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West
Bromwich Albion v Charlton Athletic
The Hawthorns,
West Bromwich. 29th January 2003, 7.45pm. |
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An atmosphere of doom
and despair surrounded the Hawthorns after this match as Albion
crashed to a poor Charlton side, learned that West Ham had won and
saw the prospect of avoiding relegation fade away further. This
was a must win game and for all their possession and passion, the
Baggies fell a long way short of winning this one.
Wholesale changes were unsurprisingly made to the line-up following
the dismal display at Watford. Udeze made his Albion debut in place
of Clement, Adam Chambers started at right wing-back with Wallwork
moving into midfield to replace McInnes (I know it's not really
"wholesale", but it's fairly significant for Megson). Hughes was
conspicuous by his absence once more on a bench that included Dobie
as the only attacking option.
The first half was a lot of huff and puff but lacked quality. Johnson
just failed to reach a header across the box from Charlton defender,
Fortune, on 23 minutes. Albion's best chance of the game came on
36 minutes when good work from Roberts found Koumas on the right,
and his cross was met firmly by the head of Ronnie Wallwork producing
an excellent save from Dean Kiely.
But that was about it. Wallwork was busy in midfield but was constantly
frustrated by a lack of movement from the front two. Roberts received
the ball to feet on a number of occasions but invariably went to
ground trying to beat the defender claiming free-kicks he was never
going to get. Koumas was quiet and Johnson was his usual busy self
but produced very little. The back three were efficient and the
only bright points (well, glowing mildly really) were the wing backs.
Chambers and Udeze both defended higher up the field cutting out
any service Charlton may have got down the flanks. Unfortunately,
other than a couple of runs from Udeze, they produced little in
terms of attacking output.
The only other thing to remember from a fairly abject first half
was the referee's performance. Andy D'Urso made some very questionable
decisions (including only a minute of added time when Charlton had
inexplicably decided to waste time from the first minute) and left
the field to a chorus of boos, but looking back, he's probably not
much worse than most Premiership referees - I've accepted that they'll
give us nothing all season, and that a certain level of ineptitude
is to be expected (maybe it's compulsory?).
The second half started badly when Big Dave limped off the field.
Rather than bringing Siggy or Clem on to move into the back three,
Megson decides to bring on McInnes and move Wallwork, Albion's most
effective midfielder from the first half, into the back three.
The result was predictable. Wallwork looked far more uncomfortable
in the back three and his promising performance tailed off, and
McInnes added nothing to the midfield, leaving it, and the team,
weaker. Albion offered no more, if not less, in attacking ideas
than they had in the first half.
An excellent last ditch tackle from Gregan prevented Euell from
having a clear run on goal on 58 minutes and Charlton had their
effort on target 2 minuted later. Gilly 'fouled' Lisbie on the right
(Lisbie certainly made the most of it), and the resultant free kick
was met by BARTLETT unmarked at the back post, and his header went
in off Wallwork.
Dichio was replaced by Dobie on 77 minutes, but it was too late
and had little effect
With Charlton defending deep, Albion did have a few chances to equalise.
Roberts shot straight at Kiely, Wallwork headed into the side netting
and a Gregan free kick aimed for Dobie's head was missed by the
Scottish international and struck the post. But the best miss of
the night was, of course, reserved for AJ who took a swing at a
goalbound header from Gregan, deflecting it over the bar from about
three yards out.
It was, all in all, a thoroughly depressing experience and it's
definitely time to start facing the music. The points are getting
harder and harder to get, and on the evidence of the last two games,
we're getting worse not better. What price on a Fowler hat-trick
on his debut for City?
RESULT - WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0 CHARLTON
ATHLETIC 1
Marks
Hoult - 6 - Had nothing to do.
A Chambers - 6 - Did OK.
Udeze - 7 - Promising debut - not sure about his defensive abilities.
Gilchrist - 6 - Average performance.
Moore - 6 - Unspectacular, but we were weaker without him.
Gregan - 7 - MOM. Had to give it someone - steady at the back and
passed it well.
Koumas - 5 - Poor performance by his standards.
Johnson - 6 - Hard work, little product.
Wallwork - 6 - Good in midfield, not so good at the back.
Dichio - 4 - Offered little.
Roberts - 5 - Defences have worked him out; needs some studs.
Dobie - 3 - Did nothing.
McInnes - 4 - Weakened the midfield, poor.
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West
Bromwich Albion (3-5-2):
Hoult; Gregan, Moore (McInnes 52), Gilchrist; A Chambers, Koumas,
Wallwork, Johnson, Udeze; Roberts, Dichio (Dobie 77). Subs not used:
Murphy (GK), Sigurdsson, Clement.
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Charlton
Athletic (3-4-1-2):
Kiely; Fortune, Rufus, Fish; Kishishev, Jensen (Konchevsky 79),
Parker, Powell; Euell; Bartlett, Lisbie (Johansson 85). Subs not
used: Rachubka (GK), Bart-Williams, El-Khalej. |
Scoring: Bartlett (60)
0-1.
Bookings: Charlton Athletic - Parker (foul 70), Powell (time-wasting
80).
Referee: A D'Urso (Billericay)
Attendance: 26,113 |
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