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this was - in every way - a better than average, although very typical PREMIER LEAGUE match between two teams who look, at the moment, like finishing somewhere mid-to-top table without actually breaking into the top six. as such, it was an entertaining, well played game that saw both teams with chances to win it late-on. it was both engaging and exciting. not that everyone was brilliant or there weren't any mistakes or poorly played passes; but the second-half , especially, was a display of some really cracking, determined football.a tale of two media
as i do every saturday, i woke up, had a shower, got my coffee and tuned in the ALBION PLAYER transmission. there was no live TV broadcast in my area, so i took the game in, as i usually would, listening to the ALBION RADIO while watching the spurs/villa match on SETANTA SPORTS CANADA out of the corner of my eye.
there was a delayed TV broadcast at 8.30 PM (EST) so i did ultimately get a chance to see the match. the surprising thing was how different the two experiences were. on TV this was a terrific match that ended with both teams pushing for the win and creating chances at both ends. as digital-audio-commentary it was characterized by the announcers as having been a "dreadful game of football" with little to recommend it at the sound of the final whistle.
indeed, ALBION RADIO had been such a negative listening experience that the true quality of the match was a delightful surprise when i did finally see it. however, i couldn't figure out why dave bowler and john dunn had found it to be a match of such relatively poor quality when in fact it was a really fine example of competitive PREMIER LEAGUE football?
where the last two encounters between these two sides produced a couple of listless draws in the premiership campaign of 2008-09, both teams have improved considerably and each have new managers who have brought new character and talent to their respective clubs.
bolton may have once have been a one-dimensional team, relying on physical play, attacking from the back and the use of the long ball in getting forward. but, they are now - and especially with the arrival of martin petrov - a side that play more than a little bit of football up front, with a really superb target-man in kevin davies. surprisingly and despite a string of draws in their recent results, they possess the 4th best attack in the league at the moment.
contrarily, the albion have always relied on control of the football and superior time in possession, with a smart passing game through the midfield. roberto di matteo is now in charge at the hawthorns, and while maintaining the excellence of the midfield, he has transformed the team to be a much better defensive side, who themselves have found a first-rate striker in peter odemwingie. the albion have surprisingly been the PREMIER LEAGUE's form team since the last international break. di matteo has been named PREMIER LEAGUE MANAGER-OF-THE-MONTH for september, and odemwingie the PLAYER-OF-THE-MONTH.
with jerome thomas out due to a minor leg injury, graham dorrans - who has still to find consistent form in the premiership - was played on the left-wing, alongside an accompanying midfield of paul scharner, chris brunt and james morrison. of course, youssouf mulumbu was in his regular holding position in front of the back four. gabriel tamas was back in the team, after having missed the arsenal game through injury. the gaffer seems to have an otherwise established back-line of gonzalo jara, jonas olsson and the excellent nicky shorey at left-back.
chris brunt, who i fear goes terribly underrated by the albion supporters sometimes, had a great game start to finish. while the northern ireland international was outstanding as both right and left-winger last year, in the medium of the PREMIER LEAGUE he looks to me to have finally stamped his name on the central attacking midfield role ahead of graham dorrans.
my suspicion about dorrans - and while his performance in the second-half against birmingham city had seen him begin to exert his influence and show momentary flashes of the brilliance which we all know he is capable - has yet to really make the adjustment from the CHAMPIONSHIP to PREMIER LEAGUE football. judging from his performance against blues - and in the top-flight - his natural skill, guile and pace might be most effective being played on the wing. there's no doubt that he was out of sorts against bolton, his first touch completely eluding him and his confidence unusually lacking. but then, there's just some days where nothing works and you've just got to write it off and move on.
in the CHAMPIONSHIP, dorrans was successful by virtue of the more open nature of the game at this level. he could control the ball, stand-off a defender and dictate both the direction and pace of play. the PREMIER LEAGUE however, is much more unrelenting, the defenders quicker and more skilled in shutting down the play. also, the young, scottish international carries expectations that he didn't have to deal with he when he joined the team during the PREMIER LEAGUE campaign of 2008-09.
in truth, he looks yet to have played enough and seems under some small amount of personal and professional pressure. chris brunt, on the other hand, looks composed and ready to play in the top-flight this time around.
and maybe this is why the ALBION RADIO commentary was so negative. west brom supporters are unusually attached to their talismanic players; and the under-performance of a fan favourite tends to reflect in their minds on the quality of the whole team. bob taylor, for example, played on some of the worst albion teams of all time. however, he is arguably remembered with a greater fondness than any other player of the last twenty years. consequently, so too are those that played alongside him.
youssouf mulumbu was given the albion MAN-OF-THE-MATCH award in this one, and while the congolese midfielder turned in his usual performance of tackling anything that came into his area, his distribution was poor and clearances no better than routine.
on quality of individual performance, chris brunt rightfully should have got the nod, but he has never been an overwhelming fan favourite; and having been given the central attacking role over a popular player like dorrans is never going to sit well with the baggies faithful no matter what he produces.
also, these are the kind of games - and bolton one of the teams - that the baggies are going to find the most difficult to get results from this year. the trotters are a bigger than average, very physical team whose first aim is to disrupt the rhythm and tempo of the opposition and attempt to bombard the opposing penalty area with a menacing aerial attack. they were very forceful in holding manchester united to a draw last weekend, so this has to be taken as a good result by the albion.
true to their form in constantly needing to come from behind, the baggies trailed in this match on a goal by johan elmander in the 63rd minute. the 29-year-old swedish striker had slipped into an open space behind his marker, gabriel tamas, and kevin davies showed his worth in playing a short-touch pass that left nothing more for elmander to do than blast the ball past an isolated scott carson.
a few minutes later, tamas again made a poor play in failing to clear against the on-rushing martin petrov. scott carson came out of his goal well, forcing the bulgarian to shoot wide and maintain the single goal deficit.
the baggies responded with some excellent wide, hold-up play by peter odemwingie in the 73rd minute. the nigerian striker showed patience and skill in recieving a pass down the right flank, taking on his defender, maintaining possession and waiting for the run of james morrison before crossing the ball for the scottish international to head home from about 5 yards out.
there were close calls at both ends before the final whistle, and this was probably a deserved result. even with the added expectations of their historic win at arsenal, this was a point well earned in a game that will be more typical, i think, of what the baggies will have to deal with week in week out for the rest of the season.
as for dave bowler and john dunn's inexplicably negative attitude towards this match, i'm reminded that there is a pessimistic bite in all black-country humour, that if left unchecked - and on the subject of football especially - will translate into a hopeless, abject despair and misery no matter how well things are going.
at the end of this weekend's round of the PREMIER LEAGUE, west bromwich albion sit 6th in the table and are nearing the end of a very difficult set of away fixtures. nobody would have imagined this even three weeks ago, and there's a long way to go before the baggies can think about qualifying for europe. mssr's bowler and dunn have every right to be worried... i guess?!?
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