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.
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