What's Goin' On!?!?!

with all the general changes in form, upsets, surprises; and on the tail of 2 wins in 3 by the baggies... i hardly know where to begin or direct this post and have probably started a draft of it 5 or 6 times already.

i am an eternal optimist as far as the baggies go - and the last 2 wins have been nothing short of thrilling - if not also absolutely necessary. added to the fact that both of the wins were achieved in high style, by a team that just would not be beaten or drawn on the day.

WBA 2-1 Manchester City

i was really expecting the baggies to win this one. just based on the odds that a football team playing as generally decent a level of football as the albion have played all year, cannot continue to not win games - it is just not possible. eventually the tide will have to change. we shall of course realize later on how much of a pivotal moment this was for the baggies; but what really impressed me at the time, was that it was done in the style of someone who will NOT be denied. as roman bednar ripped off his shirt in celebration of what was undoubtedly the winning goal in stoppage-time, it made me think of how many times i had seen teams like manchester united or liverpool win in similar fashion: the albion looked like winners all the way!!!

as well, luke moore showed us that at the moment he is the most knowledgeable and experienced forward on the team, and tony mowbray might have looked at partnering moore with miller as an attacking pair earlier on in the season. certainly moore's natural intelligence at the forward position would have been a good and instructive influence on miller's natural and prodigious physical strength and pace - miller just didn't have luke moore's smarts yet.

luke moore demonstrated this in his goal against man. city. giving us a sight as yet unseen this season - in that, a west brom forward was experienced enough to hold his run, stay on-side, then cut his run back to the inside in order to receive the pass in front of the trailing defender, before - and, with only the goalie to beat - he calmly slots the ball home in complete and relaxed control, showing nothing tentative or unsure about it: a thoroughly professional goal indeed.

and i've got to give it carson, whom i have been critical of all season, he is proving himself a really solid little goalie, who keeps everything very tidy with a good set of hands and doesn't let much get away or bounce around on him. and truthfully, he's looking better each time i see him. i'd stick with him for a couple of years and see how he develops. i've had a big turnaround on this one.

Chelsea 2-0 WBA

for whatever reason, i got up early and managed to hear the chelsea-albion match on the BBC radio 5live - a rarity indeed. too bad it just wasn't much of a match. indeed, it sounded like the gaffer had told them go out and have a defensive practice session, and we'll let beattie have a go at starting up front in a single striker formation. an excellent strategy that gives the goalie and the fullbacks a real workout - and lets the least senior of the strikers get a good stretch of what must have been some really challenging playing time. excellent tactic... key players rested and everyone focused on beating tottenham 2 days on - an absolute must win situation and i guess 2-0 down to chelsea isn't too bad, considering we've borne worse losses to lesser teams this year - and it might very well have been 4-0.

so, there were plenty of positives to take from this one; only thing is: brilliant management on a limited resource does not always make for great entertainment.

well done... blah blah blah...

WBA 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur

this is the one that made sense out of both the last 2 games, in that it answered (for those who may have had any doubts or misunderstood the gaffer's intentions in managing the chelsea match as an exercise in defensive harm reduction) what the the last 2 games had been about: despite a miserable winless streak the baggies have managed to keep up to the pack and not be cut adrift; and are on the verge of attaining the form they shall need to produce a successful a campaign and remain in the premier league: THE GREAT ESCAPE II...


harry redknapp is the most brilliant manager in all of english football. you could see this in the sweeping and shocking change that spurs underwent when he came on board as manager. the last few weeks have been a little bit of a dose of reality and nobody knows better than harry what he now needs to do the job. in fact, he managed the team well enough on the day that it took the albion 83 minutes to break-through against a team playing most of that time down to 10 men, through the sending off benoit assou-ekotto in the first half. in fact, this was rarely in evidence until the second albion goal when, with tottenham pressing men forward for an equalizer, morrison took a long pass in the box and with beattie combined for a simple well taken goal in stoppage-time, and put the finishing touches to the albion's first multiple-goal victory of the year.


we finally got a look at cech in this game; and i thought he played really well; however, he was hardly a replacement for robinson, as he looked a player of much more versatile ability than robbo; and at his best moments looked much more an attacking mid-fielder than anything else. he looked as though he might prove a most useful asset and be possessed of a possible scope of play that is yet unrealized, that would allow him to play either at the back or in the mid-field. i still wish jonathan greening would get forward and be generally more attack minded in his game. he is probably the team's best all around player, is a captain who comports himself well with referees - always representing the team with dignity and with firm yet respectful manner. he is a sturdy, steadying effect and influence pushing short passes around in mid-field and generally directing traffic looking for openings and players moving into space; but, i think that jonno is a more talented player who brings an intensity and grit to the attack when playing higher up and getting into the box; and he improves the attack substantially in this role. this was very clear in the portsmouth game. i shall re-iterate and hope that TM gets on his back about it, because he should be scoring 5-10 more goals a year than he does now. that would, of course, require a substantial change in his present contributions, but i think he probably has the talent and should be exploring the potentials.

Learning to Live in a Changing World

i've turned around on so many points in the last weeks - and likewise have been turned around by a good deal of what has been going on in the league this holiday season. firstly, i can definitely say that the hull city bubble has burst. whatever merit, inspiration and hope can be taken from a 4-3 defeat to man united at old trafford - or a tough point won 2-2 at anfield; both results are somewhat diminished by a telling 5-1 trouncing at the hands of one of the league's 2 great schizophenics: man. city (with sunderland being the other). this is no doom and gloom that i'm predicting for them - and there may be some real excitement from the tigers yet, that could come in any form, at any time, in any competition with which they are involved. i just think that they have taken the high-scoring, shoot-it-out championship league style that they play, and translated it into something of a success in the premiership. however, i think they have taken it as far as they can; and will now have to adapt their game more to the style of the top flight.

i predicted, that west ham were soon to be seeing life from the vantage point of being in the bottom three of the league. while my prediction of a series of low-scoring, draws and losses has held generally true - they come out and utterly surprise me with a 4-1 away win at portsmouth (and their current form is something else altogether!). sunderland have convinced me - that whether schizophrenic or not - they have enough potential results in them to keep them out of a struggle against relegation. i cannot say the same for either of their northeast neighbours: middlesborough and newcastle - while both being decidedly gritty teams, capable of good results - i think that both clubs are in trouble and will be involved in avoiding the drop. stoke is just plain finished. their form will continue to let them down more as time drags on and they too will be struggling to avoid relegation.

the league is so tight this year - without any truly bad teams (just a few poor performances) and it's quite possible, that if the top 10 keep each other tied up with draws - and the bottom 10 keep nicking major points every few weeks - it's quite possible that a team might require as many as 40 points to avoid relegation. if the first half of the year is any indication of what's coming up in the second half - the relegation struggle will be changing complexion weekly and will no doubt go right down to the wire.

at the moment, and at the other end of the table - i'm picking villa for a top four spot finish; as well as fulham and wigan to be battling for sixth and seventh spot in the final standings. but that's only this week, and subject to change with the prevailing winds. in as tight a division as the premier league has become this year, that's just something i've got to learn to live with.

thank god for the distraction of this weekend's upcoming fa cup games, and we can all forget about the bloody premier league for a few days.

Woes of a North American Supporter

as hard as it is to be a baggies fan this year - it is even harder to remain a hard core supporter of any of the less high-profile or lower league clubs, when you live in north america - and that includes just about every team outside the BIG 4. even top-flight teams like villa or spurs are not always in regular rotation on the basic cable broadcasts (3 premiership matches per week - 2 on saturday and 1 on sunday with no repeats); and don't appear to have active supporters clubs here. in a sport where most clubs get relegated sooner or later - and where i live - if that is ever your team's fate - it means virtually losing your team altogether, as the football league and the currently operating TV networks have yet to provide any extensive television coverage here for any of the english game that takes place outside the premiership. there is also no international online radio coverage, except through the clubs themselves' websites, only available to fully paying site members and is heavily controlled by the football league and FA through the use of digital restrictions management. in this way - and still in the days when we were just beginning to get football every week in the form of week-old broadcasts of "match-of-the-day" - i lost the baggies from 1986-2001, and had gone through spells supporting coventry city (on account of cyrille regis), then wimbledon, and i ultimately developed a pretty fair passion for sheffield wednesday, who themselves eventually disappeared into the lower leagues and were not possible to follow in any informed way anymore.



i don't know the exact numbers - but setanta and fox-sports between them (and at considerable extra cost to me as a cable-TV subscriber) only broadcast perhaps a dozen championship and/or league 1 matches a year; and the only real look we get of any clubs outside the premiership, comes through the modest number of FA CUP games that we see after the 3rd round proper - and the promotion playoffs at the end of the year, which, happily, are all broadcast live. we do, on the other hand, have the opportunity of seeing every single fixture from the premiership, either live, or at some point throughout the ensuing week in repeat.

on top of this, all BBC online radio broadcasts of local matches are blocked to non-UK users. this means, for example, that if a west brom, walsall or wolves match is broadcast on black country radio online - the stream is cut off at the international servers. i doubt very much that has anything to do with the BBC - as i'm sure they'd be happy to stream us the broadcasts (we get the internationals, premiership rugby, and rugby league), but the copyright holders (football league, the FA, the premiership?!?!) all obviously believe in trying to exert as much control over their product and access to it as they can; probably somehow believing that allowing for international audio broadcast of english football over the internet would interfere with TV revenues in their important markets (i.e. australia, new zealand).

as well, the online radio broadcasts that are offered by the clubs through their official premiership and football league websites are available only to full paying members. this i don't have so much of a problem with, i think it merely reflects the extensive influence of outmoded and non-creative thinking that leads to the use of what amounts to online cottage-industry business models applied to a product that is worth a whole hell of a lot more and could be distributed better, more freely - and certainly more to everyone's overall satisfaction. after all, this is professional football, and not online pornography (which depends on membership fees to sites for its revenue); and as such, with its large potential listening markets they should be giving us the matches for free and looking towards creating more valuable online advertising space, and direct marketing of subsidiary products, as their means of revenue. not to do so, is to be practicing a ridiculous, pathologically corporate, corrupted post digital, backwards - and probably ultimately detrimental - greed over what really amounts to control over chump change (relatively speaking). but it must be in their DNA and they don't know how to think in any other way: never give anything away for free! etc. etc... what i really object to is the use of DRM (digital restrictions management) softwares as a way of restricting the users actually accessing hard data for copying or redistribution of the content, and that it helps microsoft, and its proprietary cohorts (Adobe, Apple, Sony...) to re-enforce their near monopoly on all things computer related.

RICHARD STALLMAN ON DRM

as if it just isn't bad enough that the media is only accessible through using microsoft software (MAC and Linux are not supported), and that they engage in DRM, but the professional football industry has not yet figured out what the online pornography industry has understood for a long time: last week's action is obsolete, and everyone who uses the service will be back next week (even with a membership fee required) to listen/watch/download new content. in this way, sports events are very different than a film, or musical recording; and in terms of content, actually devalues (relative to its initial worth) at a quicker rate than that of online pornography; but unlike pornography it helps to create markets for other, directly related, diversified, tie-in merchandise; especially shirts, scarves and other portable regalia; as well as increasing the worth of their advertising space thousands of times over. i mean, i spent enough money at the west brom online shop buying shirts this year - and i buy plenty of replica jerseys, dvds, books etc. all of which the governing bodies of english football - as well as the clubs - see revenue from through licensing and copyright etc. how much more from me do you want that you can't let the BBC radio broadcast matches online to international listeners?

i feel - like many of you probably do as well - doubly disappointed in this season, as we were expecting to make enough of a mark that we'd at least survive; and so far, it has been quite the contrary despite all the good passing, and possession football that we play - we're quickly beginning to look doomed to a return to the championship and - in terms of results - suffering a truly miserable season in the process. a return to the championship, which - would be a hell of a lot more fun for those of you with the good fortune to be able to go to the hawthorns live; or those of you in europe who seem to have access to enough media, that no matter where you live, you can still follow the baggies on TV or radio. all i'm left with is the live text scores on BBC and to hoping once again, for promotion and get the baggies back on TV. the last 2 years that the albion were in the championship, with the manchester united or liverpool match in the corner of my eye, playing on the televison, i would spend 2 hours at the computer every weekend reading the minute-by-minute action as it came in on the live-text page, continually hitting my "refresh" button screaming, "c'mon you bag-gies!!!!", dreaming of how good it was gonna' be to have west brom back in the premier league and back on the weekly TV broadcasts again... now that's been a real let down!

Keeping the Faith

i've been looking at the west brom posts on the BBC boards today and i'm sticking to my guns and staying positive, despite the massive let-down of not having beaten pompey on sunday; and today's news that ishmael miller is gone for the season. because, whether we like it or not, this is still the best baggies team in years. tony mowbray has managed the club to its first trophy since 1968, and taken them to wembley twice; one of which was for an FA CUP semi-final; which, they probably should have won, and gone on to beat cardiff in the final (which would have duplicated their unique double of 1931). they then went on to have their best start ever in the premiership, before they stalled in a drought, unable to score; and despite playing well, have gone on a tense, frustrating and very unlucky 2 month long winless streak.

the cliches about lack of finishing, lack of strikers, and how the baggies are playing attractive, attacking football, and dominating matches to no effect are piling up and beginning to seem tedious, just when we need to "keep the faith", so to speak, and continue to analyze what we are doing right (if only to keep our spirits up and generate some encouragement) and remember why we are baggies supporters in the first place! then maybe there's the question: why is someone 1500 miles away, and never been to the hawthorns, sitting here, half paying attention to the chelsea-cluj CHAMPIONS LEAGUE match on TV, sitting blogging intently on west bromwich albion?

i love the albion - and i depart from family traditions on this point - with ipswich town on one side; and my nan and her second husband being season ticket-holders at fratton park for many years, on the other. to me, the albion represent something that is lost in the BIG 4/CHAMPIONS LEAGUE world of today. i admire deeply that a club maintains a mandate to play attractive, attacking, passing football and doesn't deviate from its traditions whatever its fortunes. they are a club that generally operates within its means and looks for players and management that share the club philosophy and will continue to promote the ideal of an entertaining, attacking, and intelligent footballing team. they also have the best - and perhaps some of the most knowledgeable - supporters of any large team in the country. for me, the issue of being a baggies supporter has everything to do with the admiration of integrity.

to me, west bromwich albion will always be that team of the late 70s, which - like so many albion teams before and since - never quite saw its potentials fulfilled and fell short of the FA CUP final one year, and then missed out on winning the LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP the next. but it is the memory of that team, and the traditions that the club maintains to this day that make me a baggies fan; and the only reason that i really care at all that they stay in the premiership is so that i can see them on TV each week - as i have never been able to find a hack that allows me to listen to the radio broadcasts at BBC online. last year, i only saw maybe 2 baggies league games all year, and i was lucky enough that they went on a cup run as i was able to see them play on 3 or 4 other occasions through televised cup ties - including the heartbreak of the semi-final. mostly though i had to follow the matches through the live text scores on the BBC, and was eagerly looking forward, all year long, to yet another crack at establishing the team in the premiership, and facilitate their return to weekly television football broadcasts.

i would find it sad - if i thought (and maybe i already do) that a club of the stature and tradition of west bromwich albion might never reach the top of the english football ladder again (or at least, in my lifetime), and re-establish themselves as a consistent top flight team; and that all there is to look forward to is a perpetual up and down existence, with the possibility of more lower league trophies... maybe an FA or LEAGUE CUP run... some time - i dunno'... that would still be great - but something about english football will have changed and sadly, some of its character will have gone forever, its soul consumed by international corporate hype and billionaire hubris.

tony mowbray is a great manager, and if you compare his demeanor and general attitude with that of the other managers dealing with struggling situations in the premiership, there's worlds of difference. i cannot believe that any baggies fan is calling for him to be sacked - and to be replaced by someone so unrealistic and inappropriate as sam allardyce(!?!) or articles calling for jeremy peace to come up with ten-million quid for a tried and true "super-striker". this is just not in the spirit of the albion and we are succumbing to premier league obsession and hype. last year, i remember that gareth southgate came under fire with middlesborough supporters calling for his resignation or sacking very early in the season, due to a string of poor early results. this year, he's got the team up in and around the top half and no one's got a problem. paul ince is looking worried and desperate (even terrified at times), sunderland doesn't even have a manager since keane walked out last week, and zola looks like he's going to manage west ham right down to the bottom of the table with a string of (predicted) upcoming losses and low-scoring/goalless draws - in fact, zola doesn't really look much the part of a manager at all to me. but tony mowbray looks calm, makes fair and generous assessments of his teams situation and performance, and he's sure to be encouraging with his club in spite of the results. i know he's got the team behind him and he might just end up being the reason we'll be able to drag ourselves up and out of last place, and perhaps avoid relegation - provided that that opportunity is still there.


one of the things that nobody has really mentioned anywhere that i look, is the fact that there are no out and out bad teams in the premier league this year. without someone like derby was last year, i can see a team perhaps needing as much as 40 points to avoid relegation. that's a much more competitive competition than it was last year - and we have had no luck at all this last couple of months. we're going to have to go on a couple of short winning runs, consolidated with some draws - before we can realistically start talking about survival; and it just might be too late already.

it's a cliche to say so, but the chinese word for "crisis" and "opportunity" are the same. looking at today's news that ishmael miller is out for the season is definitely what i call a crisis. i'm not sure that i would keep with the single striker formation that the albion has been playing lately, as it requires miller's pace to work (as became evident to me in the portsmouth match) and could be quite effective, especially with greening pushing into a forward position on the controlled, passing, possession attacks. i had been critical of this all year, thinking that surely 2 strikers is more in keeping with the albion style (i remember them playing 3 strikers at times last year). but the incisive passing and miller's pace had me seeing what mowbray had been working on, and i really enjoyed the play, especially in the first half. tony mowbray was right when he said that it would not be possible for a team to keep playing as high a quality of football as the baggies are and not start to win eventually, and we are so overdue for a win that i can't see us not beating sunderland this weekend - and that would be a start and create a much better feeling about last weeks performance against pompey as well.

which brings us around to the question: who are we going to do it with? i'd give keily a start in goal for one thing, just as a way of shaking things up; as carson looks unsure of anything other than high-crosses coming at him in the 6-yard box. it's pretty obvious that we'll see luke moore, at some point - and i imagine that that will be sooner than later. i don't really know what to expect from him, i haven't seen enough of him, that i can remember, to have any real impression. he looks good enough on paper, but the lack of time that mowbray has given him makes me a bit suspicious. but then again, i have a suspicion that TM was paying too much attention to ishmael miller, as it is obvious the belief that he has in him; and i suspect if TM has a weakness, it is too much attention payed to his works-in-progress. of course, i'm hoping moore comes on and makes some immediate and heroic impact - but that is just probably wishful thinking. i have to believe that they're going to go for a standard 4-4-2 with moore and bednar up front. but then again, we're down to just the 2 strikers so they may keep working on the single-striker formation with jonathan greening pushing forward into the box on attack. actually i think that a more consistently attacking greening is the key to getting the team going, and i think mowbray probably knows this too and gets on jonno's back about it - i hope that greening is listening and realizes what he's got to do. because if he starts scoring more regularly, so will morrison, brunt and koren, all of whom are capable of spectacular goals if they can get into space. if luke moore can score and set people up in space, and meite, olsson and robinson can keep carson from having to deal with too much at the back. we might start to turn it around.

Miller Gone for the Season

well, that's it... the gods of football are just not with the albion this year. the scans on ishamel miller's knee have revealed that the injury he sustained in sunday's match with pompey is not the medial ligament damage (with a minimum of 6 weeks recovery) that TM was expecting immediately following the match when talking to the press. it is much worse. the scans showed that the injury is actually cruciate knee ligament damage that will put miller out for the rest of the season, with a projected recovery time of 6-9 months.

the saddest aspect of this, i think, is that it looked a ball he should never have gone after so vigorously. but to his credit, i think he felt that a goal was coming and he was on pace, looking the most likely to finish in a series of fast breaking moves at goal that the baggies fashioned in the last 20 minutes of the game. his enthusiasm got the better of him and was mangled in going for a ball that always looked to be the portsmouth keeper's, david james. miller got his leg stuck under the sprawling, outstretched james as his body twisted awkwardly forward, causing him to take a head-over-heels tumble with his right leg still trapped, causing the injury. he also required a few stitches in his head.

the great shame of all this is that miller, after a slow start to the season, has scored 3 goals in 7 matches and has been improving with each subsequent performance. he was positively menacing and had been getting by far the better of the play against veteran pompey full-back and england international, sol campbell all day. you could see that he felt that he was on a goal after forcing a good save from david james; and had also managed to get on the end of a couple of good balls into the box. the biggest disappointment, i think, is that it takes miller out of the game at the worst possible time - not only to the baggies season; but as a professional footballer, it's possible that the development, experience and playing time he will miss could have a permanent affect on seeing him reach his true potential as a premier league heavy-weight. he will have lost an entire year now, in a profession that by nature sees generally short careers at the very top-flight. for his own sake, i hope he keeps his head together, but for a 21 year old - and in the game of football, 9 months is an eternity. there is only a certain number of years in your 20s that you can be as big, strong and fast as miller is right now - and he is at one of those crucial junctures where learning his craft is of the essence, and timely recovery and a good head-space is going to be critical for him.

as for the rest of us, i hope he comes back to the game and fulfills his potentials with only some time lost. i've seen too much football in my time that featured short careers and unfulfilled potentials. although it's far too early to be even talking about writing a guy off at 21, there is no telling of what the long term consequences might be, especially psychologically. there's the rest of the season gone - and with whatever might happen to the baggies from here on out - miller will not be a factor and will never know what he might have contributed and gone on to from his recent and developing goal-scoring form.

The Day After Miller's Injury

well, now we have to deal with the aftermath and look at some hard facts. it was all just talk and speculation immediately following the match yesterday, but ishmael miller - who has looked better and better with each passing game, and was positively menacing in yesterday's unlucky draw with portsmouth - is going to be out for at least 6 weeks. for one thing, that forces the club to go looking for a striker this january (something they were probably going to do anyway) - and its going to give us a chance to have a look at luke moore. who knows? while it appears to be a devastating blow (and i for one believe it is), it could be one of those strange blessings in disguise.

i have absolute belief in tony mowbray, insofar as he is completely in tune with the club's philosophy and style; but, i have my suspicions that he might sometimes spend too much attention to his works in progress, which distracts him from giving a look to other things - and most certainly, miller is his biggest and most potentially promising project at the moment. don't get me wrong! i'm a huge miller fan and i would probably give him the same attention if i were in TM's place - and he was really playing his part in making the single striker formation, that i have heretofore been critical of, start to work really well. but i have to add, while it's miller's pace that makes this type of attack so potentially dangerous, it is the element of jonathan greening getting into a forward position on attack that makes it really work. it was so evident in the first half of the match with pompey, and i hope both manager and player realize it!

although yesterday's draw felt like a loss rather than a point gained - there were plenty of positives (as there have been with more than a few lost or drawn performances this year) to take from yesterday's encounter. so much so that it is becoming a maddening cliche to say so. i mean, even against the big teams like chelsea, where i sat for the first 20 minutes just thinking it a matter of time before albion scored the first goal, the team often dominates the play but doesn't score. i've heard too many varying opinions on the subject, and too many ridiculous ideas about what should be done.

there's been so much talk about strikers this year. but i think the scoring problem goes further than that. the problem is, that we're not scoring enough from anywhere. our total tally of goals scored isn't much bigger than our list of actual goal-scorers. with greening pressing forward into the box - they should be looking to make scoring opportunities for brunt, valero, koren, zuiverloon and morrison, as well. with greening now, this is the first new scorer to add to the list since olsson scrambled that winner against fulham the first weekend of october! that now makes 6 goal-scorers in all - and i think that 5 of them should be working harder to be regular contributors (and koren needs to pop one in now and then) when it comes to finishing - especially greening. he should be like old tony brown and right up there in the box on attack. perhaps with miller unavailable, one or two true heroes can step up and get things turned around.

i was also heartened to hear greening in the press today, saying that there is still good feeling around the club and they're pretty confident about avoiding relegation. that i think is another testament to tony mowbray's style of management. he'll be very sure to keep letting everyone kow how well they are playing despite the poor results - and the players probably know it too.

as i write, the tottenham/west ham match has just ended and i've changed my mind since yesterday. i think it's more likely that we will find ourselves in a four-way battle to avoid the drop with blackburn, sunderland and west ham. so we could still be in for some excitement yet.

WBA 1-1 Portsmouth

today's match with portsmouth showed all the team's strengths - as well as (at least in some small measure) its weaknesses too; and tells us pretty fairly where we stand. i feel vindicated - as a long time supporter of his - that greening played so well in the first half and got the goal. i can't understand any of the knocks that he's gotten from fans this year. personally, i think he's the only one on the squad, at the moment, who consistently looks a premiership player week in and week out. despite dropping back into a midfield position in the second half, where he seemed to disappear a little bit he was effective enough - as always doing his part in the series of quick, incisive breaks that the albion created in the latter part of game.

even though there were the wasted finishes that we have all become used to seeing this year, the real problem that i could see today was, that going into the second half with a 1-0 lead, the baggies just weren't quite sure on how to play it. i mean the peter crouch goal, it was really quite a spectacular, and unstoppable shot - especially with the unfortunate flick it took off meite, redirecting the ball enough to send it over the outstretched carson; but it was the evidently less decisive and controlling play on the part of the albion at the the outset of the second half that allowed crouch the opportunity. that is really what led to the pompey goal. the baggies just didn't seem to know how to carry on straight-off with the way they had played in the first half - and it took the first fifteen minutes or so to re-establish themsleves when what they needed to do was keep going straight at pompey with miller and greening pushing forward looking for the second goal to put game beyond reach.

there's been so much talk about strikers with the faithful lately, as miller is still learning his craft and bednar is having trouble adjusting to the tempo of the premiership game, but i felt after watching today, it is our defensive play that is weakest - and especially in goal. i think meite played well on the right, and there were no real dangerous mistakes by robinson - although he has been displaying some bizarre decision making, and his outbursts probably don't help - but i have real questions about carson. a goalie should be directing things at the back and being decisive about indicating who should be coming for and taking the ball. i think that with the line-up at the back as it was today, mowbray's got it just about right with meite, olsson and robinson covering the central positions, but there's just nobody running the defense and we came within inches of repeating last week's performance when he bobbled that cross on the line. he also doesn't seem to have much of an eye for starting any moves forward. he is the main reason why our best defense is to stay on the attack and control the ball in midfield.

that's not to say that we don't need to start scoring more goals, but a clean sheet today would have preserved a victory - even though it never looked to be a low-scoring game, that's the way it turned out - and successful teams know how to win in the end on the unluckiest of days. yesterday's man. united match was a perfect example. they just could not put the ball into the sunderland net when they might have had at least 2 or 3, and they only just managed to win in injury-time.

we'll have to see about miller - i havent heard anything yet about his injury (and i'm checking the BBC every few minutes at this point) but he's going to be sorely missed if he's out for any length of time, and i thought he had a great game today. he should never have gone after that ball, but i guess that's just reflects his youthful enthusiasm and really wanting to score.

there's no doubt pompey played pretty abysmal football in the first half, and the baggies looked better than the 1-0 scoreline, and i still i can't really understand why greening didn't keep pressing forward in the second half, as it was the inability to get the second goal before the pompey equaliser that cost them the win. i think that TM should encourage him to go forward, in the tradition of tony brown - whose style (which was thought revolutionary at the time) was always to play the midfield as an attacking position. koren and valero, i thought were adequately improved at winning balls in the midfield; and koren looks to be adapting to the speed of the premiership, and that should leave greening free to go forward more.

brunt and morrison provided some really good wing play throughout (on the left and right respectively). it was of course brunt's brilliant free-kick that led to the greening goal, and i was surprised that morrison was so effective playing down either side - as i noticed him more and more coming down the left wing when greening had moved back into midfield. late in the game, he played a tremendous left-footed cross-field ball for bednar in a buildup that ended with brunt missing a great opportunity for a second goal... really entertaining stuff - just not winning stuff, yet.

again, on terms of performance of passing football it was a heartening display and i can see yet further improvement today at getting the ball into the box; but the baggies are now beginning to look pretty firmly established as the bottom team in the league, and i can't see anything more than a fight with blackburn and sunderland as to the order of finish for the bottom three. but more on their long term fate later...

Man. United 3-5 WBA