Lewis Cox and Jonny Drury give their take on West Brom's 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough.
Tony Mowbray's return to Albion did not go to plan as Albion were beaten by a striker in either half from Hayden Hackney and Ben Doak.
Albion did have spells in the game but couldn't make the pressure count.
Lewis and Jonny look at Albion's lack of final third quality and the desperate need for a striker, as well as giving an update on two reported transfer targets.
Tony Mowbray's return to Albion did not go to plan as Albion were beaten by a striker in either half from Hayden Hackney and Ben Doak.
Albion did have spells in the game but couldn't make the pressure count.
Lewis and Jonny look at Albion's lack of final third quality and the desperate need for a striker, as well as giving an update on two reported transfer targets.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Buggies fans, welcome to the riverside, welcome to expressthestar.com.
00:11My name is Jonny Drury, this is Lewis Cox, the Albion correspondent, after we've just
00:15watched Tony Mowbray's second coming as Albion manager, did not go to plan.
00:20Albion beating 2-0 by Middlesbrough.
00:23Coxy, a few changes, decent spells in certain areas for Albion, but the same old problem,
00:31which you cannot solve like Tony Mowbray said in one training session, but yeah, disappointing
00:36start for him, but positives and much to ponder.
00:40Yeah, front line wasn't it, I mean I don't think Albion played particularly well, well
00:44tonight really, and look that's not on a new head coach, who's come in with one training
00:50session and this is his first game, I think he played relatively tough opposition, clearly
00:55rivals in the table, I don't think Middlesbrough actually played too well to win tonight, you
00:59know two goals from, pot shots really from range, Ben Doak's goal late on to make it
01:052-0 is a classy strike, he's a classy player, but Albion, how many times have we stood on
01:11a video this season and said this kind of thing, but do you remember many clear-cut
01:16chances, because I don't, now I can remember sort of final third moments where you're getting
01:21towards as I say the Borough back line and then it's about, okay what decision do you
01:27make, what pass do you make, what pass is on, you go out wide then, okay, in the winger,
01:33beat his man, get a delivery and who's in the box, at the moment we know about the Josh
01:38Maddish situation, we know about the DK situation and you've got Carlin Grant leading the line
01:43with support from Grady Deangarna, I mean arguably both were at least one of those
01:47sort of playing out of position, you know neither a striker, striker number nine per
01:51se are they, and Tony Mowbray knows this as well as us, he's only watched, he's only been
01:57in the dugout for this tonight, obviously he watched Saturday, he'll have watched many
02:02games of Albion on record this season and stuff, and within one answer to me in the
02:07press conference down there, you were there to listen to it too, he broke down the final
02:12third, so he went straight for that problem area didn't he, the issue with the final third
02:16and he broke it down for us, he spoke about what the forward players can be doing a bit
02:21more, but he wouldn't, he was asked about the transfer window wasn't he, we know Albion
02:29have been in for the striker from Ipswich, Ali Al-Hamadi, and we also know that's broken
02:33down today so it doesn't look like that's on the cards, as was reported earlier which
02:39is a blow if that was a player Albion were trying to get in, but the point is that Tony
02:45was quite strong on, yes the club are working on things and they know, we all know the areas
02:51they need to get in but he sort of said I'm tunnel vision focussed on trying to improve
02:56what I've got at the minute, what I can improve, trying to keep the areas they're strong in,
03:04the back line, the clean sheets, the defensive record, but try and spark something in the
03:10final third with these players here, good attacking footballers that should be able
03:15to score goals at this level but for some reason haven't been able to anywhere near
03:21enough this season, tonight there was next to nothing clear cut was there, I think it's
03:29just symptomatic of, I don't want to use the word culture, but the way Albion have played
03:33this season, but also the personnel available, look there's no sort of natural instinctive
03:39number 9's ready to go and scramble home at the back posters, so nothing against Grant
03:43who's had a wonderful season, Dean Garner is a winger attacking midfielder isn't he
03:48and look it's clear that Albion need to address this in the window, if not in the window which
03:56we all hope, but also it's Mowbray's chief job on the training pitch isn't it?
04:01Yeah of course it is, he said that didn't he, he was the line in there saying with the
04:06attacking players we've got we should be scoring more goals, early on I thought Albion looked
04:13a bit more progressive, they passed forward but they've not slipped back into their old
04:17ways because that's rubbish and what's happened in the past, but the game maybe not passed
04:22them by, they kind of fell off a little bit towards the end, they had that pressure but
04:26just as my final question, we're going to talk a lot more about tonight in the podcast
04:31tomorrow, but he referenced it on Monday yesterday and he referenced it today and without rubbishing
04:38the work that Carlos Corban did, I think it's going to take a little bit of time for these
04:42players to kind of, not evolve, switch mindset, they've been very much drilled into a culture
04:48of almost stopping the opposition, Tony Mowbray wants it the other way round, let's hurt the
04:55opposition, it's going to take a bit of time, and he hinted down there I've had one session
04:58and three days and one game, this is not going to just happen like that, this is a call round
05:03culture of what, two years and a few months, so it's a big job and it's not really, look
05:10it's a good squad for the championship but is it fixable to how Mowbray wants it in one
05:14window or ten days of one window, probably not and by the way a window where it's hard
05:20in January anyway, finances, it will be a better financial situation come the summer,
05:27hopefully players are out of contracts, so yeah it's a tough ask really and it will really
05:33test I'm sure Tony, Mark Venus, others, James Morrison, Damir on the training ground to
05:40just trying to switch, look it's been a little while without Carlos now hasn't it, almost
05:44a month, Christmas, Christmas Eve, and in some of the interim games we saw a bit more
05:48attack minded, a little bit, maybe a bit of being let off the leash but that was the big
05:54message from Mowbray at the unveiling yesterday wasn't it, let off the leash, and I don't
06:00think we saw it that much tonight but again, it's personnel isn't it, right on the forward
06:07line and I'm not meaning to be cruel to anyone but Jed Wallace, John Swift came off the bench
06:12quite early tonight didn't they, 65 minutes, double change straight away, then Devante
06:16Cole had the best part of 15, but talk about Grant not being a natural number 9 striker
06:21and Dean Garner in support of him not being either but then Jed Wallace is the change
06:25for Grant to be the number 9, no no no, and look some of these individuals we're talking
06:30about clearly Dean Garner included, Wallace, Swift, Cole have had struggles over the season
06:36and they haven't affected the side and got goals or assists and yeah it's a fair job
06:42and look a little bit damaging tonight because this is a rival isn't it and Borough while
06:47not being at their best got a fairly comfortable win but look it's such a close margins in
06:52around that 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th isn't it but Albion just can't let themselves be rolled
06:57over in this period while they're trying to seek reinforcements or while they're trying
07:02to get up to speed and Mowbray's way of thinking and training because they can't allow points
07:08to continually slip through their fingers over a period of a couple of weeks because
07:14the table could quickly change couldn't it but look I think we all hope by, there's Portsmouth
07:19at home then Plymouth away isn't there and then the deadline, the Monday after Plymouth
07:23away and Albion clearly need a couple at least reinforcements by that time and we believe
07:28a midfielder to be close in eyes of Price, Northern Ireland international but it's pretty
07:33clear, well it's desperately clear to everyone involved speaking to Middlesbrough journalists
07:38there in the press conference that they're kind of like, are Albion like that, is that
07:42what they're like in the final third and you explain the Madger absence and DK situation
07:48and yeah at the moment this is kind of what the final third has been like but Tony Mowbray's
07:53I suppose big message we should reiterate here or try to reiterate is Albion need the
07:58window and need the reinforcements but let's not try to get absolutely carried away like
08:02the whole season relies on it, I mean perhaps per se it does to a point but Madger will
08:09be back in some time, DK will be back at some point but for now and there will be one that
08:15comes in, there will be, it remains to be seen I suppose who that is and can they settle
08:19and make an impact but Mowbray has to focus on getting some change and some output in
08:25the final third and assist chances and goals out of this crop that he's inherited.
08:30Yep, certainly a job ahead of him, not a star he wanted though, final score here at the
08:35Riverside, Borough 2 Albion 0, all the rest of the reaction you know where to go, expressandstar.com