well, after two weeks of real disappointment - including my own resignation to the probability of relegation - the gaffer has come up with ultimate in post game assessments to cheer us and give us hope. i always love what he has to say, because he's never dishonest, not a sore loser, and he always speaks realistically. i think, as well, if a manager were on a more tentative tenure he would not be able to get away with what he says sometimes, and certainly not in the style with which he says it. no premier league manager, for example, appears in the international media smiling ear to ear over his team's performance after being beaten 2-0 and losing ground in a relegation battle without feeling relatively safe in his job. only someone who is secure in the feeling that he has the backing of the chairman and the board would come out saying: "never mind the result - just look at the quality of the football!" at this stage of the season and with relegation looming so large. so, i think that unless there is a drastic change, it would seem that mowbray is around, come what may, for another couple of years - at least! that is how i would read the situation as it appears in the media today, and that is just fine with me.
Mowbray on BBC
i think the bigger message from TM's statements on the weekend would indicate that the team is now in the general mold of what kind of team - and he was very clear about it - what kind of football he wants to see. the only job now is to improve what they're doing and find the missing elements that would turn it into something that can win games in the premiership - even if that takes another year, the season's major injury returns, and another relegation/promotion scenario in order to achieve. judging from the general reactions on BBC 606 he quite delighted his admirers and further alienated his detractors. there was even someone on the west brom board this morning (albeit, most satirically) claiming to be roy keane's cousin, saying that he (roy keane) was in talks with management, and that the club is in the process of sacking tony mowbray. but, like it or not, up or down, it would seem that tony mowbray will get the chance to see his plans through to success.
i was really feeling crushed after the second goal on saturday, and dwelt all day on the goal-line clearance and moore's screamer that rocketed off the crossbar. but on reflection, the remarkable aspect of yesterday's match - at least from my perspective, was that while we were totally lost and altogether lacking confidence in the fulham match; and i was convinced all week that the fine "spirit in the face of the adversity" that the baggies have maintained all year - was all but gone; and the team would achieve nothing without at least the return of jonathan greening - they made the adjustment in their play and the optimism and belief in the mowbray style of football that i had believed gone, was on full and vigorous display right from the kick-off.
so, once again, and leaving it late in the season, it would seem that we're still in the hunt and looking for that elusive three game winning streak that will make the relegation battle competetive, as the baggies lost ground on the whole division this week, with middlesborough beating liverpool, stoke eking out a late draw with villa, and blackburn pulling themselves up by virtue of a victory over hull, who look definitely the form team, at the moment, to be relegated. unfortunately, the albion - in just three games - have gone from being the form team to stay up over middlesborough, stoke, and hull, to needing some real heroics - and soon - to avoid the drop in front of all of them.
all in all though - and after a week that restored my faith that we can still be competitive in the battle to avoid relegation - i'm looking forward to tomorrow, as it gives me the rare opportunity to see the baggies on TV twice in the space of a few days; and although i have no right to - i shall expect an albion victory... after all - and as the gaffer had alluded to earlier in the season - you can't go on playing quality passing/possession/attacking football and not start winning some matches - it's just not possible - and eventually the tide's got to turn. on top of that - and no matter how unrealistic my aspirations for tomorrow may be, you've got admit: we're more than overdue for both a win, as well as a big upset.
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