i've been looking at the west brom posts on the BBC boards today and i'm sticking to my guns and staying positive, despite the massive let-down of not having beaten pompey on sunday; and today's news that ishmael miller is gone for the season. because, whether we like it or not, this is still the best baggies team in years. tony mowbray has managed the club to its first trophy since 1968, and taken them to wembley twice; one of which was for an FA CUP semi-final; which, they probably should have won, and gone on to beat cardiff in the final (which would have duplicated their unique double of 1931). they then went on to have their best start ever in the premiership, before they stalled in a drought, unable to score; and despite playing well, have gone on a tense, frustrating and very unlucky 2 month long winless streak.
the cliches about lack of finishing, lack of strikers, and how the baggies are playing attractive, attacking football, and dominating matches to no effect are piling up and beginning to seem tedious, just when we need to "keep the faith", so to speak, and continue to analyze what we are doing right (if only to keep our spirits up and generate some encouragement) and remember why we are baggies supporters in the first place! then maybe there's the question: why is someone 1500 miles away, and never been to the hawthorns, sitting here, half paying attention to the chelsea-cluj CHAMPIONS LEAGUE match on TV, sitting blogging intently on west bromwich albion?
i love the albion - and i depart from family traditions on this point - with ipswich town on one side; and my nan and her second husband being season ticket-holders at fratton park for many years, on the other. to me, the albion represent something that is lost in the BIG 4/CHAMPIONS LEAGUE world of today. i admire deeply that a club maintains a mandate to play attractive, attacking, passing football and doesn't deviate from its traditions whatever its fortunes. they are a club that generally operates within its means and looks for players and management that share the club philosophy and will continue to promote the ideal of an entertaining, attacking, and intelligent footballing team. they also have the best - and perhaps some of the most knowledgeable - supporters of any large team in the country. for me, the issue of being a baggies supporter has everything to do with the admiration of integrity.
to me, west bromwich albion will always be that team of the late 70s, which - like so many albion teams before and since - never quite saw its potentials fulfilled and fell short of the FA CUP final one year, and then missed out on winning the LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP the next. but it is the memory of that team, and the traditions that the club maintains to this day that make me a baggies fan; and the only reason that i really care at all that they stay in the premiership is so that i can see them on TV each week - as i have never been able to find a hack that allows me to listen to the radio broadcasts at BBC online. last year, i only saw maybe 2 baggies league games all year, and i was lucky enough that they went on a cup run as i was able to see them play on 3 or 4 other occasions through televised cup ties - including the heartbreak of the semi-final. mostly though i had to follow the matches through the live text scores on the BBC, and was eagerly looking forward, all year long, to yet another crack at establishing the team in the premiership, and facilitate their return to weekly television football broadcasts.
i would find it sad - if i thought (and maybe i already do) that a club of the stature and tradition of west bromwich albion might never reach the top of the english football ladder again (or at least, in my lifetime), and re-establish themselves as a consistent top flight team; and that all there is to look forward to is a perpetual up and down existence, with the possibility of more lower league trophies... maybe an FA or LEAGUE CUP run... some time - i dunno'... that would still be great - but something about english football will have changed and sadly, some of its character will have gone forever, its soul consumed by international corporate hype and billionaire hubris.
tony mowbray is a great manager, and if you compare his demeanor and general attitude with that of the other managers dealing with struggling situations in the premiership, there's worlds of difference. i cannot believe that any baggies fan is calling for him to be sacked - and to be replaced by someone so unrealistic and inappropriate as sam allardyce(!?!) or articles calling for jeremy peace to come up with ten-million quid for a tried and true "super-striker". this is just not in the spirit of the albion and we are succumbing to premier league obsession and hype. last year, i remember that gareth southgate came under fire with middlesborough supporters calling for his resignation or sacking very early in the season, due to a string of poor early results. this year, he's got the team up in and around the top half and no one's got a problem. paul ince is looking worried and desperate (even terrified at times), sunderland doesn't even have a manager since keane walked out last week, and zola looks like he's going to manage west ham right down to the bottom of the table with a string of (predicted) upcoming losses and low-scoring/goalless draws - in fact, zola doesn't really look much the part of a manager at all to me. but tony mowbray looks calm, makes fair and generous assessments of his teams situation and performance, and he's sure to be encouraging with his club in spite of the results. i know he's got the team behind him and he might just end up being the reason we'll be able to drag ourselves up and out of last place, and perhaps avoid relegation - provided that that opportunity is still there.
one of the things that nobody has really mentioned anywhere that i look, is the fact that there are no out and out bad teams in the premier league this year. without someone like derby was last year, i can see a team perhaps needing as much as 40 points to avoid relegation. that's a much more competitive competition than it was last year - and we have had no luck at all this last couple of months. we're going to have to go on a couple of short winning runs, consolidated with some draws - before we can realistically start talking about survival; and it just might be too late already.
it's a cliche to say so, but the chinese word for "crisis" and "opportunity" are the same. looking at today's news that ishmael miller is out for the season is definitely what i call a crisis. i'm not sure that i would keep with the single striker formation that the albion has been playing lately, as it requires miller's pace to work (as became evident to me in the portsmouth match) and could be quite effective, especially with greening pushing into a forward position on the controlled, passing, possession attacks. i had been critical of this all year, thinking that surely 2 strikers is more in keeping with the albion style (i remember them playing 3 strikers at times last year). but the incisive passing and miller's pace had me seeing what mowbray had been working on, and i really enjoyed the play, especially in the first half. tony mowbray was right when he said that it would not be possible for a team to keep playing as high a quality of football as the baggies are and not start to win eventually, and we are so overdue for a win that i can't see us not beating sunderland this weekend - and that would be a start and create a much better feeling about last weeks performance against pompey as well.
which brings us around to the question: who are we going to do it with? i'd give keily a start in goal for one thing, just as a way of shaking things up; as carson looks unsure of anything other than high-crosses coming at him in the 6-yard box. it's pretty obvious that we'll see luke moore, at some point - and i imagine that that will be sooner than later. i don't really know what to expect from him, i haven't seen enough of him, that i can remember, to have any real impression. he looks good enough on paper, but the lack of time that mowbray has given him makes me a bit suspicious. but then again, i have a suspicion that TM was paying too much attention to ishmael miller, as it is obvious the belief that he has in him; and i suspect if TM has a weakness, it is too much attention payed to his works-in-progress. of course, i'm hoping moore comes on and makes some immediate and heroic impact - but that is just probably wishful thinking. i have to believe that they're going to go for a standard 4-4-2 with moore and bednar up front. but then again, we're down to just the 2 strikers so they may keep working on the single-striker formation with jonathan greening pushing forward into the box on attack. actually i think that a more consistently attacking greening is the key to getting the team going, and i think mowbray probably knows this too and gets on jonno's back about it - i hope that greening is listening and realizes what he's got to do. because if he starts scoring more regularly, so will morrison, brunt and koren, all of whom are capable of spectacular goals if they can get into space. if luke moore can score and set people up in space, and meite, olsson and robinson can keep carson from having to deal with too much at the back. we might start to turn it around.
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