Chelsea 6-0 WBA

match text commentary


welcome back to the premier league!

there was one or two basic mistakes that roberto di matteo has made to begin west bromwich albion's fifth venture into the top football competition in the world.

first and foremost, chris brunt is hopelessly out of place as a holding mid-fielder. it's easy to see what the gaffer is thinking in wanting both a left-sided and right-sided player in the newly introduced 4-5-1 formation that we had all anticipated. but in partnership with youssouff mulumbu, the northern ireland international is playing too deep to get properly involved in the attacking game, as well as now being isolated from the wide positions where he is most effective. towards the end of the match, there was evidence that he might eventually be able adapt his attacking game working from a central position, but he surely isn't the tackler that being a defensive midfielder requires. i think it would have been better to play him on a more natural wing position with perhaps steven reid playing next to mulumbu.

without trying to draw any direct comparisons, it reminds me of the old story concerning don howe trying to transform tony brown into a more "complete" player by improving his defensive game...



i can't understand why it isn't more obvious to everyone that brunt is every bit as important to the albion attack as graham dorrans - and as such has to be played in more advanced positions. personally, i think he is being mistakenly forced into taking up what would otherwise have been jonathan greening's old duties. while this shows the gaffer's respect for his technical abilities, i think it ignores his natural intsticts as well as his real talents.

another problem is that the new attacking formation forces graham dorrans into too high a position where he is forced to attack the goal directly instead of creating opportunities. again, this an unfamiliar role for the young scottish international and he looked pretty lost and needs to be sitting in a deeper position - and with plenty of space in front of him - from which to control the game. while he delivered a decent direct free-kick in the second-half, just missing the top right-hand corner of the chelsea goal, he was otherwise surprisingly quiet and ineffective. again, i think that di matteo - along with a number of the club's supporters - has missed how important brunt is to the baggies' attacking game; and how desperately dorrans needs him when going forward.

the other main problem seemed to be the absence of jonas olsson - something i would not have anticipated. the tamas/ibanez partnership was ok for the first 40 minutes, but not as good as the tamas/olsson pairing we saw at the end of last season. of course, i think much of this has to with olsson's natural aggressiveness which is sometimes as much of a hindrance as an advantage; and the swedish centre half has always needed to learn to control his verbal confrontations with match officials. however, his aggressive spirit and volatile temperament were sorely missed today.



marek cech was the only defensive player to show any real spark; and james morrison was surprisingly unimpressive on the right-wing. i would suggest that di matteo give the newly arrived nicky shorey a go at left-back and use marek cech as the left-footed holding mid-fielder. above all, he's got to put brunt back on the wing and push dorrans further back.

scott carson should have done a better job in handling the free-kick that led to the first goal, as he palmed it straight back down into his own 6 yard-box inviting the chelsea attackers forward and allowing malouda to pounce on an easy goal.

this early defensive lapse aside, the baggies had every reason to take heart in their first-half performance; as, without really having anything gel going forward, the baggies kept the game tight after conceding in the 6th minute. they looked like they might be able to take a point from this game right up until injury time when a second goal from a chelsea free-kick put the game out of reach and beyond them in a way they could never have imagined up until that point.

the second goal was completely preventable, and it was chris brunt and gabriel tamas' inability to hold their position in the wall that created the gap for didier drogba to put the game at 2-0 - and beyond the capability of the baggies - just on the stroke of half-time. the complexion of the game turned completely at this point, and if the baggies had been able to get to the half only one-goal down, they certainly would have been able to consider the possibility of taking something by way of points from this match.

after half-time and once the third goal went in, it was hard for captain scott carson to rally the troops. while they were still in with a shout to keep the scoreline respectable, the spirit was gone and you could see that they just wanted to get out of this one and concentrate on their home opener against sunderland next week.

the last three chelsea goals were scored by a team that was really playing exhibition football by this point, showing the albion in very plain terms some of the worst of what this league has in store for them.





if there was anything positive to be taken from this game it was the performance of jerome thomas on the left-wing, who picked his game up right where he left off, with his pace always posing a threat. he was the only albion player who was consistently getting forward and able to advance the ball with several really good individual runs. simon cox, who came on as a substitute alongside ishmael miller, looked good in getting in a shot on the chelsea goal, showing hints that he might have something special about him at any level of football, and marek cech is a solid and well rounded technical player.

i was less upset with the baggies' performance today than i was with di matteo's team selection, which i see as the real culprit in west brom's opening day humiliation. the big complaint and main talking point prior to the start of the season - and even reaching as far as di matteo himself - has been the baggies' need for a quality striker. well i for one have had enough and don't want to hear another word until the gaffer gets his tactics and positions with the current squad straight!