WILD BIL HICCUP Boss blames lockdown for goal-shy Baggies
SLAVEN BILIC is back on top of the Championship but West Brom ended lockdown as they began it – by failing to unpick a stubborn defence.
Way back in March, Bilic’s side were held to a goalless draw by Swansea City and despite the conjuring skills of Matheus Pereira, their resumption after three months finished in another stalemate.
In fact, the Baggies have now failed to score in their last three league games – a statistical quirk rather than a trend, admittedly, but one that will irritate their mood-swinging manager.
And Bilic (right) admitted: “I’m not happy. We did enough to win, but it came down to the final product.
“But I can’t blame the players too much because we haven’t played for so long and finishing comes with match sharpness. The table looks better than it did before, though.”
The point against a resolute
Birmingham was enough to take West Brom back to the top of the table.
But any kind of positive result for Leeds at Cardiff today will put the Yorkshire club back on the summit with eight games to go.
Pereira teased and tormented Birmingham and a curling low shot missed by inches.
But visiting goalkeeper
Lee Camp typified a fighting display by denying Pereira from a free-kick and then managed to get the ball away in a late scramble.
Mid-table Blues were gutsy and although their patched-up youthful team ran out of steam, this was a decent effort.
Birmingham manager Pep Clotet said: “Having watched the games in the Bundesliga and the Premier League, the last thing I wanted today was an open game as it would have played into West Brom’s hands. We showed tenacity and both teams were as good as each other in the final third.”
Football’s first shuttered derby was an indisputably strange affair, made more odd by the regular pumping big screen noise before kick-off and at half-time.
The rest of the contest was played out in eerie quiet. Mind you, the absence of a crowd does have some benefits. One is that every raging word and syllable screamed by a crazed Bilic towards the officials can be heard without any difficulty.
The Baggies boss was unhappy with some of the ankle-snapping attention given by Birmingham to the likes of Pereira and Matt Phillips in the first half.
But the truth is the lack of normal tension was evident on the field as well as off it.
After the taking of the knee – made more powerful here in the shadow of The Hawthorns’ giant Cyrille Regis banner – both sides played out a low-key opening half. Pereira was at the centre of most that was eye-catching.
His teasing crosses and curling through-balls invited team-mates to put Albion ahead, but Hal Robsonkanu, Phillips and Romaine Sawyers were all unable to take advantage.
Credit has to go to Birmingham, who were disciplined, organised and determined when they got nine players behind the ball – which was generally most of the game.
West Brom pressured again in a frantic finish but despite Pereira’s skills, no one had the calm presence to apply a decisive touch.