Blackburn 2-0 West Brom: OG and Hoilett strike
The starting line-ups
Blackburn moved into the top half of the Premier League table with a win in a fairly uneventful game.
Steve Kean brought in new recruits Jermaine Jones and Roque Santa Cruz, to replace El Hadji Diouf and Ryan Nelsen. Martin Olsson dropped into the defence.
Roberto Di Matteo made one change – Jonas Olsson returned to replace Graham Dorrans, so Paul Scharner moved forward into his favoured midfield position.
West Brom started well with two good efforts in the first couple of minutes, Peter Odemwingie looking lively in his lone striker role. As the game settled down, though, the home side started to assert their dominance.
Blackburn lopsided
Blackburn used an unusual formation – in theory it was a midfield diamond with Jones sitting, Morten Gamst Pedersen left, Junior Hoilett right and David Dunn at the top, but it was very fluid and frequently took various forms.
Hoilett played an interesting role, starting on the right but making diagonal runs across the pitch and ending up on the left wing. In turn, the midfield would shuffle across and Blackburn would defend as a flat four when they lost the ball, which meant that Jones would move right, Pedersen right-centre and Dunn would drop in to the left.
Still, with Hoilett drifting to the left, Dunn often finding more space there, Pedersen naturally moving onto his stronger foot and Olsson offering more of an attacking threat than Michel Salgado, Blackburn’s play was very lopsided:
West Brom
The away side used their usual 4-2-3-1 shape, with the wingers dropping back level with the central midfielders to defend as two banks of four. They played well in fits and starts – they had the odd spell where their passing came together and they looked promising, but they were overpowered by Blackburn in the centre of the pitch, especially without the ball. Chris Brunt became frustrated at his lack of involvement and came inside into the centre of the pitch, which made things congested and didn’t stretch the play enough.
Blackburn used their forward duo well – both Santa Cruz and Nikola Kalinic moved wide into the channels when they lost the ball, which made the West Brom full-backs tentative about coming forward, and also split the centre-backs.
Kean also instructed his side to quickly close down West Brom’s midfielders whenever they got the ball, to break up Di Matteo’s side’s passing game. It was notable how Blackburn played on the front foot when defending – rather than looking to soak up pressure by sitting deep, as they did against Chelsea, instead they played higher up and intercepted passes in the centre of the pitch:
Goals
The goals came either side of half time – first Dunn got between the lines and sent a cross in that was headed into his own net by Gabriel Tamas. Hoilett doubled the lead in the second half with a powerful strike from the edge of the box.
Di Matteo changed things by taking off Youssuf Mulumbu and bringing on Somen Tchoyi, using James Morrison slightly deeper in midfield, and his side got back into the game by being more positive, opening up the game, and giving their creative players more space. Jerome Thomas came off the flank and beat Salgado with his pace on more than one occasion – which prompted Kean to replace the Spanish veteran. In all, though, West Brom didn’t move the ball quick enough and Odemwingie saw little of the ball at 2-0 down, and Blackburn deserved the win.
Conclusion
Not too much to comment on here – Blackburn kept things nice and compact with their diamond midfield which also shifted back into a four, and used their forwards in slightly wider roles to compensate for the fact they had a numerical disadvantage in midfield.
West Brom never really got going. Di Matteo admitted that the side simply wasn’t good enough, and the recent run of defeats seems to have resulted in a loss of confidence.
Blackburn 2-0 West Brom: OG and Hoilett strike
That’s got to be the longest movement arrow I’ve EVER seen. Do you keep a table of who averages the longest? You should.
I don’t really see the point in it as well, why can’t Pederson just play on the left? Help me ZM!
Constant movement confuses the opponent and make your players harder to mark. Definitely a big change from Allardyce’s more rigid system.
It can’t help your team though, if you lose the ball wouldn’t it take longer than normal to get back in to position?
As ZM said, Blackburn were very fluid. When defending, Blackburn were often with a midfield of Hoilett-Dunn-Pederson-Jones, as a flat 4.
let’s review:
“In turn, the midfield would shuffle across and Blackburn would defend as a flat four when they lost the ball, which meant that Jones would move right, Pedersen right-centre and Dunn would drop in to the left”
so, if your team knows what to expect and is prepared to cover for each other, you can “get back” to a different position from the one you started in and still defend efficiently.
Steve Kean is a very exciting up and coming coach. He has experience in Spain as well as England and played in Portugal, too. His exposure to Latin culture will no doubt stand him in good stead.
As with so many managers who have experienced contrasting football philosophies, his teams should be versatile and notable for their ability to shift according to opposition whilst maintaining a clear identity.
I’m very excited about this Blackburn team. It’s good to see Allardyce’s former teams intriguing the neutral this season.
Blackburn remain a work in progress. Kean is still looking for a formation to utilise the strengths of his players. He introduced a diamond midfield formation for this game, which proved oddly lopsided in practice.
At the front, Santa Cruz and Kalinic formed a new partnership. On the right, Hoilett’s adventurous runs and the narrow midfield left the veteran Salgado badly exposed to the attacks of Thomas. West Brom could have exploited this weakness much more through the close control of both Thomas and Odemwingie.
On the left, the narrow midfield left room on the wing for the runs of Olsson from full back. These were covered intelligently by Pederesen. Pedersen has skill and great awareness, but little pace. Olsson has great athleticism going forward, but little or no defensive awareness. Kean is trying to find a way to harness their skills and overcome their frailties.
Kean’s attitude to the holding player is not yet clear, but has perhaps been defined by the aquisition of Jermaine Jones. Injuries have limited the appearances of N’Zonzi, Phil Jones and Grella; Pedersen has played there recently, showing great anticipation and passing skill. In this game, Pedersen reverted to the left and Jermaine Jones made his debut as holding player. He seemed surprised by the pace of the game, giving away two dangerous free kicks, one of which should have been a penalty.
The two teams proved fairly well matched. The decisive moments were unpredictable but all three were in Blackburn’s favour. First, Tamas gave away an own goal from a not particularly threatening cross. Second, Hoilett scored with a powerful shot whilst running in from the left. Third, the referee awarded West Brom a free kick instead of a penalty.
didnt see the match, how about scharners performance? he didnt play in midfield for a while did he?