well, now we have to deal with the aftermath and look at some hard facts. it was all just talk and speculation immediately following the match yesterday, but ishmael miller - who has looked better and better with each passing game, and was positively menacing in yesterday's unlucky draw with portsmouth - is going to be out for at least 6 weeks. for one thing, that forces the club to go looking for a striker this january (something they were probably going to do anyway) - and its going to give us a chance to have a look at luke moore. who knows? while it appears to be a devastating blow (and i for one believe it is), it could be one of those strange blessings in disguise.
i have absolute belief in tony mowbray, insofar as he is completely in tune with the club's philosophy and style; but, i have my suspicions that he might sometimes spend too much attention to his works in progress, which distracts him from giving a look to other things - and most certainly, miller is his biggest and most potentially promising project at the moment. don't get me wrong! i'm a huge miller fan and i would probably give him the same attention if i were in TM's place - and he was really playing his part in making the single striker formation, that i have heretofore been critical of, start to work really well. but i have to add, while it's miller's pace that makes this type of attack so potentially dangerous, it is the element of jonathan greening getting into a forward position on attack that makes it really work. it was so evident in the first half of the match with pompey, and i hope both manager and player realize it!
although yesterday's draw felt like a loss rather than a point gained - there were plenty of positives (as there have been with more than a few lost or drawn performances this year) to take from yesterday's encounter. so much so that it is becoming a maddening cliche to say so. i mean, even against the big teams like chelsea, where i sat for the first 20 minutes just thinking it a matter of time before albion scored the first goal, the team often dominates the play but doesn't score. i've heard too many varying opinions on the subject, and too many ridiculous ideas about what should be done.
there's been so much talk about strikers this year. but i think the scoring problem goes further than that. the problem is, that we're not scoring enough from anywhere. our total tally of goals scored isn't much bigger than our list of actual goal-scorers. with greening pressing forward into the box - they should be looking to make scoring opportunities for brunt, valero, koren, zuiverloon and morrison, as well. with greening now, this is the first new scorer to add to the list since olsson scrambled that winner against fulham the first weekend of october! that now makes 6 goal-scorers in all - and i think that 5 of them should be working harder to be regular contributors (and koren needs to pop one in now and then) when it comes to finishing - especially greening. he should be like old tony brown and right up there in the box on attack. perhaps with miller unavailable, one or two true heroes can step up and get things turned around.
i was also heartened to hear greening in the press today, saying that there is still good feeling around the club and they're pretty confident about avoiding relegation. that i think is another testament to tony mowbray's style of management. he'll be very sure to keep letting everyone kow how well they are playing despite the poor results - and the players probably know it too.
as i write, the tottenham/west ham match has just ended and i've changed my mind since yesterday. i think it's more likely that we will find ourselves in a four-way battle to avoid the drop with blackburn, sunderland and west ham. so we could still be in for some excitement yet.
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