Lewis Cox analyses damaging West Brom defeat at Coventry

Express & Star

Lewis Cox gives his verdict on Albion's defeat against Coventry. Albion were beaten 2-0 against the Sky Blues, leaving them six points adrift of the play-off spots with three games remaining.

Transcript

00:00Well, it was a desperately disappointing Good Friday for Albion here at Coventry Tissie's CBS Arena.

00:08The baggies, as I'm sure you know by now, have been beaten 2-0 by Frank Lampard's host.

00:13And 2-0 did not flatter the Sky Blues.

00:17West Brom were comfortably and deserved second best here today.

00:22In all honesty, one of the poorest, I felt personally, performances of the season.

00:26Obviously, that covers two permanent head coaches in an interim period.

00:31Certainly one of the most damaging if you think of.

00:33There were sort of faint playoff hopes, I think, before today in that Albion come here and win.

00:40Then it's back in their hands.

00:42They would have leapt above Coventry into the top six on the superior goal difference

00:47with three pretty decent games left to play this season.

00:51But straight from the get-go, almost.

00:53I mean, it took six minutes. It was a six-minute, sorry, when Jack Rodoni, one of the better players on the pitch in Coventry,

01:00swarmed all over Albion throughout, to be honest.

01:02But Rodoni, the midfielder, crashed in a low finish after Albion failed.

01:06I think Alex Moet, the midfielder, failed to clear a low cross.

01:09And Coventry was a better side comfortably in that first period.

01:13Albion, particularly below par, one of the poorest they've played under Tony Mowbrin.

01:17He's acknowledged that, to be honest.

01:19But going back, really, to August, it was some of the worst they've served up.

01:24And, you know, you thought, what can they improve?

01:26What's the second half got to offer?

01:28And Mowbrin made big changes, actually.

01:29He introduced John Swift and Grady Dean-Garner at halftime,

01:33two players he hoped would be able to give his side more control of the ball against Coventry,

01:36who were, as I say, much the better side.

01:39But within three minutes of the second period, John Swift received the ball.

01:44I think Albion had tried to clear it in his own box.

01:47And his first touch badly let him down.

01:49Swift, it bounced off him and Grimes, the Coventry midfielder, kept his core, kept his composure.

01:54It's a slider finish past Griffiths into the corner for 2-0, 48 minutes.

01:57And that was as good as done, really.

01:59It was certainly as good as done a few minutes later,

02:02when Albion left back Callum Stiles saw red for a second bookable offence.

02:06I think he was pulling at a Coventry winger on the far side, was booked in the first half.

02:11So, down to 10 men just after conceding that second goal was really damaging.

02:15And Albion failed to recover, really.

02:16To be honest, Coventry could have scored more.

02:18There was a period of 10 or 15 minutes either side of the hour,

02:21I think, where Lampard's side were almost camped in, penned into Albion's own third.

02:26And they could have added to their two-goal victory, really.

02:29A couple of decent blocks from Albion, who clung on to the two-goal deficit.

02:32And Coventry almost declared, really, I think, at two.

02:37They were in second or third gear for the final.

02:39Much of the final half an hour, when Albion had a bit more to show.

02:42But I don't think Tony Moble's side deserved anything, even a goal, really, from today's efforts.

02:48And the head coach has said after there that he agreed with that.

02:52He said he thought his side were well below the levels they've set for most.

02:55But now, just before I get on to more of that, there's clearly a lot of unhappiness and frustration.

03:01And certainly in that away end today, most, to be honest, had left before full-time, which was no surprise.

03:06It was the big occasion again, wasn't it?

03:08It really was.

03:09It came to the crux.

03:11We're well in the running, as we know.

03:12And this is the one where Albion can win.

03:14It can go in their hands.

03:15Can they take it by the scuff of the net?

03:17Can they end this horrific away form?

03:20There's now one winning 20, by the way.

03:22Can they put an end to this horrific run where they haven't won back-to-back games since September?

03:27It was a sold-out crowd there today.

03:29The biggest league attendance in this stadium ever.

03:3231,000, I think it was.

03:33Sold out 3,000 away end.

03:36They just wilted, to be honest.

03:37They just didn't show up.

03:41And what does that say on the biggest occasion?

03:44The form's not been great for a while, has it?

03:46It's one winning six now, I think.

03:48Sorry, one winning seven.

03:50The Albion were winning this in five before the victory over Watford last week.

03:53And it's just come at the worst possible time, hasn't it?

03:55To be honest.

03:56And what a blow.

03:58Because for much of the campaign, despite the inconsistency away, despite the struggle for regular wins,

04:05Albion had stayed fifth, stayed sixth for most of the season.

04:08And obviously in the last month or so, I think since the return of the international break in early April.

04:13It's rather unfolded pretty, pretty disappointingly.

04:17And this will be one that I think supporters, people will remember as the day it really sort of unraveled for the season.

04:24As I say, six-point gap to the top six now.

04:27Six-point deficit with just nine left to play for.

04:30Yes, Albion have attractive final three games.

04:33Sorry for the background noise, by the way.

04:35But they played three of the bottom four, starting with Derby and the Hawthorns on Saturday.

04:40Sorry, not Saturday, on Monday, Easter Monday.

04:43Now you look at that and think, and Tony Mowbray said it to us in there, you know,

04:45I expect us to win the last three games.

04:47But, you know, can they go and win three consecutive games?

04:50Even against poor opposition, you really struggle to make a case for them now at this late stage of the season.

04:55You do.

04:56Tony Mowbray, as I said, admitted to the low levels of performance.

04:59He said he could give no defence of it today.

05:03Suggested a lack of intensity, actually, in his size performance.

05:06And, actually, Coventry had two days less than Albion to prepare for this.

05:10So, he wouldn't expand on that.

05:12He said he'd had words in the dressing room about it, but he wouldn't tell us, you know,

05:14what was the reason for that intensity struggle.

05:17There's so many, if not all of them, really, of Albion's players.

05:20Just didn't turn up.

05:21They underperformed.

05:22Really, it felt like they blew a huge chance on the big stage.

05:26They'd been offered, you know, they'd been offered for them to take it back into their own hands.

05:30But, yeah, fans left bitterly, bitterly frustrated with the level of that performance today.

05:36The manner of it, for me, they just didn't look on it from the word go, really, from the first minute.

05:43And got what they deserved, unfortunately.

05:46Even if they managed to win the final three games, would it be enough?

05:49I'm not sure.

05:49But the smart money certainly isn't on them doing that, the way they've been unable to put results together all season.

05:55And I think, like I said, I think this will be one that people remember about this squad, this season, this team.

06:02We're getting towards the summer of another expected rebuild, we think, with players being let go.

06:06You know, what a disastrous second-half Swift had coming on with that terrible error.

06:10And Dean Garner came on as well.

06:11The striking changes didn't come till the end of the game.

06:14And Frank Lampard's vibrant side were well worth the victory.

06:19Much in the ascendancy throughout.

06:20Swarmed all over the visitors' side.

06:21And Lampard talked about just how far he felt his team had come since losing 2-0 at the Hawthorns in December, shortly after his appointment.

06:28So that said a lot, I think, from the Sky Blues boss.

06:33I'll sign off now.

06:34Deeply disappointing day here.

06:37There'll be all the, let's say, reaction, match report, player ratings, some stuff from Lampard and Mowbray on our website.

06:44And we'll have all the coverage on Monday against Derby on expressionistar.com.

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