GoalWatch - our defending vs WBA

[Bergen Blade]

1-0: Penalty. Monty tussles with Dorran for the ball in our box. Difficult to see, but Monty's hand may have touched the ball, when it was more in Dorran's possession, and the ball changes direction.

If this is correct, the ref's decision can be defended. Maybe soft, and definitely unlucky, although maybe Monty must learn to be a bit more careful when inside the box, as it's the third time his determination to win the ball has given the opposition a penalty this season.

2-0: WBA win the ball in their own box, and hit us on the break. Bednar plays it out wide to Thomas. He's closed down by Walker, but plays the ball through to Bednar, who smashes it in.

Look at the photo. It shows the ball being played through to Bednar. Harper (blue circle) had the chance to follow him, but choses to take up a covering position behind Walker instead. Morgan tries to get back, but can't make it. Fortune (red circle) is more bothered about his man, but should probably have taken up a sweeping position, which could have seen him cut off Bednar.

Credit to WBA though, a superb counter attack.

3-1: Again WBA win back possession deep in their own half, and immediately go forward. This time they hit it long and over the top for Thomas to run onto. He runs at Fortune, goes past him, and Morgan can only deflect his shot past Bunn.


I think we are more vulnerable to counter attacks without Kilgallon's pace back there.

 

[Wapping Blade]

I thought that about Harper when watching the highlights, he makes a great effort to track back then appears to give up and leaves it to the defenders

 

[Mad Mick]

What's more worrying is that there are 6 United players in the frame and they still score.
Looks very poor marking.

 

[Ollessendro]

Thanks Bergen.

I've been happy to not be giving you thanks of late, due to us being pretty solid at the back. However, I feel with Killa gone, Seip out injured and Naysmith struggling to get fit that you are going to be on here quite a lot with your goal watch.

1-0.

If this is a penalty then I'm a monkeys uncle. This is a shocker from the referee! It's difficult to see from the camera angle, but the key thing for me is that no West brom players appeal. There are 4 West Brom players in the vicinty and only one of them appeals (and this is a belated half hearted appeal).

Unfortunately this shocking decision cost us. With blackwells tactcis, choice of personell and our record of going behind, the game was essentially over.

2-0.

What a goal! Yes, we could have defended better, but hat's off to West Brom. Beautiful counter attack involving some lovely football. My first thoughts when I saw this were not about poor defending, but actually involving envy. I only wish i saw people in a Red and White shirt tearing apart the opposition like that!

As for the goal, well I agree Harper could have done better. Bedanr drifts past him and Harper jogs back casually. If he'd busted a git and followed Bednar's run he may have got a foot in. Instead he leaves it to Morgan who is behind Bednar and stands little chance of getting back.

This goals highslights 2 main problems for me. The first is our lack of pace at the back. A quick defender would have caught Bednar. The second problem is players not working hard enough for each other. I made a big fuss about this earlier in the year. For me our poor form in October/Novemeber wasn't down to injuries it was down to mistales and players not working hard enough for their team mates. Harper, could have tracked Bednars run. He is a midfielder and shouldn't be marking a striker. However, if he was busting a gut for his team, he'd have realised Morgs was out of positon and tracked back. Also there is a shout that Fortune could have come accross. This maybe a bit harsh on him, but it could have made the difference.

1-3

What a joke. We get back into the game (rather fortunately) and then throw away any chance of gretting out of the game within seconds. Fortune is beaten way, way too easily. It's obvious that Thomas wants to go inside and hit it on his right. Fortune should have shown him the line and verted the danger. Letting him go inside was criminal. Then after he lets him go inside he gets beaten way too easily. Morgan then makes a challenge and to be honest is unlcuky. I think Bunn would have saved the effort it if hadn't have taken a wicked deflection.

I don't want to heap all the blame on Fortune, as it's not all down to him, but this thread shows we need another centre back. We need someone who is quick. Morgan is a rock, but he is slow. Walker is like a whippet, bu often positionally poor. The left back area is a huge problem. Then we have Fortune, who on the evidence doesn't look good enough. I know he's struggled with injuries etc and he has improved (slightly). However, the lack of pace in our backline is only highlighted more when he is there. We are very venerable at the moment and it needs addressing. IMHO this could be the difference between finishing 10th and 5th.

 

[Worksop II]

The Penalty is a really poor decision from the Ref, he was the only guy in the ground to see it, no shouts from the West Brom Fans, however it is Monty who shins the ball into his own area, then he gets a flap on.

He got himself into a hole, and kept digging ......

 

[Foxy]

He got himself into a hole, and kept digging ......

You could also say... He came to cover an area that someone else should have been occupying and ultimately was unlucky to give a penalty away

Should have stuck his boot through it first time though

 

[Bergen Blade]

You could also say... He came to cover an area that someone else should have been occupying and ultimately was unlucky to give a penalty away

Should have stuck his boot through it first time though

I've seen it a couple of times more now, and honestly I can't see that there is any contact with the ball. However, the video quality is so poor that I can't tell for certain. Ollessandro, I think there is an immediate appeal from Dorran. As he's still in possession of the ball at the time it would be strange to stop and appeal if there was no contact with Monty's hand at all.

Maybe that instinctive reaction was what made the ref blow the whistle.