Thursday, December 31, 2009

Scunthorpe United 1-3 WBA

live text replay





this was a little better stuff from the baggies - and especially from luke moore, who is looking increasingly a threat to come out of the slump that has plagued him most of the season. chris brunt, while still not looking the dangerous scorer he has for most of the season, put in an intelligent performance; and gianni zuiverloon showed again that he can be a real threat going forward.

however, the old habit of winning was greatly aided by the iron going on a self-destructive run of bookings that saw the team ultimately reduced to 9-men and conceding two penalties after having drawn level only 50 seconds into what looked might become a competitive second-half.

this was also the match where i realized that earlier decisions by roberto di matteo as to the starting team were much more measured, and his intentions as a tactician were more firmly established than i had first thought. while i think i probably should have realized it against cardiff or QPR, that in continually starting luke moore in a forward pairing with simon cox the gaffer was making plain display of what kind of attack he is trying to establish. he has deliberately taken a more direct approach, and must be planning a kind of utility role for roman bednar when a change of tactics is needed.

indeed, di matteo has favoured young chris wood as his primary substitute and is looking for the kind of midfield attack that will narrow the width at the front and try to play balls in behind the opposing back four. this is a style that suits both moore and cox and doesn't allow for a player like bednar to really get involved in the match. however, being capable of everything from the ridiculous to the sublime, bednar would be a good gamble late in the day and desperately needing something out of the ordinary.

the albion spark-plug in this match was undoubtedly graham dorrans, who seems to find his scoring touch away from the hawthorns. the young scottish international took advantage of a clear scoring opportunity in the 19th minute to put the baggies ahead.

after equalizing through a deflected then flicked on ball in the first minute of the second-half united's discipline disintegrated totally on a pair of penalties. dorrans was brought down by scunnie defender, rob jones, making a direct run into the box down the right flack. joe murphy the goalkeeper was booked for mockingly applauding the penalty decision, and dorrans - now the albion penalty taker since chris brunt's injury of last month - skillfully put the ball out of reach to the keeper's left for his second of the game.



already down to ten men through the acquisition of a second yellow-card by andrew wright in the 61st minute, scunthorpe gave up a second penalty, as well as having midfielder grant mccann sent off for his immediate, angry and animated dissent. while it wasn't a bad effort this time by dorrans, murphy rose to the occasion and anticipated the shot correctly.

finally, gianni zuiverloon scored through the intelligent play of chris brunt down the right-wing, with the northern ireland international spotting the dutchman's run and open space to set up the shot for zuiverloon's second goal of the season.

the baggies look set to follow a pattern on the season and their performance has been consistent and at times ruthless. while this is true, i don't think that we've really seen this team play at its absolute best; and that may not have been necessary until now with the next two league games coming up representing the most important challenges yet this season. if the baggies can rise to the occasion and take maximum points from forest and newcastle they will be ideally poised to challenge for the championship title. indeed, if they manage this, i have no doubt that they will actually win the title. the collective results of these next two league matches will determine just about everything else as far as the final table positions go. i hope they've been saving their best stuff for this pair of games.

also, as a fan of the FA Cup i'm hoping that we can get a strong enough team on the pitch to beat huddersfield and can get something going this year. i would dearly love to see a good cup run. ironically, i think it's probably good for confidence in a situation like this, and not worth ignoring to make the league your sole concern, obsession and irritation. it can keep a team - and certain players - playing and winning games in a prestigious competition without the pressure of the league to contend with. the 07-08 team that won the division and made the semi-final was a model albion team and it's just been too long since a club from england's penultimate division - whatever it happens to be called at the time - has won the competition. although, i know that's a bigger ask these days than it once was. but still, there should always be the dream.


Tuesday, December 29, 2009

WBA 2-0 Peterborough United

live text replay



luke moore has started scoring again. while the red-hot simon cox seems to have cooled in the last couple of matches, moore has finally broken his scoring drought with a coolly placed strike taking a deflection into the net against peterborough united. he has also seen more than a few of his finishes in the last three games called back for offside. this would tend to indicate that the striker has started to have some success at getting into the kind of position he needs to score.

one of my main assertions this season has been: as goes chris brunt so go the albion. while i believe this to still be true, the baggies have started to learn how to deal a little better with their main problem - and this is merely reflected in brunt's play.

the albion have lacked a mental toughness which makes it hard for them to win when not playing well. when the play is flowing and the ideas coalescing with the actual skills and high imagination becomes manifest, you get the idea that the baggies could take on brazil. this is evidenced by the number of extremely one-sided, high-scoring defeats that they have inflicted on the likes of middlesbrough (0-5), watford (5-0) and sheffield wednesday (0-4).



conversely, when nothing is really going right and the team are finding their touch heavy and passing inaccurate, the football awkward and unnattractive, the baggies just seem at a real loss for what to do?!? when chris brunt is lacking in imagination and play just not working for him they run into real problems going forward. what's worse, is that brunty is in a bit of a slump at the moment.

fortunately, i think this baggies team knows what it's got to do, and even if we end up with another nail-biting season as to whether the outcome is automatic promotion or facing the perils of the playoffs, i have faith that this lot has come to understand what is needed and will scrap for points when they have to from here on out.

the baggies played well against a struggling QPR side and came away on the short end of an undeserved draw for which they had to work to achieve. this one was won on two of the scruffiest goals scored back to back by an albion side in a long time. in a case like this, however, i'll take the scruffy little win over beautiful, flowing, expansive football.



Monday, December 14, 2009

WBA 2-2 QPR


live text replay




while the albion have hit another little patch of poor results (2 points from a possible 9), simon cox rolls on with 6 goals in 7 games now - including the equalizer deep into injury time to help the baggies avoid a second home defeat in the space of a week.


the thing that was different about this was that it was the first time this year where the team played generally well - they kept up the pressure on rangers for most of the game - and didn't get full points. i've seen the baggies play badly and win. i've seen them play badly and lose. i've even seen them play badly and earn a draw. but i haven't seen them play this well and not get the result that they absolutely deserved. of course, it was common in the premier league but heretofore unseen in the championship this year.

to be fair, it was really just a bit of good luck that fell for QPR after what has been a horrendous month for them - and after starting the season as one of the form teams in the division, as well. truthfully, the play that saw jonas olsson head in an own goal from an incoming corner-kick could just as easily have been called back for a foul, as the big swede was obviously pushed in the back during the scramble for position in front of goal.



as for the albion - and as good as some of the football has been - i still don't think we've seen this team firing on all cylinders yet. while simon cox has found a really hot hand and may be a better striker than we may have at first suspected, none of the other forwards have found consistent form and made for the kind of season that the baggies had in winning the championship title two years ago.

it was obvious that we've been missing jerome thomas who scored his 6th goal of the season and has been - along with chris brunt - the best player on the team this year. we should have probably won this one 3 or 4-2, but that isn't going to happen until another one of the strikers also finds some form.

of course, luke moore is playing ok, but not doing so well. he's a bit dozy and slow to react to unexpected opportunity, but if he gets the right ball in behind the back four he's a good striker... just nothing falling for him at the moment. i still think they should give chris wood a start paired with simon cox. especially since they can now bring bednar on as substitute.

i've heard it said that when things are going well, that's the time to buy. this being true, the baggies are going to have to look at acquiring a top left-back, a good central defender and another striker during the transfer activities in january if they want to challenge for the division title this year.


Wednesday, December 9, 2009

WBA 0-2 Cardiff City

this was absolutely pathetic; and save for the improved midfield play in the second-half which pretty much saw the albion camped out in the blue-birds half of the pitch for the duration - there was nothing positive to be taken from this match.


live text replay




the baggies, while occasionally falling prey to the defensive tactics of lower to mid-table teams, always seem to be able to raise their game against the better clubs in the division. not so in this one, and as a result the albion's stranglehold grip on second-place has been slightly loosened. while cardiff are now in third place behind west brom, it is still a five-point difference between the two and the baggies now need to pick up the pace or face going into the christmas break and FA CUP on a poor run of form; exactly what they want to avoid.

this now makes next monday's match against QPR a must win situation. luckily, this game is going to be broadcast live on TV around the world which is a circumstance that usually sees the albion rise to the occasion. after that they are away to blackpool which could also be a difficult game, with the seasiders surprisingly being one of the form teams of the division at the moment. they may also have to play temporarily without youssouf mulumbu, who was injured early on in the match yesterday.



the big news, however, is that captain scott carson will be out for three matches on a red-card which he earned through head-butting cardiff city striker, michael chopra with just minutes left in the game. the resulting penalty, though initially saved by veteran goalkeeping coach, dean keily was turned in on the rebound to kill the game off and give it its final result of 0-2.

the outcome of all this is that west brom are now 2-points short of averaging the 2-points a game that they'll need in order to make automatic promotion a comfortable proposition.

it is also a very difficult situation to assess. although the baggies are definitely feeling the loss of jerome thomas at key moments, this was a good albion team and should be putting in better performances than this. with luke moore out, it was pretty clear that roman bednar needs some more game time. for one thing, he needs to find his match form which he really hasn't had all year; and he needs to find his place in the team again. one of the big problems with the baggies attack yesterday was that they didn't create the type of passing or ball movement that would get the czech striker involved in the game at all. the other - and i think main problem, was that the whole team felt tentative going forward. even with a huge share of the possession and relentless opportunity to go at the cardiff goal, this only saw one or two really good chances created. to be fair, it was also a really good performance by the city goalie and back four.

after the QPR match next week it's kind of a mixed bag of fixtures going into the new year. with carson out for three matches, dean keily will have to face blackpool (away) and peterborough (home) before the captain returns to duty away to scunthorpe. after this comes an FA CUP tie away to huddersfield, and then two very tough and important league matches: home to nottingham forest and away to newcastle. these two fixtures are indeed huge. there is a real chance to get back in the driver's seat as far as automatic promotion is concerned and to gain ground on challenging for top-spot. the baggies will have to be at their absolute best in the early new year in order to take full advantage of the opportunity.



the defense has been good lately, and should probably be forgiven for yesterday's temporary lapse that more or less allowed whittingham to walk into the albion half from the centre-circle in the 18th minute and get a good enough look at goal that carson had no chance on the shot. it sounded as if cech was probably the one that didn't get in and shut him down, and to be fair, he's been playing a lot more in the midfield this year than at left back.

the baggies have to figure out how to play against this type of tough defensive setup. it has tripped them up against crystal palace, swansea, and now cardiff (barnsley was just bad all around). what the team has to learn, is that when their midfield link-up play with the forwards is being disrupted to the degree it was against any of these teams, they'll have to sit back in a tough defensive setup themselves and try to pull the other team forward, open the game up and get the opposition to engage in playing football.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Derby County 2-2 WBA

if nothing else, this was a testament to all the weaknesses that i have seen in the baggies at their worst this year, and was like a microcosmic reflection of how roughly 20% of the season is going to go - in so far as, it's going to be tough against teams capable of disrupting the setup play of the albion central midfielders, especially graham dorrans. this is where west brom are going to get beaten for points this year; not against the good footballing sides, but against defensive midfielders that can put off the albion passing game.

live text replay





the baggies came within two minutes of winning a game that they really didn't deserve, and their tendency of not knowing what to do with a one-goal lead was on display in the most dramatic of fashions. although a draw was probably the fairest result, the albion - having surprisingly scored the apparent winner in injury time - switched off and allowed the rams to equalize two minutes later and with only about 15 seconds left till the final whistle.

fortunately, west brom will usually play a lot better than they did in this match, and the accompanying good fortune that winning teams make for themselves will more regularly see things swing in their favour than not. still, this is going to happen and the club just have to pick themselves up and see to it that they don't fall into a run of poor results. an average of 2-points a game, at this point, would probably see the baggies attain their goal of automatic promotion and maybe even win the division.



luke moore's game has picked up in the last couple of weeks, and the struggling striker has started playing well again. in spite of this, things just won't fall for him at the moment, and it seems he's picked up another small inury which will see him miss the cardiff match tomorrow. it might be just as well, as roman bednar probably needs a start and this will also, no doubt, put young chris wood on the bench. luckily simon cox is continuing to be the player that everyone hoped he would be. the ex-swindon town striker scored a late equalizer in this one to bring his current record to 5 goals in 5 games; a run of form which he hopefully can continue. he looks top value for the money at this point though.

tomorrow's match against cardiff is arguably the most important fixture of the year so far, so the baggies will have to be ready for this one.