Arsenal F.C. 2-3 WBA

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the baggies have overcome the logic of history and beaten arsenal at home for the first time since the 1983, many years before advent of the PREMIER LEAGUE and the north londoners had relocated to their present home at the emirates stadium. the albion have beaten two of the biggest teams in the world inside the space of 4 days and there is now no doubt that this is the best baggies side since cyrille regis was with the club, and the gunners still played at highbury.

there are those who will long point to the rejuvenation of the club under gary megson as the high point in management at the hawthorns for the last 20-30 years, but roberto di matteo is rapidly proving his worth as a manager of the first order, and his successes have been more than good fortune or a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

there is no doubt that whatever remains of the team that tony mowbray built, it has now been transformed into a more complete footballing side without having lost the original mandate to play good passing possession football with an emphasis on attack.

di matteo has added considerably to the organization of the team and built the best defensive line since the days of john wile and alistair roberton. the baggies have a mid-field that is competitive with just about anyone in the top-flight, and a crew of strikers featuring a target-man who has been scoring freely since his arrival at the hawthorns. where key figures like chris brunt, youssouff mulumbu, marek cech, james morrison and graham dorrans remained to form the central core of the playing squad, this is di matteo's team and plays to his vision of the game.



when he arrived at the club following tony mowbray's departure for an unsuccessful spell as manager at celtic, di matteo's impact was immediate. he reinvigorated the spirit of players who'd become unhappy and didn't see enough playing time under tony mowbray, and began his tenure with a 9-game unbeaten run capped by a superb 5-0 away win at middlesbrough.

still, mowbray had been a very popular manager for taking the baggies into the CHAMPIONSHIP play-off final and then the PREMIER LEAGUE; and he was regarded with a great deal of respect for being a man of principle who would not resort to poor or ugly tactics, was unfailingly loyal to his starting eleven, and stuck to his game-plan. di matteo has proved a more pragmatic manager, ready to take chances, make changes and seeks victory above all. i'm not sure, for example, that either gary megson or tony mowbray would have the vision, nerve or will to make the the half-time changes that di matteo has made somewhat of a trademark in his management style.

after all, it was a change at half-time in a match last year that led to the gaffer's use of the 4-5-1 setup that served the baggies so well in the second-half of last season's CHAMPIONSHIP campaign. likewise, there were major changes he made at half-time against both tottenham and birmingham city that turned the course of the match and produced a draw and a win respectively.

a highly improved defense - stilled marshalled by jonas olsson - and the arrival of nigerian international striker, peter odemwingie, has seen the quality of the team improve. the baggies are playing very much like they did last season, and have a shown a tendency to concede first, only to reply with two or three goals themselves.

i can't really remember how many times they did this last year. i myself was present at three matches (plymouth argyle, doncaster rovers, blackpool) where they went behind early and scored 3 goals in response. although albion teams have been doing this since the 1950s, the PREMIER LEAGUE of 2010 is probably not the ideal place to continue this practice. it does, however, make for the kind of exciting football that west bromwich albion were once famous for.



the overall effect of di matteo's improvements to the team is a side with enough depth and skill that no one is ever conspicuous by being absent from the line-up. last year, for example, alarm bells would have gone off at graham dorrans, chris brunt or youssouff mulumbu being out of the team. this year, every contingency is covered, a consistent feeling of optimism is running freely throughout the entire squad, and they are no longer dependent on the talent of given individuals to spark their game. this has largely been due to the addition of players like steven reid, paul scharner, somen tchoyi and nicky shorey now making the baggies a team of some fair depth.

with that said, the baggies held their own against an arsenal team that had the balance of control throughout the first-half, and avoided going behind as andre arshavin hit the post in the early minutes of the game. other than this - and despite massive difference in time on the ball - the albion held arsenal to nothing but specualtive, long-range efforts throughout the first period.

it was only a missed penalty by chris brunt, in fact, that kept the baggies from taking the lead after odemwingie was taken down in the box by goalie, manuel almunia. the spanish keeper rightfully should have been shown a red card, at this point, and was lucky to have been given the benefit of the doubt.

brunt's penalty was truly poor, and one could see the northern ireland international change his mind at the last moment as he tried to finesse the ball into the corner of the net rather than just hammer it as he had intended.

in the second-half the baggies took the game to the gunners and deserved their lead when jerome thomas cut down the bi-line brilliantly past defender, bacary sagna, sending in a low cross for peter odemwingie to poke the ball home. the albion went on from strength to stength and dominated the game for the next 20 minutes.

with arsenal still reeling from finding themselves trailing at home, chris brunt once again produced one of his moments of brilliance for which he gets far too little credit. with the ball out on the right wing, brunt worked a very clever back-heel on the return ball in a give and go that sent right back, gonzalo jara, in on goal. the chilean defender beat almunia on his inside-post with a shot the spaniard really could have stopped. inside of 10 minutes of the restart, the albion were quite incredibly two goals up.



this allowed the baggies to continually penetrate deep into the gunner's half on attack, and on 72 minutes, chris brunt made further amends for his first-half penalty miss. with the baggies threatening, the ball came to brunt in front of goal, but his first touch was heavy and appeared to be going out for a goal-kick. however, this pulled almunia out of position and a second touch put the ball beyond the now stranded keeper, leaving brunt merely to cross for jerome thomas to blast the shot into an open goal.

it was only at this point that arsenal were able to respond. with the baggies probably still in a state of disbelief at their three goal lead - as well as the reality of a historic victory now well within their grasp - they conceded to samir nasri after he had hit the cross-bar and the gunners were applying relentless and intense pressure on the albion goal. it was a great individual effort as the frenchman took on two defenders and blasted the ball into scott carson's top right-hand corner. with fifteen minutes left to play, you still couldn't count the gunners out of this one.

nasri again scored in the 91st minute to pull the arsenal to within a goal. in a moment where the baggies centre-halfs were pulled out of position by a direct attack on the albion penalty area, nasri got into the open space and was left with just carson to beat from about 6 yards out. the baggies were going to need to weather the storm for a suspiciously long 5 minutes of time added.

it was the greatest of relief to hear the final whistle. while the 2 goals by the gunners late-on certainly showed the quality of some of their individual players - which is a class apart from a club the size of west brom - the baggies were, without a doubt, the better team on the day. the pop pundits and publications will no doubt focus on how poor arsenal were rather than how good west bromwich albion was. but that completely ignores the fact that over the last three weeks of the PREMIER LEAGUE, the baggies have a better record than manchester united, chelsea, tottenham and arsenal. in fact, they have the best record of any team in the PREMIER LEAGUE since the international break.

as i keep on saying: this is a very good west brom side!

WBA 2-1 Manchester City F.C.

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while it probably wasn't something too many of us were expecting, and certainly wasn't much of a concern with the challenge of the PREMIER LEAGUE once again upon us, but with one more victory in this particular competition and the albion are on a cup run!

while the LEAGUE CUP has become, more and more, an unwelcome addition to the fixtures list, it is a good gauge as to how and where football is going (or maybe has already bloody gone!) in the early part of the 21st century.

the baggies beat the "richest team in the world" (and as such, one the few that actually needs to win this competition) in front of a pathetically small crowd of just over 10,000 at the hawthorns. having had 23,000 at the hawthorns for the league match on the previous saturday, this is overwhelming evidence that in the era of the season ticket culture, there is less and less interest in the domestic cup competitions, except as a back door to europe for the bigger clubs who might need it.

i think there is probably a general opinion that when it comes to the LEAGUE CUP, players, supporters and pundits of all kinds would say that there is too much football played in england today, and that a second domestic cup competition is superfluous and unnecessary. even with the incentive of a place in european competition to the winner, the point is largely moot as the CUP usually goes to a top-5 team anyway.

roberto di matteo made ten changes to the side that beat blues on the weekend - and if nicky shorey weren't the only fit left-back in the first-team, it would have been a fully changed starting eleven. it's a far cry from the 1970s when albion legend, john wile, would start all 60 fixtures in a season for the club.

i think it's fitting to invoke the footballing heroes of yesterday, as the baggies now look like a top-flight team capable of a cup run at any time, just as they were in the days of cyrille regis, tony brown and under the tenure of manager, ron atkinson.




the best player of the first-half was without a doubt semon tchoyi. making a series of terrorizing runs at the sky blues' defense down the left wing, the new albion man showed himself to be a player of pace and strength as, on several occasions, he took on multiple defenders and continually created problems for the city backs and their goalie, shay given.

in many ways, this was pretty classic cup fare. the first goal was a moment of world-class football that one might expect from a team with £100 million of talent sitting on the subs bench. brazilian striker, joao alves "jo", sent the ball flying into the albion net with an unstoppable shot on the turn from 20 yards out. it was the final product of a routine break on the heels of an albion corner-kick and could hardly be blamed on the baggies' defenders. a well directed flick saw the brazilian get the bounce of the ball on the edge of the box and it was simply a moment of top class finishing.

but the baggies are not the team that was here in 2008-09. even though its early days, there is a confidence in the side right now that a west brom side has never taken into the premiership before and it has pervaded in the first few cup games as well. a few more weeks and we get through the arsenal, bolton and manchester united fixtures, we'll know a little better where we are. but already, this is a good footballing side who've remained unfazed by going a goal down to both blues in the league and manchester city in the LEAGUE CUP and possess a sense of poise and top-flight stature that looks to be growing by the minute.

after the city goal the baggies came back with both semon tchoyi creating an opportunity for giles barnes which required a truly quality save from given; while a mesmerizing run by graham dorrans and a cross in for the head of roman bednar saw the ball go a few inches wide of the city upright. the veteran sky blues keeper showed why he has been one of the top goalies in the english game over the last ten years, and made it seem for awhile as if there might be no breakthrough for the baggies on a night of top class goalkeeping.





undismayed by the goalkeeping heroics and half-time deficit, the albion kept up their domination in possession and shortly after the restart, gianni zuiverloon took advantage of a slip by a manchester city defender on the edge of the box and blasted home for a more-than-deserved equalizer.

while it was clear that without having had any match-time this year both strikers were a little rusty, and this - along with shay given's superb performance in the manchester city goal - was also a factor in the baggies not running up a two or three goal lead. but there is something special about simon cox and i hope that di matteo can find use for him in the line-up on a more regular basis. in fact, he may have a very bright future as an impact player wherever his career takes him. without being the best player in the world, cox has the ability to consistently score goals at any level of football you might care to mention - the PREMIER LEAGUE included.

while there is still a long way to go, the baggies have started the season out really well, and have surprised more than a few pundits as well as some of their own hard-core supporters.

if the baggies can manage to get a good draw and make it into the last-eight teams, it will probably be worth focusing a little more effort into this particular competition. especially as cup runs will continue to give players like cox, bednar, tchoyi, meite and zuiverloon a chance to be involved in the team, playing competitive football and bringing real depth to a side that isn't the biggest squad in the first place.

i was really impressed after this performance. last year, i would worry about certain players not being in the side through injury or suspension; namely graham dorrans and chris brunt, but there were also time last year when the club was really struggling with the fitness of its strikers. this year, i think that the gaffer has done a first rate job with bringing in the players needed and keeping the core team from last year together around which to build.



while the practical outcome of this match is progression to the next round of the LEAGUE CUP, the performance of the albion second-team reverberates and speaks to their potential in the league as well. jerome thomas looks doubtful for saturday but i expect most of the squad who beat blues at the hawthorns last saturday to be starting at the emirates on the weekend.

BBC football prognosticator, mark lawrence, has predicted a 3-0 win to the gunners. while it is possible, the albion have nothing to lose going into this match and whatever they do (short of losing by 4 goals or more) there isn't much expectation for too many teams traveling to the emirates to take on the gunners in any competition anyway!

the last time the albion went to play arsenal the match ended 3-1, with chris brunt scoring a late consolation goal from a free-kick. i had always been impressed by that goal, as the baggies were on the wrong end of a lot of scoreless losses that season. i remember thinking, wow! what a great goal. if only they'd kept out the 3 at the other end they would have won that one!

there was little consolation in the last premiership campaign, but even arsene wenger knows that the albion - by virtue of how they've played their last three matches - are potentially one of the most difficult sides that the gunners will have had to face so far.

i look forward to seeing who we draw for the next round of the LEAGUE CUP too.

WBA 3-1 Birmingham City F.C.

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roberto di matteo outguessed me this week - and i have to admit, it worked!

i had given up on the 4-5-1 attacking formation; as had the gaffer to some extent, i think. at half-time against spurs he had the good sense to realize that peter odemwingie can't play on the wing. so, in starting both fortune and odemwingie (in a central position today) he had, more or less, returned to the idea of having two strikers and a formation resembling an orthodox 4-4-2.

the problem, as was evident in the first half of the match - and against a good defensive team like blues - was that this left the baggies being outplayed by a five-man midfield who were able to take their one opportunity, with cameron jerome tapping the ball into an open net on a well worked free-kick from sebastian larsson to give blues the lead through half-time.



while city dominated the first-half, it was a game of holding the ball in the midfield and the baggies still had the greater number of shots on goal. there was a decent long-range effort from chris brunt; as well as paul scharner getting on the end of a cross at the far post which he might have done better with, not realizing how much time he actually had; and a misplaced header from fortune on a cross from gonzalo jara also went narrowly wide.

unlike his predecessors, who tended to stick to principles and ideals rather than making tactical changes, roberto di matteo does take serious chances and will change tactics freely when he needs to. this tendency first became evident last season when he made the changes during a match that led to the current 4-5-1 setup to which he has since remained true.

he had found this necessary when jerome thomas was injured and he brought robert koren on to play right-wing. this moved chris brunt to the left-wing and the gaffer added a series of rotating midfield players (ben watson, steven reid, giles barnes, james morrison etc.) in place of the second striker. this remained their starting formation for the rest of the season - and to great success.



last week, against spurs, the gaffer finally realized that it was not a good idea to keep odemwingie out on the wing, since the nigerian striker has no idea how to track back and cover in this position. it was a fundamental weak-link and, in the bigger picture, was probably responsible for the loss to liverpool. with odemwingie in the centre behind fortune, the baggies dominated spurs in the second-half and really should have taken all three points.

today, with fortune not really able to get into the game and odemwingie looking the more enterprising and involved of the two strikers, di matteo returned to the full-blooded 4-5-1 with graham dorrans coming on replacing fortune for the restart. this proved a stroke of genius as the albion went about taking apart one of the best defenses in the premier league with its trademark attacking midfield.



graham dorrans, who seemed to struggle in the first few matches and was out of the side for the home match with tottenham, finally exerted his influence on the play with the baggies obviously the brighter team right from the kick-off of the second period. they equalized early through a penetrating run by thomas, who cut in from the wing and slotted a pass to odemwingie which ultimately flew into the birmingham goal off the heel of defender scott dann.

the second albion goal came through a critical mistake in defence, as lee bowyer failed to control on the edge of his own penalty area allowing odemwingie the chance to pounce and cut to the outside of blues' keeper, ben foster, turning the ball home, again off the unfortunate scott dann.

the match was put beyond question when jonas olsson headed home a chris brunt corner-kick in the 67th minute, and the baggies looked every inch a competitive premiership side.



i have long said that i believe that this is the best baggies side in many years - even perhaps the best since the early 80s. while i have to admit that up until today, my aspirations of a mid-table finish have seemed like they might realistically be nothing more than hopeful and overly optimistic. today was the first time that i really sensed there is more capability than mere survival in this team. while it may not come as easily or as regularly as it did last year, we are certainly going to see more success in the premier league than many of the pundits were predicting at the outset.

this is a very good west brom side.

WBA 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur

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where the baggies' match with liverpool was a loss that felt like a draw, this was a draw that ultimately felt a bit like a loss. it is becoming evident, even in these early days of the season, that this is a very good west brom side and it would be a shame if - for whatever reason - the club can't take advantage of their situation at this particular moment in time.

spurs were by far the better team for the first 40 minutes, full of attacking invention that threatened the baggies' back-four with a superior and enterprising passing game evident from the outset. an early foray into the albion 18-yard box was absolutely sublime as a series of short passes, capped by a clever back-heel, nearly produced the first goal of the game for aaron lennon in what would have been quite spectacular fashion.



the albion , on the other hand, missing both james morrison to a red-card incurred at anfield and graham dorrans to a family bereavement, were content to pack the midfield and defend for most of the first half. knowing that tottenham is one of the few teams capable of outplaying them in terms of possession, the baggies sat back, defended, assessed, and looked for counter-attack opportunities.

spurs went ahead on a luka modric goal in the 27th minute. an awkward, arching ball was chipped into the box leaving olsson and tamas backpeddling desperately as it fell for modric to knock home from about 6 yards out.

it wasn't until chris brunt's scruffy equalizer in the 40th minute that the baggies started to get more of the ball, grew in confidence and became the more enterprising of the two sides.

while i have been an admirer of roberto di matteo's since he took over at the hawthorns, he does tend push his ideas that don't work a little longer than he needs to. it's pretty clear, even after just a few games, that the idea of playing a 4-5-1 setup - which served the team superbly throughout the second half of last season - is not going to work with the current personnel. nor, for that matter, are some of the details around which this idea was originally based.



youssouf mulumbu is much more effective playing as a lone holding midfielder. left to his own devices, the congolese international sits in front of the back four and tackles everything in sight. with a partner, however, it seems that his role becomes less clear-cut and he is ultimately left with too many options in regards to his positional play. if roberto di matteo still had any idea of playing a duo of defensive players in front of the back four, he should well have abandoned the idea at this point.

the gaffer was also a bit late in realizing that he's not going to make a right-winger out of peter odemwingie. after he put brunt out wide and odemwingie into a central position behind fortune, the baggies started to dominate through an increased tempo and direct attack. they also benefitted from brunt's knowledge of playing on the wing, as the northern ireland international effectively closed down the channels into which gareth bale had been moving forward with considerable success throughout the first half. this is something odemwingie has not been trained to do, and was a contributing factor in the 1-0 loss at anfield.

new man, paul scharner, came close to scoring on two occasions, with both a close-range header and a scorching long range effort. he was confident and solid in his debut and definitely looks a good bet in challenging for a place in the starting eleven.



the baggies came to dominate this match so completely that jonas olsson, peter odemwingie and gabriel tamas (on the best move of the match) all should have scored; and it was only the sterling work of spurs' goalie, carlo cudicini, that preserved the draw for the highly-fancied north london club.

so far di matteo has been pretty pragmatic in his choices and tends to do what he should rather than commit to abstract concepts and particular styles. as i said, this is as good a baggies side as we've seen in a long time and while some of the ideas may not have worked out, there is certainly enough of a team here to survive the premier league.

it's a good thing that the next match is against blues at home rather than some of our more recent or upcoming prospects (i.e. away at anfield and the emirates). it should give bot the team and the gaffer the chance to go into a match feeling relatively relaxed and confident with the idea of dominating possession and looking for goals. i'm hoping to see fortune or bednar with odemwingie in an orthodox 4-4-2 setup; and this should put pressure on the tight birmingham city midfield and back-four.

other than their opening day debacle at stamford bridge, the baggies have shown that they've grown considerably as a defensive side - now it's time to find some goals!