WBA 1-2 Liverpool F.C.

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while gabriel tamas' goal in the 3rd minute gave every indication that the baggies would progress easily enough to the next round of the LEAGUE CUP against what was unquestionably the least experienced line-up that liverpool has ever fielded in senior level competition, nuri sahin's superb individual effort in the 16th minute set the stage for what seemed, in the end, a surprising comeback.



here in canada, the state of broadcast football (TV and radio) changes yearly. this year, while there is expanded coverage of the english top-flight as well as the UEFA and EUROPA leagues, there is no more coverage of any other domestic league football; and with the apparent demise of EUROWORLD SPORTS, i have seen no english language broadcasts of LIGUE 1 either.

the cup competitions have traditionally changed broadcaster from year to year. for example, in 2005-06, the FA CUP was shown exclusively on FOX SPORTSWORLD CANADA; and another year, it was exclusive to TSN (canadian ESPN affiliate). SETANTA SPORTS (now taken over by SPORTSNET) even used have a weekly BLUE SQUARE PREMIER LEAGUE match!!! but the LEAGUE CUP doesn't seem to get any coverage here until the quarter-finals.

because it was impossible to get any west bromwich albion radio broadcasts streamed online in north america, since 2009-10 i have subscribed to ALBION PLAYER, a service that supplies live audio commentary of all west brom matches and posts video highlights, as well as news items and interviews in video format. most clubs in both the PREMIER LEAGUE and FOOTBALL LEAGUE provide the service, and transmissions for all matches from the CHAMPIONSHIP down are available through signing in to a single site. for the PREMIER LEAGUE games you have to be signed in to a specific club website. however, the subscription allows for access to all participating club sites and it is only the really big clubs who ignore the service altogether or run their own subscription schemes unique to the club's official site.


however, while i did listen to this match live on the ALBION PLAYER, no video highlights were offered on the site. i did eventually find a 9 minute video posted in several places on the internet.

with gates for both major cup competitions severely down at the top-clubs - and in these days of the season ticket culture - with increased importance placed on success in the league, i would have thought that perhaps international TV revenues would help the situation out. this doesn't, however, seem to be the case. apparently, the TV markets here in north america have even less interest in broadcasting games from the LEAGUE CUP competition than the general football attending public has for actually going to watch them live at the stadium.

due to the good start that the baggies have had in the league this season - and the fact that the opposition was one of the country's biggest clubs - they did attract a gate of 21,164 for this particular fixture. this is 4 or 5 thousand more than one might expect for a cup game at this stage of the competition. however - and despite steve clarke's stated goal of a cup run for the albion this year - the team folded in the second-half. despite being the stronger side, it seemed that as the game wore on the baggies were taking it all a bit for granted and a much anticipated second goal never materialized. ultimately it seemed that their hearts just weren't in it and a really cohesive passing move by the reds set up the winning goal for nuri sahin in the 83rd minute.

Yeovil Town F.C. 2-4 WBA

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with no TV, or even video highights (at the time of writing), this was old fashioned cup football listened to through a radio broadcast (also streamed live on the internet) and seen only in some action photography on the club websites and in the mainstream press.

it was a great reminder that when the modern day, life and death factors of league football, with its concerns of promotion/relegation, seasons tickets sales, investment finances, sponsorship revenues, as well as big TV and media revenues are not a primary focus, football can still actually be fun - even in a major competition.



and that's exactly what we got as the baggies travelled to perrenial lower-league over-achievers, yeovil town, in the second round of this year's LEAGUE CUP.

steve clarke made no less than ten changes to the side that had drawn away to tottenham on the weekend, with shane long the only player to maintain his place in the starting 11.

true to form - and in ironic fashion - the somerset club went ahead in the 14th minute through a goal by ex-baggie, reuben reid. having won a free kick in the albion half, a good delivery by edward upson offered reid the chance to take advantage of some slack marking by craig dawson and gabriel tamas and head the glovers into the lead, much to the delight of the home support. however, it was still much too early in the day to entertain any notions of a major upset.

this, of course, made for a tense 25 minutes before chris brunt, making his first start since being injured last year, scored one of the best goals of his career. the baggies' captain hit a screamer from a full 40 yards out that sailed into yeovil goal to draw the albion level.



within minutes shane long, jockeying to keep his place as a starter for this coming saturday, netted the first of a brace that he would score on the night, in injury time just before the half. i wondered why i had ever been worried about anything at all.

but this game had some bite left in it yet. within three minutes of the re-start, reuben reid scored the second of his brace and quite worryingly we were level again and i was uneasily forced to recall west brom's second-round fixture of three years ago, when rotherham united took them into extra-time. it was simon cox' first competitive goal that won that particular tie by a score of 4-3.

the contest had once again grown tense as boaz myhill needed to make a couple of really good saves, again from reuben reid, to keep his side in the match. finally, in the 73rd minute, new signing, yassine el ghanassy, scored his first goal for the club to put the baggies ahead to stay.

approaching the 81st minute, shane long smacked a shot from 15 yards out that flew into the top left hand corner of marek stech's goal and registered a solid win after some shakey defending throughout on the part of the baggies.



still and all it was good fun and all the more enjoyable as the albion have changed the format of their online radio streams for this season. albion player, the subscription service that provides live audio streams and video highlights through the club website, are picking up the free radio broadcasts featuring tom ross and club legend, tony "bomber" brown, for the away matches this year. dave bowler and john dunn will otherwise be back with albion radio still providing the commentary for home games.

the baggies are drawn at home to liverpool for the next round.

Liverpool F.C. 0-1 WBA

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we will only know with the passage of time, but this may have been the moment that heralded the return of west bromwich albion as one of the country's top football clubs. that is not to suggest that they will ever win the league title (or even challenge for a top-four finish, for that matter); and they certainly won't win the UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE. but long term survival in the PREMIER LEAGUE? an FA or LEAGUE CUP final? qualification for the EUROPA LEAGUE?!? these are all certainly possibilities and achievable goals for a club of the size and resource of west bromwich albion.

when the PREMIER LEAGUE began in the 1992-93 season, west bromwich albion was just coming out of the worst period in the club's history; as well as the lowest finish in the league ever - 7th in the old 3rd DIVISION.

that same year, the baggies - having finished 4th in the new LEAGUE DIVISION 2, won promotion through a 3-2 victory over swansea in a two-legged semi-final; and in their first wembley appearance since 1970 they beat port vale 3-0 to make their return to the second-tier.

following several years of relatively mediocre football, west bromwich albion were returned to the top-flight (now called the PREMIER LEAGUE) under the guidance of gary megson and featuring the prolific goal-scoring of lee hughes. however, this was one of the weakest teams ever to qualify for the competition and they were relegated immediately. thus began a decade of flirtation with promotion/relegation scenarios between the top-flight and what is now called the FOOTBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP. the baggies have not played in the same division for more than two years consecutively since.

this, of course, will change next year when the baggies will be competing in the BARCLAY'S PREMIER LEAGUE for the third season running. depending on what they actually go on to accomplish during their time in the top flight - and however long that might be - this just may be the match in which they finally arrived as a bona fide PREMIER LEAGUE side. the baggies defended like demons against a misfiring liverpool and took their late chance to win the match in opportunistic fashion and in the manner of a club instilled with a culture of "winning".

make no mistake - this match was won more by the management of roy hodgson, and his philosophy that to win in football you have to keep the other side from scoring than it was down to any individual performances. it's no coincidence that the baggies did not concede in any of their recent victories. even their loss to manchester city, with its final scoreline of 4-0, might have been worse had it not been for the form of goalie, ben foster and the play of centre-half, craig dawson, who deputized for jonas olsson on short notice, as the big swede had picked up an injury during the pre-game warm-up.

while not all west brom supporters have been supportive of the gaffer as a tactician - or appreciated his style of football - it has seen the baggies through the successful end of one season, and - as things stand at the minute - an even more successful season this year. after this win west brom is 10th in the table and on course to finish ahead of where they did last year. i'm not surprised that there are some discontented fans. since as early as the 1950s, aggressive attacking football has been the order of the day at the hawthorns, and i can see how a diet of away wins would starve a home season ticket holder, but there is no arguing with success and they learned to live with tight, disciplined football under gary megson for that very reason. eventually, everyone will have to defer to the gaffer and admit that its been a good time for the club and there's every reason to believe that it can continue.

it was in the 75th minute - and with the baggies defence having weathered relentless attack by the reds - youssouf mulumbu pressured liverpool right-back, glen johnson, into giving the ball away in dangerous area and at a crucial time in the match. the congolese midfielder then pushed the ball on for peter odemwingie and with space opening up in front of him, the nigerian took on reds' goalie, pepe reina, giving him a look at the far post but putting the ball in the net on the spaniard's near-side. there was little reina could do but stand and watch as the albion had scored their first goal at anfield in their last five visits.

it was fitting that the baggies earned this victory 45 years to the day since they had last posted a win at anfield. the winning goal that day was scored by club legend, jeff astle. at the time, west bromwich albion were in the middle of a golden period for the club, which saw them win both the LEAGUE and FA CUPs as well as appearances in two more wembley finals.

the baggies were by no means dominant going forward and luis suarez looked the best player in that respect for long periods - especially in the second half. but ben foster in the albion goal has been playing better and better as the season moves towards its climax, while jonas olsson and gareth mcauley showed, once again, why they are the best centre-half pairing to wear the navy-and-white stripes since the days of ally robertson and john wile. the duo threw themselves into a series of tackles and blocked shots that were essential to the albion's defensive performance and ultimate victory. however, the real star for the baggies was striker, shane long.

while the irish international has been in and out of the side through injury and illness for much of the season, his tireless running of the channels, winning of aerial balls and pressing play up front was a major factor in the win. his work against liverpool was first class and as good as any showing he has put in all year. long's was the standout performance in a team of standout performances.

it has been a year of dispelling long time hoodoos and putting them to rest, but this was one of the really big ones. next, the baggies will try and complete the double over aston villa (at home) and cement their place as the top team in the west midlands.

WBA 1-0 QPR

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the baggies 6th home win of the campaign served as a fair reflection of west brom's season overall thus far. this match, for example, was an important win against a side that is currently just one step ahead of the relegation places. while pretty much already safe, the baggies are themselves just one step ahead of that.

last year, west brom were forced to depend on heroic wins against the likes of arsenal, liverpool, everton and aston villa (not to mention being the only side in the league to take points at old trafford in a 2-2 draw) to finish a final place of 11th in the league table. this season, however, has seen them take critical points from teams in and around them in the table. it's also worth noting that this campaign the baggies neither found themselves sitting on course for a CHAMPIONS LEAGUE spot going into october, nor did they countenance the very real threat of relegation in february going into march.

while i imagine that there are some season ticket holders who would disagree, but it has been a very consistent season; and one that will have helped lay the crucial groundwork for future PREMIER LEAGUE campaigns. the hawthorns faithful can now look forward to next year with the expectation of yet more incremental improvements to the playing squad with an apparent plan for expansion of the stadium.

still, and with expectations raised by the immediate success found under manager roy hodgson, there was plenty of complaining to be found on phone-in radio shows and internet message-boards over the course of this season.

while there has been the usual assertions about chairman, jeremy peace, his tight-fisted control of "the cash" as well as his perpetual "lack of ambition"; more surprising has been the criticism levelled against the gaffer himself. roy hodgson has been berated for everything from his tactically "boring" and "defensive" football, to the issue of his age and out-dated coaching methods. considering what a truly magnificent job he has done at the club, other supporters and pundits of all stripes have found this most perplexing. while i believe it is just the meaningless bleating of a few arm-chair experts who are no more than a vocal minority, one can also take it as a measure of the kind of unrealistic thinking and expectation that the BARCLAY'S PREMIER LEAGUE can create at a football club.

i have no doubt that essentially, these criticisms derive primarily from the baggies' poor home form throughout the first half of the season. following a 2-1 home victory against bolton wanderers back in november, it took west brom until february to register their next home win. this was done in a rather spectacular trouncing of top-flight perrenials, sunderland, by a score of 4-0, and did much to re-invigorate the home support for the rest of the season. it is only by virtue of one of the best away records in the league that the albion got through this campaign and have ensured they will be playing PREMIER LEAGUE football again next year.

there's no doubt that the baggies have been a better side since the return of captain, chris brunt. he has been the team's most consistently influential player over the past few years; and since west brom's return to the PREMIER LEAGUE, the northern ireland international has captained the side, improved his defending and continued to serve up first-rate set-plays and defence splitting passes. while there is definitely a marked difference in the number of goals that brunt scores as a PREMIER LEAGUE player and his somewhat more prodigious output in the CHAMPIONSHIP, his overall contribution is immeasurable. all too often, though, he goes under-rated and unnappreciated as countless internet message-board posts will bear out.

i would suggest that there are few players anywhere - and in any tier of english football - who could be out injured for three months and play to the level that brunt has since his return to the first team. barring his participation in an overall poor team showing against newcastle - a match that brunt acknowledges he should not have made himself available for - he has come back into the first team in top playing form and only minutes short of full match fitness.

the real feature of this match is that it heralded the return to form of graham dorrans. this was the third decent performance as a starter in recent games, and some small indication that dorrans is finally over the troubles - both on and off the field - that plagued him last season. the scottish midfielder who was so important, and led the club in goals, during the promotion season of 2009-10 has - for whatever reason - not been the same since west brom began life the PREMIER LEAGUE. however, since coming into the team in the last few weeks he has started to show glimpses of the player that we all knew he could be, and it was dozza's long range strike in the 21st minute that settled this match at the hawthorns.

the baggies now have 42 points and really needed a result from this one to prove that they are legitimate and long term top-flight competitors. for the first time in over a decade, the baggies will playing in the same division for more than two years running.

Wigan Athletic F.C. 1-1 WBA

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this was probably the worst performance - beginning to end - that the baggies have delivered all season. while there was plenty of moaning over the reverse fixture played at the hawthorns back in december, this really was a mediocre performance.

the home side attacked aggresively right from the outset and didn't let up. the baggies were under pressure from the kick-off and could find no answer to a wigan side who came forward at will with an impressive display of precise passing football. in fact, it was a mystery how they weren't 3-0 up at the half!





on the part of the albion this was el stinko football of the worst kind and i can only hope it bodes nothing in regards to form for whatever fixtures are left to be played this season. while the baggies are probably already safe, realistically they still need 4 more points to call it job done.

to be fair, wigan have become a little bit of a "bogey" team for the baggies as of late. west brom have taken only two points from their four encounters with the latics over the last two seasons, and have not won this fixture since a late season victory during the ill-fated 2008-09 campaign.

since then, and their subsequent return to the PREMIER LEAGUE, there are few teams that the baggies have had such a tough time getting results from. the albion have had historic wins over the likes of arsenal, liverpool, chelsea, aston villa, newcastle, stoke city; and over the course of last season they were the only team in the league to take points at old trafford! in some cases these were fixtures in which the albion had not seen success in over 30 years.





of course, the fact that they took an away point from this encounter should be regarded as a good result. however, they were lucky that wigan couldn't make more of their chances and aren't the best at defending set plays. paul scharner, who has been the hero in several of the baggies' away wins this season, headed the equalizer from a chris brunt corner in the second half to claim a valuable point. there was little else to take as a positive from this match besides a measure of defensive grit and the continued fine form of goalie, ben foster.

anyone can have a bad day at the office, so i will be generous and happy with the away point. however, if the baggies don't show better form than this they will quickly find themselves looking over their shoulder, struggling to find the one win that they'll need to ensure top-flight football at hawthorns next year. let's just hope that this was just one of those days.

A Trio of Victories!!!

WBA 1-0 Chelsea F.C.

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i left for england on the evening of february the 12th. the baggies had demolished wolves at the molineux (1-5) earlier in the day and i knew that this would go a long way towards banishing the ugly atmosphere that has been present at the hawthorns since the baggies' home loss to wigan on the 10th of december.

barring a series of unlikely disasters there will indeed be an unprecedented third consecutive season of PREMIER LEAGUE football at the hawthorns. of course, this brings up concerns over next year's goals and expectations; but for the moment, i'm just going to enjoy the glory and be grateful for the fact that my last visit of the season was a 4-0 victory over sunderland and the first home win since november 19th.

it has taken a decade to achieve, but i hope that chairman, jeremy peace, feels at least some vindication for his oft-criticized financial practices at the club. mr. peace has always understood that the organization needs to be balanced, and that incremental improvements over a long period of time are the only way that a club of the size and resource of west bromwich albion is going to get anywhere in terms of establishing itself as a top-flight side. i will countenance no more supporter criticism as to the chairman's perceived lack of ambition - it's simply not true.





personally, i think jeremy peace is a brilliant chairman, and one of the few people who's figured out a way to find long term success within the top 25 teams in the country. that is, when the baggies have been relegated, the set-up has been in place to keep most of the important players at the club and ensures that they can challenge for promotion. likewise, each time the albion have gone into a new season in the top-flight, it has always been an improved side on the previous campaign. i guarantee that jeremy peace has the greatest of ambitions for west bromwich albion football club. but in a culture where expectations have to be met instantly, the qualities of patience, prudence, careful management and intelligence are more vice than virtue.

jeremy peace talks to BBC Late Kick-Off (March 2010)

WBA 4-0 Sunderland A.F.C.

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in yet another season of exorcizing ghosts of top-flight fixtures past, the baggies have won three games on the spin for what is only the second time as a PREMIER LEAGUE side. more importantly, they beat chelsea - one of the biggest teams in the country - for the first time in 32 years.

the most significant thing about the baggies current string of results is that they've done it largely without chris brunt and shane long - perhaps their two best players.

however, peter odemwingie has found goal-scoring form where most pundits believed he wouldn't. marc-antoine fortune is unrecognisable to the player who was originally brought in as an emergency loan replacement for ishmael miller and ended up at celtic for the 2010-11 season before returning to the hawthorns. the french striker had recently spent some time on loan at doncaster rovers and has returned to B71 looking the very model of the modern centre-forward - a player transformed.





after a shaky start to the seaon, james morrison has been brilliant in his role as attacking mid-fielder; and last minute january signing, keith andrews, has been a revelation partnering youssouf mulumbu in the holding mid-field position and has scored goals against both wolves and sunderland.

the baggies have also looked good defensively as of late. two clean sheets back-to-back and 225 minutes of football (and counting) without having conceded a goal. the centre-halves have been outstanding. jonas olsson and gareth mcauley might be the best pair of defenders to ever play in a west brom jersey. certainly they are the best centre-halves since the days of john wile and alistair robertson, and both have added important goals to their heroic shot blocking and fearless tackling. ben foster hasn't seemed like he's actually had a lot to do in these few games, but has come up big when needed and his quick distribution of the ball has led directly to scoring opportunities and goals.

Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. 1-5 WBA

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black country derbies are always a bit of a drag for me. if i'm here in toronto, i am required to get up a 6 AM to catch what is usually a noon kick-off on the sunday; and if i'm in england, i have to travel to birmingham on the day before and take a hotel room for the night. last year i went to st. andrews to watch blues play sheffield wedneday in an FA CUP replay as a way of killing time on the eve of the big match; and this last october i went to watch walsall play preston in the league.

as i was travelling to england that night, waking up at 6 AM was less of a chore than usual and worth the effort ten times over.

this was quite an unbelievable game of football and one that the baggies really needed to win in order to change the mood at the hawthorns. it may have been the most important match of the current campaign; we will only know once the season is over. but just as wolves used their home victory over west brom last year as a spring-board to their successful run for survival, the baggies used this away win as a way to go back to the hawthorns with momentum and confidence and get the home support behind them as they begin the push for a mid-table finish.





it was also important to bring the home faithful onside and get them behind the manager. roy hodgson has been coming under a certain amount of attack in various online forums since the baggies loss to wigan kicked off a string of poor results at home. there has been criticism of everything from his age to his "negative" footballing tactics. these same tactics have come to be an important part of the baggies current form and the gaffer now looks like a footballing genius. his sometimes rigid defensive formations have become integral to how the baggies play - and will need to keep playing, in order to finish with the kind of season we had all hoped for (and perhaps expected) since the outset of the campaign.

A Fixture Too Far

WBA 1-2 Norwich City F.C.

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as there was no TV or internet streaming coverage that I could find, my only source of media for this fixture was through listening to john dunn and dave bowler on the ALBION RADIO transmission through the club website's ALBION PLAYER media service. this is usually how i would take in a game, anyway, even if it was live on TV.

again, it was home disappointment for the baggies, but much more personally, it was disappointing for me as they will now not be playing on the 18th of february at all, when i will next be in england. ironcially, i had booked a trip with the idea of seeing the sunderland game at the hawthorns on the 25th. of course, realizing that the PREMIER LEAGUE is suspended on the weekend before that on account of the FA CUP, i decided to gamble that the the baggies would make it through to the 5th round.





at first i was rather philosophical about where i might be on the 18th of february, but as the date has drew nearer, i became more and more optimistic about the possibilities. i eventually convinced myself that the albion couldn't possibly lose twice to norwich in the space of two weeks - and certainly not twice at the hawthorns! by the morning of the game i was more concerned with where the baggies would be drawn in the next round than i was with the outcome of the game. i was already taking a west brom win for granted.

so here i was, starting to imagine that i might see the baggies at home to spurs or away to the the villa or blues - when canadian international, simeon jackson, took full advantage of a basic mistake by craig dawson to win the game. receiving a throw-in in his own half, the young albion centre-half brought the ball down but inexplicably failed to properly clear or control the ball. the canaries' striker, who had come on as substitute in the 64th minute, stepped in and left him for dead, neatly sliding the ball wide of keeper ben foster and into the far corner of the net to provide the winning goal.





once again, we're all left wondering just how the baggies could they have possibly lost at home again after having so thoroughly dominated the statistics? they outshot the canaries 13-7 - 10 of their shots were on target! they had more of the ball than norwich and won 7 corners to only 3 for the visitors. they were even creating the better chances - and right from the outset too.

jerome thomas had an early effort tipped onto the crossbar by canaries goalie, jed steer, which set the tone for the baggies dominance in both statistics and opportunity. peter odemwingie then had a decent long range effort stopped by steer, before the nigerian international put simon cox through on goal where he was met by the norwich keeper astutely coming off his line to deny the baggies' striker from point blank range.

it's truly a shame that the domestic cups have become so devalued in the PREMIER LEAGUE era; especially for a club whose historical renown has always been inextricably linked to their successes in cup competitions.





with my flight already booked, this result was a monstrous drag and one wonders when the albion might start to have a bit of luck at the hawthorns. of course, as i won't be going to watch the baggies playing in the FA CUP when i am next in england,and i suppose a trip to my local conference team, bath city, will be how i spend the afternoon of the 18th. i will, however, be at the hawthorns on the 25th when the baggies host sunderland and try to put an end to the string of poor results that have dogged their home games since november 19th.

it's the same thing that we've been seeing all season - the baggies are playing decent football but getting no results at home.

Two Wins and a Draw...

WBA 0-0 Manchester City F.C.

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if one could accurately judge the performance of a football team based on what that club's supporters have to say, a quick glance at the posts in any online forum, or casual listening to post-match radio phone-ins dealing with west bromwich albion football club would suggest a wild inconsistency in quality of play over the past 6 weeks.

nothing could be further from the truth.





while results may have been erratic, and perhaps a bit unlucky, roy hodgson's west brom side has been consistently delivering good on-field performances since their win at home against bolton. even the subsequent home loss to spurs could be counted as a good footballing performance and the 3-1 scoreline certainly flattered the visitors on the day. the difficulty is in getting the average supporter (or at least, the average online poster) to believe in anything but results, and the derision aimed at the manager, chairman and certain individual players is all too often quite unbelievable.

Newcastle United F.C. 2-3 WBA

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after having listened to the baggies' home loss to wigan, i could hardly believe it when roy hodgson appeared on TV saying that he had no complaints about the team's performance and if they continue to play to this level they will certainly start to get results. it turned out over the next few weeks to be true. roy hodgson's baggies have started to get results.

however, at the time this sounded quite incredible and was completely at odds with what i had just heard online through the ALBION RADIO transmission on the club's website. it had portrayed the baggies' home fixture against premier league strugglers, wigan athletic, as tragic and a terrible game of football on all counts. indeed, it was made to sound so bad that both chris hall and dave bowler spent much of the match decrying the quality of the football rather than offering a description of the action.





"as you can tell," mr. bowler addressed the listening audience following a lengthy digression in the commentary, "there ay' much going on 'ere!"

however, when viewed as a TV broadcast later on that evening, it was a thoroughly engaging match with both teams playing well through the midfield and exhibiting fine displays of individual defending. most notable was the work of wigan defender, gary caldwell, and the goalkeeping of ali al-habsi.

what is apparent from reading posts made in online fan forums is how easy it is to forcefully state a harsh, critical and judgmental opinion. positive and measured speculation as to how the side might improve its play or what the team might be missing in terms of tactics, team selection and/or transfer goals is much more difficult. when result and form aren't meeting supporter expectation, finding a scapegoat is always the first order of business.

Blackburn Rovers F.C. 1-2 WBA

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i don't really know what the baggies' supporters expect realistically, but with most of the albion's points coming away from home, i get the idea that the atmosphere at the hawthorns can get unpleasant pretty quickly these days. the worst example being the aforementioned match against a visiting wigan athletic side.

whatever the case, the baggies have ended 2011 with three excellent results that leave them at 9th in the table and with a mid-season haul of 22 points. in a year that 36-38 points will probably be enough to secure survival - and barring a protracted run of completely disastrous results - the albion will almost certainly be playing top-flight football again next year. i can't understand what all the fuss is about!!!

the truth is, that the style of football that the baggies are playing at the moment is based on the two solid lines of four defenders and mid-fielders holding their shape, and two pacey forwards to produce the counter attack. this will cause the attacking team to have to play the ball wide as their only option coming forward, and any move to play through the middle or put in a cross is quickly cut out. the effectiveness of this style of play was best illustrated in the last match against newcastle, where the winning goal seemed to appear out of absolutely nothing and completely against the run of play.





likewise, the baggies' first half display of single-minded and resolute defending against a frighteningly good manchester city team was nothing short of brilliant, and left west brom with the very real possibility of nicking a win late on rather than sharing the points as they eventually did.

this is fine for away games and has a general use against superior opposition (like manchester city), but they are going to run into trouble playing this way at home against their contemporaries in the bottom-half of the table; and that's exactly what has happened. the gaffer probably needs to rethink how the albion play at the hawthorns. i think it's the most pressing issue for hodgson and his management staff to sort out going into 2012.

like anyone, i'd love to see an improvement on the current home form and would readily welcome some new players to come in and strengthen the squad during the january transfer window. i do have faith that roy hodgson knows what he's doing in that respect and can only hope he's given the resource and leeway to follow through.

WBA 1-2 Wigan Athletic F.C.

match text commentary



"what are we doing in the same division as manchester city? that's what i'd like to know."

so said dave bowler, the club's head of publication as he rhetorically posed the all important question that, for him, expressed his personal frustration with the state of the albion and results just at the minute.

there was a generalized and ugly booing of the team, both at the introduction of two late albion substitutions; and, as the team came off the field, having suffered yet another hard-fought and unlucky home loss. a bad buzz pervaded the atmosphere at the hawthorns from before the kick-off and was palpable from as far as three-thousand miles away. i know. i could feel it!

even chris hall and dave bowler, who do the audio commentary for the club's ALBION RADIO transmission were negatively affected. the two commentators spent much of the game talking up what a poor match it was and amateurishly allowed their description of the action to drift and ramble. the situation at the hawthorns sounded nothing less than dire, and they gave the impression that we were listening to some really poor football.





"the smethwick is just about empty," bowler noted rather drearily, towards the end of transmission, "and large of sections of the east stand have already gone..."

it truly sounded abject and desperate. from the general reaction one might have assumed that the visitors were well in front and leading by two or three goals. that's how hopeless it was made to sound.

the truth of the matter is that is was a single goal's difference and the baggies did just about everything that was in their power to make it up. in the second-half of the match, and barring the wigan penalty, the baggies controlled the ball and dictated the play quite comprehensively. they laid absolute siege to the wigan goal and just kept coming. it was only the brilliance of the latics goalie, ali al-habsi, and the determined defending of gary caldwell that ultimately kept the albion attack at bay.

yet again, the albion didn't get any important calls go their way, as graham dorrans was booked for diving in the 87th minutes. truly, it was hard to tell if it really was a penalty, because while the contact was clearly much less than dorrans fall would have merited, any contact in this situation would have been a legitimate penalty call and the baggies probably deserved it.

this was one of the most upsetting days in the entire time i have been a west brom supporter. for sure, there have been some heartbreaking disappointments on the trail of being an albion fan this last ten years. but there have been some great and heroic moments of success too. some supporters seem to have forgotten that we were the league's unquestionable form team into october last year. then we hit the blackpool away fixture and went 13 matches (if i remember correctly) without a win.





i remember how some poor idiots were walking out on wolves at home last year. with the baggies one-nil down since the first half, and with 4 minutes injury time still to play, some were long gone and halfway back to dudley when carlos vela scored the injury time goal that earned a draw and kicked-off an eight game undefeated run of form that saw the baggies take points in ten out of eleven matches to end their season.

have these supporters really forgotten how exciting that was? do they remember how, on the last day, when - and 3-0 down to newcastle - we were just getting ready to pat ourselves on the back for a 14th or 15th place finish, somen tchoyi scored a stunning ten-minute hat-trick at st. james park that saw us finish 11th in the table?

and the voices of dissent have returned... singing the nostalgic praise of ex-managers while saying that roy hodgson has "lost the plot" and eternally levelling critical assertions as to jeremy peace's lack of ambition.

for my money, the doom-sayers are missing the bigger picture and don't see that every year for the past decade, the baggies have either been involved in battles for promotion to the premier league or relegation to the championship (formerly called the "second division" and, after that, "league 1") with unquestionable - albeit incremental - improvement to squad and management team every year.

but albion fans are impatient at the moment and they want the success that they perceive other clubs as achieving while we lag behind again, possibly battling relegation. would you really like to be hull city now? they came up from the championship with us for the 08-09 season and were in the premier league for two years... trouble is, they spent three years worth of top-flight wages and transfer fees in doing it. going back down again was not easy, and they had to settle for a mediocre mid-table finish in english football's second-tier last year.





would one really classify the thuggery they serve up at the britannia stadium that gets passed off as football as "success"?

you can keep it, mate!

just a few miles across town and with a team that's still probably going to finish solidly mid-table, aston villa fans are having the most miserable time this season. they are so upset with the club that they say they are actually hoping for bad results so that they might get rid of an unpopular manager. even on days when the villa win, there are endless callers on the BBC WM football phone-in saying they are villa supporters and expressing how angry they are at not being in the top six, not playing the kind of football that they want to see, and being managed by someone who is simply not welcome.

judging by the reactions from west brom supporters, there was something like a mass hallucination at the hawthorns last saturday. where many baggies fans seem to have seen an unspeakably horrible performance by their team, a number of us (including the gaffer) saw a good performance in an absorbing, competitive game of football with a disappointing result.

the premier league can do terrible things to the soul of a football club.

QPR 1-1 WBA

match text commentary




while the baggies have what would regularly be thought of as three "winnable" league fixtures coming up, i was wary of travelling to loftus road and thought about what happened last time we went there.

it was a dismal performance in the championship and the baggies deservedly lost by a score of 3-1. the lone albion goal being a late consolation by chris brunt in a game they were otherwise not really in at all.

considering what a difficult place to go loftus road can be - and has been over the years - i thought that a draw would be a good result. with the next match being wigan at home, followed by a trip to blackburn away, this is probably the most difficult of the three fixtures and a single point on a visit to west london would be OK. with a potential 9 points on offer, realistically, five points from the three games would probably be a decent return for their efforts.





to be fair, the baggies were second best on the day. while the teams were fairly even in overall performance, numbers would suggest that it was albion who created the better scoring chances. however, the londoners held a much higher percentage of possession but did not make the most of their superiority in time with the football. similarly, the baggies were no better at taking advantage of their opportunities than rangers were at creating them.

the problem that west brom are facing right now is that they are going to have to figure out what to do now that zoltan gera is out for the season. gera was exactly what was missing in the team, given the way in which the season started, and his inclusion in the side was immediate and obvious. the hungarian was superb at linking the midfield and striker(s) and his going out injured has left a massive gap, which will call for roy hodgson to rethink both how the baggies need to play, as well as putting his mind to making at least one significant incoming deal during the january transfer window.

while an away draw is never a bad result, it puts pressure on the baggies to win when wigan athletic come to the hawthorns next week. nontheless, this was a tactically good game where the albion were able to dominate in a lot of statistical categories (shots on goal, corner kicks etc.) while having less of the football then their opponent. one of the hallmarks of a roy hodgson side is the quality of economy. he gets his teams to perform well through good defending and concise movement going into attack without a lot of over elaboration.





coming off the successful run at the end of last season the gaffer was very focussed on improving the albion defensively going into the season. he managed to improve the goalkeeping position by bringing in ben foster from birmingham city, and gareth mcauley has certainly been one of the few stand-out centre-halfs to play at the hawthorns in the last few years.

the secret of success for the baggies is going to be in how well their strikers do. so far, only shane long had been scoring regularly and this lack of goals has somewhat negated the improvements that have been made to the team's defence. however, the albion goal suggested that the long/odemwingie partnership might be starting to gel and how well the pair do over the next few weeks will be crucial in both the development of the team and how it will affect results on the season.

whatever else, this was a well organized performance by the baggies, and would suggest that both rangers and the albion will be among the survivors of this competition when the final whistle is blown on the 13th of may, 2012.