Too Much Too Soon?

Swansea City A.F.C. 3-1 WBA

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just as with last year's visit to the liberty stadium, the baggies conceded 3 goals and turned in what was undoubtedly their worst performance to date - and that was just the first 10 minutes!

it was a hard reminder of how difficult life in the world's top league can be and has set down a real challenge to the team's character.

to be fair, it won't seem such a bad result if they can go back to the hawthorns and get a result from the game with stoke on saturday. however - and as west bromwich albion supporters - we all know not to expect too much from a game with stoke city. this is a historically hard fixture for the baggies, with the potters being one of west brom's true bogey sides.

this was only the baggies' fourth loss of the season and only their second truly poor performance, having lost 3-0 to fulham earlier in the season. in a funny way, this loss to the swans puts the earlier loss to the cottagers into a clearer perspective and looking back on their visit to the west london should be a real lesson for steve clarke.



it has been west brom's style to defend with the back four playing in a fairly deep position. for the most part, it has worked well for them and is an essential component in the successful counter-attacking play that the baggies have employed this season. however, it has shown to be vulnerable when playing against an in form attacking side - especially when playing possession through the midfield - and the gaffer was astute in abandoning this and pushing the back four up to hold a much higher line in the second half. but by then the damage was already done.

the baggies pulled a goal back just on half-time through the effort and skills of chris brunt and romelu lukaku. brunt delivered a good ball on a corner kick in the dying seconds of the first half which fell for lukaku to smash home. it was as simple as that.

to their credit, the baggies adjusted well enough and were the better side for most of the second-half, but without the luck of the bounce and a poor performance from peter odemwingie, the goal that they needed to get back in the game never materialized.

as poor as the baggies were for the first half, swansea's crisp, quick passing game deserves some credit. to be fair, the home side came out and played with a level of skill and intensity that was as good as any football that the PREMIER LEAGUE has produced this year.

Sunderland A.F.C. 2-4 WBA

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the baggies continued their habit of breaking age-old hoodoos - as well as posting what was their second away victory of the season - by winning four games on the spin for the first time since the inception of the PREMIER LEAGUE.

sunderland is a side that is in a bit of a crisis at the moment. they are fairly sound defensively - as one would expect from a martin o'neill side - and the counter-attacking gambit that the baggie have used to great effect since the beginning of the season was never going to work at the stadium of light. but with the black cats having trouble creating scoring opportunities - and an even tougher time finding goals - this is a fixture that one would fully expect the baggies to go looking for full-points from.



while zoltan gera initially put the albion in front just on the half-hour mark, it was shane long's persistence that gave them real control of this encounter. chasing down a ball that most players would've given up on, the irish striker took full advantage when simon mignolet was unable to control chris brunt's through ball that should've been no more than routine cover. but long followed up, challenged the belgian goalie and walked the ball into the sunderland net for the goal from which martin o'neill's side would never really recover.

romelu lukaku scored the third baggies' goal from the penalty spot after liam ridgewell was fouled in the box.

while sunderland did get back into the game with a late goal that put the scoreline at 3-2, their push forward to find the equalizer left them open at the back and marc antoine fortuné made no mistake when the opportunity to restore the two goal lead that west brom had held for long parts of the match opened up for him on another baggies' counter attack. with only simon mignolet to beat, the french striker deftly curled the ball in at the far post to give the score-line its proper gloss. it was no more than west brom deserved.

WBA 2-1 Chelsea F.C.

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this was a fixture that you might have written off at the beginning of the season, but with the start that the albion have made in the league this year, they should be starting to believe that there's no such thing as "writing off" a game. i would never pretend that the baggies were the superior team on the day, or that there weren't periods - especially in the second-half - where chelsea weren't the better side and having the better of the play; but steve clarke is proving to be a masterful tactician, showing that he knows how and when to use his resources to best effect.

it's no secret that roy hodgson organized the baggies to be a very good defensive side. steve clarke has built on that foundation that has seen a more complete vision of football being played at the hawthorns, and tactics to deal with anything that the PREMIER LEAGUE can throw up. the baggies have now won this fixture two years running and deservedly so.

shane long put the baggies ahead just before the 10 minute mark, when james morrison played a perfect cross for the irish striker to head home in the 9th minute of the game. eden hazard equalized from a similar play just a little over 5 minutes before half-time on a ball played across the albion goal by cesar azpilicueta.


fernando torres was withdrawn before half-time, having looked listless and been largely ineffectual. especially when compared to the highly effective, hard-working and skilled play of shane long. daniel sturridge replaced torres and the chelsea attack improved a great deal. however, both the chelsea striker and winger, victor moses had crucial efforts thwarted by an in form boaz myhill, whose sharp shot-stopping has eased the problem of having ben foster out injured. a second late strike by sturridge flashed dramatically across the face of goal but went wide as the baggies held on for the win.