Baggies’ season must not simply fizzle out

In partnership with

Brummie Road Ender

·20. April 2025

Baggies’ season must not simply fizzle out

West Bromwich Albion v Derby County; The Hawthorns, Monday 22nd April 2025, 3pm

A dismal defeat at the CBS Arena leaves West Bromwich Albion facing another pivotal summer in the knowledge that the squad needs significant improvements if it is to make a realistic promotion challenge next season. Furthermore, the future of Tony Mowbray must be under consideration given how the season is petering out to a very disappointing end. It is now down to his players to ensure that the season does not end in complete capitulation in what are three massively important games for the opposite end of the table.

Albion just did not turn up at Coventry. Mowbray played the same starting eleven that ultimately earned the three points against Watford last weekend, but they looked off the pace from the beginning and were completely overrun in midfield. Mowbray tried to change things at half time, but the decision to bring on John Swift backfired spectacularly early in the second half and Callum Styles’ stupidity ended any hopes the Baggies may have had. The two chief villains of the day are likely to have very different futures – Styles has, by and large, had an excellent season and this was a rare error from the Hungarian international. Swift, on the other hand, has left much to be desired during the campaign and the decision to bring him on at half time was a strange one given his recent performances; with his contract up in the summer, it seems unlikely that he will be at the Hawthorns next season.

OneFootball Videos

Grady Diangana’s performance was a rare positive of Friday’s match. Finding himself in an unfamiliar left back role following Styles’ dismissal, he worked extremely hard and produced one or two moments of quality, but his contract is also up at the end of the season and he remains more likely to leave than stay.

The one man who’s future has been questioned most vociferously on social media in the wake of Friday’s defeat is that of head coach Tony Mowbray. Undoubtedly, his selections and his in-game management have been questionable when viewed from the terraces, but some of the vitriol that has been directed in his direction has been quite vile. It could well be that his time at the club will come to an end in the summer, but he does not deserve to be on the end of such horrendous personal insults. Personally, I feel that he is more likely to resign than be sacked, such is the measure of the man, and if he feels he can turn things around with a summer to work with the squad, I’d still be inclined to give him the opportunity.

While the fans’ attention may have already turned to the summer, a top six finish is still mathematically achievable and, perhaps more relevantly, Albion’s final three games are against teams battling against relegation, and it is up to the players to keep the competitive integrity of the league intact. Of course, it could be that pressure has been a factor in the Baggies’ recent performances, and that a release of that may allow them to play with more freedom – somehow, I’m not convinced of that, however.

The Rams lost their own huge game on Friday as they were beaten at home by Luton Town, a result that leaves 21st-placed County level on points with the 22nd-placed Hatters with Cardiff City just a point further back. Plymouth Argyle are bottom of the table but are only three points behind Derby. Albion could have a massive say in the relegation battle, but they will need to show far more fight on Monday than they did at the CBS Arena if they are to prevail in any of their final three games. Derby may have been beaten by Luton, but the highlights suggested that they battled hard and came very close to getting something out of the match, much closer than the Baggies did.

John Eustace looked to have started to turn things around at Pride Park last month when the Rams won four successive games, their first wins since they beat the Baggies on Boxing Day. But they have now gone four games without a victory to leave themselves on the edge of the relegation zone. On paper, their trip to the Hawthorns is the toughest of their three remaining games – let’s hope that it proves to be the case.

The Albion players need to put in a performance even though their play-off hopes are effectively gone. A capitulation could lead to a toxic atmosphere at the Hawthorns and, while they have been left wanting at the crucial moments, a good performance or two could leave us with some hope for the summer.

History

Albion’s head-to-head record against Derby County is not the best with the Rams having won 56 of the 125 meetings in all competitions since the first meeting back in the early days of league football in September 1888. The Baggies have also recorded just one win against Derby in the last nine meetings, a 2-0 Championship win at the Hawthorns during Project Restart in July 2020. In their previous visit to the Hawthorns in October 2018, Country, then managed by Frank Lampard, beat Darren Moore’s Albion 4-1. That isn’t the Ram’s biggest win at the Hawthorns, however, that came in the long forgotten Zenith Data Systems Cup in November 1989 when a Dean Saunders hat trick helped the visitors to a 5-0 victory.

For their part, Albion are yet to match their first ever home win over Derby from October 1888 – after winning 2-1 at the County Ground in the first ever meeting between the sides, they completed their first ever league double at the first time of asking after the Rams were hammered 5-0 at Stoney Lane with Tom Pearson grabbing a hat trick to add to goals from Walter Perry and the legendary Billy Bassett. The Baggies biggest win over County at the Hawthorns was in September 1933 when another Albion legend, WG Richardson, scored four goals in a 5-1 victory.

Tony Mowbray may have forgotten his first ever meeting with Derby County as Albion boss, a 1-0 victory at the Hawthorns in December 2006 courtesy of a late goal from John Hartson, due to the rather more important fixture between the sides at the end of that campaign. The Rams, including former Baggie Darren Moore in their ranks, somehow beat Mowbray’s Albion at Wembley to win a place in the Premier League – they would earn only eleven points the following season, a record that hasn’t come close to being broken until this season.