Barnsley 3-1 WBA

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well, things seem to have have gone from bad to worse... the rough return has finally really arrived.

the only positive from this one was chris brunt's goal near the match's end, showing that he is really the true leader going forward, sometimes having to take matters into his own hands - as i first detected in the match with ipswich town. after the albion scored in that one, the left-footed, northern-ireland international had to single-handedly drag the baggies back into attack, as they seemed at a lack for tactics. he had such a good game against middlesbrough - and scoring one of the really spectacular goals of the season - that it was kind of relentless.



but in this one, save for 4 or 5 occasions of individual initiative, the baggies were pretty poor. dorrans and mulumbu both appear to believe the hype they've created at the outset of the season in thinking that they're the next paul scholes and nani; and while this is a really good club, they haven't quite adjusted to the full range of experience that this division holds for them. the fact that they can go into a big stadium like the riverside, in a match replete with full TV coverage, big media attention, and produce a really good 5-0 win against top competition in high-flying style, and then massively underestimate both a home visit from mediocre crystal palace and a somewhat less than glamourous evening in south yorkshire is surely indicative of this.

today, the team was really missing jonathan greening for the first time; and probably (and though i hate to admit it) paul robinson too, as young joe mattock was consistently caught out coming up too high in attack. all three barnsley goals were the result of working the ball down the right wing and taking full advantage of the young full-back's poor positional play.

the club needs both another outside left and central defender before it has anything like depth throughout the whole squad; and, at least one of the strikers has to go on bit of a run before they can start to think about wins coming a little more easily. since luke moore's minor injury of a couple weeks ago, no striker has stepped forward to really lead the way back to playing all-out albion style football.



with cech out for a few weeks, and the long-term injured trio of miller, morrison, and clement still a long way from coming back, jerome thomas did a lot more damage than he could've imagined when he slapped young wilshere at the emirates stadium last week. moore has another minor injury, so i imagine that it will be another start for bednar paired with wood, and simon cox to come on as sub against preston on saturday. however the gaffer plays it, one of these guys has to start hitting. ironically, the midfield and full-backs are doing their part - putting goals in, anyway - and if the strikers don't start scoring at a rate of 1-2 goals a game - and enhance the present offensive output, this is going to be a long season with a lot of complaining about the defensive play and lack of clean-sheets. funny how that works, but that seems to be life at the albion.

WBA 0-1 Crystal Palace

abject. miserable. undeserving. poor. a bad day at the office... i really don't know what to say, but this was not a good performance by the albion, and i'm glad i was at the hawthorns for the last two games and not this one.

the easy assessment of this one would be to attest to neil warnock's ability to squeeze points out of negative footballing tactics; but in truth, the albion didn't seem to be in this one except for a late squandered opportunity by luke moore that would have put the albion ahead and probably given them a win they didn't really deserve.



welcome back to the championship!!! one of the reasons that i like this division is that it is much more competitive than the premiership, where the infamous "big four" win just as easily away as they do at home and are rarely beaten under any circumstance except when playing each other, the villa or everton. today was a bleak reminder of the nature of the championship and everything i am usually grateful for about football at this particular level.

after thrashing middlesbrough last week - and on the back of succesive 3-1 victories at the hawthorns versus plymouth argyle and doncaster rovers - the baggies have dumped their first two matches of the season, going out of the league cup against arsenal when reduced to ten men by a jerome thomas' dismissal after about half an hour; and today's home loss to crystal palace. unlike the premiership, on any given day, anybody in this division is capable of beating anyone else. and so it was today...

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i got the idea from today's game - after having seen the matches at the hawthorns and against middlesbrough on internet audio stream and TV - that the baggies were missing chris brunt more than anything. while graham dorrans and youssouf mulumbu have been doing sterling work in the central mid-field, chris brunt has been the key in leading the team forward. when i saw the baggies at the hawthorns there was a kind of "captain" quality that he seemed to have. he is definitely the out-field general - and despite jerome thomas' exciting runs in possession and koren's moments of truly inspired attacking play - is consistently the most aggressive of the mid-fielders going forward.

i have noted on a couple of occasions when the baggies are playing a lot of clever possession in the midfield through dorrans and mulumbu, brunt is the one who drags them forward and urges the attack into more direct action - and then there was his unbelievable scoring performance last week at middlesbrough...



anyway, i knew this would happen. the baggies are going to lose a few matches that'll seem like a surprise. it's still a long season and part of the secret to winning automatic promotion is not to peak too early, because there's no way that you can sit it out in the championship like chelsea or manchester united fighting out a promotion campaign, sitting in first or second place all season and only expect to lose 3 to 4 matches on the year. it'll never happen! it's just not what the championship is about! i was just surprised that it was today against crystal palace that brought west brom back down to earth with a thump.

jerome thomas pulled things further back than he could have imagined at the time when he drew the red card against the arsenal the other night. but with a long way to go, maybe the cautionary lesson learned will curb the tendency the baggies have had this season for getting booked - especially for stupid things like "dissention", which has been happening far too much. there are going to be injuries and the albion are still at least one central defender short of full and real depth in the side; so they can't afford suspensions as well.

roberto di matteo is exceeding expectations and so far this has been a good year with a real positive feeling about the club. maybe it's time to take long breath, pray that everyone stays healthy as possible, cool it down and think about taking some points back against barnsley on tueday night.

Last Night of the Proms

oh well... as we stagger on to our first loss of the season - in the league cup and a match we could have won, funnily enough - it's been 4 games now since i've blogged, or really had the chance to do any writing. as i have been in england this last 2 weeks, i haven't really had the opportunity. the funny thing is, being in england, and actually making my first trips to the hawthorns where i saw two 3-1 victories by the baggies, i was sure i would be blogging the whole time eagerly and excitedly...



since my last blog where i was still unsure about di matteo and had questions about the baggies' tactics when they've got a single goal lead, things have definitely changed. the great thing is that i was actually there to see it when it started. the albion are now playing like a proper albion team.

Arsenal 2-0 WBA

the latest news is that we've gone out of the league cup. as i finally begin this long overdue writing, the baggies shot themselves in the foot playing against an arsenal team made up largely of younger players, when jerome thomas lost his cool with 17 year old jack wilshere - who was doing his level best to win free-kicks by diving and play-acting a la cristiano ronaldo, and thomas gave him a light smack in the face for not accepting a hand-up following a tackle and proceeding to pretend he had been kicked in the head by the albion attacking midfielder. unfortunately - and no matter how soft a slap it was , that is a red-card offense and the baggies were down to 10 men for most of the match.



up until that particular point, the albion had had the better chances and the only real shot on goal in the first half. admirably, the baggies held on for most of the match when a save by dean keily fell for sanchez watts to knock in the first goal on 68 minutes to set the gunners on course for victory and a place in the next round of the league cup. eight minutes later - and with a ten man baggies side chasing the game - leon barnett made the critical mistake of attempting to chest the ball back to dean keily, which was pounced on by an on-rushing carlos alberto vela who merely had to tap the ball home and it was all over. in his defense, leon barnett has been one of the many albion players who have seen a great improvement in his play under roberto di matteo, and while a striker can sit making horrible mistakes all day and needs only score the winning goal at the death to be a hero, there is no room for a centre-back to make a mistake without looking like a dangerous clown; so i have to feel for him, especially in light of his recent form and this being a cup game and all, where players are more likely to second guess themselves in routine situations. i can't really get down on the guy.

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whatever else came to pass, this match was lost as soon as jerome thomas got the red card, leaving a 10-man west brom to play almost an hour against the best passing team in the country. the drag of it is that the baggies were looking just as likely to win this one as the gunners until this unfortunate incident. given the numerical disadvantage that they had to endure (and leon barnett's late lapse in judgement) the albion did well enough in this one to take heart in a good performance; especially simon cox who had his best start of the year so far - and we still haven't seen the full potential of this team yet with their finest performance to date probably being the win against ipswich.

ok... no league cup this year. that's cool with me.

Middlesbrough 0-5 WBA

i took this match in live through the west brom websites's ALBION RADIO on a microsoft windows computer at my mum's house in chilcompton, radstock. i left england the next day and was then able to see it on TV as a repeat on SETANTA SPORTS CANADA monday morning.

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this one was kind of unbelievable for me, especially after my trips to the hawthorns for the plymouth argyle and doncaster rovers games. these were classic albion style matches played by a team playing a proper albion style. the team was slow to start, conceding the first goal in each game before anwering with 3 of their own on both occasions, making the wins emphatic. this baggies team has finally realized that to keep attacking is the only way for an albion side to win consistently. unlike the first 4 or 5 league matches of the season where they seemed unsure about what to do with a 1 goal lead and would concede within minutes of scoring a goal. in each of the two matches i witnessed at the hawthorns they finally found the answer: stay solid and keep a good shape at the back, play the ball through the midfield, keep going forward and look for another goal. in each of the last three matches there was the characteristic of spark-plug players to ignite the baggies performances. marek cech was a perfect example of how the presence of di matteo has transformed the attitudes of many players who were under-used and unhappy under tony mowbray. the new gaffer has already made greater use of more players and improved their performances substantially that i kind of wonder how this group would fare in the premiership?



just as marek cech and jonas olsson had been the scoring lynch-pins in the two previous matches; each scoring twice against plymouth argyle and doncaster rovers respectively - so was chris brunt the two goal scorer who set the tone and basis for the absolute rout of boro on saturday. his second goal was one of the highlights of the season so far, and required both quick thinking and skill to spot the opportunity and then have the technique to pull it off. this was classic ineptitude and lack of initiative on the part of middlesbrough and traditional albion attacking football on the part of the baggies.

WBA 3-1 Doncaster Rovers

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well, i was back at the hawthorns after having been on the saturday previous and i was treated to more of the same, as well as a more intense match. as against the argyle, the baggies went behind early on a straightforward run at the box by the rovers down the right side. getting behind the baggies' defense they delivered a low well placed cross running across goal for waide fairhurst to tap home the ball for a 1-0 doncaster lead.

just as it had been on saturday against plymouth this didn't last long as 12 minutes later jonas olsson got on the end of a graham dorrans corner and headed home the equalizer to begin the baggies' match domination and inexorable march to victory.



mulumbu has certainly been a real spark-plug in the baggies' midfield, and i suspect that it is largely on the quality of his play that the team is not missing jonathan greening at all. the albion number 21 is winning balls in a robust and decisive manner and together with graham dorrans and chris brunt seems to almost always have a hand in the outset of a move that starts the baggies forward in finding the right pass, keeping possession and building useful attack position. as my girlfriend leaned over and said to me early on in the plymouth match:

"that number 21 is always at the start of something good."

she was right.

the match was drawn 1-1 at half-time and there was a real positive air about the hawthorns that seemed to me to be lingering from saturday afternoon - like we all knew there were more goals in this one and another baggies win was in the offing.

the guy to my girlfriend's right screams in a thick black country accent:

"get the ball!!! keep the ball!!! pass the ball!!!"

and in response to the baggies trying to make something of a long ball from scott carson:

"not the long ball... it never works," and in reference to one of the doncaster full-backs, he continues, "and that bloke's a little tall to be trying that!!!"

the guy to my left moans at every poorly placed pass and questionable decision by the referee.

"c'mon roman," he yells at the albion striker, roman bednar, "get back onside!!!"

olsson scored again in the 64th minute. this time the link-up with dorrans was from a free-kick and the swedish full-back headed in his second goal of the game to put the albion in the lead.

finally, i had the privilege of witnessing chris wood's first professional goal for the albion. the 17 year old new zealand international scored the most spectacular goal of the match as he drove a scorcher from just outside the box into the top left-hand corner of the rovers' goal, giving keeper neil sullivan no chance and west brom their second emphatic 3-1 victory in the space of 4 days.

WBA 3-1 Plymouth Argyle

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i arrived at the hawthorns by taxi from new street station. initially my girlfriend and i were intending to take the local from birmingham snow hill to the hawthorns station, but were sent the wrong way by three publics-works employees who had their north/south muddled.

"we're not locals," one of them explained when i initially approached him with my inquiry.

i was really impressed by the whole experience. i had told the driver to drop us at the east stand, as that is where our tickets were. as we drove along and turned onto the birmingham road there must have been ten-thousand baggies supporters almost all wearing the blue and white stripes.

"you're fellow compatriots," my girlfriend noted at the sight of them.

and it was an overwhelming sight. where at home, here in toronto, i am unique - and somewhat of an esoteric - wearing my collection of west bromwich albion jerseys - retros from TOFFS as well the latest gear, and either my navy blue and white or my yellow and green striped scarves in the winter - in a place that one only ever sees manchester united, chelsea, liverpool and toronto f.c. represented in the general day to day fashions. but here - here at the hawthorns i was home. i was with almost 20,000 other baggies supporters all wearing some indication of their devotion: scarves, caps, training gear, and jerseys from every year imaginable... it exceeded my expectations.

while there are many aspects of the modern game that i abhor - chiefly in the form of obscene transfer fees, disgustingly excessive salaries, over-paid athletes trained to play football instead of proper footballers training to be better athletes, the idea that the national team doesn't consider players from the lower divisions, not to mention the deathly dull dominance of the all mighty bloody "big four"; i do appreciate that the oppressive large-scale hooligan element of the 1970s has been eradicated and is something that is actually not inside the stadium anymore. gone is the blind, idiotic existential rage that sat ready and waiting to create general and large-scale social disturbance on the terraces. it is a much improved atmosphere to the stamford bridge, upton park or highbury of the 1970s.

from a most biased viewpoint, the baggies' supporters have got to be the best in the country, and certainly some of the most knowledgeable fans in the english game today.



i was really impressed by the fact that the club has integrated peripheral parts of the old stadium with its post premiership era rebuilding of the hawthorns: the old fashioned turnstiles - paint-chipped and baggies blue; or the old bill-board announcing the next home match that still requires the teams and times to be changed by hand; the astle gates and wrought iron fence that surrounds the parking lot... i love the hawthorns.

the most notable characteristic of the baggies under di matteo's management has been the resurgence in spirit of players who had been under-used, under appreciated, and under achieving with tony mowbray in charge. today it was marek cech's turn to show his best stuff.

the albion went behind early on a pretty soft goal by plymouth's jamie mackie. shelton martis got turned the wrong way as the argyle attack came down the left flank, penetrating the albion area and trickling an acute angled shot past scott carson. my heart sunk just a little as it was the first time i remember the albion ever being behind in a match this season.



"welcome to the hawthorns," i heaved a disappointed sigh and said to my girlfriend.

just past the half-hour mark, however, everything came right again as shelton martis made up for his earlier mistake by scoring the equalizer from a graham dorrans corner kick. i had seen my first goal by the baggies at the hawthorns and was ecstatic jumping to my feet and cheering along with the other 20,000 albion supporters present.

the smethwick corner sang psalm 23.

martis has been a consistent fixture in the baggies back four since he came into the squad, but his play has seen improvement under di matteo as has that of leon barnett, luke moore, marek cech, and even craig beattie (before he left).

while i liked tony mowbray terrifically, as he was a good spokesman for the team and someone who could analyze football with the best of them, i'm not sure how well he did with the baggies last year. he managed the particular team he had well enough in the championship; but in the premier league his biases and idealistic approach to the game were not in tune enough with the players he had. i admired his commitment to what i call "the ishmael miller project", but it came at the expense of not giving enough opportunity to most of the aforementioned players, especially cech and moore; and may have been the main reason that the albion were relegated. he didn't seem to know what to do when miller got injured and was gone for the season (and still hasn't come back) and was adamant and persistent that borja valero was the best technical footballer in the side. so what?!?



under di matteo, it is obvious that everybody feels better. chris brunt didn't leave for rangers - as was feared earlier in the summer, and is playing a key role on the pitch going forward and in set play. roman bednar's back and scoring goals. luke moore is an absolutely transformed player and started the season completely on fire before picking up a small injury in training that kept him out for a couple of weeks... everybody has been brought into the side now, where before there was a divided team of those who were in and those who were out.

about five minutes before the end of the half marek cech scored a brilliant goal from 35 yards out that he absolutely buried in the top right hand corner of the plymouth goal. for me this was also a brilliant moment. i was at the hawthorns and having the best time imaginable.

again, the smethwick led the chorus to psalm 23.

it looked as though cech had his second goal as he sprinted onto a header in the box but was ruled offside.

from where i was sitting in the upper tier of the east stand he hadn't looked offside when he started his run.

"OOOHHHHH REF-ER-EEEEEAAAAA!!!" moans the guy to my left.

i haven't spotted the flag yet and the hawthorns is still buzzing.

"hey, we can all sit down," the guy on our right says to my girlfriend, "'e's been called offside!"



cech eventually found his second goal from a header in the box with about 5 minutes left. once again the smethwick sang two choruses of psalm 23.

afterwards, strolling down the birmingham road trying to get around and in front of the traffic jam emanating from the stadium, a guy sipping beer from a paper bag asks me what the final score was.

"3-1," i reply.

"we was losin' one-nil," he says, seeming a bit surprised.

"yeah, but we scored three after that," i say.

"good on ya'!" he salutes me with his paper bag.

my perfect afternoon at the hawthorns was complete.

Coming to the Hawthorns

i will be taking a huge step forward in my education as a baggies supporter this next week; when tomorrow night, i board a plane at pearson international airport in toronto that will deliver me - somewhere at around 12 noon GMT on sunday - to london's heathrow airport. on wednesday, i will be travelling to the west country - near bath - and i will be at the hawthorns not for just the next home game, but the next two home games.

while neither is a spectacular ticket - plymouth argyle and doncaster rovers respectively - to a supporter coming from overseas, having the opportunity to see the albion at home twice in the space of three days is something that is unlikely to happen again in my lifetime, ane being quite uncalculated, at that. it is unique and i hope i will always treasure it.

at the suggestion of some of the posters on the BBC's 606, i've got tickets for the upper tier of the east stand. i was told that it's probably the best view of the game, and fairly relaxed. whereas, i was also told that if i really want to get a bit of atmosphere and a lesson in olde anglo-saxon football vulgarity and a general rowdy old time, then the smethwick end is the place to go. i chose the former, as almost all my football experiences in england were a long time ago and there was an aspect to it that it was really frightening.

now, i haven't been to a football match in england since march in 1976, when i went to highbury and saw west ham united trounced 5-1 by the arsenal. in the process of arriving at the stadium, a friend and i got jumped by a gang of kids as we were entering the away supporters end of the ground and i had my nose broken. it was a long drag of a day (my friend and i were supporting west ham at the time) and we met some young spurs supporters coming back on the train who could see from my broken nose and our general attitude, that we were on our way back from highbury and were decent enough to sit down and commiserate with us. i've always liked spurs and their fans ever since.

before that, it was a 3rd round cup-tie at stamford bridge with crystal palace - then managed by the inimitable malcolm allison - away to chelsea. quite incredibly, palace was in the the 3rd division, in those days, and chelsea spent a season in the 2nd division. the match was won 3-2 by palace, putting chelsea out of the cup. mid-way through the second-half - and with palace having just gone in front again - an element of the chelsea gang, who had formed a long line at the back, and running the width of the terraces - started pushing down on the crowd, causing it to move forward in a kind of uncontrollable wave, and ultimately causing those in front to spill violently onto the pitch, inspiring running battles between crystal palace supporters, chelsea supporters and the police.



the incident was made famous as a photo of a hooligan delivering a kung-fu style drop-kick on a policeman made the front pages across the country. it was the worst incident of football violence that year.

i'm glad to say , that from all reports i've heard about the development of hooliganism over the years, is that while it still exists, and is still repulsive and in its own way more violent than it was - it no longer occurs within the confines of the stadium with the regularity that it used to, and its thrust is no longer the general social chaos, for example, of chelsea supporters all wearing their club colours walking down fulham broadway after an away loss at craven cottage turning over every car in their path. it has instead, changed to a scene where the hooligans are only interested in meeting other rival hooligans and engaging in selective and often armed conflict. they do not wear the identifying colours of their club, other than a small pin which is used, it seems, solely as an identifying symbol when needed. generally speaking, the scarf wearing, rattle shaking, banner waving football fan isn't a specific or important target anymore.

being a fan of the latter category, i'm looking forward to my visit just as a devout muslim would on a pilgrimage to mecca.