Plymouth 0, West Brom 1: Chris Lepkowski's big match verdict
Feb 8 2010 by Christopher Lepkowski, Birmingham Mail
By this point, referee Steve Tanner had lost the plot. Joe Mattock was lucky to only get a yellow for a rash challenge with Damien Johnson also escaping punishment following a truly shocking assault on Thomas.
Roberto Di Matteo later claimed Johnson had ‘‘lynched’’ Thomas – and he had a point. Thomas had teased, tormented and tested Plymouth all afternoon and Johnson’s challenge simply summed up the former Birmingham City midfielder’s lack of finesse or class – perhaps underlining why he now finds himself playing for the 23rd-best team in the Championship, rather than a top-half Premier League side.
Thomas, by this point riled, can offer no excuses for his recklessness. His challenge on McNamee was shocking. As was the fracas which followed, with punches being thrown, people being shoved, and handbags being swung. It was all quite unruly. Thomas will be missed. His four-game ban is the last thing Albion need having just allowed Filipe Teixeira to go to Barnsley, with Andy Slory, Giles Barnes and James Morrison either partially or, at worst, nowhere near match fit.
You do wonder who will be marshalling the left side of Albion’s midfield tomorrow.
Regarding Saturday’s game, Di Matteo deserves some credit in all of this for his bold decision to change three of his back four. Sure, Mattock was a necessary change in place of the injured Marek Cech but the omission of Jonas Olsson and Gonzalo Jara, on the grounds of resting them, was a bigger gamble. Had Albion lost we’d all be pointing the finger of hindsight at him. As it happens, he got it spot on.
He also took a gamble leaving out Robert Koren for Cox. While Koren’s energy was perhaps missed, can you really quibble when the replacement goes and scores the winning goal? Cox didn’t settle into his role too comfortably.
He looked a little lost during the first half but after the interval he offered more support to Bednar and it worked. He was more at ease.
Abou Meite, too, wasn’t necessarily at his best early on, but he improved. Playing alongside the excellent Gabriel Tamas helped as the Romanian stopper won pretty much everything. Yet he was also calm and diligent. He didn’t over-play but his calmness brought a measure of authority to Albion’s defence.
Apart from Scott Carson behind him, Tamas was the only constant of Albion’s recent defence and he rose to the task brilliantly.
Albion have another tough challenge tomorrow.
Scunthorpe may not look the most imposing of sides, but they will come to block out their opponents.
It’ll be up to Albion to show that their recent run can continue.
It’s just a shame they’ll be without Thomas.
