Tykes expose sorry Albion's fragile dreams

Feb 10 2008 By James Peacock

Barnsley 2 West Bromwich Albion 1

Chants of "Premiership, you’re having a laugh" echoed around Oakwell with a haunting air of accuracy as West Bromwich Albion were comprehensively outplayed by Barnsley and surrendered their position at the top of the Coca-Cola Championship.

Worryingly, the home fans had a point: this was not the side that 4,000 travelling supporters had watched all season. In the Premier League, one suspects the scoreline and psychological damage would have been much worse, resembling more of knockout than a knock down.

Nevertheless, medics recommend a rest of three weeks for concussion; an enforced period on the sidelines for defender Bostjan Cesar looks a certainty. After recovering from a painful clash of heads with Carl Hoefkens after six minutes, the on-loan Marseille defender was all at sea and guilty of the worst display of a Baggies’ showing littered with poor individual performances.

At times the central defender looked betwixt a mixture of punch drunk and colour blind, such was his unusually cumbersome imbalance and frequent inability to pass to players wearing the same shirt as him.

The less the Slovenian — or anyone, for that matter — sees of the part he played in the Tykes’ first goal, the better. It was the stuff of nightmares, and enough to persuade manager Tony Mowbray to replace him at the break. His replacement, Leon Barnett, played with a certainty and assuredness that he did not.

Few words could accurately describe quite how poor Albion were — but Mowbray gave it a go by deciding on "unacceptable"; depressing or tepid would also have done. Only Filipe Teixeira performed to an adequate level, which was the manager’s main bugbear.

He said: "There were too many players off-form today and well-below the standard they set themselves week in, week out.

"It was unacceptable, the players are aware of that. I could spend half-an-hour talking about what it was down to, but let’s just say Barnsley deserve credit."

That the manager’s assessment took into account a much-improved second-half gives some indication of what Albion mustered in the first.

Barnsley came out firing and they were strengthened by returning midfielder Anderson de Silva, who controlled the area so often dictated by Jonathan Greening, and Dennis Souza at centre-back.

Alongside Lewin Nyatanga, the Brazilian formed and athletic and solid pairing that snuffed out any threat from Kevin Phillips or Roman Bendar with ease.

The damage at the other end came courtesy of Daniel Nardiello’s first strike for Barnsley and Jon Macken, whose goal in the dying minutes of first-half injury time was just reward for the Tykes.

They could easily have been four ahead. Nardiello, on loan from Queens Park Rangers, took only 50 seconds to rap the inside of Dean Kiely’s post after latching on to a deflected shot from de Silva and missed another good chance before he scored.

Macken, Brian Howard and the talented Diego Leon all had good chances in the first half, which went unanswered at the other end.

To simply put the mid-table Tykes into the category of direct and battling Championship football teams would be doing them a disservice.

While their Oakwell pitch did not encourage passing football, the Tykes’ playmakers — especially Leon, a product of Real Madrid — made it look much more possible than Albion’s.

The goals will concern Mowbray for different reasons: After 30 minutes, Nardiello was gifted a free run at Kiely when he dispossessed a dawdling Cesar and the striker ran through to roll the ball past the helpless keeper; Macken’s strike came courtesy a more familiar Albion foible: a set-piece they failed to clear at the first attempt.

After Greening had found himself in the way of a fierce Nardiello shot, which hit him on the goal-line, the former Manchester City striker put home the rebound from six yards.

Despite a neatly worked James Morrison goal on 58 minutes, from a move the midfielder started and ended after a cute Phillips back heel, the early signs of promise that the visitors showed after the break dissipated.

Albion had no complaints about the result.

Captain Jonathan Greening, whose 82nd-minute booking will rule him out of the FA Cup tie with Coventry City, said: "There were some harsh words said at half-time.

"I do not think there was one player on that pitch who could say they played well, me especially."

Scorers: Nardiello (30), 1-0; Macken (45) 2-0; Morrison (58) 2-1.
BARNSLEY (4-4-2): Warner; Foster, Souza, Nyatanga, Kozluk; Devaney, de Silva, Howard, Leon (Hassell, 85); Macken (Ferenczi, 80), Nardiello (Coulson, 71). Subs: Ferenczi, Coulson, Hassell, Odejayi, Campbell-Ryce.
WEST BROMWICH ALBION (4-4-2): Kiely; Hoefkens, Robinson, Albrechtsen, Cesar (Barnett, h/t); Teixeira, Greening, Morrison, Brunt (Gera, 64); Phillips, Bednar (Beattie, h/t). Subs: Barnett, Beattie, Gera, Danek, Pele.
Referee: Tony Bates (Staffordshire).
Bookings: Albion — Bostjan Cesar, Jonathan Greening (both fouls).
Attendance: 13,083.
Albion man of the match: Filipe Texieira — the only Albion player who didn’t make the surface look like a minefield.