Coventry City 0, West Brom 0: Chris Lepkowski's big match verdict
Oct 26 2009 by Christopher Lepkowski, Birmingham Mail
And so the question remains – why is a striker who scored 32 times last season unable to get a game for a side that’s suddenly starting to struggle for goals? The loan window is slipping by with the club insisting they are happy with the personnel they’ve got.
A striker and a centre-half are priorities but, meanwhile, the season continues. Will Albion’s hierarchy sanction the signing of any new players in January? You would hope so – the injuries to Bednar, Chris Brunt, James Morrison and Miller have stretched the squad to the max. Di Matteo can afford no more.
Coventry are a poor side. They have struggled defensively and, until Saturday, hadn’t kept a clean sheet since August. Albion never really tested that statistic, until Wood’s late chance.
At the other end the Sky Blues offered little and Albion should have had a penalty when Jerome Thomas was brought down. Otherwise it was a game devoid of incident.
Albion have become a team without real definition or pattern. While Di Matteo is new to the job then that process must take its natural course – you cannot expect a manager, or head coach if you insist on that pretentious title, to stamp his mark on a side so quickly.
Yet this is a team which was cruising to a 5-0 win at the Riverside not long ago but, in the last two games, hasn’t created anywhere near as many chances.
The creativity is lacking. Whereas a five-man engine room under former boss Tony Mowbray meant midfielders pushing forward, four of the quintet on Saturday predominantly sat back and didn’t commit – it’s as if Albion were pleased with the point.
The reaction of the supporters suggested otherwise. As did Jonas Olsson’s angry response to their frustrations.
This isn’t crisis time – the table still has Albion in third spot. But the recent results suggest that the early-season momentum has been lost.
The last two occasions Albion visited Coventry they won 4-0 and 5-0 in respective league and FA Cup games during the 2007/08 campaign.
Interestingly, their 14th game of that season came with a 3-0 win at then league leaders Watford – a match which was to be the defining point of the campaign.
They could do with a similar result when the Hornets come to town this weekend.
