'Something's brewing': Lewis Cox & Jonny Drury on West Brom's draw at Burnley

Express & Star

Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox give their take as Albion draw 1-1 at Burnley. John Swift fired Albion ahead in the first half with a stunner - before Burnley hit back three minutes later when Joe Wildsmith spilled a ball to the feel of Zian Flemming. Adam Armstrong went close for Albion with both sides hitting the bar as the spoils were shared.

Transcript

00:00Buggies fans welcome to Express and Start.com. My name is Jonny Truery. I'm here at Turf

00:12Mall with Buggies correspondent Lewis Cox. I've put in another top performance on the

00:18road against one of the championship big boys. A very, very good point here at Burnley. I'll

00:24do a Thunderbolt from John Swift and then a Howler from Joe Wildsmith. At the other

00:30end, Coxie, another very good point. Could, could, maybe not should, but could get all

00:36three. No, it wouldn't be. It could have, yeah. Or am I being greedy? No, no, maybe.

00:41Maybe. But, you know, we're a bit excitable, aren't we, Jonny? And we can forgive you for

00:45that because I share it, you know. They were really good tonight, weren't they? I'm sure

00:50there were probably 1,200, 1,500 travelling buggies in that stand there. Well, they were

00:55feeling it. You could hear them all night, really, but certainly towards the end. Very,

00:59very good value for that point. As you say, it could have been all three, but it could

01:04have also been all three to Burnley, couldn't it? It could have gone either way. I think

01:09unsurprisingly, defences came out on top, I would say. And that's nothing against the

01:16midfield and attack of both sides. Credit, you know, it's no surprise when it comes to

01:21Burnley, their defensive record's a joke, isn't it? Now, 11 goals conceded in the league

01:26for them this season and Albion's defensive record, by and large, has been good, albeit

01:31they're now not under a defensive manager, aren't they? We've had a switch in mentality,

01:35they're now an attacking side, an offensive side. It came out of the go, didn't it? Yeah,

01:39like at Leeds recently, but it was a bit of a different game, wasn't it? And the point

01:43I'm getting on to, and I think the real noteworthy discussion point of tonight, yes, you're

01:47right, a wonder goal really and a terrible error from the keeper, but the real talking

01:51point tonight is the side we saw, the five changes, the change of system, an almost unrecognisable

01:57bench. We thought we might see an interesting team tonight, a couple of changes. Obviously

02:03there's a suspension for Furlong, stuff like that, resting Bartley, but we saw a real surprising

02:09side I think, didn't we? And a system change, a pretty big one, with Diakite in the back

02:14three, who's typically a midfielder, and how good was he? And how good were Albion in that

02:18shape? And how, not just Diakite really, I think you could go throughout the side. Obviously

02:23Joe Wildsmith in goal, we'll get on to it, has had a bit of a night to forget in that

02:26one moment, otherwise pretty untested. Adam Armstrong up top, I think like the weekend,

02:31worked hard, didn't have, obviously scored a penalty the weekend, didn't have a goal

02:34to show for it, had one good chance, didn't he? He is working really hard off the ball

02:41and he's a vital cog within this, but the rest of the outfield players, I thought to

02:46him, man, superb.

02:47Yeah, it kind of again showed the progression under Mowbray, that Albion had come here,

02:51and not disappointed with the point, but like we said it could have been more. You mentioned

02:55the selection there, Cox, the fans were going, man, before the game, what's Mowbray doing?

03:00There was always going to be a reason behind it, and he's outlined that there was knocks,

03:03you know, Tom Fellows didn't travel tonight because he had a family bereavement, Tammy

03:07Banner, he's picked up a little bit of a knock in training, so it did move it around, Diakite

03:11at the back, I'll admit, I wasn't overly enamoured by the selection on that, but what it did

03:17show is, at times, early in the season, we kind of, well I did, went on and on about

03:23the depth, and then after a while, you're kind of like, Albion's squad's not got a lot

03:27of strength in depth, but it showed that they've got versatility in depth, you've got someone

03:32like Isaac Price arguably playing a bit of a wing-back role tonight, you've got Ousmane

03:36Diakite going into the back three, and was absolutely superb, you know, we'd have added

03:39a brick if you'd have launched it on from the back of the goal, just did really, really

03:45well, and they just showed that, even though they had to make them changes, they've come

03:51to, you know, some of the best defensive record in the league, and given them a real skin.

03:55Yeah, I mean, let's have it right, Albion have scored a bit of a one in a hundred goal,

03:59that's the best goal I've seen John Swift score for Albion, I'm pretty sure it'll be

04:03Albion's goal of the season, it was the technique, it was almost out of the Cristiano Ronaldo

04:08playbook, wasn't it, a bit of that in-step dip right into the top left corner, James

04:13Trafford couldn't move, so John Swift isn't going to score one of those every game, Albion

04:19aren't going to score one of those every game, and Albion weren't peppering the back line

04:23at that point, but they'd made a decent start, and Burnley couldn't take that opener away

04:27from them, however, you know, it's a shame, isn't it, it's a shame the way the Burnley

04:34goal came about, Burnley weren't made to work hard for that.

04:37Let's just talk about Wildsmith, there's been a couple of errors you can put in his corner,

04:43Timo Bray's backed him, but tonight, Wildsmith will know more than anyone, I've just spoken

04:48to the fans about that, he knows that that was a really, really bad error, he's almost

04:52dropped it twice, almost, he's dropped it and then fumbled it into the path of Fleming,

04:57Tony Mowbray's thrown his backing behind him in there, which, it didn't surprise me that

05:02he's come and done that, but will there be a question in Mowbray's mind, he's talked

05:06again there about Josh Griffiths pushing Wildsmith all the way in training, I would be surprised

05:11if that question doesn't cross Mowbray's mind in the next few days, he's not going to publicly

05:14come out and hang his goalkeeper out to dry, but that is a big one, I don't think it will

05:20have a bearing on Albion getting into the play-offs or not, because I think it will,

05:24however, confidence challenge, yeah, however, got question marks, yeah, and it rubs off,

05:31the goalkeeper's shaky defensively, it rubs off on the defence, I think there's maybe

05:36a question, well let's say, ultimately Wildsmith, who's number one at the moment, spent at least

05:43the first half of the season as number two, now that's no shame to be Alex Farmer's back-up,

05:48but he wasn't brought here as a number one, I think it's fair to say, yeah, he'd been

05:54a number one previously at Derby, lower level, when he was up in the championship, played

05:59a bit for Sheffield Wednesday, but wasn't permanently number one there, so, look, there's

06:05that, and then when Josh Griffiths was recalled after the Palmer sale, I think most of us,

06:10I think ourselves, reported and thought that Griffiths would get it, and Mowbray's said,

06:16and I understand, he said, look, Wildsmith's been in the building since Mowbray was appointed,

06:23he's been in all the training and all the meetings, he knows what we want, we know what

06:28we believe he can do, and he went with him, and there's been a couple of, yeah, this isn't

06:34the first unfortunate one for Wildsmith tonight, as you've said, but Mowbray has been steadfast

06:39behind him, and we've just asked him in a press conference there, and he's done likewise,

06:44which is really interesting, I think, yeah, but privately, obviously Tony Mowbray will

06:49be aware of the situation, Tony Mowbray's said multiple times, because he keeps getting

06:52asked about the keeper situation, actually, he said, we're the best women in the world,

06:56he says, I haven't seen Josh Griffiths play live, you know, you see him at Bristol Rovers,

07:00he knows how highly everybody rates Josh Griffiths, everybody at the club, England Youth International,

07:06I think he knows they've got one for the future, one in the long term that's going to be the

07:11number one, and the big question for me is when does he come in, and I think Albion's,

07:17I think Tony Mowbray's ideal is that Wildsmith is the number one for the rest of the season,

07:22I do, do I think that's going to be the case, I'm not sure, I think it will remain the case,

07:29Wildsmith, until there are more errors, I don't think it happens on the back of tonight,

07:33on what Mowbray's just said, I think, people will watch this and ask why, why does Mowbray

07:38want Wildsmith to be number one for the rest of the season, it's a great question really,

07:43is the summer a good place for a young keeper like Josh Griffiths to start out, might Albion

07:48look in the window in the summer, I think at this point, after at least two errors from

07:55Wildsmith now, were you to drop him and put Griffiths in, which I don't think Wildsmith

08:04could have too many complaints, I don't, however, what happens to Albion's season,

08:10and to Griffiths, if Griffiths has a bad start, a bad second game, drops one in, where are

08:15you at then, type thing, that's one school of thought I think, I'm not saying that's

08:20what's going on, but Mowbray's put his faith and trust in Wildsmith, he likes him as a

08:24keeper, what he sees in training, what he mainly sees out on the pitch, in the bar today,

08:28I think his press at the back end of last week, Tony Mowbray, he said, look for now,

08:33Joe Wildsmith's number one, now if he keeps dropping them in in games, then he won't be,

08:38so Mowbray's going to be willing to change, but he's just repeated down there hasn't he

08:43in the press, look, just for dropping one in today, there won't be change, he sees it

08:49as there's got to be errors in games, in a run of games, or a run of errors that will

08:55really lead the head coach to change, and that's the big debate at the moment isn't

08:58it, because the point I was trying to make before, I sort of forgot the point I was making

09:02was that, look yes, John Smith scored a worldy tonight, a one in a hundred shot, but were

09:09it not for Wildsmith's error, I'd have been winning this tonight, don't they, and that's

09:14a shame, because performance could have merited it, and look it's not all on Wildsmith, it's

09:19not, there weren't too many shots for him to save, but everything else he did well,

09:23crosses, he got good punches on them I would say, decent with his feet, it's that one huge

09:30error, and it was a huge error wasn't it, because the shot from the left back Perez

09:33had nothing on it, the left back's weaker foot, it was right at him almost wasn't it,

09:38and it's so frustrating really, however let's not allow ourselves to be too frustrated and

09:44think about shoulda, woulda, coulda, would have had a win, were it not for that, because

09:47it doesn't work like that does it, and it's just a shame, the lead didn't last for very

09:52long, and the striker's work to win any game wasn't it, ultimately, I'd be amazed if there's

09:58a better goal scored by Albin than that this season, a pure class really, and backs up

10:03exactly what Tony Mo we said about John Swift last week didn't it, look he's out of contract,

10:07he may well leave in the summer as probably expected, but at the moment for this playoff

10:13chase, he will get selected, because like at Leeds where he was very good tonight, he's

10:18got quality to win us games, and get Albin in the playoff, so that's why John Swift,

10:22Grady Dengarne, and others will continue to be selected, otherwise yeah, fascinating team

10:26selection tonight wasn't it, you've ran through a few there, obviously the furlong suspended

10:30situation, Barley just being rested, managed, cautious, sort of rotated, hopefully fine

10:36Saturday, Banny the new boy's got a little niggle, and obviously we send our best wishes

10:41to Tom Fellows and his family on the news of that family bereavement, which is obviously

10:46very sad to hear, so yeah, a night full of things to talk about isn't it, but what we

10:52said at the start, Albin really good, I just think, and we said it on our way down didn't

10:57we, and funnily enough I heard Tony Bomer-Brown talk about it on the radio as I was heading

11:01down from the stand here, I think some of it's growing and brewing isn't it, I tried

11:06to say that to Tony Mo just then, he sort of agreed, he kind of made the point that

11:12look I took over a team in sixth and now we've just gone fifth tonight, we're still

11:15sixth today, and I get what he's saying, but he made the point that we've changed, which

11:20obviously is a clear change in style, and he made the point, and the biggest line I

11:25thought was that players are believing and buying into it now, the start was a bit hard,

11:30caught between what to do, previous managers' ideas, but now we're seeing it, certainly

11:37we're seeing shoots of it, we're seeing the start of it, and yeah, long main walk

11:42continuing.

11:43Hopefully indeed a lot to talk about, we've got a baggage broadcast tomorrow where we'll

11:46cover the rest of it, but for tonight, final score here at Turf Morgue, Burnley 1, Albin

11:501, you know where to go, all the rest of your reaction is on expressandstyle.com.

12:06Burnley didn't have hardly any clear-cut chances all night, the goal, Joe Wildsmith

12:22with a mistake, he's dropped it, he'll know how big of an error he's made, but that's

12:26two or three errors now, is there a question mark for a change there?

12:31I think there probably is. Against Leeds, I thought, well, everybody can make a mistake,

12:40but yeah, tonight, he should have held it, but then if Derek Heater had been more switched

12:47on, if he'd have been further forward, then he was playing the guy onside, but yeah, Keeper

12:53should have had that easily.

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