• 3 weeks ago
Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox analyse West Brom's draw at Luton.
Albion were on the back foot before Josh Maja's magic put them ahead.
They were pegged back in the second half and had to withstand Luton pressure - but also had chances to win it.
But it is now five draws in a row and seven games without a win.
Transcript
00:00Baggies fans, welcome to ExpressAndStart.com. My name is Jonny Drury. I'm here with Mr.
00:12Lewis Cox at Kenilworth Road. Albion have drawn for a, what is it, Coxy? Fifth game in a row.
00:17If you want to make a bit of money now, lump on Albion Drawing because they've drawn here again
00:22at Luton. Dire, terrible, awful, turgid first half and then Josh Madger goes and produces some
00:29magic to get back on the goal trail. Albion hand Luton a way back in. Albion have to strap on the
00:36tin hats, head everything away and then they've had a few, a few sort of hairy moats, well Luton
00:42have had a few hairy moats at the end and Albion could have snuck it themselves. Coxy, I've just
00:45said to you and then you just reliably informed me that Carlos Corbrandt said the same thing so
00:50that's me. Great minds. That's me gonna tap myself on the back and say I know what I'm talking about
00:54but I'm sure a few of you baggers disagree. Albion at times might not look like winning
01:00games at the moment, however, they don't look like they're gonna lose them. Yeah, yeah, hence
01:05five draws in a row. Yeah, your point was and it is a good one and I think very relevant at the
01:11moment. If you're not playing well, if you're not good enough to be winning, don't lose and you use
01:16the word resilient didn't you and probably this is no surprise under Corbrandt but it's a very
01:22defensively organised, well-drilled side that are repelling not everything but a lot of what's
01:29coming up against them at the moment isn't it? I mean obviously Albion were poor in the first
01:33half, really, really poor, let's be honest, really poor. The first time they got into
01:37Luton's box was the goal as you say at the moment, a magic for Maggio and
01:42they gifted on the hour Chong, that equaliser, Moas, bit of a blind pass wasn't it? I think
01:49Corbrandt said in a nutshell there that he was much happier in the second half generally,
01:53quite ironic in a really poor first half, they weren't happy with an improved second half that
01:57they were happy with but obviously conceded the goal. He sort of said it was a pattern of play
02:05that we're trying to do to build attacks really, that's what we want to see. Obviously you rely on
02:10the likes of Moas and reliable use of the ball isn't it and it didn't come off that time.
02:14Albion defended everything else tonight, even with a makeshift back four,
02:18sort of pulled and pushed together but you're right, no one wants to hear this after five
02:26draws in a row, it's not an overwhelming positive is it? You can sort of half-jokingly say unbeaten
02:33in five, which they are, but drawing and drawing and drawing is not going to get you anywhere
02:38quickly. However I think for the side and the squad this season as a whole in the bigger picture
02:44it's a good sign that they're not being beaten. They've been beaten twice this season, that's it,
02:48from what 13 games now I think, is it 13? You know Sheff Wednesday away, obviously shouldn't
02:54have lost that and Borough at home, a late defeat 1-0, narrow game but obviously they have to find
03:00a way to win games again. I mean those first six games of the season feel like a long time ago,
03:04it's now seven without a win. They could have won, could have lost tonight but it feels like
03:11they should have won tonight. Luton are a good side, they're third bottom, they were third bottom
03:15then half-fifth bottom but they're a good side, they've got some top, top, top players at this
03:19level haven't they and we saw Chong is quality isn't he and Harris, we go through them all.
03:23They're in a false position aren't they? Yeah, yeah and Albion got their noses in front tonight,
03:29barely deserved and then should have seen it out, they should have taken three points tonight and
03:32that would have done a massive job in putting to bed the sequence, the run of no wins. To me it
03:39looks like an edgy side, they're just a little concerned about the run and all of that. I mean
03:44Corbijn sort of didn't agree with that and maybe he wouldn't but yeah it was a fair result tonight
03:52and I don't think it's the worst point in the world here isn't it? However look, they just need
03:59to find a return to winning ways swiftly because the pain hunters, the ones that travelled here
04:04were quite supportive on full-time but not too much good to be positive to be said sort of
04:09elsewhere is there among the fan base and I totally get that. Hopefully it can change soon.
04:15Yeah hopefully it can change soon, we're going to wrap this video up in a sec because we want
04:18to get out of Coward's Road. Home quicker than it is to get in. Certainly as listeners of the
04:24Baggage Broadcast know it's not my favourite ground in the world although the people are
04:27lovely here so I will say that. Positives which we'll talk more about on the podcast,
04:31Higgins was immense, Holgate did well, back four were great, Devante Cole showed something,
04:37Mikey Johnston, the mess we've seen from him so far, came on strong late didn't they?
04:41Subs did really well, yeah just finally Coxsey, like we said they're you know,
04:47I think out of all these games maybe bar Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough the two defeats,
04:51there are you know solid positives to take but they are draws at the end of the day.
04:57The discontent, not discontent but you know disgruntled fans in the fan base
05:01kind of get a little bit more annoyed at how they continue to draw and you know they could
05:07have really nicked it at the end and that would have been massive because they've got tough
05:10run coming up now. Yeah seven games without a win Johnny, you know you can't, five draws in a
05:16row doesn't dress that up or doesn't paint too much of a positive picture over seven games without a
05:21win, that's a really, not a great run of form is it? Four points from 20, five points from 20.
05:29It's made more extreme by the fact that the first six games were so extreme, you've gone from one
05:34polar, one extreme. I think what makes it worse is well I know there's games to play tomorrow
05:38when the table will change and I'll probably, I'll be, could drop, well will drop out of the
05:42play-off so it still looks at the moment. But up to this point you know six games and seven games
05:47without a win, it's still only a stone's throw off the top. Which is the one, maybe a one small
05:53crumb of comfort to take from it but it needs, the wins need to stop. No I get it and I don't
05:58fully disagree but I think a lot watching this will just be thinking oh but you know if we'd
06:03have won a few of these we'd have been right on the top two. You know tonight there's a lot,
06:10I know we're wrapping it up now but there's a lot to sort of break into, Corbijn tried something
06:14new tonight in terms of the attack, he kind of played it, he confirmed to me they had
06:18two twos behind each other with Maggio in the deeper two and he said it was kind of on our
06:24looting play so it wasn't something he'd worked on for the long haul, it was reactive to the
06:29opposition and I think that's fine. He made a point to the Sky interviewer and to me that
06:34played with a lot of competitiveness tonight and what he means is that there was almost a mindset
06:39more, I'm not saying this is what he intended from his players but not to be broken down,
06:44not to lose than to win. That's not necessarily the idea because they went on strong late on at
06:491-1, they didn't park the bus and take the points did they but I think that's all part of this
06:54winless run, this edginess with starting games and maybe starting them poorly because they're
07:01worried about falling behind and not making that right decision in the midfield to final third,
07:06you know, having a shot when it's on, I can think of so many times where they should have taken a
07:11shot or a more quality ball, I mean how many of the starting attackers played well, Grant played
07:16well, did any, I mean Maggio got a superb goal but it was a struggle otherwise wasn't it? It was,
07:23the defence deserved credit but there's much to do for the midfielders to forward line, a lot of
07:27stats during the round about attackers who haven't scored or assisted aren't there? A lot to improve
07:32on in that area and look so many of these draws have been decent on paper without the context of
07:38the season, this is another one as the lights go out, this is the very last few words, make a pun
07:45out of that, the lights have gone out, yeah we won't go there but yeah this is another decent
07:50point on paper in the context maybe but Albin needs to put an end to this run because seven
07:58games win this is not a good look for anybody really isn't it? It's not and as it stretches
08:02longer we'll, this video isn't a very good look at the moment is it? Yeah not a great look,
08:08enjoy your weekend, yeah, shall we end it, shall we end it pretty simply because the lights have
08:12gone out, lights gone out on us, hopefully the lights will come on for Albion's attackers and
08:17they will get three points in the coming weeks, final score, Luton 1 Albion 1, all the rest of
08:22the reaction you know where to go expressandstyle.com

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