'Responsibility required': Lewis Cox & Jonny Drury on West Brom's draw with Millwall

Express & Star

Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox give their take on a frustration afternoon for Albion against Millwall. Albion were the better side throughout but could not break through a resolute visiting back line. Josh Maja had a the big chance in the first half and it turned it to be one of the only chances in the game. It is now just one point from the last nine available for Albion.

Transcript

00:00Baggies fans, welcome to ExpressSR.com, welcome to a third straight frustrated post-match

00:13video shall we say, Coxy. Albin held to a nil-nil draw by the Millwall bus, fair play

00:19to them, they parked it, they didn't move it, the driver, I think the driver Neil Harris

00:23must have lost the keys or something because they parked the bus, they did it to perfection

00:27and Albin just couldn't find a way through, one good chance all game from Josh Madger

00:33and yes, Coxy, frustration, one point for nine but then to make you feel a bit positive

00:41going into the break, Albin a fourth, so let's focus on today for now, frustrating, kind

00:46of didn't grab the initiative at times Albin, it was quite laboured, don't get me wrong

00:52it's probably hard to get through, it wasn't two banks of four, it felt like ten banks

00:56of four, well it was nine players behind, yeah, frustration but Albin just didn't have

01:00the answer, no, I thought they might have had the answer, he won't sell any DVDs will

01:05it today, no, or any VHS, no, it's not going to trouble Orange Crush at the top of the

01:10Albion DVD charts shall we say, yeah I mean to be honest we should have predicted it really

01:16shouldn't we, Albion and Millwall, the last three here have been goalless, I think Albion

01:21have been a seven winless against the Lions now, so not favourable opposition really,

01:27which is interesting I mean by and large I think when they're away they come with a certain

01:32style and reputation don't they Millwall and Neil Harris doing that today, he's not apologised

01:37for it, he's openly admitted it there in the press conference, I mean we will add that

01:42they had chances Millwall didn't they, they had a couple of moments, arguably if you look

01:46at it Millwall had a really good chance in the first half and they had a couple in the

01:49second half, certainly a three header, but the point I was going to make is, and they

01:53were probably better than what Albion can play, going and playing like that is a backhanded

01:57compliment isn't it, look at what Albion have done this season, the attacking players they've

02:02got, but let's have it right, the attacking players were not on song today, they weren't

02:09on Tuesday night either, I mean Klaus Coburn was a little more upbeat than I would have

02:15thought in his press conference, yeah he was a bit, a bit more of a springer's stepper,

02:20a bit more in his voice, yeah well I think one of his quotes I haven't listened back

02:25yet was actually that he preferred today than Middlesbrough, I mean look Albion lost the

02:31other night, they've drawn today, but I think Middlesbrough are a better team the other

02:34night clearly, and I thought Albion had maybe had a little bit more about them on Tuesday

02:39than they did today, Albion made one big chance today didn't they, and it came after

02:4515 minutes, against a team that quote unquote part of the bus, that's never a good look

02:49is it I don't think, because that means, well 75, showing some maths there, 75 minutes of

02:56the rest of the game, without a clear chance, and that leads to a frustrated crowd, frustrating

03:03fans, atmosphere, didn't really get going did it, I mean not helped by the din in the

03:09away end, is there a more annoying noise in football, I'm not so sure, maybe the supporters

03:15down the road, they're a bit more annoying, well yeah, yeah, yeah, but one thing that

03:18got me in that first half, and I got sick of myself saying this last season, and I thought

03:24today was a little bit of a throwback to times last season, Albion's display wasn't bad today,

03:32but when they went up through the gears, the tempo was good, they carved out that chance,

03:37they made some brave passes, I hate, Jonny Brown's going to hate me for saying this,

03:42but breaking the lines, Jonny's going all against modern football, yeah I am, just to

03:47warn you, do you know what I mean, yeah, breaking the press, through the lines, but when they

03:51did that, they carved them open, it was still a difficult chance, it'd come to him quick,

03:55but when you play laboured and lethargic football, like Albion did in the second half, it allows

03:59Millwall to get into their position, do you know what I mean, I'm not a professional footballer,

04:03I'm not a manager, but I've just wrote a piece about it, I don't think the way Albion set

04:07up today, lost in the game, they just didn't show that urgency when they need to keep moving

04:12the ball quickly, because when they did it in that first half, they pulled Millwall out

04:14of position, Fallows got in, they had a chance, I'm not going to say you're going to do it

04:18for 90 minutes of the game, but it's just a bit of lack of urgency.

04:23Well Jonny, on that, and I'm not going to disagree with you, but in a roundabout way,

04:27I'm going to put that to the head coach, who didn't agree with you really, I didn't

04:32agree with the point.

04:33He knows a lot more, he's got a UEFA pro license and I haven't.

04:37There are different ways of seeing the game, and clearly elements of today were what Corbran

04:43wanted, obviously not the final moment, which involved a lack of chance, shot, accurate.

04:50Well that chance was Corbran's dream wasn't it, if you said that to me, they pulled him

04:53this way, they pulled him that way, they kept the ball in.

04:54That was the point I was just going to make, that was a great move and the one and only

04:58clear chance, and that came via patience, and biding your time, and then an incisive

05:05pass by Ajayi.

05:06But it came via moving the ball quickly as well didn't it, you showed patience in the

05:10second half, but they just didn't move the ball.

05:11I absolutely take your point, and I thought, my question to Carlos was, there's a balance

05:16to be struck is there, surely, between.

05:17I feel like I need a screen here, like Gary Neville, just to drag players around and show

05:21you what I mean.

05:23Hopefully we're more popular than Neville and Carragher, I don't know.

05:26We're not as advanced as Sky Sprawl.

05:28Smaller budget.

05:29I asked Corbran whether there was a balance between patience, that I just mentioned, pulling

05:37opposition side to side and waiting for the moment, and taking too many touches, or maybe

05:43going the wrong way, that you need to find a nice middle ground, and I personally think

05:48that's the case really.

05:51You can't waste too much momentum and positioning by going the wrong way, or taking an extra

05:56touch per player.

05:57I think that's the point you're making isn't it, passing for passing's sake is one of your

06:02favourite lines, isn't it Jonny?

06:03Do you know the worst ones?

06:06I'll save this for the podcast, no I'll save that for the podcast, because I can turn that

06:10into a five minute rant.

06:11Yeah I'm sure you could, but Corbran's response was that he didn't see a lack of tempo or

06:16urgency today, and that's fair enough, he knows best, but a lot of people watching this

06:24and having watched the game will see it differently.

06:30This is a longer debate for a different time isn't it, but this week, which has been a

06:33tough week, three games, just one point from a possible nine, two blanks here in a few

06:39days.

06:40We've seen the squad used haven't we, and we've already talked about this on Wednesday's

06:44part of maybe the video on Tuesday from here, but we've seen the squad used a bit, changes

06:48today, four changes, a side lot in the line-up that I think everyone wanted to see didn't

06:53they?

06:54Dean Garner, Johnson starting for the first time in the three behind the striker, Molumbi

06:59back in midfield, Fellowes back in the side, I think Corbran made the point there and a

07:04few others have made the point, to me Bongo, Tony Brown being one of them as well, when

07:08the wingers are shackled and the full-backs defended the wingers so well, it's not as

07:14far as to say they've been found out, but they've just been defended really well, where's

07:18the next moment coming from?

07:19Corbran made a big point of corner runners he kept calling it, and I think he means third

07:26man runs going beyond your wingers, so a Dean Garner or a Madger or a Molumbi or a Moat,

07:33making those third man runners, sorry, sorry, but you know running

07:38off the wingers to give different options to then Furlong and Higgum joining as well,

07:44I wrote that midway through the game in our blog and the report, I think it lacked, not

07:50just someone taking responsibility with the ball but players willing to go beyond, there

07:54were times where Johnson had it on the left touchline or Fellowes on the right and Madger

08:00pretty isolated in the middle really, it'd have to be like a 1 in 100 cross to pick him

08:05out for a header, but the spaces in between where maybe you want Grady, I thought he did

08:11alright today, Dean Garner, or maybe Moat's run or Molumbi's run wasn't there, and that's

08:15not knocking Moat as well because I think if most of the side showed the urgency that

08:22Moat shows then Albin are in a good place, I think he's still the one, the heartbeat

08:27really, but I just think it lacked that kind of off the ball and on the ball but off the

08:33ball inspiration really that was going to pull Millwall apart because their shape was

08:39very much, they had a front man but a very offered nine really behind the ball and it

08:46was going to take a lot to break them down and Albin didn't have it today, didn't have

08:49it Tuesday either against a totally different opposition, Corbans remained sort of steadfast

08:55in his opinion that it was only that first half at Hillsborough last week that had been

08:59a poor half of football, some will disagree with that, that's fair enough, but it's been

09:05a poor week, it's checked the progress at the start hasn't it, but as you said right

09:09at the top was it still 4-4, did I see two points off top I think, but I think as we

09:15didn't need to, I mean we probably did didn't we, but as we didn't need to get carried away

09:20looking at the table after six games, we still don't after nine, Corban made a little point

09:26just quickly that at some stage soon the table will settle down and teams will sort of slot

09:32where they are and I think Neil Harris did say that he didn't want to put too much pressure

09:37on Albin as a team that are right up there but he says they've got a top six squad and

09:41we know I think and everyone watching this I think will know that it's a better squad

09:45than last season, the very top is a poorer quality league and yeah it's still a new squad

09:54a lot of new players finding their way, Carlos said to me that Johnson will show more, he's

10:02struggled so far hasn't he, but early days he will show more, Fellowes had it tough today,

10:08I thought Dean Garner did as well as can be expected and Corban thought he did actually

10:12showed a lot and managed to stay on the pitch given injuries he's had so good for Grady,

10:19Magic takes that chance on 15 minutes, it's a different game isn't it and that's what

10:22the frustrating thing is but we can't really cling or take too much solace from that because

10:26Albin had to create more opportunities of that vein and didn't so a disappointing day

10:31Johnny a disappointing day and now we have to wait two weeks which is also very annoying.

10:39One point from nine, poor week, let's write it off and go again after the international

10:43break.

10:44Final score here, Albion nil, Millwall nil, all the rest of your reaction you know where

10:48to go, expressandstart.com

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