Lewis Cox and Jonny Drury analyse West Brom's draw at Sheffield United.
Albion were looking for a response from the Boxing Day disappointment - but fell behind after 23 minutes.
But Karlan Grant fired them back in to an end to end and entertaining contest.
Albion were looking for a response from the Boxing Day disappointment - but fell behind after 23 minutes.
But Karlan Grant fired them back in to an end to end and entertaining contest.
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00:00Hello, Baggage fans. Welcome to ExpressingStar.com. My name is Jonny Drury. I'm not at Bramall
00:12Lane today. I've been following proceedings from home, but Lewis Cox has been there and
00:16Albion have picked up a very, very valuable point on the road at Sheffield United. Callum
00:22Grant's goal equalising for Albion, right on the stroke of half-time in a game that
00:25they might have won. But Coxy, what a performance, what a response, you know, what a fantastic
00:32way to kind of end the year after the sort of up and down upheaval of the last few days.
00:40Yes, Jonny, indeed. Good afternoon. We just said off-air there, didn't we, that the performance
00:45I thought was kind of everything that Derby County on Boxing Day wasn't really. I think
00:50I spoke with Chris Brunt in there after the game, obviously interim head coach, and Brunty
00:54used the word and he basically said Derby was a bit of a hangover. Look, that was quite
00:59clear. Albion were off it for parts of Derby and in many departments weren't they? And
01:04I think for most, if not all departments today, they were bang at it. And obviously, unfortunately
01:11he handed Sheffield United a late Christmas present, didn't they, with the opener, and
01:15we'll get on to that. But didn't let it knock them off their stride. Individuals didn't
01:19let it knock them off their stride. Got a more than deserved equaliser at the best
01:23time possible to score a goal, really, on the stroke of half-time through Carlin Grant.
01:27Wonderful goal. And it was just a bit of a thrilling game, really, a bit of a throwback.
01:33Ding dong, end to end. And I don't mean sort of chaotic, but just two teams having a go,
01:37I thought, having a go at it. It was a right old battle, two attacking sides. Albion, a
01:43bit. And I know you didn't see from minute one, Jonny, and it may be a bit different
01:47on the TV screens, but certainly those who have watched it, I think will agree. Albion
01:52moved the ball forward more directly and quickly today. And I don't mean direct long diags
02:00or anything like that, just more sort of purpose and intent forward. And that might have been
02:04born out of tactics or just the type of game this was, sort of an attacking side against
02:07an attacking side. But really good, really heartening performance, full of grit, personality,
02:14character, courage, and quality in the final third as well. Because like you say, they
02:18weren't just content with the 1-0, with the point. Many more sort of golden chances, really.
02:24You think about Tom Fellows in the first half that he puts over and Carlin Grant's had the
02:29keeper clear from him, basically on the goal line, hasn't he, in the second half. But both
02:32teams had their moments in the final 20 minutes, where it went a little bit end to end, a little
02:37bit to and fro, but cracking game, cracking point. The 2,000 in the away end, down the
02:42other end, rightly saluted the troops off, really. And yeah, cracking point and I think
02:48something to build from, certainly, obviously, while the off-the-pitch hunt stuff goes on.
02:55That's back to the right ways on the pitch.
02:57Yeah, superb stuff. We can talk individuals all day, but I'm going to talk about the midfield
03:02too. Ousmane Diakite, thrown in from the start today, played a big part in the
03:08Sheffield United opener, but never shirked it. And I thought, from then on, there were a few
03:13sort of dodgy moments, but I thought he stood up and he counted, and then Jason Mlumbie, well,
03:18what can we say? An absolute... If there were to play on that pitch, I would be very, very...
03:25Yeah, yeah. I mean, a surprise, first of all, to start the day, to see Diakite starved.
03:30We know Uros Rakcic, who was an unused sub, struggled the other night, didn't he, at Derby.
03:34But Diakite and Mlumbie were in, in part, because of Alex Mowat's injury. Now Mowat,
03:40we've just heard, a little bit of a groin problem from Derby, and he'll have it scanned.
03:44Hopefully it's not too bad, to be honest. He won't feature on New Year's Day against Preston,
03:49but he's hurt his muscle, and hopefully it's not too serious. But in came Diakite next to Mlumbie,
03:54who was obviously also back in the side. And, I mean, funnily enough, only his second start
04:00after Hillsborough. After, you know, the first one also being up in Sheffield here,
04:04and he only played 45 minutes up there, didn't he, at Wednesday. But here, you know, horrible
04:10control and touch, and obviously it got away from him for Andre Brooks' opener for the hosts
04:15midway through the first half. It was a poor touch, but you're right, Johnny, he absolutely
04:19recovered and more superb, really. And I thought he was really good before the mistake as well.
04:24He just didn't let it get to him, kept his head up, kept looking for the ball, kept doing his job.
04:29Physically robust, won the ball. Real bright point today. You know,
04:33Brunt said to me in there, and you'll be able to read this in the next 12 hours or so,
04:37but hopefully he can be a real catalyst for his Albion career. Felt like a real step forward for
04:40Ousmane Diakite, really pleased for him. And what can you say about that Mlumbie performance? I mean,
04:45regular watchers and listeners of us will know how much of a fan I am of Mlumbie. Sometimes
04:50left out the side, surprisingly for me, didn't quite work out why he didn't start against
04:55Derby the other day, but came back in here and for me, ran the show with and without the ball.
05:01Primarily his energy levels, but even with the ball, so brave at times to move forward with it
05:06and every blade of grass, like you say. He was just immense, really. I can't remember enjoying
05:13too many more performances than that this season. I thought it was probably one of Mlumbie's best
05:16games for Albion. And yeah, for me, best player on the park, really, certainly of an Albion
05:23persuasion. I know you've marked him highly in your player ratings, haven't you, Johnny,
05:26from home and he deserved it and more. Real praise from Chris Brunt as well afterwards.
05:31And he was very much the star man and I hope for Albion's sake, if Mlumbie can have a run in the
05:36side a couple of years ago when he was player of the season, what a second half of the season he
05:39had. And if Albion can get Mlumbie sort of physically ready where he can go every game,
05:44they'll be in a good place. Yeah, just finally, I'm sure there'll be some more developments over
05:49the coming days on the managerial stuff, which we'll bring to you on Express and Style.com,
05:52but if you're one of my thoughts, finally, if you're a prospective, you know, manager,
05:56someone who's chucking their hat in the ring for this or someone who Albion are interested in,
05:59if you watch that today, that should excite you for the next few months.
06:03Yeah, I thought the same, actually, kind of in the first half, even when Albion were behind,
06:10the performance level was really good, you know, big players turning up, playing well against
06:15obviously a fancied side. Chef United missing a few players and they were smiling off defeat
06:19here the other day for Burnley. But this is realistically the second best side in the
06:23division, aren't they, in the top two sides of the division and Albion more than matched them.
06:28And for a second time in a month, they obviously did the same at the Hawthorns recently.
06:32Again, you could tell from Chris Wilder, he knew his side had a battle today. And any
06:35luck for them, there might have been some among us in the crowd, Johnny. I mean,
06:39I was having a little look. I didn't see any gaffers I recognised, but yeah, you're right,
06:44watching from afar on Sky. They'll know that despite a bit of noise outside of the club with
06:52financial fair play and all of that, and a certain way in which Albion played this season with
06:58Carlos Corbijn, the number of draws today was the 12th. I think Albion end 2024, actually,
07:05with a 50th game today. And I think that was a 19th draw, bearing in mind there's been 18 wins.
07:10So that tells you quite a bit more draws than wins in the calendar year. However,
07:14you see a squad and a team of these players perform like that in a championship and you think,
07:18let's fancy a bit of that, fancy I'd be able to get this,
07:21you know, that side in the top six. So yeah, a very good advertisement if needed, I think, Johnny.