Sheffield United 2-2 WBA

live text replay


when is someone on the albion staff going to read my blog and address the club's biggest problem?!? it's not the lack of goals (this year), or quality defenders (though, that would help), or that the club has lost any of its important players on account of relegation (although, the loss of jonathan greening is now debatable) - it is that they do not know what to do when they've gone in front on the score-line!


against newcastle, they had 1-0 lead going in at half-time, but damien duff scored an equalizer 5 minutes into the second half. if it weren't for a missed penalty in the nottingham forest match, that might have ended in a draw, as well. they managed to hang on against ipswich and bury, in the league and league cup respectively; but, it wasn't for the other teams' lack of endeavour following the albion goals as much as it was sturdy defending by olsson, carson and keilly (who played well in goal against bury). luckily, in both matches the baggies went on to find a second goal and keep the clean sheet. di matteo fielded a team lacking some really important players in the cup game against rotherham, and west brom could not hold any lead for a significant amount of time past the first goal. at 2-1 they had the lead for about 2 minutes - and if it weren't for the millers sharing the same weak defensive proclivities - the baggies could very well have lost this one 3-2 instead of the 4-3 win that they managed in the end.

what i think i'm talking about is a break-down in the intellectual aspect of what they are doing, and it's as if the goal they've just scored distracts them. it was no different against the blades today. the baggies go 1-0 up, and within 2 minutes they've conceded and it's 1-1! again, they seemed to be able to meet the challenge and pull the lead back within 5 more minutes, and early in the second-half they have a 2-1 lead. while they eventually only split the points on this one by virtue of a penalty, it was still a sloppy mental break-down at the back with united playing for the penalty, and knowing that the ref was just dying to give one and get himself a round of applause from the home crowd.

i usually don't go after referees as i know that it is a difficult job and bad calls are as much a part of the game as any other aspect of it - but the distribution of cards in this match was not in line at all with what was really going on. he even called a dive in the box correctly against the blades, but neglected to issue the mandatory, automatic yellow card that accompanies this particular foul. he had, however, booked robert koren just minutes earlier for the same infraction.



be that as it may, the albion have to stop giving up these cheap and lazy goals on the back of a good score. as i've always said: they need to keep the ball and - without being reckless - continue going forward, pressing for more goals. the trouble is, i'm not sure that there is anyone on the team who really understands that they need to exert this type of control over the game to be effective; other than perhaps chris brunt, who really dragged the baggies out of their tentative defensive positioning and drove the attack forward against ipswich, finally producing the second goal. it also may just be that idea of attacking when you have a lead is an archaic idea belonging to some care-free, romantic past, and just isn't the way these kids are taught to play football anymore. in today's game it seems that the acquisition of any lead means you pack your penalty area with the 9 back and mid-field players, let the other team come at you and look for counter-attack opportunities. the thing is, the albion have never played this way. moreover, they've never successfully played this way; and it is therefore contrary to any of the club's playing traditions going back 50 years and more.

it's a world that believes only the "big four" can afford to play beautiful football; everyone else is taught to play like stoke city. again - and going back to the early 1950s - west bromwich albion have never done well playing the "long ball" game - never! it has always been a disastrous gambit, and i guess that traditions and their accompanying aesthetics sometimes go beyond that which is explicable and these qualities can transcend time, space and even logic... and so it is with the baggies: they must always play like a proper albion style team. anything less - or even too much of a variation, will just not work. just as manchester united have to play a certain style in order to be manchester united, so do the baggies have a similar mandate in order to be the west bromwich albion. i just hope that they come to understand this.



don howe found this out in the early 70s, when - after coaching the arsenal to the double in 1971 and bringing his successful formula to the club as manager - found only failure, hard times and relegation for the trouble of bringing what he thought was the modern way of playing football to the hawthorns.

despite my initial concerns, i'm increasingly happy with di matteo as the gaffer. whatever else he may have done, he has rejuvenated the play of numerous individual players on the team and has the club on an undefeated run that can't be anything but good for team confidence; and, we haven't really seen this team play up to its potential yet - not by a long way. as i've said before, i think the RDM is a winner.

the real star of the day was roman bednar... two goals scored in only his second game back and with the general consensus being that he'd only be good for about an hour or so. di matteo even has bednar playing at a level higher than he was playing before; and this was a really brilliant performance. i don't think that tony mowbray knew how to use bednar this well, as he always limited him to playing only in certain formations. for example, TM would never have used him as a single striker in a 4-5-1 set up; although di matteo did against the blades, and to great effect. if mowbray had perhaps expanded his strategies and played bednar a little more freely after miller was hurt, he might have got some better results.

at the end of the day - and given the immediate task at hand - this is good group of players. west bromwich albion is a well organized club, and there is plenty of room for development within the present group of individuals - including those, like miller and morrison, who'll be back in the team this year and ready to add to the mix. once the team starts to show more of its potential and gets the couple of more players it needs in, i'm sure they'll accomplish what is hoped for and expected of them.

in the mean time, it would be a good idea if they went over their history and watched some old videos of west brom teams from the past, and remind themselves of the intangibles that they are dealing with here. they can then all have a little think about what it actually means to be west bromwich albion.

WBA 4-3 Rotherham United

live text replay

despite being absolutely dead in the second half, this was a really entertaining match by virtue of the the ALBION RADIO audio commentary through the ALBION PLAYER service provided by the baggies' website. it really reaffirmed for me the kind of sense of humour one needs to be an albion supporter. one or two of the text messages that were read online were priceless for their wit and brevity; and when the match was bogged down and at its absolute lowest point, a like attitude in the commentators rose to the occasion.



as the end of the regular 90 minutes drew to a close, ending a truly listless 40 minutes of football and with the prospect of extra-time looming, one of them quipped:

"well, if you're out there listening in on the albion radio just make a cup of tea, settle back and be thankful that you're not actually here."

great stuff! a real lesson on how to look at football and not let it drive you crazy!!! it was a really stark contrast to the tension and the ill feeling generated in the supporters clubs of big four teams, where the experience is decidedly much more about the ritual of victory and any kind of loss - and even some draws - are considered as nothing short of tragedy.

simon cox started the match, and for most of the game he was of little effect. but not for lack of trying; he just couldn't do anything right! after a match of having the ball tangled in his feet, not able to control or pass effectively, and unable to get on the end of anything, a text message came in from a listener during extra-time, whose name i recognized from his posts on the BBC 606:

"simon cox to either score the winning goal, or miss his shot in the penalty shoot-out," was his message.

not only is that quick witted and ironic, but in the end, more than somewhat prophetic as the struggling new-comer - making one of his first real starts, scored the winning goal in the 115th minute! watching this on TV would have been difficult, in this case the "hot" medium wins out with its necessity to create involvement. in a "cool" medium, this match would have been less enjoyable, i imagine.


as for the game itself, with the first team sitting this one out or on the subs bench, the baggies' weaknesses were on full display throughout. i don't know how many times i've said it - and a fundamental lack of skill in the back four aside - the albion don't know what to do when they've got a lead! i thought they had things sorted out in the ipswich game, but only the first goal was defended without response from the millers for any reasonable length of time. when the baggies went 2-1 up they couldn't hang on to the lead for more than a couple of minutes. likewise, rotherham took the lead briefly in extra-time but their ability to hang on to an advantage was no better than the albion's. craig beattie leveled the score for the third time with his second goal of the match after only about 3 minutes. in the end, it was only 7 or 8 minutes - including stoppage-time - worth of defending a 4-3 lead gained on simon cox' late winner, that saw west brom through to the third round.

with the news the next day that craig beattie - after his 2 goal performance in the league cup - is surprisingly being sold to swansea city, we can assume that di matteo believes he has enough strikers. what the baggies need now is someone else in the backline as good as jonas olsson and shelton martis. i don't know what's happened to meite; he started off well last year, but his confidence has just gone. his play has become nervous and tentative. he made two dreadful mis-kicks in this match that saw the ball scuffed uncomfortably away resulting in 2 corner kicks, when the most he should have been giving up was perhaps a couple of throw-ins.

i've heard plenty of people get down on leon barnett, but i think he's shown lately that his play is relative as to who he is paired with in central defense. i think when we've seen him more recently - and playing alongside olsson or martis - turning in some pretty solid performances. he has been quick to clear, he's made good decisions at the back; and on one occasion, at least, his composure and vision set up an effective enough counter-attack to produce a well worked goal. i have thought him a really improved player this year both in confidence and performance; but he obviously needs to be in better company at the back than is sometimes available. the team needs another central back desperately, besides the two regular starters.



the other thing that they've got to get over is knowing what to do when you've got the lead. even though the results have been good so far, it could have been better, and i can't remember one game where a baggies' goal hasn't been proceeded by several minutes of aimlessness, that invariably sees the albion goal come under attack. it even happened against ipswich; after the first goal they just turned off for a few minutes. personally, i just think that they need reminding as individuals that this is west bromwich albion and you need to keep the ball and keep going forward - that's your game!!!

as albion legend john wile once said:

"we just never gave the ball away... we would pass... if you can't go forward, go sideways; if you can't go forward, go sideways again - just don't give the ball away!"

it is something that albion teams have had to keep reminding themselves since the late 1950s and the days of ronnie allen and vic buckingham, when the albion first committed to the idea of attacking, flowing, passing, beautiful football. after all, you can't score if you haven't got the ball. that's not to say that there haven't been good defensive albion teams at various times over the years. in the early 1990's - and as a lower league team - the baggies had a mean defense that racked up a lot of clean-sheets over the course of a couple of seasons; but you still had to have bob taylor and the guys up front putting in the goals to make it work... to make it albion style football!!!

i hope the new gaffer will remember this and strenuously pass the message along.

WBA 2-0 Ipswich Town

live text replay


today's media was "cool", as the match was broadcast live on SETANTA and was a throughly entertaining bit of football. so much so that it made the earlier premier league matches look dull in comparison. SportsNet had manchester city riding out a 1-0 win against wolves on an early goal by adebayor in a match that they really should have made more out of. wolverhampton themselves were unlucky to have withstood the multi-million pound barrage of adebayor, tevez, robinho, ireland and company, only to see a late effort by keogh come back off the crossbar. meanwhile, SETANTA featured manchester united performing one of their trademark drubbings of mid-table opposition in a 5-0 away win against wigan. i settled for the man. city/wolves match on TV while i listened to brentford nick a late away draw against southampton... not a great game, all in all, but gratifying that the team i watch when i'm in west london are doing well on the back of last year's promotion.

west brom returned to their 4-4-2 setup; and thankfully, roberto di matteo had luke moore paired up front with the young and ever improving chris wood. marek cech moved up into midfield to help cover positions left vacant by graham dorrans' suspension for a red card incident against peterborough on tuesday night, and jonathan greening having finally left the hawthorns for craven cottage. shaun cummings stepped in for gianni zuiverloon who was injured against posh, and proved a good acquisition with some useful play in attack down the right side. joe mattock started again at outside left back, and - as with the other new-comers to the team - showed that he is adapting, improving and fitting most usefully into the squad.



as they had against peterborough earlier in the week, the albion came out dominating the match through their attacking game, and mulumbu scored after a goal-line clearance on a joe mattock header in the 10th minute as the baggies laid absolute siege to the ipswich penalty area. after that, it took them a few minutes to regain their composure and get sorted out mentally - which i think still may be an issue with this team. as a result, they had to absorb a burst of pressure from the tractor-boys coming forward before they adjusted, realizing that their strength is in possession and that they need to keep the ball and continue attacking in order to be effective. i felt that this was a significant development in tactical improvement, as one of their big problems last year is that west brom haven't seemed to know what to do when they've got a lead.

taking their cue from chris brunt the baggies then started to come forward, forcing ipswich keeper richard wright into making a series of saves and ultimately producing a virtuoso performance that could have otherwise seen the albion winning this one by 5 or 6 goals. the ipswich keeper's heroics were rewarded with the "man of the match" award and he was by far and away the the town's best player on the day. his form was evident from early on, making a great save from a chris brunt rocket, then a robert koren header; and then a spectacular double-save as koren ripped through the center of the ipswich defense, making a deft pass that produced a shot from luke moore with the save breaking for the on-rushing koren, who delivered an open header that wright got a hand to and pushed away while still sprawled helplessly in front of his goal.



with the baggies committed to possession and attack, moore, wood, and koren combined for a series of passes deep in the ipswich end that ended with the slovenian international shredding the town defense - much as he had done earlier - and slotting the ball home past the diving wright in the 38th minute. before the break, the ipswich keeper was also called on to make a diving save, pushing a strike from chris wood wide of the post; as well as, a high-curler towards the top right-hand corner from marek cech that needed to be palmed away at full stretch. thus did the baggies see out an impressive half of football that really should have seen them 3 or 4 goals up.

inspired by their goalkeeper's performance the town returned for the second-half with a renewed purpose, and on a several occasions, scott carson - the new albion captain - was called upon to make a couple of top-notch saves of his own, in order to earn his second clean-sheet of the season, and the third overall for the baggies in all competitions.

despite richard wright's outstanding performance in the ipswich goal, the baggies should have had a 3rd score when cummings made an enterprising run down the right flank, attacking the town's penalty area and was brought down, tripped by defender tommy smith and producing an albion penalty. luke moore stepped up to take and drove the ball straight and hard down the middle. despite having committed and gone to his right, the ipswich keeper managed to keep the ball out of the net as it luckily struck his boot and was scrambled away for a west brom corner. on the day, richard wright could really do no wrong, and the 2 albion goals did not reflect their true dominance in this game as it literally could have been 5 or 6 goals the difference.

in the end though - and facing a truly spectacular performance in goal - the albion did well in this game: the tactics improved all around when compared to the previous match against peterborough. di matteo did not make the mistake of leaving luke moore alone up front, and he remained a threat throughout the match; scott carson looks to have a confidence that he didn't have for one second last year; joe mattock, shelton martis, and leon barnett - in turn - have greatly improved the quality of the fullback play; and we've got enough quality midfielders that we're never really going to miss jonathan greening.



so far, the baggies under di matteo look to be the real thing; and as the gaffer gets to know his job better, and the injured players like morrison, miller and neil clement come back into the squad, some time this year, the albion will at least get a playoff spot - and that's the worst scenario i can see! at this rate, i'm expecting one of the automatic promotion places!

no doubt there will be some strange losses this year; after all, this is the championship, a naturally more competetive level of football than the premier league; and it's going to be a long season. but right now, there is no reason not to be optimistic and imagine that the baggies can keep it up and that this is going to be a fun, entertaining and winning year in the championship and something to be enjoyed for what it is.

Peterborough United 2-3 WBA

live text replay

there was no TV broadcast of this match whatsoever; so i was again treated to the experience of following the match on ALBION PLAYER - which i really appreciate now that its become available to me - and the usual BBC live text commentary. this is really the first time i have had the chance to listen to football as extensively as i have watching it throughout the course of my life; and i'm still getting used to the evident contrasts of the "hot" and "cool" media experiences.

this match was a lot more difficult than it ever should have been and ended with graham dorrans picking up a most unfortunate red card that might see him out for the next three games. beyond that, the first strange aspect to this match was jonathan greening being left on the bench, but otherwise match-fit, leading to renewed speculation that the captain might still be leaving for fulham; and it was reported on the club website after the match today, that the two teams are in negotiations.

di matteo started luke moore and chris wood up front in a more traditional 4-4-2, which was a world of difference compared to saturday's poor performance against nottingham forest. again, the gaffer had joe mattock at outside left back, and marek cech in central midfield; as well as new signing shaun cummings who walked straight into the team to start in wide midfield.

from the opening whistle the baggies were absolutely on fire and could have seen the match off after about 10 minutes, save for 2 crucial misses by chris brunt and luke moore. moore opened the scoring at 2:18 from a speculative shot on a ball won from gabriel zakuani on the edge of the peterborough penalty area. both he and chris brunt were then afforded really good scoring opportunities in the next few minutes and the baggies really should have had at least one more goal for their efforts.



at just the point where it was beginning to look like a premier league side against league 1 opposition, the baggies were seriously rocked by the ability and endeavor of peterborough united's attacking game and this opened up the match considerably, with only the defending of jonas olsson and the goalkeeping of scott carson keeping the albion lead intact. again, it was the familiar case of the baggies not knowing what to do when they get in front on the scoreboard.

having regathered themselves and weathered the posh storm, luke moore put in the second goal just after the half hour mark on cross from chis wood, followed by a chris brunt goal on 40 minutes and the albion looked to be sorted out and on their way to an imposing win, showing why they are favourites for promotion in this division. luke moore's play in the first-half showed how crucial it is that he be paired with another striker in order to be effective, and with the help of chris wood up front and brunt in the midfield he stamped his presence all over this match in the first half.



posh got one back just before half-time through craig mackail-smith and this took a little of the wind out of albion's sails in a match that looked like west brom might have gone on to win 4 or 5-0.

from the outset of the second half, however, the albion's defensive weaknesses were on full display. they were back on their heels, and had given up another goal within 8 minutes of the restart. again, it was olsson and carson that were the heroes as the baggies had to weather 20 minutes worth of intense posh pressure. as with the game on the weekend, it was these two who really won the match for the baggies.


after the second peterborough goal, the gaffer pulled wood in favour of robert koren; once again, leaving luke moore up front on his own and essentially ineffective. although the baggies started to see more of the ball, they seemingly couldn't work it out of their own half and it was only through their ability to play their familiar passing game that they were able to dominate possession through the midfield. with the excellent defending of olsson and carson - as well as mulumbu making some key tackles late on in the match - the albion were able to protect their lead and eventually posh just ran out of steam and the baggies notched their third consecutive victory (as well as third consecutive away win) and remain unbeaten in all competitions so far this season.

with luke moore unable to get anything going up front, di matteo brought craig beattie on to replace him; and after already having substituted jerome thomas for marek cech. both substitutions improved things, but it was too little, too late for another baggies' goal, and the team was forced to defend throughout the last ten minutes, finding their most effective strategy in defending through the midfield with olsson providing an imposing presence in the middle of the albion's final third. depsite producing a few tense moments that could have seen the match go 3-3, scott carson's goalkeeping provided the final bit of skill and confidence needed to see this one through to another win.



i still don't know what di matteo's game is (and i'm not even sure that i'm spelling his name right... di matteo? dimatteo?) but i was again perplexed by the team selection - and jonathan greening's absence aside - i have wondered why we haven't seen a pairing of luke moore and craig beattie up front; or - and knowing that it might lack a bit of physicality and muscle - why not moore playing alongside simon cox? i like to think that the gaffer is experimenting somewhat, at this point, and just having a good look at who's really capable of what; perhaps even pushing the boundaries of individual capability? i hope that he's finally realized from the comparative performances between the first half and second half today that luke moore should not be playing in a lone striker position. his real strength as a forward is moving into space and getting behind the defenders, and he needs good close support and incisive delivery in order to be effective. when he has had the chance to play his natural game, moore - and in stark contrast to last year - has been nothing short of brilliant. today he firmly established himself as the team's senior striker, and the club will start to look to him to lead the attack.

this very much underlines the fact that the oldest striker at the club is craig beattie at 25; and having just brought up a 17 year old to the first team and given him his first two starts, the gaffer has certainly widened the club's focus in this area, and would seem to be in a developmental stage of something long-term that will eventually be able meet the challenges of the premier league - and maybe even beyond! roman bednar will be back in shape to take a place in the first team in about three weeks, and we all await the return of ishmael miller and defender neil clement, who've both been out for the last couple of years with major injuries. so we've really got nothing to worry about in terms of personel; RDM just needs to get his team selection sorted out.

today was an uneven performance, and i come back to the point of selection - but it is still really important that the baggies can win like this in the championship, where the premier league often left them gutted, late in the match, with a series of draws and 1 goal losses in games that they probably should have won.



we still probably need another central defender and the outside left back position has to be sorted out beyond joe mattock. perhaps the new signing of chilean full-back gonzalo jara (also announced today) will bring some quality to the back line.

the coming days will tell, and i've stated my own personal doubts about roberto di matteo. but as i said when he first took the position, i think he's probably a winner; and one of the marks of a winner is being able to win the games that you should, even when you're playing poorly or just less than your best. so far, and his questionable selections aside - the man is a winner!

Nottingham Forest 0-1 WBA

live text replay


with half an eye on the arsenal v everton game on TV, i had to take this match in online through the audio-commentary (still called ALBION WORLD although the service itself has changed and been renamed ALBION PLAYER) on the baggies' website, so i've only got "hot-stuff" to write about on this one.

from the outset, things were just wrong. i don't know who dimatteo thought he was playing against today, but his tactical setup was more like something you'd expect in a cup game against lower league opposition: a 4-5-1 formation with luke moore as the lone striker!?! tony mowbray worked up a 4-5-1 game last year, but that was based around ishmael miller and the all important element of jonathan greening in the role of supporting attacker. despite some early success with this tactic - in the form of back to back wins against fulham and middlesbrough last year - still, it took almost three months for the pundits and supporters in general to understand and for this tactic to become evident as a recognizable, legitimate strategy.

there is no shortage of good midfielders at the club, so one can't really go wrong in selection, with RDM's five man midfield consisting of greening, dorrans, mulumbu, koren, and brunt. beside the inept decision to leave luke moore up front on his own, the gaffer also started joe mattock at outside left-back where he surely should have played marek cech - coming back from international duty or not!

the match started off well with chris brunt unlucky not to score from a free-kick after about 4 minutes, as forest keeper lee camp leaped heroically to finger-tip the shot onto the goal-post, keeping the ball out of the top-right hand corner of the net. the rest of the first-half was rather lack-luster with neither side really making any real headway in attack, and the usual skillful, controlled west brom passing game was nowhere to be evidenced. both sides missed opportunities and were lucky to be going in at half-time with a 0-0 score-line.



this is one of the few matches - and including last year against premier league opposition - where i thought the baggies were properly outplayed, and certainly forest had a better time hanging onto the ball and going forward than the baggies. but jonas olsson and scott carson both had good games, and the match was really won by the albion defense; as well as by virtue of a dismal penalty attempt in the 76th minute by forest substitute, and ex-baggie, robert earnshaw that sent scott carson the wrong way but was wide of the albion goal.

the baggies took the lead in the 52nd minute on a jonathan greening cross intended for luke moore. instead the ball found its way into the net off forest defender chris cohen's knee, and the albion, uncharacteristically had taken the lead against the run of play.

brunt and koren were substituted at half-time by cech and beattie respectively. despite bringing on the second striker dimatteo still had the team playing their initial 4-5-1 formation, continuing with luke moore as the lone striker and beattie playing wide in the midfield. this did improve the albion's play with the odd display of good individual skills - most notably dorrans going forward and both olsson and carson at the back. despite this the baggies still appeared rather shapeless with one or two players confused as to where they should be playing, most especially marek cech.

gianni zuiverloon limped off in the 71st minute to be replaced by the much improved leon barnett. the baggies came to life towards the end of the game and probably played their best football of the match in the last five minutes of normal time, and a quite inexplicable five minutes worth of injury time. other than this, it was the worst baggies' performance since their away loss to fulham last year where, quite honestly, the team didn't really show up to play at all.



in the bigger picture, it was heartening to see that the baggies know how to win at this level of football - and on the strength of a decidedly poor performance at that. this in itself could portend success. as well, and while being the second away win in one week - this was also the baggies first away win in league competition since last september; and one can't help but feel it's going to be important to know how to win these type of games in order to see the club through to automatic promotion. so no matter how dire things might have looked today, roberto dimatteo is off to a good start and has started to turn the club around in regards to their more negative tendencies. he's certainly got the team's defensive game up from what we've seen it before; and he has revived scott carson to a level of confidence where last year he had really seemed burnt out. i'll have to look it up, but i know that the two consecutive clean sheets this week were the first in a long time that didn't feature a 0-0.

all in all, i rather enjoyed just seeing the team win, even though they played poorly. it was a peculiarly welcome change to the state of things last year: that is, playing well and losing or coming up with an undeserved draw. still, and fully appreciative of the defensive improvement and the introduction of more "direct" tactics, i hope that the new gaffer gets his offensive selections better sorted out; and that shouldn't be too hard with the number of good strikers already in the squad and roman bednar coming back from his ban and returning to training on monday morning.

as far as i'm concerned the albion tradition requires that you play a 4-4-2 or even in more adventurous situations 4-3-3; but, if you're really determined to play 4-5-1 with this team (and you ain't got ishmael miller available) craig beattie would seem much more suited to the role than luke moore. i'm still baffled by this selection and i hope RDM at very least learned something today, or figured out what it was he wanted to know!

of course, we'll hope for a better and more entertaining performance on tuesday when west brom are away to peterborough! otherwise, so far so good...

Bury F.C. 0-2 WBA

match text commentary
this was the kind of match most people wouldn't read much into, and could easily be dismissed as an expected result... and so what? but considering the circumstances - and keeping in mind the immediate problems of the differing styles between cup football and league football - this was a big win for the baggies.

first off, five players were away on international duty: koren, cech, brunt, meite, and mulumbu; and true to the prescribed tactics of cup play, the gaffer kept starters scott carson, chris wood, luke moore, and captain jonathan greening on the bench. surprisingly, dimatteo is finding some depth in the team which tony mowbray was never able to at all last season. casting my mind back to the corresponding fixture of last year where - as a premier league side - they lost 3-1 in extra time to hartlepool united, who finished 19th in league 1 last year, i can't help but feel this performance was world's away from that.


simon cox got his first competitive start for the baggies; and he looked every bit the promising prospect he's been touted, being only inches offside on a couple of occasions that saw the ball in the back of the bury net. graham dorrans is the best signing all around in the last year and could comfortably step into a starting role for the club at any level. so it was fitting that with about five minutes gone, he opened his scoring account with the baggies by calmly slotting home a ball that had fallen to him directly in front of goal from a ben futcher tackle on teixeira in the bury penalty area.

craig beattie is one of the players who has seen a real revival under dimatteo. called back from his perpetual loan duties of last year, he has started regularly throughout the pre-season and showed his skills by exchanging passes with a surprisingly effective reuben reid in a counter-attacking move by the baggies following a bury free-kick. going down the right flank and directly attacking the shakers penalty area, beattie drove in a low hard cross that took a deflection off bury midfielder mike jones for the second goal.


the move started as a cool and cleverly placed clearance by leon barnett following a shakers' free-kick, and created the counter attack opportunity for reid and beattie. indeed, this was the most solid performance i think i have ever seen by barnett; and it is in the improvement of players that mowbray seemed distinctly disinterested in that the club has found a new depth. the players who struggled under TM, seem - to a man - to be suddenly flourishing and playing with renewed skill and confidence under dimatteo.


besides another good scoring chance from open play, beattie looks to be no small talent in dead ball situations, as he proved late in the game curling in a free-kick on target, but over the cross-bar. you could see though, from the general quality of the delivery and pace that he can hit them from 20-25 yards out and is capable of scoring goals.


there are still some weaknesses in the baggies' game, though, that they shall need to get sorted out. being 2-0 up at halftime was problematic - and the shakers determined resolve to get back in the game aside, the albion, as a team were a little perplexed as to how to play when they've got a lead. i think this was also the case against newcastle on the weekend, and a big problem in the premier league last year. on the one hand, the team is at its best when in possession and on the attack; but there is also the consideration of successfully protecting a lead, and how does a an attacking team do that? i think the key to sorting this out will be in finding a balance of how to defend deep, get the ball out to the midfielders, look for the counter-attacking opportunities, or slow it down and keep the ball going forward through a tidy short passing game. if they learn to keep their natural shape and playing style when they've got a lead, they would be a good counter-attacking team that would worry other teams when going forward and trying to get a goal back.

indeed, the baggies were a little shakey for entire first half hour of the second period, and an efetobore sodje goal in the 66th minute was called back for offside; and similarly to the two tight offside decisions against simon cox: just too close for comfort.

the other key elements to this match - and in the bigger picture - is that it was the first away win for the baggies since september last year. after defeating middlesbrough away in the waning days of autumn, they even required a replay with peterborough in the FA Cup, only managing a draw in the initial away fixture. not to forget that their loss to hartlepool in the league cup was also an away match.

another bogey that was dispelled in this game was roberto dimatteo registering his first win ever as a manager in a cup game. last year his mk dons went out to bradford city 2-1 in the FA Cup, and after winning in the first round of the league cup 1-0 against norwich city under paul ince, they lost the second round 2-1 to cardiff city under dimatteo.

Roman Returns

the albion gets another boost to its currently expanding stable of strikers with the ruling being reported in today's news that roman bednar is to receive an official warning and serve a three-month retro-active suspension; which, in effect, puts him back in training monday morning after this weekend's match against nottingham forest. i won't offer any opinion about what i think about getting high and illegal drugs right here and now, but bednar is lucky that he is not an american sports personality (or he'd be screwed), and i'm looking forward to him rejoining the team and adding to this years goals total.

BBC news

WBA 1-1 Newcastle United

from the discrepancies in the local TV listings - including those aired on SETANTA SPORTS CANADA itself - i can only conclude that they haven't quite figured out here who can actually broadcast what, when, how, why and where, as of yet! while SETANTA has newly picked up the rights to 60 championship matches from the BBC, they were changing the TV listings for this one right up until the last minute. in fact, on LIVESOCCERTV.COM, which is usually pretty reliable and my first choice as a source for information on local televised football broadcasts - there was conflicting scheduling, with the baggies' home opener listed as being "live" on SETANTA in the 12.30 PM time-slot; as well as a repeat of the second-leg of celtic v dinamo moscow listed for 1.00.

this may have been on account of changing information in relation to the tri-nations tournament rugby (south africa v australia), which overlapped and ran past the start of the west brom match by half an hour. sure enough, this was followed by a repeat of the second-leg of celtic v dinamo moscow match from earlier in the week. the listing then changed to a first-run, time-delay broadcast at 8.30 pm for the west brom match. while the time listing turned out to be accurate, they had the actual first-run broadcast of the match at 5.30; which, had been the time listed in the original posting of last week, but having since been revised - and at the actual time of first broadcast wasn't listed at all!

myself - being a new subscriber, and never having heard their online audio commentary before - i went ahead and listened to the match live on the WBA website. beyond the novelty of a new experience - and the luxury of actually following the match live - i really enjoyed how the game worked as audio commentary; and later on after seeing it on TV - how different the two experiences are.

the match started off at a fairly high-tempo, and the ball-possession moved the match from end to end in a series of creditable attacking moves by both teams. this had a particularly exciting effect on the audio commentary. as the match was moving at a quicker tempo than your average match, so likewise was the commentary - and almost to the point of frenzy. i realized that being audio only this was necessarily so, just in order to deliver an accurate description of the action. whereas with TV, a higher tempo game actually causes the commentators to use a more dramatic, point-form syntax in order to speed up what is being said and let the video information do the work. it was a first hand example of how TV cools things down and radio hots them up.

live text replay


all in all, i have to say i was happy roberto dimatteo's choice of starting line-up. the one possible question mark was the selection of youngster chris woods over simon cox; but in the end, it was a fairly even-handed decision as the 17-year-old acquitted himself more than adequately over the 81 minutes he played - although his performance was somewhat diminished as he was left on too long, and should have given way to a cox substitution 10-15 minutes earlier. that in itself might have produced a winning result instead of the draw.

united surprised me. although they definitely look - and from the lofty heights from whence they came - to have all the earmarks of a club in crisis, there is a big difference between a "yo-yo" or perpetual second tier-club in crisis and a top-ten club in crisis. for this very fact - along with albion's open, skilled, controlling brand of attacking football, this never looked a second division match and these are both going to be consistently strong clubs at this level of the english game... never mind the "club in crisis" or "yo-yo team" tags! these were big clubs playing strong, fast football!

i was especially pleased with the selection of shelton martis to the first team. despite the fact that he was responsible for one of the myriad defensive giveaway goals, rather late in the season that the baggies were famous for last year; he was otherwise the best starter at his position in central defense all last year. leon barnett and ryan donk proved themselves inexperienced, and meite (who started off well) lost his nerve. i think it was fitting that he scored a goal and cemented his place in the first-team right at the outset. with jonas olsson back from injury, paul robinson (and his angry clown act) gone to bolton, and marek cech bringing some skill to the outside left - i think the backline will be greatly improved and we should see a few more clean sheets this year.

we're not going to see ishmael miller back until christmas, i would guess; but the arrival of dimatteo has obviusly good for more than a couple of the players. luke moore is slowly and surprisingly claiming his spot as the club's senior striker, and looks a completely different player under RDM than he did with mowbray. as do craig beattie, and marek cech, as well.



other than that, there was very little difference in terms of performance in this match and the performances of last year's team. save that this year's baggies feels a lot tighter and confident all around; is definitely looking more solid and skillful at the back; more sure of itself at this level of football; and developing and acquiring the necessary strikers to make a genuine run for promotion. present was the familiar poor finishing on a couple of occasions with both martis and greening missing a pair of absolute sitters, but by and large the baggies were held to a single-goal draw on the merits of newcastle's half-time replacement in goal, tim krul, who came on for the injured steven harper. indeed, a couple of poor finishes aside (and by both teams as well), the baggies were robbed of a win here by a positively electrifying second-half performance in the united goal, and damien duff's early second half equalizer.

the overwhelming percentage of matches that ended in draws on the championship's opening weekend is probably a little hint as to how competitive a division this could be this year. however, having seen the middlesbrough v sheffield united, as well as the coventry v ipswich town matches, i did feel the baggies game with newcastle had a slightly higher quality of football than either of the other two; and both these teams - along with cardiff city should be top bets to go up this year.



while i was wary of RDM taking over at the hawthorns, he has done a really good job so far of retaining the professional loyalty of both recent and long-time veterans in greening, brunt, koren, olsson, and zuiverloon; while giving renewed confidence and playing time to cech, teixeira, beattie and most especially moore. he has also understood, in having brought up chris woods - and with the acquisition of simon cox (not to mention the club's recent interest in jermaine beckford) the absolute need for strikers in order for the albion's traditional style of football to flourish and remain an overall winning proposition.

at this point, the gaffer's got me on his side and i've got every confidence that this is going to be a satisfying, fun, and above all - winning season.

The Season Now Upon Us

well, here in canada - and with the first posting of the premiership TV schedule finally up - it seems that SETANTA SPORTS CANADA will be carrying their usual complement of top-flight matches, unaffected by the collapse of the parent company in ireland and the UK. it also appears that FOX SPORTSWORLD CANADA will not have any english football again this year, and the only really significant change is the increased number of championship matches that will be broadcast on SETANTA - here in ontario, anyway.

i had noticed that the advertising for their upcoming championship broadcasts was much more aggressive and present than i had ever seen it before; and - conversely - the advertising for the premier league was notably low-key, played down and the content nostalgic and sentimental. i wasn't quite sure how to read this, but it is certainly clear that regulation of TV broadcasting (at least in canada, anyway) must be very difficult to revise and reassign. why else would a company (in this case ESPN, and SkySports) find it necessary to assign more of their broadcast rights to its bankrupt competitor's international subsidiary rather than to its own territorial affiliate network; or - as would need to be the case with SkySports - create its own international subsidiary in that particular territory? my only conclusion, is that it must be long and difficult to re-work these issues and to actually get your hands on a broadcast frequency. the reason for that would probably be CRTC regulation. there is also - and unrelated - the setup logistics, which would undoubtedly entail massive advertising, and an extensive campaign of product promotion.

whatever the case, SETANTA SPORTS CANADA seems to have expanded its overall coverage to include 60 championship matches, and will retain the 150 premiership matches that it broadcasts here every year. everything else is status quo; The Score (cable channel 53) has its regular sunday morning Footy Show, followed by a one-off broadcast of a high-profile premiership match; but everything else - just as it was last year - has been licensed to SETANTA. even the venerable old canadian show SOCCER SATURDAY (featuring craig forrest with gerry dobson), with a history dating back to well before the advent of the premier league - now has a SETANTA-specific broadcast in addition to its regular Rogers Sportsnet show. i've yet to hear what's going on with the FA CUP broadcasts; but - and as opposed to last year, when SETANTA had exclusive rights - it was better and more extensive coverage when FOX SPORTSWORLD had some of the broadcast rights to that as well. just when you think everything is going to be dispersed and reassigned, it suddenly centralizes and amalgamates!


the point of greatest interest in all this - and for myself personally - is the increased coverage of the championship. this is the most extensive television coverage of the second tier of english football ever seen in this country, and an indicator of several effects of the development of the game here.

newcastle united's performance last season marks the first time that one of the clubs who became well-known here through TV and have traditionally been a regular television draw, have been relegated. moreover, this is the first time that such a relegation will have had such impact and meaning. when there was only SOCCER SATURDAY on TSN (and later on moved to Rogers SporstNet) and with just the two premier league matches on TV every weekend, it seemed like i was perpetually watching nothing but endless variations of manchester united, arsenal, liverpool and newcastle united playing tottenham hotspur. with the recent and significant development here of supporters clubs, cable, satellite, closed-circuit TV and close to complete coverage of the premiership season - as well as the all-important "big four" - this will be the first relegation that will have been really understood and felt in this particular market.

with the phenomenon of the supporters clubs here being solidly based on the popularity of the "big four", most football fans here have never had to think too much about relegation and what it means. from time to time a man. united supporter may wonder what happened to charlton athletic or wolves? who they remember on account of key games late in the season with united on one of their perpetual runs for the league title - but by and large, it is something they would rarely think about or are ever likely to be following.

but it's different with newcastle this year, as anyone who has been following english football for more than 5 or 6 years will remember the 3rd, 4th and 5th place finishes they achieved in the league standings just a few years ago, and their famous premier league victories over the likes of liverpool, arsenal and man. united... their years of high-flying, high-scoring football with fanatical fan support. despite the mediocre performances of the last couple of years, there is no doubt that enough of the followers of the "big four" clubs will realize at least some of the implications of a traditionally top ten team being relegated to - what is in this country - the largely unknown and obscure championship.


if you had told me at the outset of the premier league that it would one day produce a "big four", much like the "old firm" in scotland, or the near complete domination by 3 or 4 clubs in italy, spain and portugal respectively - i would have thought that surely newcastle united would have been one of them. i mean, judging the club by its standards in the days of andy cole, alan shearer, les ferdinand, and the like - i would have thought them a more likely "big four" proposition than i would have chelsea. although - and especially when i was a kid - chelsea promoted itself to a younger and rowdier crowd who would grow up to be chelsea supporters as adults - and now with kids of their own. so it's not a total surprise.

the added attraction of 60 championship matches on TV this year means that somebody must have seen this coming. where english football used to be much more fluid in movement between the top two divisions, the premier league and its tremendous TV revenues has created a situation whereby the gap between being a successful or consolidated premier league club, and being a successful championship club is so vast that it has - in effect - made it nearly impossible to gain promotion and remain in the premiership for more than a couple of seasons.

last year's freshly promoted pair of hull and stoke city both managed to hang on to a place in this year's premier league; but you can bet that hull is a favourite for relegation; and although stoke is considered the more likely of the two to survive once again, there is no doubt they will also be a bookies' choice for relegation, along with sunderland, portsmouth, burnley, birmingham city and wolves. of the 24 clubs that comprise the championship, no less than 15 have played in the premiership before; and there is probably a similar number beginning the accrue in league 1. in fact, the climb out of the second-tier has become so difficult to navigate in the last 10 years that it is considered (in some circles, anyway) that newcastle united is more likely to be relegated to league 1 than they are to gain promotion back to the premiership, at this point. it has also created a whole class of team, in the likes of west brom, wolves, birmingham city, sheffield united, crystal palace, cardiff city, bristol city and a few others - who dominate the promotion and playoff spots in the championship, but flounder in the premiership, and can only hang on for a couple of years at the most, before being relegated again.

obviously, with the english game expanding its international fan-base and interest; along with the need to find cash in order to make second-tier promotion to the premiership a more competitive proposition, this supplied the motivation for expanding into broadcasting weekly matches from the championship.


in the end, i am happy with the recent developments. most of the football league websites have made their live audio commentaries - as well as highlight videos and news-clips - available to a wider audience by allowing a broader range of software platforms to access these features; and the football league championship will have consistent and regular TV coverage in my part of the world this year. tomorrow morning i will see the baggies' open at home against newcastle united in the second-tier of english football - something i thought i might never see.

indeed - i am going to england for 2 weeks in september, and plan on attending the two home matches at the hawthorns on the 12th and 15th (v plymouth argyle and doncaster rovers respectively). before SETANTA announced that they would be carrying weekly championship games, i was sure that i would have no alternative but to follow the baggies by reading the live text commentaries on the BBC; and, that i would not get a chance to see them play before i got there. in the last few weeks everything has changed - and thankfully, it seems - for all the right reasons.

meanwhile, middlesbrough and sheffield united kick-off... live and in colour, as they used to say!