Leicester City F.C. 1-4 WBA

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as the long-time and dominant formation of 4-4-2 begins to give way to other increasingly popular setups based around the use of a single striker and extra defensive midfielders, one has to wonder: what will happen to the deep-lying, predatory striker?

west bromwich albion's simon cox is a case in point in regards to this current dilemma. despite having an absolutely frightening goals-to-games ratio and having shown over and over that he is a truly talented finisher who can score goals at any level, he can't get a start in the first team. this isn't because he is in competition with another "in-form" player, or that he's going through a rough patch of form himself. it's because he's only 5' 11", not particularly pacey and - for all intents and purposes - the position he plays doesn't actually exist within the current frame-work of the single-striker setup now favoured by the baggies' coaching and management staff.

while he has found success in the early cup competitions, it looks like his appearances in the league will be limited to that of an "impact" player, and he will only see playing time as a late substitution when the team is in desperate need of a goal.



with di matteo remaining committed to the 4-5-1 formation in this year's domestic cup competitions as well, simon cox has been pushed back and is forced to play from a central midfield position. what this really means is that his game will ultimately have to expand, as he will have further to come forward in attack and will be required to track back quickly on a loss of possession and take up a strictly defined defensive position in the central midfield. a quicker player in a similar circumstance might find himself transformed into a winger.

however you look at it, the style of attacking football pioneered by the hungarians with ferenc puskas in the 1950s, refined by the brazilians with pele during the 1960s and 70s, and - regardless of whatever other changes have occured within the science of football - has remained a standard model for how strikers would play for the next 50-60 years, seems like it may have run its course.

soon enough, less than ten years perhaps, strikerless formations (4-6-0) with wingers as the main attacking players will be as common as 4-4-2 and 4-5-1 are today.

while the baggies won this match in decisive fashion, the 4-1 scoreline was still a bit flattering to the team on the day, as well as testament to the ability of simon cox to score goals.

the baggies started poorly but took the lead on cox' first goal of the game, which was really against the run of play. it was a perfect example of pure predatory instinct, an ability to read the play and demonstrated the job of a deep lying striker. roman bednar, taking a cross in the box from giles barnes on the right wing, turned and shot, only for the ball to be scuffed away off a leicester defender. cox was positioned perfectly, took control and pushed the ball on a yard or two before chipping the leicester keeper, conrad logan.



west brom may not have deserved it, but went in 1-0 up at half-time thanks to the goal scoring insticts of simon cox.

the baggies gave up an unfortunate own goal through nicky shorey soon after the restart, and it was one of those things that you just can't do anything about or hold anyone to blame for. with a leicester attack producing a cross into the albion box from the right-wing, the baggies' left back stuck his leg out to make the block - as he well and rightly should do - but unfortunately didn't get enough of the ball and it was redirected from well out past a rooted and helpless boaz myhill.

the baggies went on to take control of this one just as surely as the foxes had let it go. in an incident that quite remarkably resembled his goal at old trafford, west brom winger, somen tchoyi once again took advantage of a ball, in this instance, bobbled by conrad logan and had only to knock home into an open net to put the baggies back in the lead.

steven reid scored with a header on 79 minutes to put the game beyond doubt, before simon cox' last minute stunner. the young albion striker, a full 25 yards from goal and frantically waving his team-mates out of the way, buried the ball in the top left corner of logan's net, producing a goal of world class quality worthy of any striker who has ever worn the blue-and-white stripes. you simply don't score goals any better than this one.



in another era, his goals-to-game ratio and obvious talent would have pretty much demanded that a player like cox would have a place in the starting XI. but roberto di matteo, like many of his contemporaries has found success with the 4-5-1 formation for the better part of a year now, and cox has been limited to cup games and was used on the wing a few times towards the end of last season.

he has been on the bench every game i can remember so far this year, suggesting that he would be of some use if the baggies were chasing a game and needed to make use of an extra attacker. so far, the need hasn't arisen except for a few minutes against chelsea on opening day.

still, the west brom sharp-shooter has said that he will bide his time and wait for a starting call-up in the first team. but then, what else is he going to do? with the game going the way it is at the moment, there is diminishing opportunities for pure, predatory strikers these days.

WBA 2-1 Fulham F.C.

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the baggies have survived - and actually taken impressive points from - what can only be described as a period of "bonus" opportunities, from which no-one really expected too much and any gains made, at all, would be counted as success. west bromwich albion now enter a series of matches which will be seen as an essential source of necessary points, and much more important in the overall scheme of things than a set of seemingly (and at their outset) next-to-impossible away fixtures against the top clubs in the country.

at the start of league play in august, and from looking at the fixtures list, this is the time of year where everyone would have expected the season to really be starting for the baggies. so to have made a good start in the league is not only a surprise, but a major accomplishment and important points garnered that precious few were expecting.

in fact, the baggies have exceeded the wildest of expectations and for a few hours on saturday night/sunday morning of this past weekend, at least, they sat it in fourth place overall behind chelsea, manchester city and tottenham hotspur. they are playing some of the best football in the league and are arguably the league's "form" team over the last two months.



after the exploits of recent weeks, the albion faithful have finally started to warm to roberto di matteo; which, is something that has been curiously long in coming. even with the success of last season and his superb preparation and signings for the upcoming top-flight campaign, the ex-chelsea midfielder and MK dons boss may have finally eclipsed the likes of bryan robson and tony mowbray in the hearts of the albion faithful, but he has a few games to win yet before he'll be as well regarded and esteemed as gary megson, who is still seen as the man who built the modern club's on-field character, and laid the foundations for subsequent claims to premiership football.

after the manchester united match, i started to imagine how di matteo - who was a well respected professional that played league and international football at its highest level - may one day eclipse his achievements as a player and go on to become one of football's great managers.

"good managers make good sides," brian clough once explained, "there's no such thing as a side making a manager."

what has been true of the albion this season, is that every game has been superbly managed. the gaffer has been adventurous when he's needed to be and he's made good decisions with both the team and the tactics. not only that, but he seems to have an especially good rapport with the players and is a gaffer for whom most players would really want to play - as well as feel encouraged to do so. there's more than a few members of the team who were languishing in the reserves or perpetually stuck on the bench who were immediately switched on by his arrival at the club; where under tony mowbray they'd been unhappy, under played and in some cases, wanting to leave.



as the albion seem to have done for the last 50 years or so, they went behind in this one with less than nine minutes played. ex-baggie, zoltan gera, found himself with time and space, setting up a clear shot at goal from 25 yards out, following a poor mistake by youssouf mulumbu, giving the ball away in a dangerous area. while a diving scott carson got a hand to the ball, managing to push it onto the post, it rebounded unkindly for the west brom captain and bounced into the net off the back of his leg.

appropriately, the hungarian international and ex-hathorns favourite diplomatically waved away any goal celebration in remembering the four years that he spent as a very popular first-team player at west brom.

the baggies came close to going two goals behind a couple of minutes later, as a poor back-pass was pounced on by another ex-albion favourite, diomansy kamara, but the fulham striker shot just wide.

eight minutes after the opening goal, however, mulumbu made up for his earlier mistake to bring the baggies level. uncharacteristically the congolese midfielder went forward in attack and took a superb through ball from chris brunt that completely split the fulham defence and the baggies were back on level terms as marc schwarzer was left stranded without a chance and mulumbu with his first PREMIER LEAGUE goal.

true to form, the baggies took the lead before half-time as a second albion player also got his name onto the score-sheet for the first time this season.



west brom went ahead on marc-antoine fortune's first goal of the season, but not without some controversy. fortune was clearly in an off-side position when the ball was played in. however, the french striker had turned away from the play to move back onside, leaving the ball to run on for albion left-winger, jerome thomas. thomas cut in along the bi-line and with the fulham defence once again caught square, he sent the ball back across the face of goal for - the now onside - fortune to slot home.

predictably, the legitimacy of both goals was questioned by fulham boss, mark hughes. however, neither goal was inconsistant with how the off-side rule is being interpreted or applied this season. so i think neither was really as contentious as the welshman would have us believe.

the albion now have a nine day break from league football, with a LEAGUE CUP 5th round match with leicester city at the walkers stadium on tuesday. the baggies are firm favourites to take a place in the quarter finals from this fixture.

with a trip to bloomfield road a week monday - and full live international TV coverage - both blackpool and west brom will have a chance of showing a larger audience the quality of their football; and with both of last year's fixtures seeing west brom produce a pair of 3-2 victories (including a contentious penalty decision), the tangerines - and manager, ian holloway - will feel the need to be playing for a little retribution. it should be great fun and good football!

Manchester Utd. F.C. 2-2 WBA

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it's hard to tell whether the larger changes have already taken place, or if this is just the first signs of things to come. but make no mistake about it: something's up with this season's PREMIER LEAGUE!!!

in some ways, this result was even more important for west brom than the win at arsenal, as it proves conclusively that the baggies' success thus far has been no mistake or fluke, and is the product of excellent management and player performance. there is also a terrific confidence and sense of purpose in the side, and roberto di matteo is the league's manager of the moment.

it's been long hard road whose travel has required years of patient building and organization, but the baggies may finally have arrived.




the baggies typically conceded early with javier hernandez scoring within the first five minutes through a free-kick to united just outside the baggies' penalty area. scott carson got down low to make the initial save from nani's direct effort, but could only manage to parry the ball into the path of the onrushing mexican forward who had no trouble with the easy finish.

this looked as though it might become another typical afternoon at old trafford, making display of the disparity between a large, community-based side like the albion and one of world football's acknowledged super-teams. just on 25 minutes, united increased their lead as nicky shorey lost his footing and nani was left with the opportunity to run in on goal to score united's second and quite predictably they went in at half-time 2-0 up.

the baggies had not played well in the first half and the difference was probably deserved.

however - and in trademark style - the baggies came out for the second half and started decidedly the better team. they continued their recent practice of doing what all winning teams do, which is to put the ball into dangerous areas in the box and force scruffy goals as well as creating well-crafted gems.

with less than five minutes of the second-half played, chris brunt smashed a free-kick low and hard into a melee of players around the united goal, and it crossed the line from a deflection off the leg of united full-back, nani.



a little less than five minutes after that - and with albion creating a good long period of possession and keeping up their attacking pressure on the red devils' goal - chris brunt, again, sent in a looping, spinning cross that veteran dutch international, edwin van der saar, was unable to hold onto as the ball bobbled over his shoulder and was tapped into an open net by albion winger, somen tchoyi.

after that it was down to the excellent defensive play of jonas olsson and gabrial tamas, flanked by gonzalo jara and nicky shorey that kept the baggies in this one to hold on for a quite unbelievable draw. all the more impressive is that they did this without peter odemwingie, and with starting striker marc-antoine fortune isolated and left largely ineffectual by the united midfield.

so, with important players still to come back from injuries, others yet to find form, a really tough set of opening fixtures out of the way, and a current standing of 6th in the league table, there is precious little to be critical of at the moment.



nobody, and probably the team itself, could have imagined that west brom would have been able to take so many points at the front end of the season, given that their first four away fixtures were chelsea, liverpool, arsenal and manchester united respectively.

roberto di matteo has brought back a feeling of excitement and anticipation to following the baggies that was present around the hawthorns in the late 70's. as a supporter, i can't wait for saturdays to roll around and spend friday night thinking about who'll be in the starting team the next day.

yes, it's a very exciting time to be watching the albion!

WBA 1-1 Bolton Wanderers F.C.

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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?!?