Norwich City F.C. 0-1 WBA

match text commentary




it was unusual to be sure. although i have seen the baggies win ugly matches, making use of egregious tactical transgressions before, i still thought that this was out of character for a roy hodgson side. still, it's clear that the gaffer favours a consciously more defensive style of play away from home, and, for better or worse, his tactics won out on the day.

peter odemwingie - and like shane long had against chelsea - put the baggies ahead in the first few minutes. they played the rest of the match as a rear-guard action with plenty of physical aggression on both sides.

the winning goal came in the 2nd minute, and developed from a long ball sent in by nicky shorey on the half-way line. the delivery was just beyond norwich defender, ritchie de laet, who was hopelessly turned and trying desperately to head the ball away from the albion striker, peter odemwingie. but the nigerian pounced, having the pace to beat de laet and cleverly directed his effort past the goalie with a deft flick of his left boot.

the baggies then gave norwich city the bulk of possession, defended their lead and remained set up to break on the counter attack. it quickly showed that this might not have been the greatest idea, as the canaries first - and perhaps best - chance of the match came in the 8th minute.





grant holt and andrew surman linked up with a well-worked give and go passing move that split the albion defence and allowed a low hard cross from surman to come in at the baggies' 6-yard box. in the end, it was only a matter of inches as holt put the ball just wide of the goal at the near post.

however, aside from a good shot at the edge of the albion penalty area by midfielder, elliot bennett, there was very little to test ben foster in the albion goal. the gaffer's tactical game came off and the baggies were finally up and running with their first points of the season.

while the canaries had the better part of the possession in the match overall, there was no doubt as to who was creating the better chances and controlling the game. peter odemwingie, along with strike partner shane long, was getting into space up front and moving the baggies into dangerous counter attack positions all day. graham dorrans fashioned a chance from nothing when a 20 yard strike came booming back off the post, having norwich goalie, declan rudd, well beaten; and the young keeper needed to be sharp on several occasions to prevent the baggies from going 2 goals up.

by contrast, ben foster was hardly bothered at all and had a fairly quiet afternoon.

there were two talking points of note. first, the albion were awarded what was shown to be in the video replays a rather "soft" penalty. stephen reid got on the end of a long cross in the canaries penalty area. with norwich striker, steve morison, on his back, trying to make the challenge, reid went down and won the decision for the albion.





it was probably justice served though, as graham dorrans, the usual albion penalty taker, had just come out of the game, peter odemwingie stepped up to take and rudd made a good save on what was ultimately a mediocre effort. the nigerian's strike was well on target, but his placement was poor. the canaries' goalie had guessed direction correctly and the save was simple, solid and athletic. still, it seems, the baggies continue to struggle occassionally with spot kicks.

the point of real controversy in this match was an apparent foul by gabriel tamas - presumably in retaliation for an earlier incident - in which he elbowed norwich substitute, james vaughn full on in the face in the west brom penalty area.

while it was well disguised by the romanian centre-half and looked like incidental contact at first glance - with a norwich player suddenly and spontaneously going down in the box well away from the ball - and for little apparent reason. however, under closer scrutiny it looked pretty bad, and from the evidence of the video replays tamas will probably be charged by the FA. it was a stupid foul and the baggies were lucky to get away with it and hang on for all 3-points.





with clear precedent for this kind of disciplinary action, it's a fair bet that tamas will be charged retroactively with "violent conduct" and forced to accept a 3 game ban. even though he has the support of his manager and club, that is largely a rhetorical exercise, and all concerned know that it is never a good idea to contest an FA disciplinary charge and risk possible extension of the ban.

the baggies have already played better and lost this year and i shall hope future performances are of a higher quality than this. however, it was significant that they kept a clean sheet and were able to protect a lead over the better part of 90 minutes. more importantly it showed that even on an off day, this particular albion side is capable of winning through adhering to specified tactics and keeping it tight at the back. while the canaries held the balance of possession they rarely looked like scoring, and the less frequent forays in attack by the baggies were creating the only real chances of the match.

it wasn't pretty, and at times was down-right nasty, but the win gets the season under way after a rough start; and today, that seems good enough.

Blackburn Rovers F. C. 2-0 WBA

live text replay



after last week's heroic and highly entertaining match with blackpool, the baggies returned to their poor away form as rovers became the first team of the season to do the double over the albion. blackburn beat the baggies 3-1 in the reverse fixture at the hawthorns back in the dying days of december.

while making a good start and pressing rovers early on, the baggies best chances came much too early in the game to take full advantage, and in the end they were once again thwarted in their more enterprising moments of attack by the brilliant goalkeeping of paul robinson. the baggies showed the trouble they have with big physical teams who defend well, and for the first time this year, suffered for the absence of central midfielder, graham dorrans, following his return to form over the last month.

unlike their last away match at fulham, the albion started out the more aggressive and enterprising of the two teams. peter odemwingie found himself in a one-on-one with rover's keeper, robinson, within the first couple of minutes. the ex-england international came out well and aggresively cut down the angle to make the save.

the baggies' defensive mistakes aside, the real difference in the match (as it had been in december for the reverse fixture) was paul robinson, who continued his good form against the baggies with goal-saving stops from odemwingie, james morrison, chris brunt and jerome thomas. with 20 shots on target to the baggies' credit, robinson would seem a critical component in the success that rovers have enjoyed this year.



the importance of jonas olsson's return to the team was immeasurable as the baggies looked better at the back than they have for some time. for the first 40 minutes of the match they were very good defensively. especially after the first 20 minutes and blackburn began to really control things with a massive 70% possession for about 15 minutes in the middle of the first-half. after 40 minutes the two teams were on pretty equal footing and both looked to get into the dressing room on a 0-0 scoreline, which was probably to the baggies' tactical advantage.

however, a huge mistake by gabriel tamas created an own goal and - much as it had been against fulham - the baggies went in at the half 1-0 down. the goal came on 41 minutes with blackburn finding space down the albion left flank and the baggies' defenders out of position. the romanian centre-half was caught between tracking his man and defending the cross, and in meaning to give up the corner-kick, had lost where he was positioned and sent an unfortunate, powerful header past his own goalkeeper, boaz myhill.

as has been the case on more than several occassions this year, west brom were down by a goal that was the result of a momentary lapse in judgement on the part of a defensive player.

however, and citing their good record at coming from behind, one doesn't ever lose faith as an albion supporter as long as the scoreline is 1-0. however, a second goal without having first equalized and the baggies are in trouble, and that's just what happened less than a minute-and-a-half into the second period. it was another mistake by the baggies defenders, not closing down and giving the ball away in a dangerous position with the opposition capitalizing on the error.



rovers' canadian forward, david hoilett, took full advantage as the ball fell for him at the top of the box and blasted past boaz myhill from the edge of the penalty area to give the home-side a 2-0 advantage.

this was the kind of game that frustrates the albion in the most profound way. against other teams that play a more open style of football, the baggies seem to rise to the occasion and are a much more dangerous side - as they have consistantly shown this year - when playing the likes of arsenal, liverpool or manchester united than they are against bolton, blackburn or fulham. for all their good passing and possession, the baggies have resorted to playing a lot of long ball this year and actually rank amongst the top 3 premier league teams in terms of long balls attempted.

the real problem is that the team - after a good start to the season - has probably become a bit too predictable. ever since the end of first half of their home match with local rivals, birmingham city, where the baggies found themselves being badly outplayed in midfield, they have employed an ever more predictable 4-5-1 formation with peter odemwingie as the preferred lone striker. at this point in the year, all the top managers will have seen the baggies and know what they do.

keep west bromwich albion from pressing the ball high up the pitch and you will isolate odemwingie, effectively taking him out of the game. the formula is simple, if you can manage to make it work; and the good defensive teams are doing just that. this is the primary reason that the albion have resorted to using the long ball as a major tactic in their attacking game.



there was one real moment of contention in this match when a clear foul was committed against odemwingie on the edge of the blackburn penalty area. while the TV replay indicated that the ball was outside the area, both the defender and the albion striker were in the box when the infraction occurred, and to anyone watching it was a stonewall penalty. the referee, however, awarded a free-kick just outside the blackburn penalty area and the baggies were unable to capitalize and score the goal which would have seen them back in the match and chasing a draw for the last five minutes or so.

with all the genuine suprises in terms of results at the beginning of the season, the pundits were predicting that 40 points might be needed this year to avoid relegaton. but with wolves, west ham, wigan, birmingham city , west brom and fulham all hovering at the bottom of the table and not getting consistant results, this is looking less likely now than it was then; and, as per usual, 35-38 points will probably be enough to keep a team up this year.

as was the case last week against blackpool - and despite any managerial rhetoric - there are definitely games that the baggies will have to target, and results needed which will be a real test of character. with the next three home matches being wigan, west ham and wolves there's no getting away from the fact that the albion are facing an immediate series of challenges that will be characterized as "must win" situations with a mounting intensity from week to week. we can only hope that they've done the business and will be well past this when they face newcastle united at st. james park on the last day of the season.

WBA 0-2 Manchester City F.C.

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this was really depressing, and made all the worse by the unfortunate away loss to blackpool on the previous monday. if we'd gotten a result at bloomfield road, it wouldn't have been as important for the baggies. but they now run the risk of losing ground in the table and having some of thier good early results in the league undone somewhat. this was also the sorry end of an unbeaten home run for the baggies at the hawthorns dating back to last january.

there's certainly no shortage of talent at manchester city these days, but they haven't looked much of a team so far this season and were coming off three straight losses going into this encounter at the hawthorns. there was public in-fighting amongst the team during matches and rumours that roberto mancini had lost control of the dressing room. the problems of managing the world's most expensive set of footballing individuals were becoming painfully evident. as well, wolves hadn't done the baggies any favours by beating manchester city in the league last weekend, and the italo-mancunian millionaires club absolutely needed to win this one - in every sense and for every practical reason.

looking more like s.s. lazio than manchester's favourite footballing sons, they went about doing so in a very professional manner. the sky blues scored twice early on, before they went about slowing things up and shutting the game down. it was very continental in both in style and pace and i felt a bit like i was watching a SERIE A match. i thought it sad that this is the future of english football.

the baggies started off well enough with chris brunt coming close to creating a goal in the first few minutes. the northern ireland international split the city defence with a clever run and got on the end of through-ball from marc-antoine fortune that required a desperate last-ditch clearance from city's right-back, kolo toure, which was very nearly an own-goal, just going past the outside of joe hart's left-hand post for a baggies' corner-kick.



the skill of carlos tevez was in full evidence and it was he who really made the first goal. the argentinian linked up with striker mario balotelli showing a straight forward piece of skill, taking on and beating his defender from a dangerous position and sending in a low ball accross the face of goal for the £24-million italian to knock in at scott carson's near post. it was a casual enough score for the young striker, and just about what you'd expect from players of manchester city's class, cost and caliber.

the second goal was a bit of good fortune with balotelli getting a lucky bounce of the ball which had gabriel tamas turned the wrong way. it looked a bit soft and albion's romanian centre-half might've been more quick thinking and physically resolute in dealing with balotelli.

simon cox came close to a goal as he sent a 25-yard belter screaming back off the sky blues' goal-post. it was probably the best effort by the baggies in the match, and might have heralded the possibility of a comeback had it gone in.



this was a really pretty ill-tempered affair which produced ten cards and two sendings off, including the goal-scorer balotelli, who, despite his obvious talent in leading the line, scoring goals and being worth loads of money is a petty, unpleasant individual. youssouf mulumbu also got himself ejected for a second yellow-card - and subsequent mandatory red - and will be out for the mid-week clash with west ham.

this was just a cruel reminder that life in the PREMIER LEAGUE is going to be tough. historic results and heroic victories are not always going to be the order of the day; and while the beginning of the season has been a a bit gilded and might have had the albion faithful dreaming of glory just a little more than they really have a right to at the moment, it's going to be a long haul with more than a few disappointing results. while it was nice for awhile to dream about being in the top-six and european nights returning to the hawthorns, a mid-table finish would be a monumental acheivement this season.

this was a nasty reminder of that very fact.

WBA 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur

live text replay



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!

Liverpool F.C. 1-0 WBA

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there are several different ways to lose in football. some are unnacceptable, some are undeserved and others are just plain unfair. while the baggies' opening day abberration at stamford bridge was a decidedly unnacceptable loss, today's match away to liverpool was anything but. it was a game lost in one of those dramatic moments with which every football fan is all too familiar. with the play being sufficiently stretched, it becomes inevitable that one team or the other is either going to score a well worked, hard fought goal or concede on the counter. the albion sensed their opportunity for a possible winner and were ultimately victims of their own ambition.

with the baggies piling on the pressure, right-back, gonzalo jara, had two clear-cut chances at the liverpool goal from 6 or 7 yards out. the first shot was blocked but the ball fell to him for a second which was then saved by a diving pepe reina. the albion were caught out at the back. after a quick release by reina - and within just 19 seconds - the baggies had conceded at the other end to a fernando torres volley on a cross from dirk kuyt. however cliche it may sound, the premier league is indeed cruel to those who are unable to take their chances when they appear. ultimately, the albion put in a good performance and as supporters we'll all come out of this one confident of survival in the premier league campaign of 2010-11; and for better or worse, that seems to be what matters.



where we might have thought, oh no! here we go again!!! after the opening day calamity at chelsea, today's performance, against one of europe's most famous clubs, could only reinforce the belief that this is going to be west brom's most successful premiership campaign yet, and they'll be quite capable of amassing the 35-40 points needed to survive - and maybe more.

as i would do on most any other saturday morning, i tuned into the ALBION RADIO transmission shortly after 9.00 AM... nothing stunning today, but always worth listening to - especially the weekly insights that one gets as to some of the more specific points and inside workings of the football club. i had to wait until 3.45 in the afternoon to watch the delayed TV broadcast on SETANTA SPORTS CANADA.

at the outset - and despite liverpool's relatively poor start to the season - nobody would have expected anything less than an emphatic victory on the part of the home team. but i came out of this not just disappointed that the albion didn't quite manage to hang on for the draw - i felt as if the baggies were going to win this one.

west brom were especially good in the first half, and despite a few tentative moments on the part of gabriel tamas, the albion defense - and especially jonas olsson - stood firm and showed real character for the first 65 minutes.



nicky shorey got his albion debut and delivered a solid performance at left-back, showing he is a good, sound, technical player; and gonzalo jara - who has struggled a little in the first few games - showed some real enterprise at right-back and injected spark, skill and endeavour into the albion attack.

scott carson, while not having much to deal with before the last twenty minutes, was quite superb, spectacularly saving from point-blank range to prevent a second torres goal late in the match.

graham dorrans, who has been surprisingly quiet in the first few outings, finally began to exert his influence on the game in the second-half and showed that he is settling into the more advanced attacking role he has been forced to take on this season. likewise, fellow scottish international, james morrison, who had not started off well in the first few games either, was back on form and - in tandem with chris brunt - was at the the heart of several enterprising moves forward by the baggies.

with a couple of new faces in the side - and the return of marc-antoine fortune less than 48 hours prior to kick-off - the baggies are going to need to settle. the most pressing question they're going to have to come terms with over the next little while is the issue of roberto di matteo's commitment to the 4-5-1 setup and having to play people out of position to accomodate the system - especially the forwards.

in fact, the liverpool goal might never have materialized had peter odemwingie - a striker who was played on the right wing for this game - possessed more of the training and instinctive positioning sense of a right-winger. for example, i think it was probably odemwingie who had not dropped back into a sufficiently wide defensive position to cover for right-back, jara, when he went forward to directly attack the liverpool 18-yard box. on the other hand, how can anyone not be sympathietic and treat this as anything but a learning experience for the newly arrived nigerian international?



while there were several questionable judgements on the part of the referee - and including legitimate calls for penalties ignored at both ends - the only real injustice was the red-carding of james morrison on a tackle that deserved nothing more than a yellow-card. it was questionable enough a call that you'd think the albion management might think about appealing.

while most albion supporters will come away from this match buoyed by the team's performance and its promise for the future, the baggies were unlucky today and deserved better.

Chelsea 6-0 WBA

match text commentary


welcome back to the premier league!

there was one or two basic mistakes that roberto di matteo has made to begin west bromwich albion's fifth venture into the top football competition in the world.

first and foremost, chris brunt is hopelessly out of place as a holding mid-fielder. it's easy to see what the gaffer is thinking in wanting both a left-sided and right-sided player in the newly introduced 4-5-1 formation that we had all anticipated. but in partnership with youssouff mulumbu, the northern ireland international is playing too deep to get properly involved in the attacking game, as well as now being isolated from the wide positions where he is most effective. towards the end of the match, there was evidence that he might eventually be able adapt his attacking game working from a central position, but he surely isn't the tackler that being a defensive midfielder requires. i think it would have been better to play him on a more natural wing position with perhaps steven reid playing next to mulumbu.

without trying to draw any direct comparisons, it reminds me of the old story concerning don howe trying to transform tony brown into a more "complete" player by improving his defensive game...



i can't understand why it isn't more obvious to everyone that brunt is every bit as important to the albion attack as graham dorrans - and as such has to be played in more advanced positions. personally, i think he is being mistakenly forced into taking up what would otherwise have been jonathan greening's old duties. while this shows the gaffer's respect for his technical abilities, i think it ignores his natural intsticts as well as his real talents.

another problem is that the new attacking formation forces graham dorrans into too high a position where he is forced to attack the goal directly instead of creating opportunities. again, this an unfamiliar role for the young scottish international and he looked pretty lost and needs to be sitting in a deeper position - and with plenty of space in front of him - from which to control the game. while he delivered a decent direct free-kick in the second-half, just missing the top right-hand corner of the chelsea goal, he was otherwise surprisingly quiet and ineffective. again, i think that di matteo - along with a number of the club's supporters - has missed how important brunt is to the baggies' attacking game; and how desperately dorrans needs him when going forward.

the other main problem seemed to be the absence of jonas olsson - something i would not have anticipated. the tamas/ibanez partnership was ok for the first 40 minutes, but not as good as the tamas/olsson pairing we saw at the end of last season. of course, i think much of this has to with olsson's natural aggressiveness which is sometimes as much of a hindrance as an advantage; and the swedish centre half has always needed to learn to control his verbal confrontations with match officials. however, his aggressive spirit and volatile temperament were sorely missed today.



marek cech was the only defensive player to show any real spark; and james morrison was surprisingly unimpressive on the right-wing. i would suggest that di matteo give the newly arrived nicky shorey a go at left-back and use marek cech as the left-footed holding mid-fielder. above all, he's got to put brunt back on the wing and push dorrans further back.

scott carson should have done a better job in handling the free-kick that led to the first goal, as he palmed it straight back down into his own 6 yard-box inviting the chelsea attackers forward and allowing malouda to pounce on an easy goal.

this early defensive lapse aside, the baggies had every reason to take heart in their first-half performance; as, without really having anything gel going forward, the baggies kept the game tight after conceding in the 6th minute. they looked like they might be able to take a point from this game right up until injury time when a second goal from a chelsea free-kick put the game out of reach and beyond them in a way they could never have imagined up until that point.

the second goal was completely preventable, and it was chris brunt and gabriel tamas' inability to hold their position in the wall that created the gap for didier drogba to put the game at 2-0 - and beyond the capability of the baggies - just on the stroke of half-time. the complexion of the game turned completely at this point, and if the baggies had been able to get to the half only one-goal down, they certainly would have been able to consider the possibility of taking something by way of points from this match.

after half-time and once the third goal went in, it was hard for captain scott carson to rally the troops. while they were still in with a shout to keep the scoreline respectable, the spirit was gone and you could see that they just wanted to get out of this one and concentrate on their home opener against sunderland next week.

the last three chelsea goals were scored by a team that was really playing exhibition football by this point, showing the albion in very plain terms some of the worst of what this league has in store for them.





if there was anything positive to be taken from this game it was the performance of jerome thomas on the left-wing, who picked his game up right where he left off, with his pace always posing a threat. he was the only albion player who was consistently getting forward and able to advance the ball with several really good individual runs. simon cox, who came on as a substitute alongside ishmael miller, looked good in getting in a shot on the chelsea goal, showing hints that he might have something special about him at any level of football, and marek cech is a solid and well rounded technical player.

i was less upset with the baggies' performance today than i was with di matteo's team selection, which i see as the real culprit in west brom's opening day humiliation. the big complaint and main talking point prior to the start of the season - and even reaching as far as di matteo himself - has been the baggies' need for a quality striker. well i for one have had enough and don't want to hear another word until the gaffer gets his tactics and positions with the current squad straight!

In Search of Reason!

looking at the posts to BBC 606 (and various other online football forums), there is a lot of complaining going on amongst the supporters about lack of transfer activity. i suppose that that's going to be a universal anxiety for the fans of a club coming up from the league and going into the premiership for the fifth time in a decade. the signings will get done, but not until the market begins to close and the serious considerations begin to present themselves.

what i really can't believe is how badly the fans are under-rating the team "as is", and over-rating the prospect of premiership football! it is very negative stuff indeed. especially on the issue of strikers.

nobody seems to be giving ishmael miller much of a chance, for example; despite the fact that he's only 23 and has yet to complete a full season with the club. he was pretty sensational when he came to west brom on loan from manchester city. scoring in his debut, he was called up to the england under-21 squad, nominated for championship player of the month and he netted a hat-trick in the FA CUP quarter-final that year; as well, as forming an impressive partnership with veteran striker, kevin phillips.

in the premier league, however, he was cast by manager, tony mowbray, in a much tougher role of lone striker playing a 4-5-1 attacking formation. while he was hardly prolific, and slow to start, he had recently scored a good goal away at newcastle, and looked to be just coming into form, before a collision with portsmouth goalie, david james, took him out of the game for well over a year.

again - and 14 months later - miller scored on his come-back start for the first team against blackpool, at a crucial juncture in the team's promotion battle. on the subsequent tuesday evening, he scored late-on as a substitute, giving the a baggies an all important 2-0 win away to swansea, and a virtual strangle-hold on automatic promotion. at his best, he is a fast, strong and deceptively skillful goal-scorer.




still, he is a bit of un-known quantity, as he is painfully one-footed (left), seems to be sucseptible to niggly, little injuries that keep him from getting a decent run in the first team; and we don't really know if he's a good premiership player with the ability to improve, or a just a very talented football league player, who would no doubt be able to attain the status of "folk-hero" with a long career at one of the bigger clubs in the championship or league 1?

you would think the faithful might display a little more faith in the former.

the fans are a little more generous with roman bednar. he scored six goals in his last premier league campaign, and even his worst critics are expecting him to go at least one or two better this term. i mean we started last year's campaign with luke moore as the main striker. things would seem a lot better this year, even by the more demanding standards of the premiership.

with bednar and miller as our main strikers - and the impact potential of simon cox - there is still plenty of attacking football to be explored on this team, and i think the supporters are being absolutely ridiculous in their expectations in this regard. certainly, the club needs another big striker to accomadate RDM's apparent tactical formations; but, that's only because we sold craig beattie last year and didn't replace him; whereas, i think the punters are expecting the club to bring in a "proven" 15-20 goal-scorer at premier league level! well it ain't gonna happen!

the premier league can do terrible things to a supporter's level of expectation.

variously there are cries and criticisms in regards to just about everyone except graham dorrans and gonzalo jara. i just can't believe that it isn't so much more obvious to everyone that this is the best baggies side since sometime between 1982 and 1986. by this, i mean, that it might not be as good as the team that lost an FA CUP semi-final to QPR in 82, but is certainly better - and relative to the post premier-league era - than the one that was relegated a few years later.

as usual, the most critical of the punters are pointing back to the issue of jeremy peace not making enough transfer money available. there have even been rumours of JP getting ready to sell the club, which - by the way - i can find no reports of in the mainstream press. however, he is indeed trying to strengthen his financial control and expand his ownership of the club. but after all, he is also a business-man. through a televised BBC interview for the "late kick-off" show last year, i listened at some length to JP speak of his ambitions for the baggies, and i believe he is authentic, and committed to finding a realistic niche for west bromwich albion in england's top-flight - and perhaps, eventually, even beyond.

beside the percieved need of another big striker, there seems an essential and widespread lack of faith among the supporters in the core group of players; and it seems that there is a surprising number of supporters who have never really warmed to roberto di matteo, despite the success, confidence and winning attitude he has brought to the club.




i will concede that while an italian manager who appears to be building a decidedly continental-style side, playing a 4-5-1 formation (or "4-2-3-1" if you like) and featuring two defensive midfielders is decidedly out of character for a club that has been committed to "attacking football" (for better, or worse) for the last half century; but di matteo saw what he had in terms of talent when coming to the club, did the best with what he had, has now quite obviously begun to implement his own vision of football at the hawthorns, and he's probably got some idea of how to go about making it happen.

if you actually read the top writers who follow league football in england, they were all pretty much in agreement when assessing the baggies' premier league prospects, that they were going to need to strengthen their defence significantly if they were to compete. i have even seen criticisms saying that the task may be beyond them, and will be their downfall in surviving the top-flight. no writer i've read, however, was too concerned that the baggies would have any trouble controlling the ball, getting forward or even scoring goals.

we have made some good signings since RDM took over. gabriel tamas, gonzalo jara, steven reid, giles barnes and pablo ibanez. this will strengthen the defending a great deal and the issue of a new goalie is academic. dean keily is moving into full-time coaching and dropping to third choice keeper. so whether it is a definite backup for carson or someone who might challenge for the starter's position, that is yet to be seen, but there will be new goalie at the hawthorns either this year or next. as for this season, the club will eventually find another target man, however humble an acquisition it may be.

i think the baggies will surprise this season. i'm expecting them to finish ahead of blackpool, bolton, blackburn, wigan, and wolves, as definite; and they should be competetive with west ham, birmingham city, newcastle, sunderland, stoke and fulham, depending on these particular clubs' form. even if we aren't, it won't simply be down to the albion's lack of an imaginary £20m centre-forward.

Centre-Halfs, Strikers and the Strange Case of Borja-Valero

the baggies are buying defenders! this last week and a half has seen the permanent signing of gabriel tamas from auxerre, as well as the arrival at the hawthorns of pablo ibanez from atletico madrid. in simple evidence as to my argument that this is the best baggies squad in years, the last time we went into the premier league our best centre-half was jonas olsson - and that was by a very long way! i don't know much about ibanez, other than his age and credentials; but certainly, tamas is a much better player than olsson was in the last top-flight campaign. happily, there is every indication that both olsson, himself, and abdoulaye meite are both going to be much improved players to two years ago; and now there looks to be a solid premier-league signing in ibanez.

as heartening as it is to see that we've now got a decent complement of centre-halfs - and the imminent signing of a second goalie is academic, as dean keily begins his move into coaching - what the club really needs is full-backs - and more importantly, a better defensive system.




as the albion are primarily an attacking team whose game depends on having superior ball possession, they are too often caught out coming forward and are susceptible to the counter-attack. the most memorable example was the 2008-09 premier-league home fixture with chelsea. i don't think the super-stars from stamford bridge had five minutes on the ball in the first twenty. however, with the baggies unable to score and pressing further and further forward, they were caught out at the back and conceded at the first chelsea counter-attack. from that point on, they were chasing the game and ultimately got completely shredded in a 3 or 4 goal rout.

i'm probably more optimistic than most, but i believe that the baggies are going to be much more than competitive with teams in the bottom half of the division than in 2008-09, and i don't see any reason why di matteo should have to radically change his approach when playing wigan, bolton, blackburn, wolves or west ham. however, in fixtures with the likes of man. united, chelsea, arsenal, man. city and even the villa, i would change the system to feature two defensive midfielders. while this is a common tactic in italy and france, it is not used much in england and i have a suspicion that it would take premiership sides quite by surprise. especially in light of the baggies' exceptional attacking midfield. with brunt, dorrans, morrison, cox or thomas coming forward behind bednar or miller, and mulumbu already playing the deep midfield, an extra defender playing next to him won't be in anybody's way. this would allow cover for overlapping runs from the full-backs going forward down the flank, and also cover for the centre-halfs in the middle of the park on set-plays. here is another reason that i believe acquiring one or two top-notch full-backs should be the club's primary concern at the moment.





as to the question of strikers - and in retrospect, i can't help thinking that selling craig beattie was not such a good idea - we still haven't seen a full season from ishmael miller but have some idea as to his potential, and we know that bednar is fairly well suited to a single striker game. cox and moore could only be used in a 4-4-2 system or as deep attackers in a strikerless formation, so a third big man who can play a 4-5-1 system would seem requisite. stoke city's james beattie is reported to be the club's current signing target.

this all brings us to the strange case of borja-vallero, west brom's all-time record transfer fee who's been out on loan with mallorca in la liga since last year. borja-vallero was brought to the club by tony mowbray and is a mid-fielder very much in the preferred mould of the TM style of player: better than average ball skills, possessed of a measured and tidy passing game, moving well into space and taking on defenders with wit and guile rather than power and pace. in fact, he was completely interchangable with both robert koren and jonathan greening and could fill in for james morrison or chris brunt as well. tony mowbray's pronouncement was that he was the best technical footballer in the side and predicted a big future for him in english football.

instead, he saw about ten minutes playing time at the hawthorns before being sent out on loan at TM's departure for celtic. by all accounts he has made quite a name for himself in the spanish game. the reports from the hawthorns, however, would indicate that he will be returning to spain permanently. as to why this apparently talented footballer never made it at west brom may always be a mystery.




i'm still unsure about where jonathan greening fits in all this. the veteran midfielder went out on loan to fulham, with the possibility of a permanent move to craven cottage pending the completion of the season. i don't kow if that means he's already gone, but with koren and borja-valero out of the picture i would imagine that the option of bringing him back for a premier league campaign would have had to have crossed someone's mind.

whatever the case, this is still the best albion squad in years, and di matteo's ability to coax results out of mediocre performances is a quality that the team has difinitely lacked over the last few years.

i wouldn't be surprised to see some unusual tactical formations and ruthlessly calculated substutions next year. for example, it's quite possible that RDM would field a 4-6-0 formation against superior opposition with the intention of holding down a 0-0 scoreline and then bring on miller or bednar for the last fifteen minutes or so, looking to snatch the winner through playing the long-ball and counter-attacking.

di matteo used this very tactic to great success in a crucial win away to swansea late last season. although it seemed a bit perplexing at the time (luke moore as a lone "striker"?!?!), it worked. the baggies won and maintained a clean-sheet in one of the few games where they were absolutely outplayed in the midfield, scott carson looked shaky, and there wasn't a goal in sight at either end... not for the first 80 minutes, anyway.

we have now made a couple of good defensive signings, and everyone who matters probably knows that another target man would seem essential. let's hope they don't forget the importance of good full-backs in the modern game.

Crystal Palace 1-1 WBA

live text replay



as i have said in a previous post (and maybe even more than once): this is the best albion team in years. having already secured promotion, they seem intent on ending the season by making an emphatic claim as to their quality. this was clearly reflected not only in the swaggering, easy win over middlesbrough 8 days ago; but also - and more importantly, in the team selection since their win at doncaster assured them automatic promotion and perhaps a run for the title. however, newcastle won the division a few days later and made the baggies' second place finish in the table a foregone conclusion. but the albion, it seems, have no intention of letting up.

to evidence their commitment to keep their unbeaten streak going, roberto di matteo has stuck with his current preferred personnel: a back four of ried, tamas, olsson and cech; his five man mid-field comprising koren, cox, dorrans, mulumbu and brunt. roman bednar has been the preferred single striker, and only the absence of ishmael miller on the bench was a conspicuous non-selection.

to be fair, the only thing that prevented the albion from winning this one was julian speroni, the palace keeper. it could have been 4 or 5 had the goalie not turned in a really brilliant performance. i mean, there was a moment where he literally willed the ball over the cross-bar from point-blank range off the end of robert koren's boot.

while the baggies were slow to start, by the mid-point of the second-half they were playing very clever control football, and attacking the palace goal at will. speroni's continuous heroics were really all that kept the londoners level, and ultimately with a real chance at victory. deep into injury-time, gabriel tamas cleared a shot off the albion goal-line which would have seen palace snatch the win.



roman bednar's cleverly worked header coming back off the crossbar came at a time when the albion were having long spells of possession, and showing, in very clinical fashion, how effectively they can attack. but just as in their previous meeting earlier in the season at the hawthorns - and despite a much better performance from the baggies on this occasion - the eagles defense was resolute. only a tightly marked gabriel tamas header squeezed home from a graham dorrans corner-kick was able to break through the palace defending and level the score to provide the final outcome.

their intention is clear and to their credit, the baggies want to wrack up their largest ever points total, and the individuals in the squad are still hungry to add to their season goals tally. above all, i think that they want to go into the premier league with a feeling of being in form. the albion are taking advantage of what are essentially open opportunities to play football and get results for the fun of it. roberto di matteo knows that any further successes and ending the season on a high note will only instill confidence going into a premier league campaign.

while i was lucky enough to get actual live TV coverage of this, i still tuned into the ALBION RADIO commentary to see what dave bowler, the club's publications head and ALBION RADIO colour-man - had to say this week. the question was put to him: what division would you prefer to be competing in, the premier league or championship?

to be fair, the question was designed to provoke a response as to the general state of football in england, such as it is. mr. bowler conceded that one really wants to be in the premier league, and from the point of view of being at the outset of a season, this is especially true. we want to believe in the idea of "living the dream" and that our beloved baggies might be able to compete with the likes of manchester united, chelsea and arsenal. but in the end, and as mr. bowler rightly pointed out - and in reference specifically to this idea:

"the trouble is," the albion publications editor explained, "is that it's exactly that: a dream - instead of something that should be a possibility!!!"

the premiership is a league where there are six or seven teams that are able to play at this level in the right way. the rest of the pack stumble around with varying degrees of success and failure at either qualifying for a secondary european competition or settling in and avoiding relegation. this year in the championship, aside from newcastle and the albion, there wasn't a lot - in terms of talent, quality and organization - between the third place and twenty-third place teams. so the championship is the more exciting division to watch, but is limited in the quality of its football.



the football league, in general, is much more competitive. both swansea and leicester city came up from league 1 last year and have competed successfully for a place in the championship top six all year. only a recent slip in form has seen the swans pretty much out of it, while leicester look to have secured a play-off spot.

"and there are people who talk about this like it's a bad thing?!?!" mr. bowler exclaimed.

his point is that people have lost sight of what english football is supposed to be about! the fact that a team like wimbledon, in the 1980s, worked their way up to the top-tier from conference football fairly rapidly, and in 1988 they finished in the top ten as well as defeating liverpool in the FA Cup final. now that's living a dream!

i'm going to be optimistic about the future for the baggies in the premiership. however, i'm not looking forward to celebrating a series of 15th and 16th place finishes and calling it a big success on an ongoing basis. i can only imagine if that became a year after year, long term proposition - as it does for many teams in the premier league - it would start to get on my nerves. i would eventually welcome the prospect of an entertaining championship campaign as opposed to protracted premier league mediocrity.

and these situations are getting to be more frequent and unsustainable. of the teams relegated from the premiership this year, one is direct result of (or, at least the situation severely aggravated by) a points deduction for entering administration. while a second team is working up a plan to avoid the need to enter into a financial administration in order to clear up a £35 million debt. three or four years of spending premier league money and then being relegated is an increasingly perilous proposition.

luckily, the albion isn't run on the idea that staying in the premier league is worth damaging the club over. i think that's partly why the baggies have yet to successfully establish a relationship with the top-tier since the inception of the premier league.



however, i am very hopeful that things will be different this time. the key to the short-term will depend largely on the current central core of players. it will be in the fact that players like chris brunt, marek cech, robert koren, roman bednar, james morrison, ishmael miller, and even graham dorrans will all want to make a decent showing of this in order to keep the team together. for a player like dorrans, it's a chance to see some real success and establish himself as a premier league player. for others, it may be the best chance that their ever going to get at long-term premier league careers. this team wants to make a go of it and has the basis of personnel to do it with.

when i think of the sides coming down from the premier league, and i look at newcastle and west brom already going up, the premiership is probably going to be a bit stronger and the championship a bit weaker next year than they were this. it may even be a further widening of the gap between "first" and "second" division football in england!?!? all i can say at the moment is that i would rate this particular baggies side as being the best team in years. they will at least be competitive with the likes of wigan, wolves, west ham, bolton, blackburn, stoke etc. - and may go on to find that they are even a bit better than that!

WBA 2-0 Middlesbrough F.C.

live text replay



well, there is very little that could please me more than the baggies still giving it a proper go when it is now all but a forgone conclusion that they will end the season as championship runner-ups; and, more importantly, have already achieved automatic promotion. but for simon cox to add to his season's total and get his goals tally on the year into double figures is something special again.

while the young striker has been at a distinct disadvantage in terms of team selection after the albion committed to 4-5-1 playing formation in the second half of the season, he scored what are arguably some of the club's most important goals this campaign. when the club's other strikers couldn't find any form, the young cox stepped into the starting team and scored 5 goals in as many games; and certainly, the last minute equalizer in the home fixture with QPR was a real turning point when the baggies looked as if they might be on the verge of a really perilous slip in form. however, the single-striker formation is a style that is particularly unsuited to a smaller player like cox, and this was really a bit unfortunate for him. he could have scored twenty and he really deserved a goal today.

once again, and having to listen to the match live through the ALBION RADIO transmission before getting a chance to see the TV broadcast in repeat much later in the evening, dave bowler, in the pre-game show re-iterated many of the points he had made about the state of the premiership and went on to elaborate on the trickle down effect that is accompanying increased television broadcast of football league matches and the recently announced increase in "parachute" payments made to teams relegated from the premiership.

also, as there is only a small percentage of participating teams in the premier league "competition" that are actually able to "compete". for the teams that occupy the bottom half of the table, this means that there are only perhaps 10-15 important matches a year and then 20 or 25 games that amount to nothing more than high-profile "friendlies".

i personally will miss the schedule and extra games of league football. i certainly won't have the opportunity to see 4 or 5 baggies' games in the space of two weeks with a premier league schedule, and i'd sooner visit griffin park or the county ground at swindon as travel to old trafford!



if we finish a premier league campaign in 15th place, it will be considered both a fantastic season and a major success. the problem is - and with this as an expectation, what is there really to look forward to? as one fan pointed out through the text messages, it means that west brom's season in the premiership is pretty much reduced to the black country derby and 36 exhibition games! if we're (un)lucky then the albion might be involved in battling against relegation which would give some meaning and perhaps a measure of excitement to the last few matches of the schedule...

i mean, "the great escape" was fun. but that was only four or five games, and the celebrations on the last day at the end of an otherwise miserable season.

in england - and when i was a boy - we used to feel feel quite superior and scratch our heads at the ridiculous monopoly held by rangers and celtic over the rest of scottish football. this was always taken as a major indicator of the overall weakness of the scottish game and considered a bit of a joke. unfortunately, the same thing has now happened in england with the development of the so-called "big four" and we are no longer in a position to be critical and laugh.

the english premier-league is not the competitive institution that the old first-division was. in 1976, west bromwich albion edged out bolton wanderers on the last day of the season for third place - and the final promotion spot - in the second-division. they then went on - and with pretty much the same squad - finished seventh in the first-division the following year. within two years, and following the acquisition of players like cyrille regis and laurie cunningham, the baggies went on to make a serious challenge for the title, ultimately finishing the 78-79 season coming up a goal short on the runner-up spot, which went to nottingham forest and the title going to liverpool.



a seventh place finish nowadays means qualification for the europa league and is a measure of success that will take a team like west bromwich albion many years, management that transcends genius, and a lot of cash to achieve. it is also about the most we can ever expect given the current structure of top-flight english football.

i'm not a fan of the "living the dream" ideal that the premier league promotes. this does nothing save provoke the supporters of its less prestigious clubs to harbour unreal expectations and creates animosity towards the club's management and directors. i know, for example, that jeremy peace always comes under, what can be, some pretty nasty supporter attacks for his good sense, business acumen and financial prudence when the baggies are involved in a premiership campaign.

i'm sure he looks forward to the day to day affairs of running the club in the premiership as much as he does getting a quick, unexpected and violent kick in the teeth.

what i think we all might be overlooking about next year's premiership, is that this is a much better baggies team than has ever gone into the premier league before. the trick to survival will lie in the ability of the management team to use its resources and adjust to what waging a "successful" campaign might mean and how it might be possible.



while they did well enough in all regards to win a great number of games in the championship this year, and with the talent that they have going forward, there won't be a problem in that regard. but, they shipped more than a few goals this year where the defending - while being adequate in the championship - just wouldn't cut it at top-level. i think, however, that with a change in tactics, the addition of one good centre-half, and the development of a more sophisticated defensive game they would do well enough to survive.

which brings me back to the quality of the albion attack. i thought, after seeing the TV repeat, that both simon cox' and roman bednar's goals (and certainly a lot of albion goals that i've seen this year) would make it in any league. the touch that simon cox showed on the first goal would've beaten a premier league defender of the first order just as it did gary o'neil and jonathan grounds.

roman bednar has already shown that he can score in the premier league, he just needs to improve on his last top-flight season. he was as good yesterday as i've seen him, and his lay-off from gabriel tamas long ball that set up the simon cox goal was brilliant. chesting the ball into the youngster's path was simple, effective centre-forward play at its best.

Reading F.C. 1-1 WBA

live text replay



almost immediately upon my return to canada the baggies winning-streak - the longest in five years, i believe - came to an end. although by virtue of a draw with the royals, they remain unbeaten in six now. while this was not one of their best performances, the albion still seem to be peaking just at the right time.

we shall see what we shall see, but the royals have really been the baggies toughest opponents all season. but then, there was a special relationship that these clubs developed in a tightly scheduled set of cup fixtures (including a replay) and a final league encounter at the madjeski stadium. all in all, these teams had a total of four matches, and three of them within the space of a month!



when the baggies won at home 3-1 earlier in the season, reading had gone from a once top championship side to a team that looked in danger of flirting with relegation. an unexpected cup run, which saw them knock out liverpool (among others) seemed to re-invigorate their season. this led to a run of good form in the league, and although it would appear too little too late, they are looking more like playoff contenders than anything else these days, and their poor start to the season has been well and truly banished.

unlike the first league encounter between these two earlier in the season, the royals seemed like they had the baggies figured out; and attacking mid-fielder, jimmy kebe, was in great form and thoroughly menacing throughout this tightly jammed little set of cup and league fixtures between the two clubs. much like swansea, crystal palace and QPR, reading knew that the key to stopping west brom was to disrupt the midfield, negate the lone striker, not let anyone get a good look at goal and be ruthless on the counter.



despite several chances falling for the baggies throughout the course of the the match, the royals' tactics seemed to work well enough. gylfi sigurdsson scored early on just past the 6 minute mark in what was reading's first real attack of the game.

playing the ball down the left flank several reading players swarmed the albion penalty box, getting completely behind the unprepared albion back-four. it was an inevitability when the cross came in and fell as an easy tap-in to the icelandic mid-fielder, sigurdsson.

but the baggies have the advantage of a team where individual skills are very high, and the albion have scored a lot of goals this year quickly and out of nothing but the skill of the particular individual(s) involved. today - and with the midfield and strikers thwarted - it was centre-half, gabriel tamas' turn to snatch a point for the baggies with an opportunistic strike as the ball came back off the crossbar from a giles barnes header following a late albion corner-kick.

i know that there are baggies fans for whom this will have appeared a disppointing, negative result and sure indication that some catastrophic slip-up in form is just around the corner. but, if the baggies win their friday home fixture against leicester, the full significance of this point - and the continuation of their current unbeaten streak at such a critical juncture in the season - will begin to make itself evident.