i had the page up for a few minutes with no updates occuring, so i hit F5 key to refresh the page and saw that a james beattie goal in the fourth minute of the second-half put the match at 0-2. i know that stoke is a real bogey team for us. we haven't beat them in 6 years prior to today; and even from the text report, i can see that it is the long-ball counter attack beating the passing and possession football with albion having an everage of 60% of the ball and stoke about 40%. it reminds me of everything that the baggies haven't done this season; as today was just another thing that they didn't do.
this season, they have not won any significant upsets. they haven't dispelled any old bogeys or acheived any significant "firsts". for example, it now makes seven years since we've beaten stoke . the baggies have not split any home/away results all year - and have the biggest percentage of doubles (either positive or negative) of anyone in the premiership. if they have lost or drawn away, they have also lost or drawn at home; with only the middlesborough series producing victories. in short - and after the first couple of decent results (wins against fulham and middlesborough back to back) seeing the team off to their best premier league start ever - they lost form completely - save for a couple of good results in december and january that gave us reason to briefly renew our hope. but worst of all, they have delivered not a single welcome surprise all season.
hull beat just about everyone for the first 15 games or so and both stoke and middlesborough have beaten liverpool this year. sunderland has had a couple of surprise results. last year, and involved in a relegation battle, bolton managed to beat manchester united at a critical juncture of the season. there hasn't even been a sniff of anything of the like happening for the albion this year. just lots of clever, clean footballing in the midfield, accurate passing and a dogged (and frustrating) determination to walk the ball into the goal. other than that, they haven't defended consistently, they haven't scored goals, they haven't stopped goals. they have not come back to win a match in which they've conceded first. they haven't had a single special day that for even a moment rocks the established order and gives us at least a passing thrill with cause for celebration and a momentary lift from the doldrums of what has been a truly miserable season. yes, the feeling of emptiness is indescribable.
i have to stick with my man mowbray, though... he just didn't have a few of the essential players that he would have needed to play albion style football at premiership level. but going back down to the championship, i can't see us not being back for another run at it within 2 years... tops!!! and that's not something i felt that i could've said back in november - then, and following ishmael miller's injury. the albion looked like a club who might be setting up for a slow and monumental decline. but when you face the facts, and you remember how big a club it actually is, relatively speaking, there's never, for a long time to come, going to be a question of not being competitive in the championship - through the playoffs or whatever. with an experienced championship level winning manager and a solvent board able to assemble and manage a top championship side; plus whatever the FA gives you to buy championship players, the baggies'll be back for another kick at the premiership can within a couple of years.
to be fair to tony mowbray - like him, or hate him - he is a man of integrity, and is committed very deeply to certain principles concerning football; principles that are shared, and have long been a part of the albion ethos - and were long established at the club - at least, since the 1950s and the initial vision of entertaining, skilled, attacking football instigated by vic buckingham. at its best - and no matter what division we're in - west bromwich albion football is about entertaining, good passing, winning clean possessions and scoring goals; and that's why we're all fans and love the baggies so desperately. but a year like this, is the flip-side of the coin and is about the suffering, and reminding us that being an albion supporter is also about loyalty and integrity. we have to remember that not all the best skilled and technical football is entertaining, so the albion tradition is not always an easy thing to uphold. for example, the FA Cup final of 1968 will never be remembered as one of the classics; despite the fact that both teams played well in the midfield - and john osborne and the albion fullbacks had just about as a good a game as they ever had playing in albion colours. all the good football was played coming out of the back into the midfield.
i was lucky enough that the baggies both won the division and had a cup run last year, as that allowed me to see them play maybe as many as five or six matches on television. i followed most of the games on the BBC live text report, happily looking forward to this year when i would see just about every game through a rather expensive subscription to SETANTA SPORTS CANADA. actually, i think i get to see all the games as long as the baggies are in the premiership - it's just that i can't find a listing for this coming saturday's match and i can't remember why i never saw the last middlesborough game (?!?) - because i remember distinctly that i didn't.
there's seven games left and it's still sufficiently tight that if a hero figure who could score a few crucial goals, stepped forward right now and the baggies tore through their last seven games with five wins and two draws, i've no doubt that they'd survive and pull off another great escape. fulham was able to muster something similar last year. the only thing i can see to do at this point, is start bednar every game now, playing behind either simpson and fortune, and get morrison, greening and koren attacking the goal at every chance. the back-line has looked passable since martis started playing and we might just get lucky. we'll have to see if any of this lot have got the technique and character to do something heroic at this level of the game.
at the moment, and being more limited than most other managers, mowbray has managed to bring in a good deal of talented youngsters in need of development, along with the departure of some key veterans. this is always a painful time for most clubs, but to have to deal with it simultaneously as a premier league promotion is crushing. despite this, the albion still have one of the better teams in the division at playing the ball coming forward from the back. the problem is that the forwards are all young and lack the necessary experience; and defensively the team has run afoul of the same problem at the back, where the the requisite experience has also been desperately wanting.
i thought i might have more to say; consequently it's taken me a week to post this, so now i'm off to follow the baggies play portsmouth on the BBC live text. after all... a dream lives on forever!
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