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.
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.
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