West Bromwich Albion 1 Sheffield Wednesday 0
A 1-0 victory over bottom club, Sheffield Wednesday, may not have enthralled in the same way as the 4-0 win at Preston on Saturday, but it keeps Carlos Corberán’s team in a positive mindset ahead of the local derby against Birmingham City on Friday.
Albion looked to be ready to continue from where they left off at Deepdale as they started the game in great form and grabbed a 13th minute lead through John Swift. It was a well crafted goal that was superbly finished by the Baggies’ top goalscorer this season – that strike makes it five goals for the campaign for the former Reading man, only two short of his total for the whole of last season.
The hosts dominated the opening half, but couldn’t quite get the second goal that would have made the game comfortable. Xisco Muñoz, who continued his “tinkerman” traits by making seven changes to his starting line up, had set his team up to defend and they rarely threatened the Albion goal in the first half. Alex Palmer was called into action once to push a curling shot from Tyreeq Bakinson over the bar, but it was an isolated moment of concern before the break. There were plenty of moments at the other end, but the ball wouldn’t quite sit for Albion’s attackers and the visitors’ last ditch defending proved to be enough.
The only change CC made to Saturday’s line up was the introduction of Brandon Thomas-Asante for Grady Diangana, and it’s fair to say that the former Salford man struggled against Wednesday’s back line of giants. He was never likely to win many headers against them, and while he worked as hard as always, his withdrawal for Diangana was probably made too late. Having said that, I can understand Corberán’s reticence to use the only senior attacking player he had on the bench following yet another injury that will see Jeremy Sarmiento ruled out for four weeks.
To add further concern to Corberán’s attacking options, Grady Diangana has switched international allegiance from England and has been called up by DR Congo, the country of his birth, for two Europe-based friendlies next week. While no one wants to deny Grady the chance to play international football but, from the club’s point of view, it could potentially given him extra football when his recovery from injury needs managing. Furthermore, he may be called up for the Africa Cup of Nations early next year which is already likely to see Semi Ajayi missing for an extended period.
Back to Tuesday’s match, there is no doubt that the Baggies second half performance was lacking in intensity and that the game that should have been put to bed much earlier. Instead, we were made to endure a nervous last few minutes as the Owls tried to exert pressure despite being down to ten men when Akin Famewo was forced off through injury in the 80th minute after Muñoz had made all five of his permitted substitutions.
In reality, Albion never looked like conceding but it was more anxious than it should have been. The game was seen out, however, and a third successive clean sheet secured.
I don’t think any of us really expected a performance to match that from Deepdale, particularly against a side who came to defend, poor as they may be, but most will have left a tad disappointed with the second half display. However, injuries have left Corberán with limited options to refresh things, particularly in attacking areas, and I think we have to be satisfied that the defensive frailties have, for the time being at least, been banished. I suspect that Kyle Bartley’s inclusion in the side for the last three games is no coincidence – it’s not that Semi Ajayi is necessarily a poor defender, but Bartley has the presence and experience to organise the defence properly. Both have a mistake in them, but Bartley is certainly doing the business at the moment – you could see him directing his fellow defenders, even when playing out, and it is working, even if he was booed, unfairly in my opinion, for slowing things down in the closing stages.
Getting the three points was the most important thing, of course, and it puts Albion in the top six even if for only 24 hours with another six Championship fixtures to be played on Wednesday evening. Attention now turns to Friday’s trip across the second city to a Birmingham City side fresh from a 4-1 win over Darren Moore’s new team, Huddersfield Town, before a two week break to given Corberán’s tired squad a chance to recuperate.
