there is only one thing that i can really remark on, and that is that for the balance of the match the albion held the majority of possesion time by roughly a 55-45% ratio. that statisic changed in favour of burnley towards the end of the match (last 10-12 minutes, or so), and that is when burnley scored the equalizer. i don't know how to assess this - and as a baggies supporter i've seen too much of this this season, with the manchester city game being the only case in which they were able to shrug it off and score the goal they needed to win. to say that this is a problem is an understatement. it has been the bane of their season... the biggest problem; but then, by all accounts i've seen or heard, the west brom counter attack was looking good in the last few minutes of the match today, and it sounds rather like everyone was much more expecting a third albion goal rather than a burnley equalizer - and bednar came close to closing the game down when he hit the post with about a half hour left; so i guess i can't really criticize too much in this particular case... but what a drag! being so close and now... what could be a tough replay away to the clarets!
i have to applaud tony mowbray for fielding nothing less than what would be his first team in any given situation. they may still be doing this the hard way - i mean, who would want to add an extra fixture to the list when you are firmly embroiled in a relegation battle with 6 or 7 other teams? so, whatever profligate defending led to the goal, it is certainly the least desirable of any potential outcome - and considering the albion's present status in the league standings - possibly including getting knocked out of the cup. in short, the baggies are forced - and for the immediate future anyway - to keep on trying to advance in the cup. i'm proud to say that unlike some of the other teams who find themselves in the same situation, the baggies are trying to win their cup games! i had a chance (of course) to see the manchester united/spurs match, and the first goal aside, i've never seen anybody so obviously standing around waiting to lose a match as i did tottenham today. it was almost embarrassing to watch, and harry redknapp didn't care. his mind is firmly set on avoiding relegation - if he can win a cup tie on the day - ok - but otherwise, who cares?!?! back to the office monday morning...
this is completely different than the last round against peterborough. burnley have great supporters, and i imagine that turf moor can be quite an intimidating little ground; but, i'm sure the baggies will win the replay simply by jogging their memories and recalling what level of professional football they are routinely capable of, and then follow through accordingly. one of the trends of the FA cup is that the atmosphere of the cup ties is diminished from what it used to be in the bigger parks. this tends to favour the lower league teams playing premiership opposition away from home; and favour the bigger teams when they play at the smaller teams park, where there's a nice atmosphere and they can relax and go about the day's business.
scott carson makes game winning saves - and has some of the surest hands in the premier league, but, he has too often been victimized by his defenders. i still haven't seen any match reports or video highlights, so i don't know what the circumstance of the equalizing goal was, but it was clear from the text commentary that anything that the albion were achieving through their counter-attack was not enough against what was beginning to appear also, as relentless burnley pressure.
you'd think that after 40 years or so, they'd get the message that you don't win by defending a lead if you are primarily an attacking team. you win by keeping possession of the ball and not giving the opposition any chances. the baggies would have won at least more 6 or 7 more games in all competitions had they tactically followed this formula. i mean, they don't give up losing goals late on - in fact, i can only remember the single case of losing a match to wigan near the end - but, they give up 1 goal leads late on routinely.
there is an irony here, in that defense has always been a problem for west bromwich albion. even the great teams of the 60s and 70s (with the exception of a brief run of clean sheets in 1978) were all susceptible at the back, with the goalie always needing to be good and having to possess a little bit extra intensity than might be otherwise necessary for another club. obviously a character ilke john osbourne comes to mind. for example, when albion beat chelsea in the 6th round of the FA cup in 1969 - it was tony brown and astle who scored, but it was john osbourne who won the game.
no doubt that the baggies will be thinking about nicking a point at home against man. u. on tuesday - an important goal for their premiership aspirations. with premiership survival having, unfortunately, become more valuable than an FA cup win, i can see this being a distraction and i imagine this may have influenced their play towards the end of the game, thinking that they could win the game through defending and possibly drawing the clarets forward enough to hit back on the counter would be enough of a tactic to win. unfortunately, once again, it did not work for the baggies - and it seems like a tendency that has become ingrained in the team's character. having said that, and seeing how obvious it is, i just wish they'd cut it out!
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