Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox give their take on Albion's 2-1 win at Hull.
Albion were in need of a victory and flew into a two goal lead thanks to goals from Josh Maja and Karlan Grant.
They were pegged back before the break but held out for a crucial win, their first in nine games.
Lewis and Jonny discuss the display, and Carlos Corberan's comments around EFL scheduling.
Albion were in need of a victory and flew into a two goal lead thanks to goals from Josh Maja and Karlan Grant.
They were pegged back before the break but held out for a crucial win, their first in nine games.
Lewis and Jonny discuss the display, and Carlos Corberan's comments around EFL scheduling.
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00:00Baggies fans, welcome to Expressenstar.com. My name is Jonny Drury. We're out here in
00:12the darkness outside the MKM Stadium. I think that's its name. It is. Brilliant, got that
00:17one right. Albion have won, Albion have scored and Albion have won. Their eight game winless
00:23run is over. They've won 2-1 here at Hull. Early goals from Karl and Grant and Josh Madger
00:29did the trick. Coxy, we're going to record a podcast on the way home which is out later
00:34in the week. So we'll talk all the ins and outs of the game but I suppose the main takeaway
00:39is the fact that they've just ended the run. They've got the monkey off the back and they
00:43kind of played quite well in spells. Well, first of all, we know the listeners love an
00:47in-car podcast, don't they? They do. So you're in for a treat today because we need to get
00:52on, don't we? So, yeah. To answer your question, which I need to do, yeah, big win. Felt like
00:57a big win, didn't it? Felt like a really important, you know, as you say, return to
01:03winning ways. September the 21st was the last win, I think, a long time ago. Getting on
01:08for two months, as you say, eight games would have become nine today. Heading into an international
01:14break would have festered even more so, wouldn't it? So, vitally important to get that off
01:21their back, you know, and what was it, six draws in a row, which was a club record, not
01:27a wanted one. The way they started the game was clearly key. Two goal lead in 20 minutes
01:33up here. Obviously playing against a side low on confidence. You know, judging by the
01:39league table at this stage, a poor side with a manager under pressure. They've got injuries.
01:43Carlos doesn't agree that they're a poor side but, look, got the job done early on. Wasn't
01:49easy. It wasn't plain sailing, was it? 2-1 half-time. Very different second half where
01:54Albion, let's be honest, shored it up. Didn't continue to attack and saw it out as best
02:00they could and defended well. Alright, gave it one big chance. Could have been costly
02:03on another day, couldn't it? But, yeah, we're talking about a win, Jonny, which hasn't happened
02:08too often of late. So, yeah, let's try and enjoy it. Yeah, we're talking about wins and
02:11goals. Obviously, they've fired out the traps. We'll talk about the changing system and those
02:15little bits on the podcast, which you can listen to later this week on expressandstart.com.
02:22But you mentioned it there, you know, kind of didn't attack as much in the second half
02:25and sat off. But the positive to that is that Albion have got that in their armoury. They
02:30can defend and defend and defend. You know, Carlos Corbijn, you sort of mentality and
02:34resilience and character and they've just got that in there, haven't they? People like
02:39Chorborne, Higgum, you know, Mason Holgate as well. He's had to come in there. Styles
02:43was superb, you know, Furlong great again. They're just, you know, in recent weeks when
02:48we said if they can't win the game, they just don't look like losing the game. Today, obviously,
02:53they did that again, you know, defended really well and managed to stick a few away at the
02:58top end of the field. Yeah, no, I agree. That's a strength of a Corbijn team. It's always
03:02been, hasn't it? It was his 100th game in charge today. And I think we knew after 7,
03:078, 9, 10 that that was his strength, really. His trump card, the way he organises and tactics
03:14aside. We were cautious element at the forefront, really, and it's still, we're still seeing
03:20it now. It's still, you know, it shouldn't surprise anyone now. Look, don't get me wrong,
03:242-0 after 20 minutes, we're all thinking, wow, this would be great if it went on to
03:28be 3-4, you know, whatever. The way Hull looked like they were going to implode, boost from
03:32the stands and all of that, but it didn't pan out that way, did they? Hull hit the woodwork,
03:37they get one back, a good goal before half time. What I would say, and you're absolutely
03:42right, they do have that strength and more often than not, Albion hold out for a clean
03:47sheet, don't they? Or they only chip the one goal and it's usually enough, although obviously
03:51it hasn't been of late, but Hull did make that big second half chance, didn't they,
03:55through Regan Slater, who headed over when he really should have hit the target, at least.
03:59And that was a big let off, let's be honest, because by that point, as people who watched
04:03the game or followed along will know, or even those that were here, interesting subs today,
04:09weren't they? Madger and Fellowes coming off eight minutes into the second half very early,
04:13the two of the main outlets, certainly Madger, because Albion lost that sort of focal point
04:17when he went off, and then after that we saw Johnstone went off, didn't he, and someone else
04:23I can't think of, so it became a bit of a backs to the wall, but like you say, Albion are so
04:29good at doing that, typically, that it was enough. They might have gotten stuck on another day and
04:34then you think, well, if Hull would have made it to where's the attacking outlet type thing.
04:39Dobbin was quite bright when he came on, wasn't he, and that's a bit of a plus. What I would say,
04:44just very quickly about those substitutions, and by the time you're watching this, you'll be able
04:49to read what I'm about to say on the Expressing Star website, very interesting stuff from Carlos
04:53Corbijn afterwards, that he made a big point of offering up at the very start of his post-match
04:59press conference, was about the scheduling, wasn't it, and he complained, I would say, about
05:05the 66 hours that there were between Burnley on Thursday night and this lunchtime, one o'clock
05:10today. Really, really tight turnaround, especially when you consider three hours on the road to get
05:15up here. Albion would have travelled on Saturday and prepared up here, I'm sure, but really tight.
05:22Carlos Corbijn said he didn't think anything should be under 72 hours, 66, he said it put his
05:26players at risk. Obviously, there's no wriggle room in defence anyway, as he says, there were
05:31three other defenders before today at breaking points that had to get through today, two of them
05:35now go off to international duty, so that's not ideal, but really interesting stuff to give that
05:40a read tonight on Expressing Star. He was quite, yeah, obviously nothing can be done. Look, it's Sky
05:46TV, there are more games now because of this new service and there are games on Thursday night and
05:50what can you do, but he wasn't happy with it, was he? He wasn't happy with it and that was,
05:54not every day you get Corbijn sort of that irritated by something, so yeah, worth a read.
06:00Yeah, he was irritated about that, wasn't irritated about his side's performance,
06:03a 2-1 win here on the Humberside as Albion get back to winning ways.
06:06All the rest of your reaction, you know where to go, ExpressingStar.com.