A frustrating afternoon at Molineux saw Albion fall to a 1-0 defeat against Wolves, with a costly Nat Phillips error allowing Fer López to score the only goal of the Black Country derby.
For the Baggies, it was a performance full of frustration. There were opportunities to make something happen, but once again we failed to take our chances when they came. At the other end, Max O’Leary produced an outstanding performance to keep us in the game and prevent Wolves from winning the derby by a much bigger margin.
Wolves had the better opportunity to open the scoring during the first half, only for O’Leary to produce a world-class save when it looked certain to be 1-0. That wouldn’t be the last time we needed him either.
Throughout the game, O’Leary made a number of important saves and was comfortably one of Albion’s best performers. Without him between the sticks, this could easily have become a much more painful afternoon at Molineux. For all the frustration surrounding the result, O’Leary deserves massive credit. He gave us every opportunity to get something from the derby. Unfortunately, those in front of him couldn’t take advantage.
The decisive moment arrived in the second half – and it was completely avoidable. A stupid error from Nat Phillips gifted Wolves the opportunity they had been waiting for, with Fer López taking advantage and putting the Dingles 1-0 ahead. In a derby as tight as this one, you simply cannot afford to make mistakes like that.
Phillips remains popular with plenty of Albion supporters, but he’ll know that was a massive error. After O’Leary had done so much to keep us in the contest, it was incredibly frustrating to see all that work undone by one moment. Once Wolves went ahead, you wanted to see a massive response from Albion. It never really arrived.
We had chances and opportunities to put Wolves under pressure, but there wasn’t enough quality when it mattered. We didn’t take advantage of the moments we created and never really made Wolves pay.
Isaac Price had a number of opportunities from free-kicks, but his efforts were off target, while our delivery from corners left a lot to be desired. Set pieces can be massive in derby matches. When a game is scrappy and there isn’t much separating the two sides, one good delivery can completely change it. Instead, too many opportunities were wasted.
As the second half went on, you kept waiting for Albion to throw everything at Wolves and force an equaliser. There wasn’t enough urgency, there wasn’t enough quality in the final third and ultimately there wasn’t enough to seriously trouble them. That’s difficult to accept in any defeat. It’s even harder to accept against Wolves.
The final whistle confirmed exactly what no Albion supporter wanted to see: Wolves taking all three points from the Black Country derby. A 1-0 defeat hurts, particularly when the goal comes from an individual mistake and you leave the ground wondering what might have happened had we shown more quality going forward.
O’Leary can certainly hold his head high. His saves kept us alive and gave the team a platform to potentially take something from the game. But you can’t rely on your goalkeeper to do everything. Albion needed somebody at the other end of the pitch to step up, and it simply didn’t happen. Now comes a three-week international break – and perhaps that’s exactly what we need.
There is plenty for the coaching staff and players to work on after this performance, particularly our attacking play and set-piece delivery. The break gives everyone an opportunity to reset, regroup and make sure this derby disappointment doesn’t turn into something bigger.
Then attention turns to Birmingham City in 20 days’ time. After losing the Black Country derby, Albion need a response but still in the play off places after 8 games.
Wolves 1-0 West Brom.
West Brom: O’Leary, Styles, Phillips, Campbell, Townsend, Whitwell (Nzingoula 61), Diakite, Molumby (Collyer 84), Price (Tunde 84), Morgan, Heggebø (Stewart 61)
Goalscorers for Wolves: Fer López
A painful one to take. O’Leary kept us in it, one costly mistake decided it, and Albion simply didn’t do enough with the opportunities they had.