Minority Report v West Bromwich Albion

In my pre-match Minority Report, I had set the scene for a big defeat and a stark contrast between one failing coach (Asbaghi), and one highly successful coach using his tried and tested systems and methods (Ismael). It is fair to say that the match did not pan out anywhere near how I expected.


Ismael made his name at Barnsley by using the long ball and the forward press. Tonight, the forward press was gone and West Brom played in almost exactly the same way as Barnsley played. That is, both teams played 3-4-3 with the midfield width coming from the two wing backs. For long periods, the two teams cancelled each other out, and the game was a dull and boring affair as a result. Of course, West Brom have better players than we do, and as a result, they created more clear cut chances than we did, as our 3 clearances off the line will testify to. However, most of the game was a dull stalemate.


Those who want Ismael back must have had their eyes open for them tonight. They will remember the forward press, they will remember our work rate and they will contrast that with what they saw from West Brom tonight. What they saw from West Brom was slightly better Individuals playing in exactly the same way as our last 2 coaches have tried (unsuccessfully) to get us playing. They achieved dominance on most of the important statistics, but they were not good enough to win, and that is the most important statistic.


Tonight, Asbaghi played for the clean sheet. The game was not a chanceless affair, but he got what he wanted. The 2 central midfield players were restricted in how far they were allowed to get forward. Their job was to make sure our back 3 was not exposed to runners from deep, and in the main, they achieved that. However, they did so by forfeiting territory, and they did so by limiting their attacking intent. I heard dis-satisfaction from all sides on my way out of the ground, and most of it was directed toward our central midfield players. I remember, just as well as anyone, the days when midfield players orchestrated and directed attacking intent. But that is not the role of the central midfield player in the 3-4-3 formation. Their role is mainly defensive. It is to protect the back 3 from deep runners. I have no idea if we have the players to play in the way that we all remember, but frankly, we are unlikely to see it any time soon, as the football world is sold on 3-4-3 currently. If that is what you want to see, then direct your anger not at the players, but at the coach who is organising the playing systems which the team uses.


Tonight, I was bored. I was bored not just because neither team scored. I was bored because neither team was willing to risk defeat in order to secure victory. In that respect, Barnsley have less reason to hang their heads than do West Brom. The game was there for them, and they refused the chance to take it by the short and curlies. I am afraid that is how the pressure of needing to win changes you. Last year, Barnsley, its players and its fans were grateful for anything. This year, West Brom and their fans have higher ideals and aspirations, and Ismael is failing to live up to them.


As for us. The Index scores bear out my overall impression of our play. We were not interested in entertaining, and we can have few surprises at the minus score. Our Performance Index score is our worst at home this season. We picked up an unexpected point, but things will have to get a lot better if we are going to save ourselves, and currently there is little sign of a new dawn




Entertainment Index:

Barnsley -20

West Bromwich Albion 104

Match 84


Performance Index: -98


PotM Carlton Morris

 

Ismael’s way of playing last season was only made possible by the five subs rule

 

One of the more dismal anti-football matches I've seen. I resisted Kaht Junior turning over for the snooker only on the grounds that it was Selby playing.

It will probably take us several more months and many, many more games for the club to acknowledge it, but I am afraid Asbaghi is not the answer.

 

Interesting to see Styles playing further forward last night and I do wonder if Kane will return in January and improve our midfield? Although I’m not sure the 3-4-3 is the best formation to get the best out of Kane.

 

A very good point but the xg for the game underlines both how toothless we are in attack and how well we defended/West Brom were profligate in attack. Barnsley 0.09 v West Brom 1.64.

Couple of marginally interesting observations, that is our second lowest xg of the season, that came against Bournemouth with 0.07. Our xg points for the season now sit at 14. We are not unlucky....

 

Kane has got to be an improvement on what we have at the moment irrespective of any formation

 

Last night, I was so tired that I missed one or two things that I wanted to say about the players.

In the absence of Palmer, our central midfield was Gomes and Benson. Benson looked tired after the first 15 minutes, and Gomes hardly made a constructive forward pass all night. OK, their primary instruction was to protect the defence, but if they cannot do that, and also pass the ball when they have a bit of time, then neither has the quality for the Championship. I have said it before, but the main problem with our team is the recruitment last summer, and these two are just the first example.


The reason that I made Carlton Morris my PotM was that until the arrival of Devante Cole, he carried our attacking threat on his own. As a result, he came in for some rough treatment from the West Brom defenders. Iseka began well, but faded and he was another who was not seen again after 25 minutes. He is another that is just not up to the challenge of the Championship. Yet, in the absence of Cauley Woodrow, he gets into the starting eleven, alongside Callum Styles in his first game ever as a striker, and both were in preference to Devante Cole whose pace we needed from the start. Our coach had two problems to solve that were not of his making with Woodrow injured and Palmer ill. I am deeply unimpressed with his solutions. I think that Helik’s booking was his 5th, so that gives Asbaghi another problem for our next game.


Conway’s summer transfer activity has given the Barnsley coach (any coach) a big problem. However, I am not convinced by the solutions we are seeing from Asbaghi.

 

Agreed. I thought Iseka and Gomes were very poor indeed.

 

To win a football match you need to at least score a goal.

 

Finally, our main source of width all season has been Callum Brittain. He has not played as well as he did last season, but he is still our main provider of crosses into the box. Why would we move him to left back, where he barely crossed the ball all night because he had to bring the ball back onto his right foot to do so, and that spoiled the timings of the runs of the players in the centre? Are we sure Asbaghi has done this job before?

 

I watched it with the fast forward button having not seen the result, took me 25 minutes, and even then I was bored. Good summary from the OP, I actually really dislike football at the minute. I watch the premier league on TV and it’s all the same press and try and slide a ball in between the Centre half and full back/ wing back. I always loved the tactical aspects of the game but I’m becoming increasingly convinced it’s killing the entertainment. There are the odd flair players like Saint-Maximin at Newcastle but the majority are coached to play the percentages and it’s boring AF.

 

I thought that it was a very brave performance defensively from the Reds with keeper and back three all knowing they were going to be in a battle and playing as if they were. I thought the midfield pairing of Benson and Gomes was pretty non-existent, which was why we offered little going forwards on the night. I take your point about their roles being primarily defensive, though. I liked the way that both Styles and Brittain seemed to have freer roles in the midfield and forwards. It didn't quite pay off, but they are both creative players who like to get forwards on the front foot and they look more of a potential threat from that point of view. I also thought that, in contrast to Schopp, it looked as though Poya had done his homework on the Baggies and his primary aim was not to lose, which he did achieve. I thought we were unfortunate and naive to lose at Preston and, if that game had been a draw, Poya would have four draws, which is not a bad base from which to start - basically making us harder to beat. Biggest concern to me, though, was that we couldn't keep the ball for more than three passes (often less) throughout the game. The beautifully linked coordination of the first half at QPR was missing and passing sequences hardly happened. I know that this was in part, of course, down to the Baggies press, making it so hard for anyone to settle on the ball, but class players can make that time and we hardly ever did. That needs to change against mid-table teams. However, I would think that POya would settle for the point in this fixture. Morris looked lively, won enough headers and they had to resort to taking it in turns to kick him. Somehow, from the base of that improving defence and organisation, we need to start to create a greater threat on goal. If Poya can do that, we might just do it okay. The defence won't let us down, so it will be up to the creativity of Styles, Brittain and, hopefully, Kane and Benson in midfield to do that and for Morris, Woodrow and at least one other to start scoring goals regularly. An ugly battle well fought against strong opposition. It could have been a lot worse and the spirited performance was the most commendable aspect. Let's hope the Stoke game is on.

 

Helik played well. Put another 100k on his fee. Remember it’s not about winning it’s about making the players more sale-able assets. Entertainment is just a by product of the aim.

 

I disagree that the plan was not to get forward and win the game...it didn't happen because we haven't got any strong midfielders who are capable of running a game...winning the ball and making the passes that count.

 

Agree with all of that RR. I was genuinely surprised at WBAs lack of drive and ambition and expected them to push much harder for victory. For a team supposedly chasing promotion they were disappointing. I live in the West Midlands and the dissatisfaction with Ismael is growing. Based on last night I can understand why.

 

A couple of points Red Rain.Why call Poya "a failing coach" and why doesn't he merit any praise from you for the obvious defensive improvements in such a short time.If you discount Swansea in which he'd only been here a day we've gone large strides in his 4 games in charge.We are no longer the team who others look at as a walkover.
Like Poya says the work now is to get us more offensive and turning draws into wins.
As an obvious student of the game don't you feel Poya deserves some praise after such a short time?.
As always interesting reading your reports.

 

I believe that our problems this season stem from our disastrous summer recruitment program. I think that any coach would struggle with the available players. When you assess the performance of the coach, you have to take the major problems that are affecting his decisions into consideration. He has fewer problems than did his predecessor though. He now has Andersen fit and he has Morris fit. In my view, others did not allow for the absence of those two when they assessed the performance of the previous coach. However, setting that aside, how does his decision-making rank, taking into consideration all the problems he faces. Well, I have had problems there right from day one. Before his first match, I said that he should keep 3-4-3. I do not like the system and, from reports, it was also not the system he used frequently. However, I felt he should stick with what the players are familiar with until he had chance to work with them and convince them of his new ideas. He changed to 4-3-3 for his first 2 games before reverting back to 3-4-3. It was a mistake.

There have been managerial errors in every game I have watched. Against Huddersfield, Morris was giving them problems on our left, but on the right, Iseka was almost invisible. The game was calling out from Cole to replace him in order to give us the pace on the right that was troubling them on the left. Asbaghi brought on Adeboyejo and all the impetus went out of the game. He made a negative decision, and that message was transmitted to the players.

Last night, I could see no good reason to move the left sided Styles from left wing back to one of the forward positions, the first time that he has played there. Equally, I could see no good reason for moving Brittain from right wing back to left wing back, thereby removing his crossing threat from the game. Finally, I could see no good reason to leave Cole on the bench for the first hour of the game, given Iseka's poor contribution in the previous home game.

However, my biggest problem with Asbaghi is his statistics. One of the reasons that I began producing my Entertainment Index and my Performance Index was that they both rely upon independent statistics. The intent is that they consolidate those statistics into one figure. Before the West Brom game, Asbaghi's average Entertainment Statistic for his 4 games in charge was 35. The figure for the West Brom game was -21. Our season average for 22 games was 58. Clearly, Asbaghi's team is playing less entertaining football than Schopps team did. The Performance statistic is meant to represent our dominance of games (+ scores), or the opposition dominance of games (- scores). In his 4 games prior to the West Brom game, Asbaghi's team averaged -53 and the figure for the West Brom game was -98. Our season average for 22 games was -37. Clearly, none of the scores would be good enough to see us safe at the end of the season, but they do indicate whether we are getting better or worse. Sadly, they indicate that we are getting worse, and part of the problem (in my opinion) is the negativity that Asbaghi has brought to the club. His substitution decisions represent a safety first attitude that is unlikely to see us safe. You ask me why I do not credit him with making our defensive unit more secure. I do not credit him with that because at the same time, he has made us less likely to score, and therefore, less likely to win games. A series of draws is not going to keep us up. We need to win.

 

So you don't think making us harder to beat can then lay the foundations to help us attacking wise moving forward.Thats what the coach is hoping to do.Judged after 4 games is very harsh in my opinion.

 

Didn’t watch last night. So Brittain player LWB/LM and Jordan Williams on the other flank? And Styles in the front three, is that right?

 

And our younger, fitter players. West Brom don't have that