me right in front of the ref but it was still weak.

There was just no fight after that. No discipline, positionally all over the place and Holgate/Bartley whacking it long or, worse, Bartley shooting from distance.

The second corner goal was also pathetic, this time Heggem missing a near post header and them tapping in.

Boos rang out at half time but no changes came for another 15 minutes when a quadruple sub removed Furlong, Holgate, Johnston and Lankshear for Dike, Grant, Armstrong and Wallace. Grant was late even coming on.

We went more 4-3-3 with Price right back and Wallace left back and although it was jumbled Diagana hit a great pass for Armstrong to finish in the way he simply hasn’t when we’ve needed it.

Mowatt for Diakite seemed a bit pointless as we tried to get momentum without really gaining any.

With about 5 minutes to go we had a free kick high in our own half. Any other team in the Championship in our position would have got their keeper to take it and sent up the CBs. Instead Bartley played a stupid tippy tappy pass to Diagana who lost it under pressure.

Derby broke and scored with Bartley ambling back like it was a friendly and Griffiths getting made to look silly.

The ground emptied and it was inevitable Mowbray would go. Typically the results went our way but we never showed anything like the hunger or fight to deal with our own business and the performative huddle we began the game with proved to be utterly vacuous.

One thing I will credit Mowbray in his long final interview- for the first time he told the truth about the players, their attitude and character. I’m sure that won’t be lost on the people in charge, and it’s massively regrettable that he didn’t do it after 3 or 4 games. In that spirit, my marks today will be searingly honest.

• Griffiths - 5 Not commanding. He’s not ready, we need a keeper for next season.
• Furlong - 3 Abysmal. Attitude and effort stank.
• Holgate - 4 Weak, don’t think he win a challenge all game.
• Bartley - 4 As bad as the infamous Blues game. A big-time waster.
• Heggem - 5 Struggled to adapt and poor for the 2nd.
• Diangana - 5 Too deep. Lots of pointless passing but a great ball for the goal.
• Fellows - 5 at least carried threat but came inside way too often
• Diakite - 5 Not terrible and rusty but looked uncomfortable with Grady so close all the time.
• Price - 5 ran about, naively at times, has got some growing up to do but tried
• Johnston - 3 Mostly petulant nonsense. I’d still play him in a 10 for these last 2 games to see if he has the minerals for it.
• Lankshear - 5 Poor but massively isolated. Tried to get involved.

• Grant - 5 Ran about
• Armstrong - 6 good goal and best on the ball
• Dike - 5 effort but basic errors
• Wallace - 6 totally out of position but gave it some heart… a better left back than Holgate is a CB.
• Mowatt- 4 Might as well have put Cole on

Just desperate. Season can’t end soon enough now.

This is probably my last chance to plug the marathon I’m running next Sunday for Black Country Women’s Aid. Thanks again for all the amazing support.

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

Kev Buckley:

Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection

Any forlorn hope, that Friday's crucifixion by Coventry was going to see Salvation gained via Resurrection against the Rams, evaporated as early as the seventh minute, as two players, jumping at the near post so as to counter a corner from our right, both mistimed their jumps and allowed an ummarked Derby player to head home.

Took me a while to work out out who was playing where, originally assuming that Diangana had come in as the 10, with Price starting alongside Diakite in front of the back four, but eventually I came to the conclusion that Price was the 10, with Diangana neither up alongside him, in a kind of 4-1-4-1, nor back alongside Diakite, but seemingly free to get on the ball anywhere and try and make something (anything?) happen: a kind of 4-1-1-3-1 then?

Sadly for Grady, he never really found Price, or the pretty anonymous on the day Lankshear, to be offering all that much, and so the ball typically ended up being moved wide to Fellows or Johnston, both usually doubled up on by a Derby side that seemed well drilled as regards combatting us on the flanks.

On the one occasion, where a quick throw into space allowed Fellows to get to the line and pull one back, the speed of thought by the thrower clearly caught out any Albion player who might have got into the box to get on the end of the pull back and it was easily dealt with.

Five minutes after though and it was pretty much "When the music's over: turn out the lights" time: a corner from the left pin-balling around in our box to be finally deflected over the line at the back post. Felt like the kind of goal you concede when you need something to confirm for you that it's not going to be your day.

Price finally appeared as thirty-five passed, curling one across the goal from the left that hit the top of the post-bar angle, and then, a chance fell to the wrong player, Fellows, popping up where a decent striker could have been, inside the six yard box, but, in having to turn the ball goalwards with his weaker foot, couldn't get the power or direction on it that might have prevented the keeper from effecting a save.

Just before half-time, Furlong took his eye off a pass and the ball rolled under his foot and out for a throw: it looked horrible, but somehow, hardly out of place.

To make matters worse, other results, in games between our rivals at the top and Derby's rivals at the bottom, started going for us: Plymouth taking a lead against Coventry and Luton ahead against Bristol City.

Cometh the hour - cometh four men: a quadruple change seeing Dike, Armstrong, Grant and Wallace on for, in no obvious order, Furlong, Holgate, Johnston and Lankshear. Wallace ended up playing on the left: the other three were clearly "up front somewhere".

At least, in Armstrong, Diangana finally found someone willing to make a run or two ahead of him, and with twenty to go, he got off a slide rule pass that freed up the former for a run in on goal and a composed finish. Felt like the sort of goal that he'd been brought in to score, except that we've rarely found him through the middle of the park.

With ten to go, Mowatt came on for Diakite, although it wasn't obvious why. Five minutes after that though and Diangana, trying to get free from two opponents, served up yet more ammunition for those who criticise him for not being physical enough to play in the middle (he's a left winger), coughed up the ball and a Derby player was free to run after the ball straight at Griffiths.

Even though his cute lob over the outcoming keeper took the ball fairly wide, the attacker then did even better in squeezing it goalwards as two defenders just about got back to him.

The East Stand, opposite the TV cameras, looked pretty empty by the time the final whistle blew, with enough results having gone "or way" to still see us not out of it: at least mathematically, anyway. Well of course the other results went our way: did any fan, steeped in "Semper Te Fallant" really think they wouldn't?

My thoughts on the sacking of Mowbray.

How you can bring in someone on a two-and-a-half year contract, so as to enact a project to have your team play in a completely different way, and then sack them after three months?

What was he supposed to do: come in and tell them to play like they did under Corberan until the end of the season, and only start on the project after new players had been brought in over the summer?

Even I'll admit that Mowbray's made some bizarre choices, both in players and positions, but he was always on a hiding to nothing as far as this season goes: hamstrung by players who haven't been up to the task, and the injuries and suspensions of players who could have been.

It's a good bet that whoever the club brings in is going to have a very different squad to rebuild from, so why sack him with just two games left and hand it over to Morrison.

Feels just like that nonsensical period that saw Darren Moore geting a handful of games to show that, despite being an Albion hero, he wasn't even close to being a manager.