Ipswich Town F.C. 1-0 WBA

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this was really quite unbelievable and makes one wonder at the effort that was made back at the beginning of the competition. why not have saved yourself the trouble and gone out at leyton orient or to manchester city? this was an incredibly bad performance by the baggies and deserves less consideration than condemnation.

perhaps it is merely a reflection of the times and illustrates just how devalued the domestic cup competitions have become in light of the financial worth of competing in the PREMIER LEAGUE. where once the prize money actually held value for the individual player of the day, and would no doubt represent the opportunity to make a substantial mortgage or car payment, money won from cup competitions has now been reduced to little more than chump change not worth getting out of bed for.

a wembley final ain't what it used to be.

except for the bright spot of teenage right-back, james hurst, making his senior debut for the albion, and the generally honest work-rate of players, steven reid and simon cox, there was nothing in this baggies side at all. even the 1-0 scoreline flattered their performance on the night, as it should have been 3 or 4-0.



in light of this, maybe boaz myhill did ok. but the welsh international still ended up wandering out to clear a ball and got ridiculously stuck in a challenge at the corner-flag.

the question i came away asking myself after this round of cup games was: when does a manager start to play his stronger sides in a cup run?

both birmingham city and west ham united played what were more-or-less full-strength sides in their respective quarter-finals. their opponents continued to rest some of their more important players with their focus still on league and european competitive concerns, and - in the case of aston villa - managing injuries.

roberto di matteo followed the latter example and made a full nine changes to the side which had beaten everton so convincingly 3 days earlier. although, as dave bowler suggested at the outset of the ALBION RADIO transmission, with 5 days until the next league fixture you might think about sending out your top squad at this point of the competition. after all, you've gotten this far and with only two games to go before wembley, you could more than reasonably start to think about trying to win the LEAGUE CUP.

like alex ferguson, whose manchester united were soundly beaten by an enterprising and attacking west ham side, i'm sure that roberto di matteo was somewhat confounded by his team's lack of performance on the night. while neither selected anything like their strongest side, both manchester united and west bromwich albion fielded teams that no doubt had enough talent to be competetive in their respective fixtures. but a quality of spirit was utterly lacking in each case and both managers probably felt that they had been badly let down.



i know that the gaffer takes cup competitions more seriously than many other managers. last year's run in the FA CUP was ample demonstration of this. so this performance has to be put on the players even though he might have thought about playing a stronger side in the first place. this type of match is always a nightmare for a manager, and becomes impossible to actually manage because there isn't just one or two obvious changes you could make in order to effect some improvement. with the all-around performance so poor, you wouldn't know who to bring off or bring on. even trying to think tactically becomes pointless.

in truth, ipswich town weren't a whole lot better, and the match statistics showed that, on all counts, this was a fairly even game. somen tchoyi, marc-antoine fortune and simon cox all got in creditable efforts on goal, but the better chances consistently fell to the tractor boys and their inability to finish looked as if west brom were just going to snatch this one on a sub-par performance.

however, grant leadbitter scored the winner from the penalty spot in the 69th minute after graham dorrans had fouled carlos edwards on the edge of the baggies' penalty area. while the foul looked to have occurred outside the box, it was no less than the town deserved on the night and the match was mercifully spared the extra time that was looking more and more imminent.



at the end of the day - and for better or worse - the importance of premiership survival precludes even a realistic chance of taking part in a EUROPA LEAGUE competition, the opportunity of which itself may not be as close again for a number of years, regardless of what happens in the league.

on the day, this was big waste of time and i feel really sorry for the albion supporters who traveled to portman road with realistic expectations of seeing their side go through to the LEAGUE CUP semi-finals on what was, by all accounts, a freezing and miserable night. the fact that they constituted roughly 11% of the crowd makes them the real heroes in this one, i think.

luckily, this was so far removed from what is really important that it in no way reflects the teams's current form or indicates anything much at all. this will be a completely different team on saturday. that is the one thing i can absolutely guarantee.

Ipswich Town 1-1 WBA

in his analysis of late-20th century communications media, marshall mcluhan had assessed that radio was emphatically a "hot" medium. on the other hand, he rated TV as "cool". he contended that there was no better way to "hot things up" and get a war going than using radio propaganda targeted at specific and localized geographical areas. following the albion through streaming digital audio transmissions (internet radio) online tends to bear out the professor's hypothesis for me, week in and week out. indeed, the ALBION RADIO commentary supplied through the PLAYER service on the club website has had me hopping up and down, furious with referees, cursing players, managers, chairmen, owners and any other football functionaries you care to think of more than a few times this year.

i can't remember which match it was, but an offside call that pulled back what would have seen a winning goal for the baggies had me uncharacteristically steaming at the ref and pronouncing how much i'd really like to see a replay of that on TV in order to examine the extent of the injustice perpetrated by such irresponsible officiating. the commentary had me convinced that west brom had been blindly and blatantly robbed in the most obvious and controversial of fashions.

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this, however, turned out to be a combination of perspective (on the part of the commentators) and the media being decidedly "hot". when i actually saw the play in question on the football league highlights show, there was no real controversy - as the player was indeed offside and the call by the referee correct - and routinely so - with little question as to the fact.

audio commentary has its own particular qualities to incite and inflame the individual.

as "radio" fare goes, the baggies' league clash with ipswich town at portman road was very entertaining, accurately described and everything about this match eventually "hotted-up" through circumstance and the medium.

on an evening that saw all of the albion's "contemporaries" in the challenge for automatic promotion gain maximum points and - in several cases - substantially improve their goals against averages, the albion once again ran afoul of a stingy defense from the lower part of the league.

the tractor boys, while not playing the most beautiful football in the world, are very organized at the back and have become expert at avoiding defeat by creating a lot of low scoring draws. the baggies have not done well under these kind of circumstances this year, and - as against QPR at home - the team had to dig deep and exert their style of skillful, attacking football until the death in order to manage a draw.



once again, di matteo started the same eleven as the last two matches and kept the 4-5-1 formation seeing roman bednar as the lone striker with graham dorrans and robert koren in the midfield as his attack force. gabriel tamas, the club's new romanian centre-half showed that he possesses an extra degree of skill that we couldn't have been aware of from his performance against nottingham forest and has proved a much needed acquisition by the baggies.

the controversy of this one began with the penalty awarded against jonas olsson, which was quite inexplicable. the big swedish defender was - by all accounts - harshly penalized for routine jostling and shoving for position on an ipswich corner kick. even the mainstream press reported it as a poor decision on the part of the referee.

there was nothing particularly distinguished about this match. the baggies just couldn't break down yet another well organized and pedestrian defense. it was clear why the town have been involved in a lot of low-score or no-score draws of late and the baggies were eventually forced to gamble on a 2-5-3 formation that was absolutely hilarious to listen to.

"i think olsson's wondering who's playing left back and he's being told, 'you are mate!'" one of the commentator's noted.

truly, with bednar, miller and simon cox all playing up front supported by brunt and thomas on the wings, the albion had indeed gone into something resembling a 2-5-3 formation like a team from the 1940s or 50s. even scott carson came up on one of the last corner kicks as the baggies fought to the end for a draw in this one.

the overall effect of the commentary - and with the gross injustice of the penalty decision as its focus - got this match sufficiently "hotted up" that when chris brunt dramatically equalized in stoppage time, it all felt as good as a win and the point taken vital to the baggies' promotion campaign.

WBA 2-0 Ipswich Town

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today's media was "cool", as the match was broadcast live on SETANTA and was a throughly entertaining bit of football. so much so that it made the earlier premier league matches look dull in comparison. SportsNet had manchester city riding out a 1-0 win against wolves on an early goal by adebayor in a match that they really should have made more out of. wolverhampton themselves were unlucky to have withstood the multi-million pound barrage of adebayor, tevez, robinho, ireland and company, only to see a late effort by keogh come back off the crossbar. meanwhile, SETANTA featured manchester united performing one of their trademark drubbings of mid-table opposition in a 5-0 away win against wigan. i settled for the man. city/wolves match on TV while i listened to brentford nick a late away draw against southampton... not a great game, all in all, but gratifying that the team i watch when i'm in west london are doing well on the back of last year's promotion.

west brom returned to their 4-4-2 setup; and thankfully, roberto di matteo had luke moore paired up front with the young and ever improving chris wood. marek cech moved up into midfield to help cover positions left vacant by graham dorrans' suspension for a red card incident against peterborough on tuesday night, and jonathan greening having finally left the hawthorns for craven cottage. shaun cummings stepped in for gianni zuiverloon who was injured against posh, and proved a good acquisition with some useful play in attack down the right side. joe mattock started again at outside left back, and - as with the other new-comers to the team - showed that he is adapting, improving and fitting most usefully into the squad.



as they had against peterborough earlier in the week, the albion came out dominating the match through their attacking game, and mulumbu scored after a goal-line clearance on a joe mattock header in the 10th minute as the baggies laid absolute siege to the ipswich penalty area. after that, it took them a few minutes to regain their composure and get sorted out mentally - which i think still may be an issue with this team. as a result, they had to absorb a burst of pressure from the tractor-boys coming forward before they adjusted, realizing that their strength is in possession and that they need to keep the ball and continue attacking in order to be effective. i felt that this was a significant development in tactical improvement, as one of their big problems last year is that west brom haven't seemed to know what to do when they've got a lead.

taking their cue from chris brunt the baggies then started to come forward, forcing ipswich keeper richard wright into making a series of saves and ultimately producing a virtuoso performance that could have otherwise seen the albion winning this one by 5 or 6 goals. the ipswich keeper's heroics were rewarded with the "man of the match" award and he was by far and away the the town's best player on the day. his form was evident from early on, making a great save from a chris brunt rocket, then a robert koren header; and then a spectacular double-save as koren ripped through the center of the ipswich defense, making a deft pass that produced a shot from luke moore with the save breaking for the on-rushing koren, who delivered an open header that wright got a hand to and pushed away while still sprawled helplessly in front of his goal.



with the baggies committed to possession and attack, moore, wood, and koren combined for a series of passes deep in the ipswich end that ended with the slovenian international shredding the town defense - much as he had done earlier - and slotting the ball home past the diving wright in the 38th minute. before the break, the ipswich keeper was also called on to make a diving save, pushing a strike from chris wood wide of the post; as well as, a high-curler towards the top right-hand corner from marek cech that needed to be palmed away at full stretch. thus did the baggies see out an impressive half of football that really should have seen them 3 or 4 goals up.

inspired by their goalkeeper's performance the town returned for the second-half with a renewed purpose, and on a several occasions, scott carson - the new albion captain - was called upon to make a couple of top-notch saves of his own, in order to earn his second clean-sheet of the season, and the third overall for the baggies in all competitions.

despite richard wright's outstanding performance in the ipswich goal, the baggies should have had a 3rd score when cummings made an enterprising run down the right flank, attacking the town's penalty area and was brought down, tripped by defender tommy smith and producing an albion penalty. luke moore stepped up to take and drove the ball straight and hard down the middle. despite having committed and gone to his right, the ipswich keeper managed to keep the ball out of the net as it luckily struck his boot and was scrambled away for a west brom corner. on the day, richard wright could really do no wrong, and the 2 albion goals did not reflect their true dominance in this game as it literally could have been 5 or 6 goals the difference.

in the end though - and facing a truly spectacular performance in goal - the albion did well in this game: the tactics improved all around when compared to the previous match against peterborough. di matteo did not make the mistake of leaving luke moore alone up front, and he remained a threat throughout the match; scott carson looks to have a confidence that he didn't have for one second last year; joe mattock, shelton martis, and leon barnett - in turn - have greatly improved the quality of the fullback play; and we've got enough quality midfielders that we're never really going to miss jonathan greening.



so far, the baggies under di matteo look to be the real thing; and as the gaffer gets to know his job better, and the injured players like morrison, miller and neil clement come back into the squad, some time this year, the albion will at least get a playoff spot - and that's the worst scenario i can see! at this rate, i'm expecting one of the automatic promotion places!

no doubt there will be some strange losses this year; after all, this is the championship, a naturally more competetive level of football than the premier league; and it's going to be a long season. but right now, there is no reason not to be optimistic and imagine that the baggies can keep it up and that this is going to be a fun, entertaining and winning year in the championship and something to be enjoyed for what it is.