Lewis Cox analysis: London bus does for hosts in tough Hawthorns blank

Frustration was palpable around The Hawthorns, albeit Carlos Corberan admitted not so with himself, after the hosts were denied barely a chance on goal by a big south east London bus.

It rounded off a frustrating and extremely difficult week for the Baggies on many fronts. A week that yielded just one point from a possible nine, but also a week, considering the tragic events at Hillsborough seven days earlier, which put things into perspective.

Just a point from the first three-game week of the Championship season has certainly dampened some early-season enthusiasm among the Albion faithful. Though the reality, is an unbeaten start of five wins from six was never going to be maintained and Corberan and his side were always going to encounter blips. This is the Championship.

Just as great a concern as points dropped was Albion’s inability to break down a very stubborn Millwall for successive blanks in five days at The Hawthorns.

Saturday’s contest was fairly unique in as much as Albion dominated the ball with 80 per cent of possession and 690 passes, around four times as many as their hard-working visitors.

Corberan is keen for Albion to control more of possession this season, and we have seen as such in various games to date, but those huge stats are a definite outlier. Millwall turned up to defend as if they were a National League visitor in the FA Cup – and there can be no bigger respect paid to their hosts than that.