WBA 1-3 Nottingham Forest

albion had everything to lose and forest everything to gain. the baggies were at a distinct psychological disadvantage and a complete loss as to how to deal with the challenge. their tentative, nervous and completely disjointed performance even set a new low for standard of play on the season. this was a worse display than either of the matches against barnsley or cardiff, both of which were absolutely terrible.

live text replay

i got to see this one on TV and it was as grand a disappointment as i have had to endure from the baggies all season. i hope i get something distinctly better than this when i make my next set of trips to the hawthorns - starting with the match against blackpool on the 13th of march.

there were even some unusually poor choices made on the part of the gaffer as to the starting line-up. di matteo should never have started gabriel tamas. not that the romanian defender had a particularly bad game; on the contrary, he was much better than jara, who had a terrible game. it's just that only being at the club for two days he's not settled at all and i think that the more familiar presence of shelton martis might have lent a little more collective steel to the back four.

there was absolutely nothing to recommend in this match except for striker roman bednar breaking his long standing scoring drought, the return of ishmael miller - and to a lesser extent - that of robert koren as well.



in fact, with bednar coming on at half-time and miller coming on in the 77th minute, one realizes how well roberto di matteo has done with the squad that he inherited from tony mowbray - injuries and all. the forward play between miller and bednar was a full cut above that which moore and cox had had to offer, that i couldn't help but think that what the new gaffer has achieved so far is truly exceptional. i mean, if the baggies can hold on to second-place for as much of the season as they have with the current squad, how will they do with the undoubtedly stronger line-up that they'll be finishing the season with?

ishmael miller's return was a reminder of something i'd almost forgotten. sadly, we'll never see neil clement play again, but james morrison may also eventually return.

i'm not usually a superstitious person, but i think that it is a mistake for the baggies to sell shirt sponsorships. on the most irrational level, i think that the gods of football favour the sponsor-less jersey. as evidence, the baggies have a decidedly poorer record when sporting sponsor logos on their uniform than not.